tetrisconcept no longer condones tetris clones

this place barely even has a pulse. TGM is dead. this is supposed to be the hub for the western world and according to the forum stats only has 100 active members. that would be cool if this was like a regional forum for like norcal but people are crazy if they think that's even significant. it's even funny to me to suggest otherwise because as far as i can tell most of the veterans do their damnest to keep this place as insular as possible. forum activity is low, the IRC channel link isn't even to the real one and was described to me by other people as a filter for the idiots and noobs and there is no effort to make this site known.

 

I wouldn't say it's dead since in France now since James from the james game center bought tgm2 from jago and that the only arcade in lyon now has tgm 1 AND Ti.

 

Welcome to San Jose State University! Check out our brand spankin' new M.S. in Tetris TGM program.

 

Yeah, but some of those people DO actively play and spread the word, and just never ever post. (People like TVG, who apparently plays and reads the boards, but didn't feel the need to post until just now. Then again he might be from IRC...)

People like me! I gave the gift of TGM to a few people at a gaming convention a few weeks ago, and I do check the site every day at least. It just so happens that the games I play most don't have leaderboards here, so if I get a new record I have to try to get it again in a different program that clones the same mode to post it here. (Well... I can't do that now)

Then again, I'm probably the exception and not the rule with cases like this

Also it's kinda sad this happened, because I just got into Shimizu's Tetris and I'm really loving it. (Hope that's okay to say)

 

One of my New Year's Resolutions for this year was to get at least 1-2 people into TGM and get them playing regularly.

I think I'm going to extend this beyond a mere NYR. It's easier to get people into TGM than into shmups, because hey, it's Tetris. Shmups on the other hand, is a lose-lose situation: old-school shooters have (what are to most gamers) boring mechanical graphics, newer shooters have bullet patterns that come off as absurdly impossible to the uninitiated, but that's a story for another discussion.

 

Yes in an absolute sense we're pretty small. But in a relative sense we are larger than we've ever been. I can remember when I could count the people who liked TGM on one hand.

 

How can we say the western TGM is dying? That makes it sound like it was ever alive. The amount of people that play TGM in the west is a joke in comparison to so many games. Even if you go just by arcade games. If you think the community is alive, then enjoy your delusional reality. I probably have seen more people at some school held Smash Bros event then people in the TGM community.

This announcement is a huge disappointment. I thought this forum was for the fans. For the community. I can't claim to offer much for the community other than playing the game at a small video game club hoping people will like it. At the same time I don't hack part of the community and claim to be for the community. TGM never did much for the west, I don't care if that is Henk's fault. Clones and emulation were the only reason I ever got to play this game. It is the only realistic way to try to get a local community that doesn't have one of the few arcades with the game.

Honestly, I don't think this will hurt the community much. It is so small, I don't think much can hurt it. When you have 10 grains of rice and get rid of one grain, you can hardly notice right?

A forum without open discussion, hilarious. Tetrisconcept seems like a poor name for this place. Henkconcept seems like better name since this isn't a forum for all ideas tetris related, just ideas Henk deems acceptable. To finish this way too long post, I will say that this move proved Caffeine ran this better. It was a good call for him to try to close this forum if you really think telling people to censor knowledge is a good move.

 

Like saying he is stupid or he is a fucking idiot ?

 

damn red star telling it like it is. Real talk, triforce gamemaster has done more for tetris. there aint no hunger on this site to try an make an impact on the hardcore gaming consciousness. People running around acting like it matters that we now need two hands and maybe a foot to count the amount of people that care about TGM. get outta here with that mess.

 

While we may argue the semantics of what is alive and what is dead, it wasn't the intent of my post and frankly I don't give a fuck.

TC came to be, despite what it used to be, the TGM place. There's really two ways to play TGM for the average person, that is MAME and clones. I don't care about TAP and love TI so it's clones for me. And a certain DS homebrew which got me back into tetris in the first place (yeah now I play TF too, which is pretty good for a guideline game actually besides the lag).
So we are not allowed to discuss clones, which COULD actually spark the next interesting features, like DTET tried to. So that leaves TGM/TAP discussion or the lucky few who can actually get their hands on a TI cab? Whathever. But wait, are you allowed to discuss if you're playing on a rom?

