Midway Wins Psi-Ops Lawsuit

[DoctorFinger]

Remember 2004's Psi-Ops? It was a psychic powers-based action title that was (in my opinion) one of the true hidden gems of the last generation. It was also the center of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against publisher Midway by William L. Crawford III.

Back in 1998 Crawford wrote a screenplay named Psi-Ops about a military unit created to develop and train individuals with destructive psychic powers. Midway's Psi-Ops was about a military unit created to develop and train individuals with destructive psychic powers. Sounds like a slam dunk, right? Not so fast, because Midway prevailed in the suit.

Judge Florence-Marie Cooper didn't find the similarities "protectable" under the Copyright Act.

Cooper granted summary judgment on all claims for Midway Games, represented in the case by Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, agreeing with the Chicago-based publisher that “few, if any, similarities between the works at issue that are protectable."

Judge Cooper also ruled that there was no way to show that Midway had any access to Crawford's works.

Maybe, just maybe if someone up there likes me, this could clear the way for a new Psi-Ops game. That is, it would if Midway weren't $150M in debt and facing bankruptcy...

Source - Kotaku; Joystiq.

[DoctorFinger]

And really, if you get the chance, grab this game. It's that much fun, even though most of the script and acting is laughably bad.

[Zonkuya]

If only the character design wasn't so... bland, I'd give it an A.

As it stands, it's only a B- for me (psychic powers were great, but although I finished it, I forgot how it ended... so maybe it was that UNmemorable, LoL)

[TrackZero]

Psi-Ops was a B game for me. I really enjoyed it. It begs for a sequel and more time in the oven.

[Iron Past]

I enjoyed it until I got so stuck on a part I had to quit. Not that I didn't know what to do, but the game saved when I had little to no health, and I had to go into a big action piece with no health packs around. If I still had it, I'd probably power through eventually or restart, but not back then. I think it was some time after a level with docks, in a big warehouse or something.

[Wombat]

The best part of the game was they thought up a really great control scheme for the psychic powers, for instance, how hard you pressed the analog trigger controlled how high up the TK lifted something. Jedi based games could learn something from it.

[OrangePulp]

I think I would have liked it if I played it around the time of release. However, playing it somewhat recently (it was a free, ad-supported PC download, although I played it with my ps2 pad), it just really felt dated. Like the concept, though; the Jedi Knight games needed more of that.

[DoctorFinger]

Originally Posted by Wombat

The best part of the game was they thought up a really great control scheme for the psychic powers, for instance, how hard you pressed the analog trigger controlled how high up the TK lifted something. Jedi based games could learn something from it.

No. The best part were the hairstyles the black dude training you had in each flashback. Complete with Kid N' Play era high flattop w/ fade.

[KingGorilla]

Originally Posted by DoctorFinger

And really, if you get the chance, grab this game. It's that much fun, even though most of the script and acting is laughably bad.

Personally I find that Second Sight holds up better, if for no other reason than it is very well written. Both show their age and are very much products of their time.

[Xerxes]

Probably would have done better than MK vs DC if they gave it the same amount of media.

[J Arcane]

Originally Posted by KingGorilla

Personally I find that Second Sight holds up better, if for no other reason than it is very well written. Both show their age and are very much products of their time.

I generally love the Free Radical team's work ,after all, they did Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, and Timesplitters, but to be honest, Second Sight was just frustrating as fuck. The single player aspects of FR's games have been somewhat lacking in my experience. SS was better than TS, but I wound up not getting far in any of my attempts because I kept getting stuck.