I think the gaming community as a whole should be outraged by the actions of Square-Enix.  Below is the director's response to this blasphemy.  Here is a link through digg to destructiod article :  http://digg.com/d1qv8F.

As one of the finest games ever made with no true sequel (chrono cross doesnt count).  These loving fans spent years of their lives createing a 16-bit sequel to the game oh-so-many hold dear.  The game is nearly finished and ready to be released when Square-Enix slaps a cease and desist order to stop the game from releasing. 

NOW the game will never be relased and the hard work that a team of devoted fans went into producing the sequel that Squaresoft (at the time) never had the balls to make is a waste! 

The fans will never get their sequel now and all the hard work these loving fans put into it will never be enjoyed.

I am boycotting all future PURCHASING of any and all of Square-Enix products. 

Up your's Square-Enix!!  If you won't make the game no one can?!!  Seriously do you know how long some of have been waiting for the sequel to the greatest RPG of all time?  Possibly the greatest GAME of all time?  And your going to take this away from us and give us more FFXII SHIT!??  They probably did this because they realized it was better than anything they have put out in years.

As someone else said in a comment on destructoid, "This is why I don't feel bad for corporations over piracy".

FREE THE PEOPLE'S GAME! 

C&D: Directors' Response
Mon May 11 19:26:58 2009
by FaustWolf
The following was composed by Agent12 to clarify on the first announcement regarding the very real Cease and Desist Order the Chrono Compendium received from Square Enix on May 8. Some have surmised that the C&D may be a hoax, but rest assured that this situation is real and not a hoax.

Hello Everyone,

If you are not sure what's going, on please take a brief visit to www.crimsonechoes.com.

Pretty intense weekend. I'm sorry for taking so long to respond, as I went white water rafting over the weekend and came back to this little fiasco. This post is going to first give everyone a my feelings on the matter, answer some questions and highlight what we can do going forward.

First of all a bit of history. I started working on this project several years ago. I've poured an embarrassing amount of time into this game, but despite what you may think it never consumed my life. I took 2 years off the project when school got rough and then came back and steamrolled the game to the finish. I vowed to never let this impact my social life and made sure that my peers did the same. This game was a hobby for me; it was a fun way to use my computing background and probably helped me land a job (well....at least a little bit). I also took it as a a way to practice my team leading skills, and I hope I didn't anger anyone that worked on the project (I was very very picky about how people worked on this game). In fact, anyone who worked on the project, feel free to give me feedback on how you felt I did; I'm honestly interested. So back on point, this game is secondary in my life. I'm in a very good place right now and am not willing to jeopardize everything I have for a hobby. I firmly believe that SE is wrong in this case, but I'm not willing to become a martyr over it. I always considered this to be a form of fan art, no different than if someone made a flash video, picture, or novel.

When the C&D came, I ripped the ROM into 4 seperate pieces and flew each piece to a separate part of the world. Each piece is protected -- not just by a giant martial arts trained monkey, but also by a series of riddles that get increasingly difficult. To put it in perspective, destroying this game is probably what Da Vinci would feel like if he had to rip the Mona Lisa in half right before adding the final touches on her finger nails. It's one of the more difficult decisions I've had to make, but remember this is just a hobby for me.

Sad day in videogaming indeed. F#$^ YOU SQUARE-ENIX

Dicks.

Originally posted by fungistratus

I think the gaming community as a whole should be outraged by the actions of Square-Enix.  Below is the director's response to this blasphemy.  Here is a link through digg to destructiod article :  http://digg.com/d1qv8F.

As one of the finest games ever made with no true sequel (chrono cross doesnt count).  These loving fans spent years of their lives createing a 16-bit sequel to the game oh-so-many hold dear.  The game is nearly finished and ready to be released when Square-Enix slaps a cease and desist order to stop the game from releasing. 

NOW the game will never be relased and the hard work that a team of devoted fans went into producing the sequel that Squaresoft (at the time) never had the balls to make is a waste! 

The fans will never get their sequel now and all the hard work these loving fans put into it will never be enjoyed.

I am boycotting all future PURCHASING of any and all of Square-Enix products. 

Up your's Square-Enix!!  If you won't make the game no one can?!!  Seriously do you know how long some of have been waiting for the sequel to the greatest RPG of all time?  Possibly the greatest GAME of all time?  And your going to take this away from us and give us more FFXII SHIT!??  They probably did this because they realized it was better than anything they have put out in years.

As someone else said in a comment on destructoid, "This is why I don't feel bad for corporations over piracy".

FREE THE PEOPLE'S GAME! 

 

C&D: Directors' Response
Mon May 11 19:26:58 2009
by FaustWolf
The following was composed by Agent12 to clarify on the first announcement regarding the very real Cease and Desist Order the Chrono Compendium received from Square Enix on May 8. Some have surmised that the C&D may be a hoax, but rest assured that this situation is real and not a hoax.