I repeat, the ridiculous thing is that you are doing this in the minimal chance to play a game without ARS, with move reset, and everything else guideline. And kawaii desu lolis.
TGM is dead. Henk killed it. He will not allow it to exist. And even if it did somehow exist in the form of a guidelined game, he won't let it get to the west, see TGM ACE.

The future of ARS/SegaRS is clones. The future of the red I piece is clones. We would all buy a real TGM console or PC game full price but nobody gives a fuck because we aren't significant part of the market. Henk is just pissy something he can't control exists.

The smart thing to do would just be to move ARS discussion to hard drop and let this place die, but hey, who am I? I don't post on HD either. Actually that would be a good thing, more ARS discussion on HD=more exposure.

 

That was actually my post but it unlogged me for some reason.

 

I'm not going to spend a half hour sifting through all the shit written before this post, maybe it's best to start out with a fresh view on it. Anyway!

I for one, love clones (nullpo being foremost amongst my favorites). Why? Because I love tetris, and nullpo is versatile! It can replicate so many styles of the game, free tuning adjustment (which should be expected in the first place), changeable backgrounds, mino skins, whatever tickles your fancy.

So why the hate? Clones, which according to Mihara (if I'm informed correctly) "will never be popular" then why do they pose any threat to TGM? I'm sorry if I can't make any connection between the two, maybe I'm a bit misinformed.

I'm not hating on TGM mind you, I seriously want to get it and give it a whirl. But why limit the gameplay? It seems counterproductive to the advancement of tetris to me. I use advancement loosely, I'm not quite sure if theres anywhere else to go (new rotation system perhaps?). The clones provide A: New/better gameplay B: New singleplayer modes C: variety in scoring systems etc. I'm not saying everyone should play nullpo because its perfect (it's not), I still play bb a lot despite null having a lot of its features now.

Yes yes this is a very loosely formed rant I gotcha on that.

My main point being, there is room for every game to coexist, if the makers of TGM fear losing players to nullpo and other clones, well lookee here! Its called competition! It's no fun without competition (Rosti )

 

I was under the impression that the clone playing followers of Tetris were keeping the interest in single player "competition tetris" i.e. TGM alive here in the west rather than threatening it. TGM play here is a niche activity but it ticks along reliably without any advertising or infrastructure to prop it up. If TTC released a Tetris game with a TGM-rule "pro/competition mode" included (even as practically an afterthought) we would all buy it. Half of us would buy the platform to play it if we didn't already own it! I'm a little suprised that TTC is very active on wresting control of distribution but show less interest in developing a feature to tap a market that looks as though it could be easily developed! Not that I'm familiar with all the back history it just seems strange that people would be crying out for a game for years and be constantly overlooked when gaming in general is saturated with releases.

From what I've gathered, TGM4 will not be released since non-guideline rulesets bearing the Tetris logo dilute the franchise. I don't think Mihara can fight against that with the best will in the world. Prohibiting clone discussion to "keep the way clear" for a potential TGM game in the future is a big price to pay for a speculative objective and that we probably wouldn't see the benefits of for years to come. If TGM clone chat and records are taken down, I wonder how much of this site will be left? I really wonder if that is a favour too far.

 

are you aware that smash has sold literally millions of copies

 

According to the way I understand things, couldn't Arika theoretically change the name to something other than Tetris and release the game without a license from TTC? Or does the Tetris Company now own copyrights to all the artwork used in all previous TGM games because they were released under their license?

 

they "own" the gameplay lol

 

I've thought the same thing. If Arika released another TGM game then they might not be able to win a court battle purely off the basis that the TGM name and all the trade dress stuff is owned by TTC now.

Also

lol that's pretty much the exact opposite of capitalism.

 

Hmm... Tetris by the people, for the people... A communist tetris game...

Nah, it'll never work.

 

I presume that TTC feel entitled to a certain market having acquired the Tetris license and regardless of whether it's the ruleset, speeds or aesthetics that are adjusted in a derived game, they will claim infringement.

Incidentally how much did exclusive rights to Tetris cost?

 

EA bought just the mobile rights, in 2005, for USD $680 million. And I think that's only rights for 10 or 15 years or something. Most contracts aren't advertised so we don't really know beyond that.