Majestic Studios "Limbo of the Lost" steals from Oblivion

Is it wrong if this crap + the horrible trailer makes me want to actually get the game?

Here seems to be the list of other games it has ripped from:
  • Silent Hill
  • Unreal Tournament 2004
  • Thief: Deadly Shadows
  • Painkiller
  • Diablo
  • Return to Castle Wolfenstein
They also ripped a Wraith bust from WETA workshop and sequence from the Spawn movie where Spawn is first sent to hell (2:40 in the trailer)... just wow.
 
I'm surprised nobody else is replying to this. I thought it was pretty fucking funny. The sheer amount of "work" they put into stealing assets from other games is hilarious.
 
[quote name='Friend of Sonic']I'll take the case![/quote]

LOL:
Snap15.jpg

Unreal2k3:
UT20042008-06-1202-29-25-76.png


LOL:
932503_20080514_screen015.jpg

Painkiller:
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i103/rahkogen/pnklr-20080612-031757.jpg

LOL:
limboofthelostsi1.jpg

Diablo border:
wall20of20the20eyelessmu9.jpg


LOL (top and bottom borders):

WoW (top and bottom borders):


LOL:
snap14kb8.jpg

Morrowind:
mororcarmorvo7.jpg


LOL official trailer (at 2:40):
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/28891.html
Spawn the Movie (at 0:24):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KMYx8lG59A&feature

LOL:
snap3qf0.jpg

Unreal:
ut20046122008dmhelmzdeehs4.jpg


LOL:
snap2mt2.jpg

Unreal:
ut20046122008dmhelmzdeebd4.jpg

A figurine of a Lord of the Rings wraith:
wraithfrontfullcp8.jpg


Interview with the Project Director:
http://www.quandaryland.com/jsp/dispArticle.jsp?index=795
Some highlights:
Gordon: So have any more recent games influenced your current project?
Steve: The project is more influenced by film and literature rather than other games, we want the experience to be as original as possible and as such we have made a calculated effort to keep away from other games in the genre. Limbo of the Lost is an experience first and foremost, secondly wrapped up in a game media and genre.
Click to expand...
Gordon: During the long gestation for this game, what sort of changes have you made to bring it up to date.
Steve: All of the game (apart from initial background story and some character designs) had to be re-written, all the characters had to be created in 3D and animated, all the background scenes re-created, all the sounds, coding and music?..basically everything had to be redone or newly created for the PC version. This is not an old game that has been dressed up. This is the original concept, dusted off and re-created.
Click to expand...
Gordon: Finally, is there anything more about the game you'd like to share with us, and do you have any more projects on the drawing board?
Steve: I could talk about this project for hours but I would prefer you to play, experience and enjoy it, so I will hush up for now. But before I say a fond farewell I will tell you this much, If anyone can honestly tell me after playing the game that they did not have an enjoyable gaming experience or have a favorite character that they have met whilst playing the game, I will never mention or speak of the sequel — LIMBO of the LOST II — Temptations of Tarot.
Click to expand...

PD1403578_l.jpg


Case Closed.
 
They should have just bought a bunch of boxes of Oblivion and crossed out the title with a Sharpie.

I bet they stole their logo from one of those "So you want to learn how to draw?" Art Institute commercials.
 
http://www.trisynergy.com/news.asp?nid=25

Tri Synergy, Inc. would like to publish an official comment regarding recent comparisons of level design and artwork between Majestic Studios’ Limbo of the Lost and Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion/Eidos Interactive’s Thief: Deadly Shadows.


Tri Synergy is just as shocked as everyone else is by the recent screenshot comparisons. At no point during our dealings with Majestic Studios up until the point that the comparison was first publicly made by a third party did we have any knowledge of these similarities. Additionally, Tri Synergy will discontinue distribution of Limbo of the Lost in both retail and online outlets.

We have contacted the developer, Majestic, and are anxiously awaiting their response. As soon as we know more on this matter we will issue another statement.
Click to expand...
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Tri Synergy is wiping their hands of this shit as fast as publicly possible[/QUOTE]

Fixed.

