You’ve in all probability heard of Henk Rogers — he’s the man who found Tetris on the present ground of a Las Vegas commerce present and rushed to solely license the sport. He’s the rationale Tetris is a family title right this moment, and he’s nonetheless technically concerned with the sport, by his and Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov’s firm, The Tetris Firm, although most of it’s now dealt with by his daughter.
Over time, The Tetris Firm has garnered a little bit of a repute as a strict licensor — it doesn’t need the Tetris title on any outdated factor, and its licensees are held to strict requirements. The gameplay must be largely the identical, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing with it, and ideally the person interface and participant enter could be related throughout each iteration, too.
This strictness is enforced by Rogers and Pajitnov, who each have remaining say over whether or not or not a recreation or product is match to bear the Tetris title. Whereas Rogers’ daughter is operating the day-to-day of the corporate, each single contract nonetheless goes over his desk, and he has excessive requirements for the model. And that’s all due to a bit recreation referred to as Tetrisphere, which as Rogers tells it, was the one recreation that slipped by the cracks.
Tetrisphere was a Nintendo 64 recreation developed by H20 Leisure and revealed by Nintendo itself. It was an formally licensed Tetris recreation, however it undoubtedly was not Tetris. As an alternative, it had gamers dropping curved Tetris blocks onto a sphere, and when three of the identical kind of block contact one another, they’re cleared. It’s a enjoyable recreation, with a intelligent premise and nice music, however once more, it’s not Tetris, and in line with Rogers, it breaks the cardinal rule of Tetris.
“The one time we let it slip by was Tetrisphere,” Rogers tells me in an interview on the ground of Gamescom Latam in São Paulo, Brazil. “Sorry, that isn’t Tetris, and it breaks the cardinal rule of don’t cover any items from the participant. An off-the-cuff gamer can not play a recreation the place the items disappear or are hidden behind one thing. It’s like watching a soccer recreation after which impulsively all people runs by a tunnel after which they arrive again. What occurred?”
Since then, Rogers and Pajitnov have made it a coverage to ensure they personally go eyes-on with all the things that’s going to be branded with essentially the most well-known title in gaming. There are different guidelines, too — intercourse, violence, conflict, and politics will not be allowed in a Tetris recreation. “Let the sport be the sport,” Rogers advised me.
That strictness, as Rogers tells it, is a part of the rationale Tetris continues to be round. He likens it to Nintendo’s strict pointers round Mario, or Disney’s strict pointers round Mickey Mouse, with the latter point out coming alongside a really humorous commentary.
“Disney will be sure you don’t mess with Mickey Mouse,” Rogers says. “There are not any butt pictures of Mickey Mouse ever. He doesn’t have one. That’s as a result of they received’t put Mickey Mouse’s butt in any image.”
Disclosure: Oliver Brandt attended Gamescom Latam as a visitor of Abragames, with flights and lodging offered by the group.