Hello Everyone,

If you are not sure what's going, on please take a brief visit to www.crimsonechoes.com.

Pretty intense weekend. I'm sorry for taking so long to respond, as I went white water rafting over the weekend and came back to this little fiasco. This post is going to first give everyone a my feelings on the matter, answer some questions and highlight what we can do going forward.

First of all a bit of history. I started working on this project several years ago. I've poured an embarrassing amount of time into this game, but despite what you may think it never consumed my life. I took 2 years off the project when school got rough and then came back and steamrolled the game to the finish. I vowed to never let this impact my social life and made sure that my peers did the same. This game was a hobby for me; it was a fun way to use my computing background and probably helped me land a job (well....at least a little bit). I also took it as a a way to practice my team leading skills, and I hope I didn't anger anyone that worked on the project (I was very very picky about how people worked on this game). In fact, anyone who worked on the project, feel free to give me feedback on how you felt I did; I'm honestly interested. So back on point, this game is secondary in my life. I'm in a very good place right now and am not willing to jeopardize everything I have for a hobby. I firmly believe that SE is wrong in this case, but I'm not willing to become a martyr over it. I always considered this to be a form of fan art, no different than if someone made a flash video, picture, or novel.

When the C&D came, I ripped the ROM into 4 seperate pieces and flew each piece to a separate part of the world. Each piece is protected -- not just by a giant martial arts trained monkey, but also by a series of riddles that get increasingly difficult. To put it in perspective, destroying this game is probably what Da Vinci would feel like if he had to rip the Mona Lisa in half right before adding the final touches on her finger nails. It's one of the more difficult decisions I've had to make, but remember this is just a hobby for me.

Sad day in videogaming indeed. F#$^ YOU SQUARE-ENIX

 

 

wait a minute. So you are saying that somebody took someone else's intellectual property, used it to make a game and the owners of that property have asked them to stop... took measures to make them stop and this is wrong?

edit: who puts in that amount of work without getting permission to use it in such a matter? If I set a poem to music or use a scene that was written by someone else, I get permission, sign contracts, even pay a small fee if I feel it's worth it.

I would think that making a game, a substantial game, of another company's intellectual property would require at least for them to contact square enix to begin with and just let them know they were doing this.

1)Did they get permesion from SE to make this...no....its there dam fauly for being idiots and knowing nothing of the business world

Originally posted by SgtFrog

1)Did they get permesion from SE to make this...no....its there dam fauly for being idiots and knowing nothing of the business world

EXACTLY! Thank you.

I have to agree with sov and sgt above. IM sorry, but the game, its history, lore and style belong to the company, not the the players.

HOwever, If it truely is close to being released, perhaps those guys should consider offering it for sale to the company. In my mind this would be ideal.

Originally posted by Czzarre

I have to agree with sov and sgt above. IM sorry, but the game, its history, lore and style belong to the company, not the the players.

HOwever, If it truely is close to being released, perhaps those guys should consider offering it for sale to the company. In my mind this would be ideal.

This is true, however they could have stopped it 4 years ago, as its been publicly developed and was about 98% done.

Hence, dicks. As one of the greatist RPG's ever made (Trigger and cross) i was looking foward to this. Its not as if they were making money off of it.

Also, in stark contrast.

Originally posted by Czzarre

I have to agree with sov and sgt above. IM sorry, but the game, its history, lore and style belong to the company, not the the players.

HOwever, If it truely is close to being released, perhaps those guys should consider offering it for sale to the company. In my mind this would be ideal.

That's actually a very good idea.

Tbh if it uses any assets from their games then they can shut it down but making a fan game about the IP then it should be allowed and then Square are dicks. I'm not too bothered about what Square does anyways cause they make shit games.

I'd just give some hackers my IP and ask them to hack my system and take the files off my PC and torrent them.

I agree with all above posts about how they could have notified etc, etc.  But with that argument in mind isn't every side-croller just a copy of Nintendo's Mario Bros?

Still 98 percent done and WHACK!?  Why hasn't Sqaure-Enix made a sequel???  They have had over 10 years to do it.

I truly feel for these guys.  I truly hope that we see this come to frution but you got to admit the IRONY of this whole situatuion only happens in real-life.  You couldnt make this stuff up.

Wait a minute... do you think they did this because an "official" sequel is in the workings? 

Still , I would much rather play Crimson Echoes, the fans could do it way better than Sqaure ever could.  And it's not like they are stealing anything they are just... moving things around.  

AND IT"S FREE!!! they werent going to sell it for money they were giving it away!  Why the hell does Sqaure care? 

