Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Removing Zuma from CNET's downloads

Feb 13, 2007 4:11AM PST

I was not sure where to post this, but Zuma should not be available for download here. Zuma is an illegal copyright violation of an arcade game from 1998 called PuzzLoop. Really, the fact that it exists is bad enough, but to tell people "you have to give us $20.00 for a game in which they only work we did on it was to turn the launcher into a frog". They didn't earn that money, so at no point should they be allowed to make any off of it.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
It's never gone to court...
Feb 13, 2007 4:38AM PST

The developer of PuzzLoop has threatened to sue PopCap Games, the developers of Zuma, but has so far declined to persue any such action. Unless they do sue PopCap Games and a court rules in their favor there is no reason for the game to be pulled, unless PopCap Games decides to voluntarilly concede Mitchell Corporation's right to the design.

Also, it's important to note that the claim is concerning the design, not the code itself. As far as I know, PopCap developers coded the game from scratch, but used the same general design. Thus, they did do all of the work aside from creating an entirely new look.

John

- Collapse -
See Plagiarism section at link.
Feb 13, 2007 4:43AM PST
- Collapse -
True, but...
Feb 13, 2007 4:59AM PST

...They only didn't go to court because it's difficult for them (according to the interview). The creator of Zuma hates PopCap Games, which speaks to how much Mitchell approves of its existence.

Look at how many games are ripoffs made by PopCap Games -

Bejeweled - Zoo Keeper
Zuma - PuzzLoop
Dynomite - Bust-a-Move
AstroPop - Magical Drop
Big Money - Collapse

It's no coincidence.

There's no legal reason to remove it, just a moral one - they shouldn't be profiting off of everyone else's ideas.

- Collapse -
Could be extended to other than games.
Feb 14, 2007 3:45AM PST

Sorry but if the copyright owners don't work at it.

-> If you want to pursue this, be sure to ask the right people through the right channels. This is a discussion forum, not the right channel.

Bob