Cocksuckers.
Bunch of fucking cocksuckers.
Seeing as this has left me momentarily speechless, that's about all that I can say. Square-Enix are a bunch of fucking cocksuckers.
It wouldn't be so bad if they'd send the C&D letter shortly after the project began, but the timing of is just brutal. It's as if they wanted to give a real jolt to the online fanbase and the modding community, just to underscore the fact that they won't tolerate any use of their old creative product. CT is hardly the only game out there that's been subject to retranslation, modification, hacks etc... SE are the only ones I've heard of that are actually such dickheads that they'll try and quash such projects.
This, despite all the characters, locations, story elements etc. having been dormant and gathering dust for 10 years, arguably 15 years now.
It's this sort of corporate mentality that began to put me off video games during the PSX / Saturn / N64 era, and a fine example of why I haven't bought or even played, a new SE game since FFIX. Probably I'm missing out on some fun stuff since then, but I can't muster the same enthusiasm to play something like 'Final Fantasy XIII', where they're pimping out the franchise like a cheap whore.
The worst part is that I doubt they even have any plans for any CT remakes, sequels or side-stories. Probably based on the logic of 'well, what if we want to make a sequel 10 years down the road...' Without a single consideration that it's these sorts of projects that keep the fanbase alive and enthused.
Hell, SE own the rights to Bubble Bobble and Space Invaders through recent mergers, if I recall correctly. Are they going to intervene to prevent fan spin-offs of those games too?
To all those involved in the making of this project over the years, I'm so sorry that this got shut down after so much hard work. I'm especially saddened to read that known copies of CE and other fan projects - plus their respective discussion forums - were destroyed or shut down. I was hoping the game had been put it in a safe for possible future release years down the road. Maybe once SE goes tits-up from the economic downturn, or something of the like. 3D Realms bit the dust just a few days ago, so who knows. Seems a bit rash to purge everything, but I can totally understand the decision as I'd panic if I got such a letter.
Someone mentioned trying to re-weave the story into a new game with different characters / sprites etc. While I doubt that would be something the development team would consider any time soon, I hope they don't discard the idea completely. It would be a total shame to see so much thought and originality (storyline etc) go to waste, and fan fiction / art just wouldn't do it justice.
Terrible news, and for me, a stain on Square-Enix's reputation.