~HotShotX
 
wow. thats fucking unreal. i cant believe somebody did that and thought it was acceptable and/or nobody would notice.
 
^

yes, it is unreal. taken straight out of unreal.

is it pure coincidence that the acronym for this game is LOL?
 
[quote name='kainzero']^

yes, it is unreal. taken straight out of unreal.

is it pure coincidence that the acronym for this game is LOL?[/QUOTE]

its funny because when i saw the post i thought they meant laugh out loud at the screens.

then realized it was the games acronym.
 
limboofthelostboxartkk9ll6.jpg



The cursor in LOL is taken out of Black and White 2, for anyone wondering why that makes an appearance on this mockup boxart.

Also, get a load of this character art:
limbo3ih8.jpg
 
More drama

From GameFaqs:

Turns out this guy Steve Bovis stretched the truth when he talked about remaking the game for PC out of code he developed a decade earlier... He doesn't know HOW to code!

Bovis used a recently-released free indie game software called "Wintermute" for the entire game. It's a great program that allows you to design complex adventure games with basic coding knowledge. The thing is, Steve Bovis has about twenty long threads on the Wintermute forums asking help for EVERYTHING! Animation, NPC interaction, video files, applying fonts, even how to get the cursor to change. If you read between the lines, you see Steve may have been subtley asking the Wintermute community to send him the exact scripts he needed, and in most cases he got them. Which means that Limbo of the Lost was programmed quite a bit by members of the Wintermute community, yet credit for the game only went to three people.

What really puzzles me is, how could you have designed a nearly completed adventure game in the mid-90's, and not know how to do the basics of the basics today? I've learned answers to some of the questions this guy was asking simply by trying to mod Oblivion. There was one reply he got where the poster said many of his NPC animation switching problems could be solved by using variables of "if", and Steve still asked if he could send a specific example, as though he didn't know the meaning of "if" in scripting. Makes me wonder if the unfinished LoLs for the Atari and Amiga were ever meant to be finished at all.
- Taegre
Click to expand...

If you want to see the forums where the devs posted, goto

http://forum.dead-code.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=baedd9b7e0dc9304e57b028a07b74322&topic=2746.0

http://forum.dead-code.org/index.ph...28a07b74322&action=profile;u=157;sa=showPosts
 
Here's another article - "Pub pals pin hopes on US game success"

Mr Francis, a former landlord of The Pilot pub, Upper Stone Street, and now a mature student, said: "It is a sort of comedy come horror. A bit like Monty Python meets Evil Dead
....
"Our hope, if everything goes well with the sales, is that within a year we will all be stopping the day jobs and doing this full time."
Click to expand...

http://www.kentmessenger.co.uk/pape...e_id=1&newspage=2&searchkeyword=&searchpage=1

I thougth it was a little bit of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion meets The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Unreal Tournament 2004, Unreal Tournament 2003, Diablo II, Thief: The Dark Project, Thief: Deadly Shadows, Crysis, Silent Hill 4: The Room, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Painkiller, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, and World of Warcraft

Don't quit those day jobs, boys, because lawyers are expensive!
 
[quote name='camoor']Don't quit those day jobs, boys, because lawyers are expensive![/quote]Even some of the Unreal Tournament modders that these guys stole from might plan on pooling some money for a lawyer.

These guys are fucked...
 
Wow, these guys are going to be in debt for the rest of their lives. There isn't a major PC/gaming company that they didn't rip off. Vivendi alone will make them pray for death.
 
[quote name='Halo05']Wow, these guys are going to be in debt for the rest of their lives. There isn't a major PC/gaming company that they didn't rip off. Vivendi alone will make them pray for death.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, that's if anyone ever finds them. Their publisher (who has dropped the game) has been trying to contact them, but it turns out that they're "on vacation." In other words, they've skipped town with their up-front check, and no one is ever going to hear from them again.
 
