Geometry Wars was 'supposed to be' free
by John Bardinelli 
{ Mar 16th 2007 at 11:29AM }
In a recent interview with IGN, Ben Ward of Bizarre Creations said Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was intended to be a free gift to hardcore gamers. They eventually realized they couldn't pull it off, so they went with the bare minimum price Microsoft would allow: 400 points. As we all know, Bizarre later attacked the free Geometry Wars clone for the PC, Grid Wars, claiming it "impacted the sales" of their game. Why so uptight when they wanted their game to be free in the first place? We understand that operating a business requires you to protect your intellectual property, but if the intention was to give it away, clones shouldn't be an issue. Either the Grid Wars fiasco was Microsoft-induced or these latest comments are nothing more than PR-speak. Something doesn't quite add up.
[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Emotep @ Mar 16th 2007 11:32AM
It's funny how Geometry Wars has nothing to do with geometry.
fwacce @ Mar 16th 2007 11:34AM
It's funny how first posts are irrelevant to the topic at hand.
Noxat @ Mar 16th 2007 8:02PM
I don't even understand what the issue is here. Whether they intended the game to be free or not its their right to protect their IP however they wish. And regardless if it was *supposed* to be free, its a payed product now so they have the right to protect it from rip-offs like any other product.
SuMtOnE @ Mar 16th 2007 11:38AM
why state sumthin to be free... and charge the consumer later?
Jack of No Trades @ Mar 16th 2007 11:38AM
First you put a price tag on it. If it sells leave it alone. If it doesn't sell drop price or make it free.
Intentless @ Mar 16th 2007 11:43AM
budget
GJM @ Mar 16th 2007 11:50AM
Um, you do know that Geometry deals with lines, shapes, and curves and Geometry Wars has all of those?
Viridium @ Mar 16th 2007 11:56AM
Even if it was free, I wouldn't download the full version of this crappy game. Just didn't like it.
darthhk @ Mar 17th 2007 4:31AM
I wouldnt call geometry wars "intellectual property". Its a bunch of lines, shapes, and colors. I mean, just star into a lit candle or a light bulb (properly turned "on") and then close you're eyes. Bam. Same thing.
GJM @ Mar 16th 2007 12:03PM
"Even if it was free, I wouldn't download the full version of this crappy game. Just didn't like it."
I don't care for the game much myself, but to call it crappy is bit doltish. You do know it's a pretty well regarded game by most people, right?
Silver Gecko @ Mar 25th 2007 4:24PM
Just because they said they wanted it to be free at one point, doesn't make it right for someone else to rip off the game on the PC. With Microsoft's Live service for the PC, I'm guessing they may have other plans for that game anyway, and they have every right to have a problem with having their game stolen.
pOOpTarT @ Mar 16th 2007 12:35PM
Free to the public doesn't mean Bizarre was giving it away... it means Microsoft was giving it away. Bizarre would get paid by MS, who would in turn give it away. Of course Bizarre wants to work closely with MS, and once a price was attached to the product, any clone would hurt sales.
Shagittarius @ Mar 16th 2007 12:13PM
I agree , I didn't care for geometry wars either. I think the casual gamers love it though. I personally got enough of the Robotron style of gameplay back in the 80s.
Jake @ Mar 16th 2007 12:31PM
@1
Geometry is the study of lines, angles, and shapes. War is when two or more things try to destroy eachother. Geometry Wars is about lines, angles, and shapes trying to destroy eachother.
You are dumb.
james @ Mar 16th 2007 12:36PM
Lol the trolls are out in force today!
Ian @ Mar 16th 2007 1:57PM
I sure do love Geometry Wars. To be honest, I'd probably pay £10 just for it. My top score is 2.5mil and it continues to grow. I don't think Grid Wars really did impeed the sales of GW since the quality of GW is just immense.
http://www.MarioKartWii.com
trent @ Mar 16th 2007 12:51PM
im not sure if any of you uber geniuses caught it, but i think #1 was a sarcastic remark.
just a thought.