I still say F them.     BOYCOTT: ON

Originally posted by John.A.Zoid

I'm not too bothered about what Square does anyways cause they make shit games.

wha? 
They do not... I have loved most of the games... some of their more recent games haven't been that as good as what they have done in the past, but still.

Anyway, I never understood why companies do stuff like this... it just generates hate toward them.
I mean really it wasn't going to hurt them in anyway... if anything it may have helped.

Originally posted by SgtFrog

1)Did they get permesion from SE to make this...no....its there dam fauly for being idiots and knowing nothing of the business world

Precisely.  They don't ask permission, they just go and do it on their own and they're surprised someone is going to stop them for STEALING their intellectual property?  SE must defend their copyrights, it's not an option to ever let anyone mess with their stuff.  If they don't, then the next time they go to court on an infringement case, it can get thrown out because they have a history of not defending their property.

These idiots got exactly what they deserved.

Originally posted by fungistratus

I agree with all above posts about how they could have notified etc, etc.  But with that argument in mind isn't every side-croller just a copy of Nintendo's Mario Bros?

Still 98 percent done and WHACK!?  Why hasn't Sqaure-Enix made a sequel???  They have had over 10 years to do it.

Not unless they're using Mario and Luigi and characters copyrighted by Nintendo.  They don't have sidescrolling gameplay copyrighted, sorry.

As for why SE hasn't made a sequel, who cares?  Not making a sequel isn't an excuse to steal someone else's stuff.

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Originally posted by Czzarre

I have to agree with sov and sgt above. IM sorry, but the game, its history, lore and style belong to the company, not the the players.

HOwever, If it truely is close to being released, perhaps those guys should consider offering it for sale to the company. In my mind this would be ideal.

 

This is true, however they could have stopped it 4 years ago, as its been publicly developed and was about 98% done.

Hence, dicks. As one of the greatist RPG's ever made (Trigger and cross) i was looking foward to this. Its not as if they were making money off of it.

Also, in stark contrast.

Like SgtFrog said, did they ask to use SE assets and IP? I doubt it. They could have asked 4 years ago.

see this is what happens when idiots make games, yes those nerds who wasted 4 years making a game without any permission are idiots because like i said they didnt ask.....

It sucks, but the guy basically stole IP.  And even though he claims it was a hobby...he also claims he landed a job due in part because of what he was doing with Square's IP.

Now, different companies handle things differently.  I guess Square isn't as forgiving as others (such as the Tolkien IP holders and The Hunt for Gollum movie).  Their second mistake was publicizing it.  If it was for fun and to learn things they could have done it in private, learned what they wanted, and been done with it.  But not in the age of teh interwebs!

Originally posted by Mrbloodworth

Originally posted by Czzarre

I have to agree with sov and sgt above. IM sorry, but the game, its history, lore and style belong to the company, not the the players.

HOwever, If it truely is close to being released, perhaps those guys should consider offering it for sale to the company. In my mind this would be ideal.

 

This is true, however they could have stopped it 4 years ago, as its been publicly developed and was about 98% done.

Hence, dicks. As one of the greatist RPG's ever made (Trigger and cross) i was looking foward to this. Its not as if they were making money off of it.

Also, in stark contrast.

True, they COULD have stopped it 4 years ago but how many of these fan devoted projects end up failing?  What I am is saying is why spend the money to shut something down until you know if it is actually going to be sucessful?
 

The fans that created the sequel should rename game change the main characters names.

If they do that im sure they could release the game for free to fans.

I mean its 98% done, how hard could it be to turn the game into its own IP?

Wait a second Internet people go and make something that takes man-decades* of investment with someone else's IP.   Aren't Internet people supposed to already know that companies are forced to be dicks to maintain rights to their own IP in the current legal system.

Letting this project get finished is basically the same as selling all their IP rights to the world(including commercial) since the company set the precedant that they were no longer using/enforcing(therefore unconcerned) their IP rights on Chrono Trigger, especially on insanely large projects like this one.

Why are they even making a clone of a game that Square is still leveraging?

On July 2, 2008, Square Enix announced that they were officially planning to bring Chrono Trigger to the Nintendo DS handheld platform. Composer Yasunori Mitsuda was pleased with the project, exclaiming "finally!" after receiving the news from Square Enix and maintaining, "it's still a very deep, very high-quality game even when you play it today. I'm very interested in seeing what kids today think about it when they play it."[51] Square Enix touted the game by displaying Akira Toriyama's original art at the 2008 Tokyo Game Show.[52]

-Wikipedia

*many many people's total time over several years.

Just goes to prove that you should only use other games as influence, and not copy/remake the dam thing. (See: Countless dead mods on moddb.com that are either anime based, or based on another company's IP)