Something about the IP issue...

[Sudo Iwaki X]

I am not sure if anyone brought this up yet, but please let me know if someone did. Thanks. That said, here goes nothing.

I don't know if anyone read the following article: www.siliconera.com/2011/05/20/mega-man-legends-will-not-be-showing-up-on-the-playstation-network/

There are concerns about "property infringement issues" according to Svensson. Some doubted about the claims (me being among the doubters.) However, after doing some research, I hate to admit that what Svensson said is probably true, especially with the trademark laws in the U.S.

I already brought this up at a thread Rockman Perfect Memories, but I don't think that it would hurt bringing it up here. That said, here are some things that need to be addressed:

First, let's view Legends 1:

Watch this video how to get the X Buster (skip to 7:31 for my point), watch short process for getting the comic book, and watch the short dialogue from Jim before giving the comic book:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG3DKvFfSSI

Does something Jim said look familiar to some of you? It probably does. For those who don't, here is a link to read:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Man

I don't know if anyone here knows about Action Man, but it is an IP trademarked by a different company. "Action Man" is already an established franchise.


Let's move on to Legends 2:

The quiz from the Pokte Village in Manda Island with its music and real life trivia is filled with IP names by other companies.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hlDsS8gz64


As much as I hate to admit it, rereleasing Megaman Legends 1 and Megaman Legends 2 is not an option unless the following occurs:

1. Alter the comic book and what Jim says about it. A YouTube comment in the Legends 1 video brought up that the comic book in the American version is actually an adult magazine in the Japanese version. Changing the already changed won't be so bad here.

2. Alter the questions in the quiz to where the Mayor or her students ask about Megaman game history, characters, story, or gameplay.


Otherwise, a remake of both games might be ideal for the best. There is a high chance of that not happpening considering Capcom's history.

[Adrian2040]

To alter these things, Capcom would need both the Source Code and the PSOne Developing-Tools. If they don't have it, they'd have to obtain the rights for everything. Obtaining the rights for Action Man just for a comment like Jim's is not worth the money.

Most importantly, the PSOne releases on the PS3 are all unaltered versions and I'm not sure about Sony's policy on altered games being released as PSOne Classics on the PSN.

[SketchMan3]

Man... why did they have to go and put all those references in? =(

[Chiz]

Capcom may or may not have any of their Playstation 1 development materials available anymore; depending on the contract they had, if they had one, they may have bought (presumably multiple) kits outright, or leased/rented/otherwise temporarily obtained access to one from Sony directly, or from one of their partners who had kits available. Furthermore, Capcom may or may not still have access to the source code of the original games, original materials, and so on.

Whether or not they do is absolutely worthless.

Capcom HAS made PSP ports of the games as recent at 2006. They would SURELY still have PSP devkits, as well as the source code used to compile those ports, and all the materials used in them. Making changes to the game is possible by building off of, and subsequently porting, the readily-available PSP port.

Furthermore, the fact that MML1 and MML2 have been in "licensing limbo" since the PSP ports came out means that the licensing issue is unique to the English localization, AND is something critical that cannot be readily fixed without a large investment; this explicitly rules out simple things like replacing a couple strings. Possibilities,

• Voice acting. This is the biggest, most prevailing belief, that the rights to use the recorded dialogue has lapsed and can no longer be used. Alternatively, the original contracts were limited to physical distribution, and that digital copies would be legally 'gray'. The PC port was offered as downloadable around 2001-02, before there was a large amount of legal anal-retentiveness about physical-vs-digital, explaining why it existed back then and largely doesn't, except from companies who may have not gotten the memo.
  
• Certification problems. For one reason or another, the console makers won't sign off on the project in ways that is feasible for Capcom. Requiring additions, changes in censorship policy, restricting release date, marketing and pricing, etc.
  
• Internal rights issues. Through some oddity in contracts, paperwork, or corporate structure, they somehow cannot get permission from themselves to go ahead with it. Odd, but it's obvious it can happen.
  
• Blatant lies. It's entirely possible that the "licensing issues" is just a cover story to avoid them admitting the harsh reality that Legends in western regions is amongst the least of their concerns, and that there are more pressing matters to attend to.

For the first 2 bullets, you'd need a large investment of time and effort, as well as sweeping changes to get the game re-localized and available. Considering the amount of negative press Capcom would get if they got it wrong, or half-assed it (port to PS3 and 360, but not HD, buggy, music doesn't loop right, and no support for or inclusion of [random gimmick addon/feature that's become big in the last 10 years]?) especially on a game that wasn't a best-seller the first time around...

To take that kind of risk, the company would have to absolutely love its fans and not at all be the company that they've repeatedly proven themselves to be over the last few years.

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TL:DR; Licensing issue is probably something that would go away if they remade the game, or at the very least re-localized it from scratch, but like hell would they ever drop that kind of money on it, and whether or not it'd be an acceptable facsimile would be debated for a long, long time.

[SketchMan3]

They should just release an English dubbed Japanese version then. *folds arms and pouts in the corner*