MediaWiki:Sitenotice:
2025-12-29: I have restored the wiki to a backup from the end of November. Starting in September 2025, accesses went form the 800MB-1.2GB range per month to 26GB in September, 42GB in October, and 70GB in November with most accesses originating from China. As soon as I realized what was causing all the access problems in November, I shut it down (it had reached 36GB by then) behind a password/login screen. The database had gotten corrupted, and I tried a restore from just before the spike in access but that didn't work. Thus, end of November. I still have the other daily backups so if there were any important additions in December, let me know and maybe they can be recovered. - Allen H.
Clone
In the computer and video game industry, a clone is a game or game series which is very similar to or heavily inspired by a previous popular game or game series. Some genres are founded by such archetypical games that all subsequent similar games are thought of as derivatives.
The term is sometimes derogatory, implying a lack of originality, but clones can be anything from a pure "ripoff", to a legitimate derivative or improvement on the original, or even a homage to it.
In the 1980s, making a clone of a game was not illegal, provided no outright copyright violation or trademark infringement was involved, but as the gaming market grew, large developers felt the need and ability to sue the developers of clones which were too similar to originals [1]. These look and feel lawsuits, such as Apple v. Microsoft, are not common, but remain an option for developers who feel their franchises are at risk.
Some examples of games cloned by CoCo developers include
Pac-Man
Donkey Kong
Space Invaders
Popeye