Ponystars from Acclaim : Pony Island Copy?

Dava

ProfessionalMintyWrangler
Joined
Feb 27, 2007
Messages
278
Looking at some of the art, they did steal some of the fairy pony and dragon pony artwork from pony island.
 
Hmm, thats really interesting....

Having a pony breeding game from another Company is probably a good thing.... though not cool if they are copying the art.....

The art is my main concern. I read somewhere else that Acclaim bought Pony Vallee, who was using LunaCat's art without permission. Maybe Acclaim doesn't know? Their lawyers should have caught that!
 
I saw the thread at the Ponystars forum, but it's been deleted since then. That's too bad.

I took the liberty of emailing Tycho at Penny Arcade, since that's where I originally saw the link. He was promoting Ponystars, so I thought he should know. That, and when the guys at PA take up a cause, the gaming industry listens. Maybe plagiarism will get his interest.
 
Maybe I'm seeing things, but some of the other art looks a bit like traced or copied Hasbro art. >.>
 
Maybe I'm seeing things, but some of the other art looks a bit like traced or copied Hasbro art. >.>

No, you're right. I spotted a piece of Hasbro baby pony lineart on PonyStars. It's been altered to have dragon wings.

ETA: This issue could really use some publicity. If any of you have Digg or Stumble accounts, would you mind submitting it?
 
My jaw DROPPED when I followed the PA link to PonyStars. So blatant! I really hope that something is done. It's awful.
 
I vaguely remember this popping up on PonyIsland a while ago. At least a year ago, I think. XD I was under the impression it had been....taken care of, as it were.

Publicity would be good. The guys at PA will almost certainly be helpful in that. A large company should NOT be able to get away with this.
 
Yeah, its pretty blatant. I'm willing to believe that they didn't know it was traced artwork when they got the rights to it, but I really hope they're doing something about it now. :/
 
I vaguely remember this popping up on PonyIsland a while ago. At least a year ago, I think. XD I was under the impression it had been....taken care of, as it were.

Publicity would be good. The guys at PA will almost certainly be helpful in that. A large company should NOT be able to get away with this.

I looked, and it appears PonyStars was officially released May 22, so it's new. It's an adaptation of Poney Vallee, though, which did start a couple years ago, I think. That might be what you're thinking of.

The outcome of this will depend most on whether the people at PI decide to defend their copyrights. I really hope they do. Otherwise, I'm not sure Acclaim has much incentive to correct the problem.
 
I looked, and it appears PonyStars was officially released May 22, so it's new. It's an adaptation of Poney Vallee, though, which did start a couple years ago, I think. That might be what you're thinking of.

The outcome of this will depend most on whether the people at PI decide to defend their copyrights. I really hope they do. Otherwise, I'm not sure Acclaim has much incentive to correct the problem.

That's what it was! I recognized the stolen fairy ponies with the heart in the tail. XD I can't believe that the stolen art is being recycled. How strange.
 
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Geez, just reading some of the threads on the Ponystars forums makes it seem like they're completely oblivious to the fact that the art is stolen! One guy even says that while the ponies are similar, they're absolutely not the same. What are you, blind?

If PonyIsland isn't going to stand up for itself, hopefully LunaCat will. Her art is so easily recognizable its ridiculous to think a company like Acclaim can't see the theft and pull the plug on Ponystars immediately.
 
wow the art shure is a direct copy from Lunacat :eek:mg:



Isn't acclaim offitaly went in bankruptcy? Acclaim Entertainment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I wonder if the creators of this website are missusing this ex-company.

Acclaim Entertainment did indeed go bankrupt, but they were then bought out and turned into Acclaim Games. They reestablished themselves pretty well with Bots, but now they've gone and done this. This could potentially be a huge embarrassment if they don't do something quick.
 
Acclaim Entertainment did indeed go bankrupt, but they were then bought out and turned into Acclaim Games. They reestablished themselves pretty well with Bots, but now they've gone and done this. This could potentially be a huge embarrassment if they don't do something quick.


i see, thanks :angel2: I was confused. XD
 
We have alot of digg activity from Digg coming in to read the thread....... The more that know, the better. :D

Excellent!

Does anyone recognize any of the art as being copied from other artists? We know some is traced off LunaCat and one is very similar to some Hasbro art. Does anything else appear to be copied?
 
sorry im confusing, is Pony Island is OK and PonyStars is bad?
 
sorry im confusing, is Pony Island is OK and PonyStars is bad?

I'm sorry if I'm understanding wrong, but the issue here is not that they're both games modeled after my little pony, but rather that Ponystarts (back when it was Ponyvillee) took blatant copies of Luna's artwork and its using it for its own game. Now, if they had used their own artwork, I think at most, they would've been accused of being copycats, but I would roll my eyes at that, because there are several horse/pet breeding games out there.

Supposedly, Ponyisland's artwork is different enough from Hasbro's MLP line, that its not breaking copyright law. That's what I heard, anyway.
 
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