[quote name='Vinny']Haha... that's pretty damn funny. I guess they figured nobody would ever notice.[/QUOTE]

Actually, I think they DID expect people to notice. Think about it, if they had simply stolen from one title they might have gone unnoticed. But the fact that they stole from just about every major title possible, including films, seems to imply this was done on purpose, including the game title's acronym. Now they've simply skipped town?

I think they just pulled one of the biggest scams in media history, keenly aware the entire time what they were up to and what the reaction would be.
 
[quote name='elwood731']I think they just pulled one of the biggest scams in media history, keenly aware the entire time what they were up to and what the reaction would be.[/quote]

An intriguing conspiracy theory - but what is their gain? Did Trisynergy cut them a check for the rights to profit from distribution of the game?

I will admit, from the photo these guys look like they're straight out of central casting for the next Guy Ritchie film.
 
[quote name='mrelusive']A call for a 2D/3D background artist for a LoL sequel, from a few days ago: http://forum.dead-code.org/index.php?topic=2904.msg18305#msg18305[/QUOTE]

Claim:
I am on the look out for a 2D/3D background artist for the sequel to LIMBO OF THE LOST. This is a % of royalty position for the right person.
The backgrounds need to be in 1024x768 resolution and the end result is a static 2D image.

Other parts of the job will be for alpha masks and layers within the scenes. Approx 80 backgrounds will be needed, if you can construct in 3D using an editor like Unreal 3 etc all the better.
Click to expand...

The reality:
I am on the look out for a person to do some screengrabs of well-known retail games to use as backgrounds for the sequel to LIMBO OF THE LOST. This is a % of the up-front check from the publisher for the right person, before we all liquidate our assets and bank accounts, change our names and identities, and catch a flight to Rio.

Other parts of the job will be asking for users on the dead-code forums to basically code the game for you, even though the Wintermute Engine is only about as difficult as Click-and-Play. Approx 80 printscreens will be needed, if you can printscreen from Unreal Engine 3 games all the better.
Click to expand...
 
What we have here is called a "Publicity Stunt". No way this could all could be real. I am guessing this guy just ripped off all these games so he could get his name known. I can't believe that anyone would think they could rip off all these games and then make it out alive.
 
[quote name='Strell']
LOLscream.jpg
[/quote]

For some reason I keep thinking of this and laughing. I used to play these games as a kid, when these types of graphics were still cutting edge. It looks ridiculous now, and I say this as a man who has played four of the PS2 GTAs.
 
Any chance this whole thing is a joke? Can't help but think this whole idea is one of those "made to fail but still make profit" type projects like pogs or crystal Pepsi...who knows
 
I honestly want the game, i am a fan of adventures and the idea of this coming from so many different games is awesome. The reviewers at Just adventure also mentioned d(months ago) that the game felt as though it was made by 5 different people (the 5-6 levels each created separately). It still scored pretty well at 80% though.

This is just way too awesome. I must play it.

The other cool thing is the book that came out in the 70's with the same name...:

"The Bermuda Triangle, one of the great unsolved mysteries of our time. More than a thousand people, over a hundred ships and planes, swallowed up into the sea without a trace. "

This could be an awesome scandal. If they would now release it as freeware and give all the money back, could they clear themselves? Or give all the profits to the 5 companies they stole from?
 
[quote name='crushtopher']Any chance this whole thing is a joke? Can't help but think this whole idea is one of those "made to fail but still make profit" type projects like pogs or crystal Pepsi...who knows[/QUOTE]

Like a Uwe Boll movie, or the plot of "The Producers?"

Were that the case, they'd just make a shitty licensed GBA game. Like "My Gym Partner is a Monkey" or something.
 
[quote name='Snake2715']I honestly want the game, i am a fan of adventures and the idea of this coming from so many different games is awesome. The reviewers at Just adventure also mentioned d(months ago) that the game felt as though it was made by 5 different people (the 5-6 levels each created separately). It still scored pretty well at 80% though.

This is just way too awesome. I must play it.

