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Replay Games wants “infringing” Kickstarter campaign taken down (update: Al Lowe’s okay with it)

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Now the situation is just being obfuscated by very tenuous complications.

- Where did Wisecrack get that image of Paul Trowe? Are they stalking him too?

- Did Steve Ince spend weeks studying how Paul chats online so those comments attributed to Jiminy would read exactly like something Paul would say?

- Why is Paul’s endorsement of SpaceVenture so underwhelming?

     

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- photo… well, how hard is it to get a photo of someone who has some sort of presence online?
- it’s not about Steve Ince, apparently the IPs are from where that Ken guy from Wisecrack lives.
- underwhelming… well, that’s not really an argument, is it?

Can’t say it doesn’t sound suspicious, though, especially the “sounding like Paul” part… but even that… how can you prove it? “Sounds like Paul”... well, that wouldn’t stand in court of law, I think.

As far as I can see it, it could be either way, but the balance seems tilted towards Wisecrack for reasons I’ve already mentioned.

Hell, even if he made those comments, at least he somewhat washed those sins for endorsing SpaceVenture and bringing in a ton of new backers. And I’d consider it less worse than what Wisecrack did with their Kickstarter campaign.

Point is.. even if he’s guilty, asking for your money back is taking things too far. Just because some guy is an asshole doesn’t mean the whole project should suffer. Not to mention that I don’t see on what grounds would you ask the money back from your credit card company. The payment was authorized by you, so there was nothing illegal going on. Can you really ask your money back for something because you don’t like the face of the company’s CEO?

     
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filipstamate - 07 June 2012 10:50 AM

- why would Paul Trowe attack the Two Guys and then post an update on Larry’s Kickstarter page encouraging their backers to support SpaceVenture?

To recap what I said elsewhere: I think it’s quite plausible that he’s merely being two-faced to protect his public image. He was practically forced into apologising on the Space Quest forum for his behaviour in a thread about the Two Guys, because people were turning against him. The sincerity of that apology is questionable, he could still be pissed off at them, and we know from Twitter/Facebook that he’s an angry man, so the only outlet for his true feelings is via an anonymous account, and people are always at their most honest when they’re anonymous. While that’s going on he can publicly play the nice guy urging people to support them, and hope that no one is any the wiser.

filipstamate - 07 June 2012 10:50 AM

- apparently the IPs are from where that Ken guy from Wisecrack lives.

All that’s known about the IP addresses in question is that they originate from Chicago. Ken from Wisecrack happens to live in Chicago, as do 2,695,597 other people. It seems more coincidental than anything.

filipstamate - 07 June 2012 10:50 AM

I find it funny that for some people it’s easier to trust Wisecrack which have proven to be liars and deceivers right from the start.

I think the issue for most people is that Wisecrack made a mistake by overplaying Al Lowe’s involvement, and they corrected that in a dignified manner. Meanwhile Paul Trowe made no effort to contact them about the problems he had, instead he made unfounded statements in interviews, threatened frivolous lawsuits, and slung a lot of mud with his angry rants across Twitter and Facebook. The reason people are supporting Wisecrack is because Paul made them into the victim by his behaviour, and didn’t engender any sympathy for himself in the process.

supaplex - 07 June 2012 04:55 AM

Let’s play an imagination game. What would happen if all the backers of the Larry project were made aware of the information that has been provided on this forum and in several other places? Would they agree with this kind of behaviour? How many of them would feel the need to withdraw their pledges?
Would the Larry project still be funded if the Kickstarter was starting right now?

There’s a little bit of discussion going around on the Replay Forums and the LSL Kickstarter page. Some people are upset and talking about refunds, but there are a couple of quite vocal people rallying to the defence of the project, so there’s a clear split. Personally as a backer I don’t regret it, nor do I want my money back, but Paul’s behaviour has soured my taste for the project. It’s hard to remain as positive about it as I once was, but I still have faith in the strength of great guys like Al Lowe and Josh Mandel to deliver something great, despite the crazy guy in the office.

