Homebrew based on Microsoft franchises now allowed?

[IamAbe]

why is everyone so negative??? anyway, i'm shocked microsoft did that, now if nintendo did something like that....

[Broadus]

So we can't make anything, but we can record stuff and put it on YouTube worry-free.

[Joe88]

why is everyone so negative??? anyway, i'm shocked microsoft did that, now if nintendo did something like that....

well theres so many rules and restrictions that nobody even wants to bother with it
and just take the easy route...

[pibs]

Well they are a few strict rules.

Few? lol leave it to microsoft to suck the life out of everything

[Eyedunno]

While I agree that this probably won't lead to anything amazing, I think it's a step in the right direction, and it shows that Microsoft has some respect for its consumer base. I've never had a strong desire to own a Microsoft console, but it's mainly because I'm not interested in the games and not because I hate Microsoft. Like any big corporation, Microsoft is easy to dislike, but they pay attention to the consumers, and have for a long time.

Now Sony, on the other hand...

[yaustar]

Well, nothing is saying you can't make a homebrew game using screen grabs. For example, you can make a sprite sheet of Master Chief using screen grabs as long as it doesn't refer to the Halo name or universe.

Thin line but I can't see anything in the rules that says you can't do that (barring IP rule which is very gray and open to interpretation).

[Jayenkai]

Much like SonofSamus, I'll agree that the "No backstories/lost chapters/etc" thing is a bit dumb.

I mean.. What else is there?
Unless you're just going to point-blank port the games, or do a "In 2D!!" thing, what else can you really do with it?

[yaustar]

New stories/IP not related to Halo (e.g Like Red vs Blue did).

[b8a]

I'm not a fan of Microsoft or any of the games listed, but even I can see that this is a generally positive move.

PSPDemon's Halo Iris mod recieved a cease and desist that didn't really make sense to anybody at the time, but thanks to this policy change anyone who attempted to create such a mod would be 100% in the clear now (as far as I can tell).

And actually, the policy posted doesn't explicitly grant many rights that US citizens didn't already have, but by making this policy public, Microsoft is essentially acknowledging those rights, which means that you no longer need to worry about them threatening you over related shaky legal concepts. Being the highly litigious company that they are, that should deffinately count as good news.

[yaustar]

PSPDemon's Halo Iris mod recieved a cease and desist that didn't really make sense to anybody at the time, but thanks to this policy change anyone who attempted to create such a mod would be 100% in the clear now (as far as I can tell).

Not really. The Halo mod infringes on MS IP. It is using the Halo name and using new assets that look very similar to the actual game. Since you are not using the original game content 'output' (ie not actual assets), the homebrew assets are technically infringing on the IP of MS's Halo.

It is a legal gray area that isn't fully explained in the statement.