The other cool thing is the book taht came out in the 70's with the same name...:

"The Bermuda Triangle, one of the great unsolved mysteries of our time. More than a thousand people, over a hundred ships and planes, swallowed up into the sea without a trace. "

This could be an awesome scandel. If they would now release it as freeware and give all the money back,could they clear themselves? Or give all the profits to the 5 companies they stole from?[/quote]

I know. It's so weird - who would have thought you could mix Oblivion with unreal tounament with silent hill.

Plus, what's up with that character named "Cranny $$$$$$"

- What I typed was Cranny 'Bundle of Sticks' I was just typing what the character name was, I know it was meant in an archaic sense but it just seemed odd you'd name a character that in this day and age.
 
[quote name='camoor']I know. It's so weird - who would have thought you could mix Oblivion with unreal tounament with silent hill.

Plus, what's up with that character named "Cranny $$$$$$"[/QUOTE]

I just realized I need to do more spell checking on my posts... terrible. The coma thing is out the window but I can actually spell when if I proof read.

[quote name='mykevermin']

Were that the case, they'd just make a shitty licensed GBA game. Like "My Gym Partner is a Monkey" or something.[/QUOTE]

Myke you mean they may come out with something like:

Sexy Dodge Little Red Robbin Hoods Zombie BBQ!!

2r759w8.jpg


http://www.gammickentertainment.com/zombie/

Featuring a bunch of stolen characters... a zombie Sleeping Beauty, Santa Claus, and Godzilla!!


I must say the zombizilla looks a lot like the cloverfield monster.....
Jekki's thread is here:

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=186173
 
[quote name='crushtopher']Any chance this whole thing is a joke? Can't help but think this whole idea is one of those "made to fail but still make profit" type projects like pogs or crystal Pepsi...who knows[/QUOTE]

Nope. It's real.

[quote name='Snake2715']If they would now release it as freeware and give all the money back,could they clear themselves?[/QUOTE]
Nope. It's still copyright infringement, even if it's not-for-profit.

And I'm also pretty sure that they're guilty of some pretty major fraud against their publishers (Trisynergy and G2 games, both of which are completely legit publishers, outside of this debacle). So, even if Bethesda, Epic, Blizzard, Disney, Eidos, EA/Crytek, Konami, id, DreamCatcher, Activision, and New Line Cinema were to all magically forgive them and not press charges, I'm pretty sure their publishing contracts have some clause stating that, ya know, the game not contain any unlicensed intellectual property.

[quote name='darthbudge']What we have here is called a "Publicity Stunt". No way this could all could be real.[/quote]
Nope. It's real, man.

I am guessing this guy just ripped off all these games so he could get his name known.
Click to expand...
It was three guys, actually. And getting known as massive intellectual property thieves (and apparently fugitives, now, as well) isn't the kind of name you want to make for yourselves.

I can't believe that anyone would think they could rip off all these games and then make it out alive.
Click to expand...
And yet no one can find them now, so...
 
This is so amazing. I'm glad the publishers discontinued it immediately, though they probably did that just because they knew they'd get fed in the a.
 
[quote name='CoffeeEdge']


And yet no one can find them now, so...[/QUOTE]

Never thought of that... its already potentially over and it had just began. That would be very swift if it worked out that way.
 
[quote name='Snake2715']Featuring a bunch of stolen characters... a zombie Sleeping Beauty, Santa Claus, and Godzilla!![/quote]

Not quite fair...
Santa Claus and Sleeping Beauty are in the public domain. IANAL but putting a chibi Godzilla in a game called zombie bbq might fall under parody as long as you don't use the name "Godzilla".
 
This entire story just has me cracking up, not only did they steal it they didn't even code it themselves?! At least they didn't halfass it, when they did something morally and legally wrong they went all out.
 
[quote name='Liquid 2']10 years in development? :rofl:[/QUOTE]

I suppose that you could say that the games they've stolen from have been developed within the past 10 years. Development "started" when Diablo II (the oldest game they pilfered from) came out.
 
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