     

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think the issue for most people is that Wisecrack made a mistake by overplaying Al Lowe’s involvement,

“Al Lowe presents…” is not overplaying in my opinion, but outright lying.
Not to mention they had what seems to me a pretty obvious jab at Replay Games: “We own all the rights”.

Anyway, the more I think about it the more sense it makes that Paul is behind those comments. But… does it really matter that much? Those comments were treated by pretty much everybody as trolling and I doubt they affected in a negative way the SpaceVenture project. Now, think about how his endorsement affected it. The good seems to outweigh the bad in this case. Even if he did it to save his public image, it benefited SpaceVenture so that’s good. Won’t make me like him, never did, but I just don’t think he really did something that awful if he’s really guilty of it. He’d be just another asshole.

And here’s something from the interview on this site:

AG: Have you been communicating at all with Al Lowe, Josh Mandel, or Jane Jensen as they have been going through their own Kickstarter processes?

Mark: Very little… I have had some minor contact with Al Lowe, but nothing real deep about what he’s up to or what we’re doing. We have talked to Replay Games about their success, and what worked, what didn’t. They’ve been very helpful in that regard, and we’ve tried to be very supporting of each other, promoting each other. One of the first things we did on our website is promote their Kickstarter; the last thing we wanted to do is come out and impede their progress.

Now, it may mean nothing, but it looks like they have a good relationship with Replay Games.

     
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thejobloshow - 07 June 2012 10:58 AM

- Did Steve Ince spend weeks studying how Paul chats online so those comments attributed to Jiminy would read exactly like something Paul would say?

I think I could be more imaginative than that.  Grin

     
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Okay, this thread has become little more than a witch hunt, so let’s lay off the speculation and unproven character bashing (on either side). 

What we know is:

1) Wegrzyn played loose with the facts (a marketing first in stretching the truth, no doubt Tongue) about Lowe’s involvement in Sam Suede.  He’s since corrected and clarified that misunderstanding, and has Lowe’s blessing.

2) Trowe has made very disparaging remarks openly against both the SpaceVenture and Sam Suede campaigns, but has at least publicly turned around to support the former. 

Really, that’s all we know, and all that matters.  What needs to happen now is for both men to shut the ^%*$&% up and make their games.  Shifty Eyed

Since we’ve got Sam Suede’s current writer/designer Steve Ince right here, how about we talk about the game itself?  (Note: That’s a rhetorical question.)

     
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i think Al had every right to be part of the video….and he does have a right to present a game he has co-designed and blessed with full backing.sure his name was overplayed but it’s not like this is the first time it’s been done.who would seriously try to back a guy like Ken as easily as Al and Ken?

as far as Trowe goes i had written a somewhat big reply but I’m gonna concede and go with Jackal.bottomline *for me* is that Ken only did one mistake but paul has made several and to me the balance scales towards one point and that’s without counting this rumour about sabotage.


as far as SS goes why don’t we make a different thread?i mean i don’t think it’s appropriate to expect people to read about the game from a thread with this title…don’t you think?

     
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I don’t want to drag this thing any longer and I agree with Jackal that this thread should focus more on the game itself, however I want to bring to the table another nugget of information on which I will not comment.

I have taken this information from a thread on reddit, so I can’t take the credit for this one.

On IGN there is a user “gamespygeek”, who has that account since Dec 7, 2009:
http://www.ign.com/boards/members/gamespygeek.3330496/

The only review that user has posted is a 10/10 review for an obscure game developed by Replay Games.
The review: http://readerreviews.ign.com/rrview/pc/doctor_fizzwhizzles_animal_rescue/14354057/116403/
The game: http://www.replaygamesinc.com/?games=doctor-fizzwizzles-animal-rescue

I have also saved both pages and also taken screenshots in case they disappear.

