this post was submitted on 31 Jan 2024
148 points (92.5% liked)

Games

39974 readers
1515 users here now

Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.

Rules

1. Submissions have to be related to games

Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.

This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.

2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil

No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.

We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.

3. No excessive self-promotion

Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.

This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.

4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts

This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you're submitting before posting to see if it's already been posted.

We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.

5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW

Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.

No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.

6. No linking to piracy

Don't share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.

We don't want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.

Authorized Regular Threads

Related communities

PM a mod to add your own

Video games

Generic

Help and suggestions

By platform

By type

By games

Language specific

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Something something digital ownership

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 39 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

So its due to sync rights. Oof. I wonder if some of the song licenses (looking at you, Experience Hendrix) are the culprit.

The Line really is an example of a painfully average game held up by its narrative, and hot damn, how well it held up. I adore some of the moments of this game, especially for their vicissitude.

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

It gets really murky and there is a question of intent but... I think it is truly elevated by how painfully average it is. That is the game that everyone was making and playing, right down to the overhead camera explosives shot with the mortars.

And what made The Line "work" is that... it pointed out how fucked up it is that this is so normalized. We had been trained, arguably indoctrinated, by so many Call of Duty style games that there was zero question about how fucked up what we were doing was.

Of course, because Gamers, everyone instead lost their shit and got angry that there was a false choice because they were being told they should walk away but weren't given a button prompt and a special ending to do so. Rather than understanding that "walking away" is... maybe not buying the annual, rather mid, "shoot brown people in the middle east' simulator.

I believe that the game being mid was an intentional thing done to make you dislike the gameplay.

[–] p03locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 year ago

Of course, because Gamers, everyone instead lost their shit and got angry that there was a false choice because they were being told they should walk away but weren’t given a button prompt and a special ending to do so.

F

[–] CharlesReed@kbin.social 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The licenses referenced likely have to do with the game’s music. During the The Line’s menu screen, Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” can be heard while the game’s soundtrack includes Martha and The Vandellas’ “Nowhere to Run.”

The same thing happened to the first Alan Wake before they worked something out to get it back (even though it took almost a decade). Consequently, that's also one of the reasons they wrote original songs for the sequel. It's very much a gamble these days to license music for games. More or less puts it on a timeline to be removed at some point.

[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Couldn't they just insist on a perpetual license?

[–] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Perpetual sync rights licenses aren't unheard of, but typically these require an ongoing revenue split of sales or a big up front. More often than not, limited rights are used to save scratch and because its going to be for a set period, like 30 days (for an ad campaign).

In fact, I wouldn't be shocked if Take Two opted for perpetual, and decided they won't afford a per unit sale anymore, and pulled the game to stop paying.

[–] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 2 points 1 year ago

So basically music rights owners are too greedy and demand so much money for a reasonable license they have publishers can't afford it? Sounds about right.

[–] CharlesReed@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

If you have time for some reading, here's a really great article from a few years ago that talks about licensing in video games and how complicated it can be (the first half of the article is really the only relevant part). Depending on what exactly you want to do with the music in/with the game, a developer could be looking at having to deal with more than one license. I imagine it could get expensive very easily.

[–] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Pyrocynical used Midge Ure's cover of "The Man Who Sold the World" in a video covering Half-Life 2 or a mod of it, and that meant Midge needed a cut, the original writer David Bowie, his estate needed a cut, Kobalt Songs, who owns the rights for Midge's cover needed a cut, Warner Chappal, who owns the Bowie library needed a cut, ASCAP needed a cut, PRS needed a cut...

You only get a small fraction of who owns what off SongView. It's a removed. Pyro paid $24,000 for the sync rights. That's the budget for like five of his videos right there.

I wish this process was easier. Contacting a label's sync office is typically the start of the nightmare.

[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Or just remove the music or whatever..

[–] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Unfortunately, there's some thematically appropriate uses in the game and this is sometimes applicable in other media.

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Ooh a new word