Freedom fragged
Quake designer John Carmack of Id Software has threatened to sue QuakeLives for trying to get out of its obligations under the Free Software Foundation's GPL (General Public Licence) under which Quake itself was released. QuakeLives' Slade now makes visitors to his website, Quakelives.com, waive their rights before they can download code.
"To... proceed into this site, you have to give up your rights under the GPL. Specifically the rights regarding access to the source code. And while we are obligated to offer you the source code... To gain access to this site, you are obligated not to ask," he explains. Slade complains that people are asking for code but not using it to fix bugs or add features, which is the idea behind the "open source" approach. "So,"¸ he adds, "disappointed with what the community has become, I've decided to take a stand."
Carmack understands the problem but principle is at stake. "If necessary, I will pay whatever lawyer the Free Software Foundation recommends to pursue this," he says in an open letter at http://www.webdog.org/plans/1/ This may be a minor spat, but the GPL, devised by FSF-founder Richard Stallman, is the basis for the free software movement. Linus Torvalds used Stallman's free software to create his Linux operating system kernel, and released it under the GPL.
Silicone on silicon
Pammy is coming to a computer near you, not as an old Baywatch poster but in a game based on VIP, a tongue-in-cheek TV series set in Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. It's a world of blue skies, fast-looking cars and even faster women, where Pamela Anderson Lee plays Vallery Irons (sic), a gun-toting personal bodyguard to the stars. The French company UbiSoft has licensed the game rights from Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc, and says it will create products for most gaming platforms.
The PC version will be out in October 2000, with Sony PlayStation and PlayStation 2, Nintendo 64 and Dolphin, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance, Sega Dreamcast and X-Box to follow. Although VIP is broadcast in more than 60 countries, UbiSoft is more interested in the fact that "according to statistics, it is the most popular show among American teenagers". Which statistics it doesn't say.
EA buys itself a Dream
Electronic Arts, the biggest independent videogame company, has taken over Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks Interactive. Dreamworks has had hits with several PlayStation titles including Lost World: Jurassic Park and Medal of Honour. This is just the latest in a string of takeovers that includes Origin, Maxis and, in the UK, Bullfrog.
Virtual Venice
Is the country going to the Doges? Well, soon you'll be able to move to 16th century Venice, thanks to an online game from France's Cryo. Players will be able to move their avatars (representatives) around what the company says will be a faithful 3D reconstruction of the city, buying and selling works of art and sending off expeditions. Venice is, essentially, a real time resource management/trading game, and if you haven't a PC available, you'll be able to make trades via a web page.
