The Arsecast: Attack on the Clones

Posted by Derek Yu Wed, 04 Jul 2007 06:55:00 GMT

Snood Sucks

Graham Goring, aka The Arsecast Host (or “Thunderwang,” to the ladies), has updated his delightful Arsecast blog with a feature about rip-offs – something we can’t get enough of in this community. This one’s especially great because he tears into the mother of all rip-offs, Snood. Or, as I like to call it, “Pood.” Get it? Because it looks like poo, guys.

Okay, maybe it’s time for bed.


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Comments

  1. Arsefan said about 2 hours later:

    He makes you call him “Thunderwang” also? ;;

  2. meh said about 2 hours later:

    Holy crap, he wasn’t kidding about that Abracadabra trailer. I .. I’m at a loss for words.

  3. meh said about 2 hours later:

    Holy crap, he wasn’t kidding about that Abracadabra trailer. It.. I– I’m at a loss for words.

  4. raigan said about 4 hours later:

    Whenever I’m tempted to question the fact that 99% of consumers are absolutely stupid, I just remember Snood and all doubt vanishes.

  5. ZombiePixel said about 5 hours later:

    The image of the woman with the beard made of poo and the wine-bottle-in-the-sphincter pic were totally unnecessary, though. I’m going to have nightmares!

  6. PoV said about 5 hours later:

    Whenever I need to cry myself to sleep, I think of Snood.

  7. ZombiePixel said about 5 hours later:

    Oh, and can I have that Kill It With Fire image on a t-shirt please?

  8. Dominic White said about 6 hours later:

    Just to be picky, the game he complains about ripping off Dig-Dug is actually a clone of Digger.

    http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=2736

    Despite the underground themes, they’re quite different games - Digger is more like Pacman spliced with Boulderdash.

  9. Dan MacDonald said about 6 hours later:

    Hey Graham, I searched the Dex archives this is the only thread I can find that really connects your comments about Pharo’s Curse…

    http://www.indiegamer.com/archives/t-1725.html

  10. DrDerekDoctors said about 7 hours later:

    Ah, thank’s Dan but it was actually the Blitz BASIC forums where I got into it with the author. Although that’s a nice thread, too, which I’d forgotten about. :)

    I’m coming around to seeing Digger as the inspiration now, yes. The enemy styles tally, but given that Digger ripped off DigDug and Alawar’s game trades on the latter’s name I think it’s reasonable to state that the people getting ripped off in this situation are Namco, even if it’s via Windmill Software. ;)

  11. Stwelin said about 7 hours later:

    Hah.. haha. It makes me feel bad about loving to play Snood when I was just wee lad. It was fascinating then. (I was like 6, okay?)

  12. codekitchen said about 8 hours later:

    Hehe… as a long-time TIGSource reader, I somehow feel compelled to confess that I’m responsible for the ports of Snood to two popular mobile platforms. Flame away if you must.

  13. rinkuhero said about 8 hours later:

    “Jupiter Media Metrix did a study in 2001 to find the most played games and Snood placed ninth with 1.5 million unique users. This is most notable because most of the games on the list were those that came with various versions of Windows (such as the top ranked game, Solitaire, with 46.7 million users).” -Wikipedia

  14. Oddbob said about 9 hours later:

    Thunderwang is *so* sticking now.

  15. DrDerekDoctors said about 10 hours later:

    Yeah. I really should wash it more…

  16. raigan said about 10 hours later:

    1.5M seems pretty low for 9th place.. was this shareware-only?

  17. siiseli said about 17 hours later:

    my grandpas beat kings valley 2 a thousand times :D

  18. dessgeega said about 17 hours later:

    i don’t think snood’s success has anything to do with the stupidity of consumers - i think it’s just easier for the average windows user to get her hands on than, say, the puzzle bobble 2 rom, a copy of mame, and a usb joystick to play it with. that it can sell so well despite its beady little uglyfaces is simply a testament to the strength of the original’s design.

    and, incidentally, i think arkanoid adds a lot to breakout rather than simply duplicating it.

  19. Ilia Chentsov said about 19 hours later:

    Hehe… as a long-time TIGSource reader, I somehow feel compelled to confess that I’m responsible for the ports of Snood to two popular mobile platforms.

    Did you work for Cybiko? … Well, you said “popular”. Sorry.

  20. DrDerekDoctors said about 19 hours later:

    You’re quite right, Dessgeega, part of the reason for these clones is reticence on the part of Japanese developers to produce decent ports of their games for the PC in a timely manner.

    If there was a version of Puzzle Bobble available for the PC (preferably via download) which had used decent resolution graphics then there’s no way something as plainly awful as Snood would ever have done those numbers.

  21. Sic Jake said 1 day later:

    I can’t for the life of me see how Snood is allowed to prosper. Bust-A-Move was classic, but Snood has so little charm. I got my girlfriends little sister about to buy Snood. I smacked away her hand and shouted out for the whole store to hear “Thou shalt not purchase filth in cart form!!”. She has since been exiled from the family and/or stoned to death.

  22. DrDerekDoctors said 1 day later:

    Sic Jake: Good. It’s the only way they’ll learn. ;)

  23. Optrirominiluikus said 1 day later:

    Haha, good read. Yes, that Snood business is one of the ugliest things I have seen in a long time.

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