The Arsecast: Attack on the Clones

By: Derek Yu

On: July 4th, 2007

Graham Goring, aka The Arsecast Host (or “Thunderwang,” to the ladies), has updated his delightful Arsecast blog with a feature about rip-offs – something we can’t get enough of in this community. This one’s especially great because he tears into the mother of all rip-offs, Snood. Or, as I like to call it, “Pood.” Get it? Because it looks like poo, guys.

Okay, maybe it’s time for bed.

Posted in Community, Developers, Podcasts / Audio | Tags: GrahamGoring, TheArsecast

Arsefan

He makes you call him “Thunderwang” also? ;__________;
meh

Holy crap, he wasn’t kidding about that Abracadabra trailer. I .. I’m at a loss for words.
meh

Holy crap, he wasn’t kidding about that Abracadabra trailer. It.. I– I’m at a loss for words.
raigan

Whenever I’m tempted to question the fact that 99% of consumers are absolutely stupid, I just remember Snood and all doubt vanishes.
ZombiePixel

The image of the woman with the beard made of poo and the wine-bottle-in-the-sphincter pic were totally unnecessary, though. I’m going to have nightmares!
PoV

Whenever I need to cry myself to sleep, I think of Snood.
ZombiePixel

Oh, and can I have that Kill It With Fire image on a t-shirt please?
Dominic White

Just to be picky, the game he complains about ripping off Dig-Dug is actually a clone of Digger.

http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=2736

Despite the underground themes, they’re quite different games – Digger is more like Pacman spliced with Boulderdash.
Dan MacDonald

Hey Graham, I searched the Dex archives this is the only thread I can find that really connects your comments about Pharo’s Curse…

http://www.indiegamer.com/archives/t-1725.html
DrDerekDoctors

Ah, thank’s Dan but it was actually the Blitz BASIC forums where I got into it with the author. Although that’s a nice thread, too, which I’d forgotten about. :)

I’m coming around to seeing Digger as the inspiration now, yes. The enemy styles tally, but given that Digger ripped off DigDug and Alawar’s game trades on the latter’s name I think it’s reasonable to state that the people getting ripped off in this situation are Namco, even if it’s via Windmill Software. ;)
Stwelin

Hah.. haha. It makes me feel bad about loving to play Snood when I was just wee lad. It was fascinating then. (I was like 6, okay?)
codekitchen

Hehe… as a long-time TIGSource reader, I somehow feel compelled to confess that I’m responsible for the ports of Snood to two popular mobile platforms. Flame away if you must.
http://studioeres.com/games/ rinkuhero

“Jupiter Media Metrix did a study in 2001 to find the most played games and Snood placed ninth with 1.5 million unique users. This is most notable because most of the games on the list were those that came with various versions of Windows (such as the top ranked game, Solitaire, with 46.7 million users).” -Wikipedia
http://www.merseyremakes.co.uk/gibber Oddbob

Thunderwang is *so* sticking now.
DrDerekDoctors

Yeah. I really should wash it more…
raigan

1.5M seems pretty low for 9th place.. was this shareware-only?
siiseli

my grandpas beat kings valley 2 a thousand times :D
http://blog.dessgeega.com dessgeega

i don’t think snood’s success has anything to do with the stupidity of consumers – i think it’s just easier for the average windows user to get her hands on than, say, the puzzle bobble 2 rom, a copy of mame, and a usb joystick to play it with. that it can sell so well despite its beady little uglyfaces is simply a testament to the strength of the original’s design.

and, incidentally, i think arkanoid adds a lot to breakout rather than simply duplicating it.
Ilia Chentsov

>Heheâ€¦ as a long-time TIGSource reader, I somehow feel compelled to confess that Iâ€™m responsible for the ports of Snood to two popular mobile platforms.

Did you work for Cybiko?
… Well, you said “popular”. Sorry.
http://www.arsecast.com DrDerekDoctors

You’re quite right, Dessgeega, part of the reason for these clones is reticence on the part of Japanese developers to produce decent ports of their games for the PC in a timely manner.

If there was a version of Puzzle Bobble available for the PC (preferably via download) which had used decent resolution graphics then there’s no way something as plainly awful as Snood would ever have done those numbers.
Sic Jake

I can’t for the life of me see how Snood is allowed to prosper. Bust-A-Move was classic, but Snood has so little charm. I got my girlfriends little sister about to buy Snood. I smacked away her hand and shouted out for the whole store to hear “Thou shalt not purchase filth in cart form!!”. She has since been exiled from the family and/or stoned to death.
http://www.arsecast.com DrDerekDoctors

Sic Jake: Good. It’s the only way they’ll learn. ;)
Optrirominiluikus

Haha, good read. Yes, that Snood business is one of the ugliest things I have seen in a long time.