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God of War (2005) versus Olympiad (2002)


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This is a bit older in context, I did a follow up on it for a magazine here in San Francisco. I am curious to see what you guys have to say on this subject. After reading the complaint, I have to say its really seems like something could be up here. I am one free to say almost every idea anyone has had for a form of entertainment has been done at least twice, normally you will see two movies alot alike with diffrences here and there that set them apart. (Examples: Dante's Peak/Volcano, Deep Impact/Armageddon). In this event its the things that should set them apart that seem very suspicious. Take it all in and give your thoughts back on this one, my guess is Sony did in fact still some ideas from this script and since God of War is there biggest intellectual property (in my opinion) i think sony will pay big money to keep this out of court and under wraps as much as possible.

 

What you are about to read was posted on Digg, Kotaku, and IGN.

 

(Note: When you see the maps, you must note that the map for Olympiad was drawn three years previous to the printing of the God of War manual.

 

 

- Indie

 

 

 

 

 

God of War (2005) versus Olympiad (2002)

 

In a complaint filed in California's U.S. District Court, writer Jonathan Bissoon-Dath and artist Jennifer Barrette-Herzon claim that Sony's God of War swipes work from screenplays, synopses and a map submitted to the company in 2002.

The legal issue will be decided by deep pockets and, conceivably, a jury. The moral issue is simpler to determine. Is there anything truly original in Bissoon-Dath's take on an otherwise well-trodden Olympic scenario, or are both properties derivative of other sources? Is it all just so much Clash of the Titans with glowy swords?

 

It's easy to assume the latter. Anticipating this assumption, the complaint says that the similarities go beyond even substantial similarity. It asserts that God of War is "strikingly" derivative of the original components to the plaintiffs' work.

 

Bissoon-Dath claims to have created his scenario between summer 2001 and October 2002, incorporating Greek history and mythology but with original central characters. In 2001, he wrote a screenplay called Theseus, followed by a shorter version of the same story, titled Owen. There was also a two-page synopsis, referred to as Olympiad Version A, "another version of the same story," and a completed screenplay, Olympiad.

 

The other plaintiff, Barrette-Herzog, created an illustrated map, Island at the Edge of the Living World, to go with Owen's work.

 

Starting in January 2002, the complaint says, the pair pitched their creation to Sony and companies that do business with Sony, who then "actively collaborated with each other regarding Plaintiff's works." Acting on their behalf, L.A. attorney Judith Karfiol sent the materials on to the Monteiro-Rose Agency, Ken Sherman & Associates, and Josh Berman, all companies who "regularly do business" with Sony. Bissoon-Dath also pitched Olympiad directly, in October 2002, to Sony Pictures Entertainment.

 

The basic claim is that Sony's God of War, released in early 2005 after a development cycle that started at the same time as Bissoon-Dath submitted his screenplay to Sony, swiped "plot, story, themes, dialogue, mood, setting, pace, characters, relationships among characters, settings, tone, detail and sequence of events" from Bissoon-Dath's writings, and much of the in-game map from that made by Barrette-Herzon.

 

The specifics given as evidence of copying range from the eye-rolling ("conflicts between gods," and dual-wielded swords resemble "light sabers") to the eyebrow-raising (both maps having similarly-named regions in the same spots).

 

Included in the complaint are the following similarities between each work:

 

• A champion saves Athens from destruction by an invading Spartan army sent by Ares.

 

• The earthly conflict is mirrored on Mount Olympus as conflict between the gods.

 

• The champion is chosen by Zeus and Athena to embark on a quest distinguished by relentless hand-to-hand combat.

 

• The champion's family is murdered in their peaceful village. In both stories, the protagonist feels guilt for this, despite not being responsible, and seeks absolution through his quest. In the plaintiff's tale, he hides while his parents are hacked to death, while in God of War, the protagonist is tricked by Ares into killing his wife and child.

 

• Kratos, the protagonist of God of War possesses "brutish and animalistic" qualities modeled on the plantiff's bad guy, Gaylon: they are both Spartan commanders who worship Ares fanatically at the stories' outset. Much is made of their rage and lack of self-control, claimed to be an original element contrary to the general presentation of Spartans as disciplined and even-keeled soldiers.

 

• Kratos gets two glowing sword-like blades on chains fused to his wrists. Bissoon-Dath believes this is taken from a scene in his work where Zeus's hands "morph into two massive swords that glow like light sabers."

 

• The destruction of the hero's village and family, which serves to initiate a "turning point" in the hero's life. (Readers, put your Joseph Campbell away and stop laughing.)

 

• In both stories, the gods appear as expressionless statues around a pool of water, in which they see a vision of the Spartan commanders. The statues "morph" into life.

 

• The plaintiff's work depicts a region called the Bottomless Valley. God of War has a Bottomless Chasm. Both appear at the same point in the story, and are traversed by rickety suspension bridges.

