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Accusations of Plagiarism in Tiberium Alliances Unit Designs

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An article on the French gaming site JeuxVideo.fr has accused EA of plagiarism of the designs and appearance for some of The Forgotten faction's units in Tiberium Alliances. Most notably, the Bombard Tank and Grinder Tank appear to be copies of the Baneblade and Ork Bonecruncha seen the Warhammer 40K universe. Here's the the picture so you can judge for yourself:



There is no denying that they look very similar, almost too similar. However, a tank with a big grinding mechanism is not new to the C&C universe - see the Soviet Grinder Tank from Red Alert 3: Uprising. You can view an English translation of the article from JeuxVideo.fr, as well as some ongoing discussion posted on Reddit where this was first raised. Moreover, some people already mentioned this a month ago when we posted the artwork of the The Forgotten Bombard Tank.

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The similarities far outweigh the differences. I can't believe they would just rip off designs though, how could it go unnoticed? There must be more to this...

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And also in YR.

Yeah, I actually thought of the Lasher first, but I suppose it's because I've played a whole lot more YR than UR.

 

The spiked roller wasn't ever really spotlighted in YR though, so a casual gamer could easily overlook it.

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Didn't realize they were that "similar" until I saw the comparison montages. It's pretty much what a model would turn out if I was given the W40k pictures and instructed to make a 3D model. With so many key shapes and details from the W40k models being present in the TA models, the intent to copy is the only explanation I have.

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Now this is one of the reasons why I can't trust EA on developing such a game like this, making rip-off designs from another game(s). Unbelievable.

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The Scooper Tank looks straight out of Warhammer... I think it's a Predator or Annihilator or something, I don't actually play WH40K so I'm not sure, but there's a tank with the twin guns, the two protrusions in the back, tracks like that, and the dozer blade up front.

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However, a tank with a big grinding mechanism is not new to the C&C universe - see the Soviet Grinder Tank from Red Alert 3: Uprising.

True, but this one has two cannons like the WH one.

The Bombard tank even has the small cannon on the rear tread like the WH original, so this confirms my previous opinion on EA Phenomic as a group of lazy people.

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It's hard to tell whether or not you are being sarcastic about showing concern regarding software industry giant Electronic Arts lifting designs for vehicles that are used in THQ's WH40K Dawn of War video game series, which are based upon long-time tabletop gaming king Games Workshop's well-known "Warhammer 40K" series. I think many industry observers and consumers find that kind of behavior troubling, what's your take on it?

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Warhammer's tanks lifted the look and feel of a tank from General Dynamics. We should get upset about it. It's a really big deal.

 

/No, seriously

//Get mad

Edited by Aircraftkiller

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Unless its a exact duplicate, I don't think there is an issue here.

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So if they change the length of the barrel by 1%, that's good enough for you because it is no longer exact?

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Unless its a exact duplicate, I don't think there is an issue here.

It pretty much is. They've copied all major components and even most details.

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There's really only so much you can do with a tank. They look similar but they are not identical. Even if they were, who's going to file a lawsuit? Who's going to complain besides people who look at this **** with a magnifying glass? Certainly there are worse judgment calls that EA has made over the years which deserve better scrutiny than whether or not a few tanks look similar to an obscure board game.

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They look similar but they are not identical. (...) Who's going to complain besides people who look at this **** with a magnifying glass?

You can be a really weak-sighted man and still say they're the same. The TA ones are only coloured.

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Looks like there is more....

 

0kdcz.jpg

 

jOvzL.jpg

 

eatky.jpg

 

http://forum.allianc...ad.php?tid=4925

 

Some posted this on the Tiberium Alliances forum, they raise the issue the EA Phenomic live support staff or something. If this is true these 2 designs will be removed apparently.

 

Copyright issues will be resolved

 

I have spoken to a gentleman in live support chat about the copyright issues with the two forgotten tanks. He forwarded the information to the EA concern department, and he assures me these designs will be removed from the game.

 

Everyone can relax now.

 

http://forum.allianc...ad.php?tid=4937

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Wow thats nuts. Never figured EA for stealing unit designs. They do look insanely similar though. Tough break for EA lol.

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olol I posted images

 

Outside of nerds and geeks, you're not going to find many people that know what Warhammer is. Believe it or not, there are quite a few people that simply don't know about it and a substantial amount that don't care to know about it.

 

Ultramarines: A Warhammer 40,000 Movie was released directly to DVD

 

LOL

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But you forget, Aircraftkiller, that those who do know about it are ravenous fanboys that scream louder than any apathetic masses. If it's there, you'll be certain they're going to complain about it.

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You are right, of course. I imagine that they see the issue of "plagiarized" tanks as much more important than the EA corporate structure that cheapens the art of video game development.

Edited by Aircraftkiller

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Although Tiberium Alliances could hardly be classified as a video game.

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Outside of nerds and geeks, you're not going to find many people that know what Warhammer is. Believe it or not, there are quite a few people that simply don't know about it and a substantial amount that don't care to know about it.

 

So you're telling me people who don't play games don't know about games? Say it ain't so! I bet a lot of them don't like fine art or classical music and wouldn't care if a popular piece was determined to be plagiarized. But this happens to be a video game forum thread about the video games industry, so let's review instead of distract:

 

But being realistic, when Warhammer: Dawn of War II was released in early 2009, it topped worldwide sales charts, screaming past Red Alert 3, Spore, WoW's Lich King expansion, Fallout 3, Call of Duty: World at War, and Left 4 Dead, which are hardly niche titles unless you live under a rock and don't know what Warcraft or Call of Duty are.

 

It's also been in the top 50 games played on Steam for the past 3 years running, so it's not as obscure as you'd like to pretend.

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What I'm telling you is that you're one of the "privileged" few who gives a **** about a table top game that requires an investment of time, crafting, and money to play. My old guild leader in WoW used to create WH miniatures for games. How many people do you know that play games are willing to invest the time to hand paint miniatures to play pretend battles on a board they built themselves? I hear crickets, or people who have no significant others.

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