You don't think maybe it has to do with the fact that both involve MONsters? Should we accuse MONsanto of copying Pokemon's name too? What about MONster Hunter? MONster Rancher? Maybe Pokemon was trying to rip off POKEr, only with MONsters.

Zynga has a nasty past with cloning, but this is already described as a combination of 2 different games. Do we call out Terreria for mixing Minecraft and Ghosts and Goblins? The fact that it has more than a singular influence makes it not a clone by definition. The more you call wolf on every little thing, the less anyone will care when it turns out to be the case.

Nice going overboard there, Tom. I pretty much get the point, but I'll stick with my side, thank you. And looks like you didn't read the rest of my post, as well. Not surprising.

You are accusing Zynga of sharing a syllable with one of it's influences. Maybe their lawyers should have done a full syllable check on related games? It's not even using the same word, it's not a homonym, it doesn't rhyme, it doesn't sound remotely similar, just three letters, that are in a different place in the word. The accusation is ridiculous, and only being forwarded as an attempt to slam a company that is not well-liked, and to make it sound like they are doing some bad, when you have no clue. My comparisons were taking the exact same comparison you made, and applying it to others in the same fashion. Regardless of history, don't go accusing people of things unless you have even the most remote shred that they did something wrong. I read the rest of your post, but think you are holding them to a ridiculous standard.

How on earth could you manage to clone two different games at the same time? The creative process itself is looking at different ideas and concepts and trying to see how they can fit together in as-of-yet undiscovered ways. As soon as more than one inspiring game is mentioned, it cannot possibly be a clone. It's more like a child (2 parents and all).

You say Gameplay and Mechanics would need to differ greatly from both Pokemon and RoB, but there are plenty of Card games like RoB, and as mentioned above Pokemon wasn't the first monster collecting game. Why does Zynga need to be held to a standard that isn't even applied to it's own inspirations?

Yep, pretty much holding them to a ridiculous standard based on their slightly ridiculous past. I'll change my mind when I see more of what they have to offer, though. If they're truly going for something "original" then good for them. Should be more of that, in fact.

This isn't even an opinion piece - its just another half-assed gamasutra article designed to inflame trolls and promote shares.

Gamasutra seems to dislike Zynga an awful lot - but they sure do need them as troll bait.

@Mark - I agree with you. This does seem more opinion than news brief, but it is good to bring to light some interesting things that could potentially grow into more. I mean, Zynga does have a tarnished reputation for copying IP's and has been in and out of court quite a bit lately so it's no surprise to see more attention being paid to their new products and who or what they could be influenced by.

Either way, I find it interesting.

@Rick - I don't always agree with everything I read here on Gamasutra, but do we really need to be so hostile? Yeah, there may be some bias, but Zynga's practices, be they legal or not, has raised eyebrows and law-suits in the industry, bringing more attention to their (Zynga) actions.

@Dave - I am not saying that the release of this game isn't an interesting topic worthy of posting to Gamasutra and discussion. I am saying that Gamasutra diminishes itself by editorializing the news.

Zynga may have a reputation for misdeeds but look at the title of this article, it accuses Zynga of Earning that reputation without any evidence from this game. Hell this is a game release news brief and the name of the game doesn't appear in the title of the article or the first sentence.

Mike Rose you should be ashamed.