 

• The gods, in both stories, try to resolve their disputes without resorting to destructive war. In particular, both stories contain a scene wherein Zeus admonishes Ares and Athena for their bickering. (Perhaps the complaint's author hasn't read The Iliad)

 

• Both stories depict Satyrs unusually. In Greek myth, the complaint says, satyrs are portrayed as "playful" lovers of wine, women and boys. In both the Olympus stories and God of War, however, they are "sinister minions" and soldiers of Hades.

 

• Both stories "redefine" gods as being mortal, in defiance of traditional myth.

 

Onto the maps.

 

Barrette-Herzon's Map:

http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp348/TheIndependent/Forum%20Images/Map1.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

God of War's Map

http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp348/TheIndependent/Forum%20Images/Map2.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

• Barette-Herzog's map has a Meadow of Lost Souls flanked by dark silhouettes. God of War's in-game map has an area called the Desert of Lost Souls, flanked by similar figures. In each map, both regions are bordered by dark, triangular trees or mountains.

 

• Both maps use similar symbol for the hero's destination, a mountain range with a small, round door beneath the highest peak.

 

• Both maps have similar geography, with the sea at the bottom. "The look and feel of the maps and their layout is strikingly similar," writes the complaint's author.

 

Copyright in the U.S. applies automatically at the moment of creation: you don't have to register work with the Copyright office to get it. However, Bissoon-Dath neglected to register his stories until 2006, which could limit the damages he receives should he prevail. He did, however, file the works with private IP-registration databases in 2002, which may help establish his time-line.

 

First impression: most of the complaint riffs on extremely generic monomythic elements. Claiming propriety over heavenly conflicts mirroring those on Earth, for example, is quite ridiculous. A hero's journey starting with the death of his family, statues of gods coming to life, glowing weapons? Come, now... he even called them light sabers in his own original treatment. That bird will not fly.

 

The overall spread of structural similarities, however, is more striking: plot elements tied to specific imagery are just the sort of thing that can give a distinctive and novel character to even the most hackneyed retreads.

 

The maps are more convincing, to my mind, particularly the naming of and spacial relationships surrounding the "lost souls" areas. I can believe that whoever drew the latter saw the former.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The maps look nothing alike. Nothing is in the same place on either map. God of War map is more dark and desert like, while the other story has forests and rivers. They have the river of styx on the map next to their meadow, in God of War you had to go into the underworld to get there. if someone can prove me wrong please just explain to me how the maps are anything alike.

 

one other thing that makes me laugh is that they claimed that it was their idea that members of the Spartan Army would praise Ares...when Ares to the best of my knowledge was the God of Sparta as well as war. Alot of this is just ridiculous

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update on this:

 

The suit is very much still active and looking like sony will end up paying out.

 

The most damaging elements are specifics to the story line:

 

"• The plaintiff's work depicts a region called the Bottomless Valley. God of War has a Bottomless Chasm. Both appear at the same point in the story, and are traversed by rickety suspension bridges."

 

"• In both stories, the gods appear as expressionless statues around a pool of water, in which they see a vision of the Spartan commanders. The statues "morph" into life."

 

As of current, moments such as this are really what is giving wieght to the case. The script for "Olympiad" and the script for "God of War" are being looked at currently to determine if several known segments are considered too unique to have been original idea's by two groups.

 

 

As for your questions on the maps. Not having written the article, when i first saw it I said to myself, the first map really feels like a beta or sketch drawing of what the second map became.

 

You have likely played God of War, I have not myself. I have no idea of the setting in which you described, but its easy to see some things that make you say hmmmm.

 

 

The journalist who wrote the peice stated:

 

"The maps are more convincing, to my mind, particularly the naming of and spacial relationships surrounding the "lost souls" areas. I can believe that whoever drew the latter saw the former."

 

 

Now I can believe in complete coincidence, but in things like "IP" this is a very thin line. Both area's are titled "Something of Lost Souls". Both area's seem to be protected by dark figures (though stick men, vs. god of wars more statue type creatures). Both are surrounded by triangle shaped objects (though this can be more of a coincidence).

 

The layout is very concept art(olympiad) vs final art(god of war).

 

Those are my opinions on the matter.

 

I think sony/david j. may have taken some idea's here from when this story was given to them. I do not think it was a 100% theft, but if the court can find enough likeness I believe sony will pay out.

 

And lets be honest here, it's not like they didn't steal the idea of dual shock from someone, and it took years to come to light. When it did, sony refused to pay up and got stripped from rumble (original PS3 controllers) while microsoft paid out and ran with it. Not saying microsoft will get god of war at all, but I don't think you should see them as a "clean company"

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  • 1 month later...

I have to stop you there in the movie comparison, first to your point, yes it is true, almost no idea is new or generally speaking unique and fresh.

 

Unless we do paraplegic shooting games and other weird crap nothing will be original anymore.

 

But to my point, this is very little known but Volcano/Dante's Peak were movie studios competing, same with, Wyatt Earp/Tombstone even centered around the same character. Armageddon/Deep Impact, a few more that I'm forgetting they even came out at the same time. All competition by movie studios.

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