According to a PDF file acquired by The Hollywood Reporter Esq., Capcom is looking to protect itself against the similarities found between the 2006 best seller Dead Rising and the film classic, George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead. In the claim Capcom states that based on current copyright law "humans battling zombies in a shopping mall" is a "wholly unprotectible idea."
The filing, from February 12, comes as a response to a complaint issued to Capcom, Microsoft and Best Buy from The MKR Group, who owns the rights to both versions of the Dawn of the Dead films. In the Capcom filing the publisher lists they made unsuccessful attempts to contact the MKR Group and that the game also features a disclaimer that reads, "This game was not developed, approved or licensed by the owners or creators of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead."
File this one under the "that took longer than we thought" section of the "it was bound to happen" cabinet and as the second zombie related post of the week.
[Via Joystiq]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-15-2008 @ 1:56PM
ccc said...
Wow, does Romero have anything to do with this?
This reminds me of the time Metellica sued a band for using the F power chord in a same fashion as one of their songs.
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2-15-2008 @ 2:00PM
DjDATZ said...
Ughh...useless sue-wage.
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2-15-2008 @ 2:02PM
pop.nerd said...
Maybe we could tell the difference better if we could READ THE GODDAMN GAME TEXT
/end of rant
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2-15-2008 @ 2:03PM
Tony said...
I'd be surprised if Capcom lost this. Beyond taking place in a mall and featuring zombies, there's no real connections. For me and I'm sure most other fans of the Romero's work obviously the similarity there is noticeable, but I just can't see a lawsuit standing on that foundation.
The attitude and background of the hero is totally different from the main characters in the films, the addition of cults and psychopaths and literally every story element is completely different, etc.
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2-15-2008 @ 2:20PM
David Lamarre said...
yeah, the game text size sucked so much it ruined the fun, that and the nasty-no-where-to-be-found save points...
well, nice try! still pretty close to a good game
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2-15-2008 @ 2:26PM
AoE said...
Am I the only one who didn't have issues with the save system? I mean... doesn't it make sense that you'd have to get somewhere safe to save instead of saving in the middle of a sea of zombies? Sure it wasn't as convenient as autosaves or the ability to save anywhere would be... but in the context of the game/story I thought it made sense...
2-15-2008 @ 2:38PM
dylan said...
I thought the save system totally added to the game, made it move stressful when you were running around hurt with no food trying to find a safe location... kinda like as if you were trying to survive in a sea of zombies?
2-15-2008 @ 3:48PM
Big Wizz said...
Save system helped make the game. Makes you think about your actions before you go wadding into a sea of zombies.
Where is my DR2?
2-15-2008 @ 2:31PM
David Lamarre said...
its just that its not really user friendly, especially when ur far from a save point, and have to clear a million zombies to get back to where u were last time you played, time consuming, there is plenty of areas without any save points,
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2-15-2008 @ 2:32PM
GamerGuyX said...
I enjoyed Dead Rising *because* I'm such a fan of George Romero's "Dead" films.
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2-15-2008 @ 2:40PM
dylan said...
If this puts any damper on a sequel I am going to march straight over to the MKR group and put orange cones on everyones heads and teddy bear everyone to death!
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2-15-2008 @ 3:24PM
chris said...
What's next...Valve getting sued by Stephen King over the premise of "monsters from another dimension escaping through a portal opened by a secret research facility?"
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2-16-2008 @ 9:35AM
Intentless said...
funny you should mention that... In an interview Valve stated that they got the general gist of their story from your reference...
2-15-2008 @ 3:25PM
blank964 said...
Yeah the save system is a bitch especially when you have to go somewhere and you have to run and find a save spot. Back on-topic though this lawsuit is a joke, I guess every videogame that is similar to a movie is grounds for a lawsuit.
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2-15-2008 @ 3:39PM
ccc said...
@Tony
Michael Buffer can sue you for saying "Lets get ready to rumble"
Anything is feasable here.
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2-15-2008 @ 6:09PM
quesadia said...
should have had phoenix say "HOLD IT!"
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2-16-2008 @ 2:46PM
ZeroCorpse said...
They're just mad because the officially licensed Romero-related game SUCKED, and Dead Rising did it right.
Instead of suing them, why not hire them and let them use the official Romero storylines for future games? It seems they know what they're doing when it comes to zombie games.
And BTW-- If you can complain about Dead Rising ripping off Dawn of the Dead, then why can't you go after the original Resident Evil for being a zombie story about people trapped in a house (Night of the Living Dead)..?
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