G4 history lessons
G4 has some interesting "History of" programs that talk about how certain game series', programs, hardware, comp companies, etc came about (and perhaps died out, too). They did one on the rise of video games that went in about this. They did others talking about how NES was good until third-party vendors did crap games. Etc, etc. The main morale to all of these stories was that things were really cool and innovation was great until greed and businessmen got involved ... then it all tends to go to crap. The focus becomes less on making good games and ideas, and more on "let's see how much money we can make off of how little effort and creativity we can do". It all becomes a business formula, with time+effort = X profit being the equation. Hence Hollywood keeps cranking out crap movies. Hence Nintendo keeps cranking out the same game series over and over until folks finally complain about how stale it is (EG: Megaman series). And folks rip off other peoples' ideas all the time and claim them to be their own. The folks who are really innovative usually don't get the credit they deserve, because it's usually some business/exec type that takes their work and turns it into a fortune. So, the exec-type gets the credit, while the innovator gets pushed into a closet, fed bread and water, and told to shut up and make the "next big thing". Only when the innovator decides to take their show on the road for themselves do they get to shine and reap the rewards. So, long story short, be careful who you sign contracts with, and be sure that any contract you do sign lets you retain rights to your work if at all possible.