GJM @ Mar 16th 2007 1:06PM
#1 was most certainly *not* sarcastic, but you sure make james even more correct.
Dan @ Mar 16th 2007 1:11PM
PS3 suXKCZs, and Wii360 RoXx0r5!"! U AR3 all teh loosers.!"! I Am teh b35t cos i hav brand name h8 fever WO0OT!! Geomootery wars us on 360, it is teh pwns all you yu Ps3 boy-fans!!
^^ why none of this?
ssuk @ Mar 16th 2007 1:33PM
Uh, well... Joystiq, did you even think about this for a second? If they wanted to give it away free, but in the end realised it wasn't going to happen... Why would they attack a free variation of the game? BECAUSE THEY REALISED THEY NEEDED TO MAKE PROFIT OFF OF IT. Jesus H. Christ... Common sense, much?
Judd @ Mar 16th 2007 1:46PM
Can someone remind me again why they are charging $8 for this title when it comes out for the PC?
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/03/07/geometry-wars-vista-available-on-msn-games/
Liqwid @ Mar 16th 2007 1:54PM
It is free, if you have GPR3. You can play it in the garage all you want.
jonnydaemo @ Mar 16th 2007 1:56PM
people only hate the game when they can't play it...not everyone has the coordination to handle it. unlike most games you can't get better at this one, you either have 'it' or you don't...
trent @ Mar 16th 2007 2:24PM
Geometry is defined as “the branch of mathematics that deals with the deduction of the properties, measurement, and relationships of points, lines, angles, and figures in space from their defining conditions by means of certain assumed properties of space”
Sarcasm is defined as “a sharply ironical taunt”
Irony is defined as “a technique of indicating... an intention or attitude opposite to that which is actually or ostensibly stated.”
Everything of course is indirectly related to geometry since everything is somewhat geometrical in nature and can be expressed as an equation or visualized as simple geometric primitives. Since the art style of the game is sharply geometric, this is where it derives its title. As stated above, the more typical definition of geometry is mathematical (at least to a more tech savvy crowd). The game itself does not deal with these mathematical formulations (though it is of course driven by such formulation), hence it appears to be somewhat misleading.
The statement is clearly sarcastic in its presentation since it is pointing out the irony of a game with a title that does not necessarily relate to the common definition of said title. Upon deeper inspection, the game does merit its title based on the subtle behavioral changes of each “enemy” which are most easily identified by their geometric shape or shapes.
Hence the statement was clearly “indicating an intention opposite to that which is ostensibly stated”
the2bears @ Mar 16th 2007 2:33PM
I'm still not sure what Bizarre owns here? Glowy squares? Robotron gameplay? I guess borrowing ideas is all fair until it happens to you.
Bill
GJM @ Mar 16th 2007 2:36PM
@trent
Why I am feeding the troll I have no idea but... I think it's pretty obvious that #1 meant it in the terms of what does Geometry Wars have to do with Algebra? Do you get my gist? I don't think they know the term Geometry in any other way except that it's a "math class" and of course what would Geometry Wars have to do with a math class.
trent @ Mar 16th 2007 2:48PM
@23 youve stated simply what my long tirade was intended to convey.
also i appreciate that you've fed me. thank you.
dark @ Mar 16th 2007 2:46PM
What does this game has to do with geometry?
MOT @ Mar 16th 2007 4:12PM
I much prefer Grid Wars, anyway.
Imadogg99 @ Mar 16th 2007 7:40PM
23 - "Sarcasm is defined as 'a sharply ironical taunt'"
The post was ironic yes. But it's not a taunt if Emotep was too dumb to know what Geometry means. Thanks.
And even if he was trying to be sarcastic, he needs some lessons or something, sarcasm does not look like that.
On topic: GW being free would be awesome, maybe coming with Hexic on the HDD for premium users... but $5 ain't bad.
kavika @ Mar 17th 2007 1:29PM
Remember the legal battle of tetris clones? The clones won. I think that's precedent enough.