So i just watched this movie called: Demolition man with Sylvester Stylonne and the strangest thing happened, in the movie his name was "John Spartan" just like master chief, i merely shrugged this off as a coincidence but then the main villain showed up and his name was "Simon Fenix" kinda like Marcus Fenix. I was utterly stupified. Is this a coincidence or is the game industry stealing ideas?
P.S.
the movie came out in 93

I had the idea for this thread about two hours before you posted.

Seriously though, I would write this one off as coincidence.

I honestly can say nothing nice in response to this.

No, the answer is no.

That is my contribution.

Well, they also talk about president Ahnold...

i think this movie can predict the future

DARKLARK:
i think this movie can predict the future

perhaps the movie is from the future and the producers brought it back in time to 1993 to see if it would make more money then.

thats obviously what happened what was i thinking?

I saw that movie too, and unless master chief goes into a cryo-pod (is that what its called?) and get's woken up when they need him I don't see a connection...hey wait a second! In all seriousness though it's probably just an homage.

i totally forgot about the cryo pod! that movie wasnt very good why make a homage to it?

John Spartan, the guy from demolition man, being compared to Master Chief?

Master Chief's real name is John-117, not John Spartan. The fact Chief is a spartan can't bear any worth since the name John is as common as dirt. It's not even coincidence, it's simple numbers and the limited pool from which the creators of anything draw their inspiration from. If Stalone's character were named John Pliskin, would you assume it's related to Escape from New York / LA?

Many famous and not so famous movies are stolen ideas of not so popular books that people wrote! An example of this would be the Matrix, unfortunately some game company's have been accused of stealing ideas before. So if you got any great ideas you should protect them!

Sorry don't have all the info but ill go look it up again.

Khell_Sennet:
John Spartan, the guy from demolition man, being compared to Master Chief?

Master Chief's real name is John-117, not John Spartan. The fact Chief is a spartan can't bear any worth since the name John is as common as dirt. It's not even coincidence, it's simple numbers and the limited pool from which the creators of anything draw their inspiration from. If Stalone's character were named John Pliskin, would you assume it's related to Escape from New York / LA?

What? Of course we wouldn't assume that. We'd assume its related to Metal Gear Solid 2. Duh.

Paying homage is different to stealing ideas.

Nazulu:
Many famous and not so famous movies are stolen ideas of not so popular books that people wrote! An example of this would be the Matrix, unfortunately some game company's have been accused of stealing ideas before. So if you got any great ideas you should protect them!

Sorry don't have all the info but ill go look it up again.

a perfect example would be Halo being 'strongly inspired' by the book Ringworld by Larry Niven, right?

Probably a coincidence, unless you're talking about Escape from New York/L.A. and Metal Gear Solid. Now that's a solid movie right there. ... >.>

John is a very typical name for action heroes.

John Matrix, John Rambo, John McClane, John Plisken, John I'msurethere'smore.

It's probably just a coincidence.

Taking names or using as reference is hardly stealing. In fact, you can't really steal ideas, only their implementation. No one can patent the idea of a submarine. However, you can patent a blueprint or design of a working submarine.

The same things goes for gameplay ideas.

Names? Get the fuck out. So what if a game names their protagonist after their favourite movie hero or character?

Oh dear, if I remember correctly, both the Phoenix (the fire bird, that is) and the Spartans figured in old greek writings. I never realized before how blatantly the scholars of old are ripped off by unscrupulous action writers...!
Something should really be done about this. :P

Having read through the entire thread, I am going to quote the ULTRAJOE and say this:

Ultrajoe:
I honestly can say nothing nice in response to this.

No, the answer is no.

That is my contribution.

I doubt it... unless the villain's name WAS Marcus. Then It would get suspicious.... and totally awesome.