     
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Although I agree with Jackal, at the current low funding rate (possibly due to some bad press), there unfortunately won’t be a game to talk about.
The question will always be in the end, would the game have made it without the smear campaign?

Anyway, regarding the game itself: I’m happy Steve s involved, that takes away most of the doubts I have regarding the lowbrow humor.

     

Max: Right! We’ll travel through this dimensional portal on the top of the bar!
Sam: That’s spilled beer, rockhead.
Max: Oh in that case ...

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supaplex - 08 June 2012 01:10 AM

On IGN there is a user “gamespygeek”, who has that account since Dec 7, 2009:
http://www.ign.com/boards/members/gamespygeek.3330496/

The only review that user has posted is a 10/10 review for an obscure game developed by Replay Games.
The review: http://readerreviews.ign.com/rrview/pc/doctor_fizzwhizzles_animal_rescue/14354057/116403/
The game: http://www.replaygamesinc.com/?games=doctor-fizzwizzles-animal-rescue

I have also saved both pages and also taken screenshots in case they disappear.


Oh God, lol. Words fail me.

     
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supaplex - 08 June 2012 01:10 AM

On IGN there is a user “gamespygeek”, who has that account since Dec 7, 2009:
http://www.ign.com/boards/members/gamespygeek.3330496/

The only review that user has posted is a 10/10 review for an obscure game developed by Replay Games.
The review: http://readerreviews.ign.com/rrview/pc/doctor_fizzwhizzles_animal_rescue/14354057/116403/
The game: http://www.replaygamesinc.com/?games=doctor-fizzwizzles-animal-rescue

I have also saved both pages and also taken screenshots in case they disappear.

Just when we thought we’d seen it all, lol.

     

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Just quickly, here’s one more nugget. For those saying “well, Paul Trowe supported the Two Guys”, well, not only has he only done that after basically dissing them and being told to support them (by Josho on at least one occasion), he also posted this on Facebook:

For someone supporting the Two Guys, it seems awfully odd to try and take the Space Quest IP.. Especially after publically posting that you were on the same team and not competitors. Anyway.

While I’m tired of the discussion on several forums, I don’t like the moderators/admin’s desire to shut this down.. there could be something big here.

     
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And so if Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe wanted to make a Space Quest game they would have to go through Paul Trowe? Oh my, that’s even worse than licensing the rights from some faceless publisher that doesn’t know what to do with the IP.

It makes you wonder if Trowe would pull something like this if he ever had a creative difference with Al. “We’re going to remake all the Larrys with or without you, bub.”

This is all very juicy, I hope I’m only reading too much into it.

Where did our salad days go? lol

     
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Spikey - 08 June 2012 09:05 AM

While I’m tired of the discussion on several forums, I don’t like the moderators/admin’s desire to shut this down.. there could be something big here.

We specifically did NOT shut it down.  If anyone has any facts to report, that’s fair game.  But pure speculation and the subsequent slagging of people based on guesswork and hearsay is going to stop.  (Here, at least.)

     

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I respect and appreciate that, but your last post make it clear you wanted the tone of the discussion lightened and you even encouraged people to change direction with the topic, so I took that as meaning that side of the discussion was something you wanted over. Apologies if that’s not what you were construing.

I think speculation, as long as it’s logical and not purely derogatory, should be fine, that’s freedom of thoght and expression and what a forum is about, yeah?
Witch hunts, calling personal phone numbers, and general flaming is surely out, but I think it’s cool that an old community like AdventureGamers can have a topic like this that has stayed mostly on topic and has kept most of the extreme discussion to the side while some really vital facts about Paul Trowe, Wisecrack, and some others have come out. This could be very important with both the Sam Suede and SpaceVenture Kickstarter campaigns.

I’m privy to some more info but I can’t really say any more about that. But please, let’s let the discussion (but surely not the unnecessary rudeness) continue.

     

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