Is Foamstars Even Ethical? 

Support the DEFIANCE ACT here: s-v-p-a.org/defiance/ And Thanks for Watching!!

I was willing to give Foamstars the benefit of the doubt about copying splatoon until I learned that the foam is made from the characters' bodily fluids... which like, of all the things to """be similar""" to Splatoon, why _that_ ?

I find it incredibly funny that the ONLY person I’ve EVER seen talk about foam stars is captain astronaut.

$45 for a skin is fucking insane

"The in game Store" "the in game store?" was so on point for Ace Attorney

I think the one actually bad thing Fortnite is guilty off is making battlepasses and limited time stores popular

Foamstars is giving "Splatoon meets Overwatch 2". And I mean that in the most derogatory way possible

10:49 OBJECTION! You forgot the important detail that Splatoon 3's catalogues have no FOMO because anything you missed out on either from previous seasons or the one you were in the middle of is added to the ball dispenser machine in the lobby, nothing goes away. It's similar to how Deep Rock Galactic does their battle passes too, nothing goes away and everything is added to the regular loot pools afterwards

Captain Astronaut really missed the chance to call it "Foam-o"

I like the biggest sin being square Enix💀

I am foaming at the mouth stars

For the longest time, I wasn't able to put the arguement of anti generative ai into words, but the line "art is human expression" finally gave me that base to stand on, so thank you captain

It's... It's just Splatoon but hornier! They definitely could have gone the other route; instead of making you travel through the liquid you spray faster, you end up slower regardless of the team that the liquid belongs to. So it's a bitter fight between both parties in securing zoning strategies without ruining their own pathing to-and-fro. Liquid shooters have so much potential, but nobody seems to want to take advantage of it.

This entire thing being structered like an Ace Attorney trial is great

Glad you made the point that this is essentially version 1.0 of AI and it’s already causing problems. Scary to think we’re only a few years away from not being able to tell the difference between real and fake videos and we essentially have zero plans on how we deal with that.

I think one silver-lining to this whole generative AI discourse is that folks are starting to see (once again) just how much this fancy new tech is really only going to benefit the supply-side of the equation. There's all these people preaching the gospel because they hope to get something out of it, but there's few folks dying to consume what would be churned out, while far more continue to see it be used for sketchy or nefarious purposes. Even without legislation, we're already seeing the bubble starting to pop because companies and peddlers overestimated how much the average consumer would want - much less, blindly accept - the "inevitability" of AI content.

I didn’t want to hate the ppl who work in making these AI programs since programming this stuff is a talent on their own and these tools could be useful. But you made a point that made me realize how stupid that mentality is. Just cuz you can, doesn’t mean you should. What IS the purpose of this stuff? To show their advanced programming skills? They can do it with their own content, make artists train it with their own data (in this case the programmers arent stealing and they can add some copyright detection stuff too so they’re not just sourcing data from the internet) , or make more useful AI tools just for menial tasks. I’ve seen some use for AI art that’s actually good, utilizing the creepy or humorous aspect of AI for artistic purpose. I didn’t want to hate AI for that reason. But these AI programmers are creating their AI for very specific reasons that are outside of those use cases.

Hell yeah, I support the defiance act. No one should be surprised Squenix is trying to lead the charge with AI bullshit. A giant magnet's not enough.

This game is unethical because it causes physical damage to your eyes by using bright colors

The first point I can kinda understand the “taking inspiration” points, BUT I think there needs to be a certain balance between being able to take inspiration and bringing in ideas. I feel like I've not seen many original ideas from it besides the character designs.

The only battlepass I can levy no complaints against is DRG's. It's an unlock tree that lets you get skins and accessories without spending crafting resources. Once that season's over, everything that you could've gotten in the season goes into the in-game crafting table, so you can still make it at any time. Getting it during the season just means you're not spending in-game resources for it, so the FOMO is very low.

I feel like this video was made to just say, "Man, fuck ai!"

I’m salty they used AI art for the in-game music menu cause a lot of those songs are amazing.

So its basically Splatoon, if Splatoon had no originality, cheapened by AI assets and microtransactions.

Thank you for actually talking about the real problem with AI, the meaning and intent. So many people only talk about it in ethics as a legal problem, but the comparison with running and music is the EXACT thing more people need to be aware of. It strips massive amounts of literal human meaning from creative expression, and just because you want to be able to do something doesn't mean you should be able to. If you really do want to do something, work towards it, put in the effort, you are not entitled to thieve from other's skill-sets to output what you want. The whole value in art is not exclusively the final product, but that all steps require actionable choice. And I deeply fear for a future where entire animated series are provided by fools who believe they can do better, without a single learned experience in the medium - but because they are "entitled" to their end-product they believe it will be worth the permanent artist damage to human integrity for the sake of it. This is a little expounded, but its most courted on the point raised in the video, because nobody ever addresses the LARGER problems this technology will carry as it slowly becomes more prevalent and more accessible. We didn't get to places like overpriced DLC, or trend-chasing media schlock; by believing these companies value art. They got to these places because they feel entitled to their money. Hell, we didn't get to modern mobile technology because there was seen potential in communication, we got her because of literal slave trade of minerals that produce them in foreign imports for limited monetary loss in abuse of power. Directly in mirror to those that do not understand or acknowledge the scope that comes to form modern convenience. And general human entitlement will continue to carry in total disregard of how much intricacy actually exists in the process of creation (of anything for that matter), until the damage is too great. AI, is not simply something that comes as an auxiliary effect to modern markets, it is a potential destruction of the largest philosophical aspect of our living race on Earth, to render human meaning lesser, homogenised, bastardised and chewed into disregard. The issue is unimaginably colossal beyond its present concerns and nobody seems to think of it beyond where it lies in economics and law. I really appreciate this being a spoken focus in the video, I always had a feeling you were on the good side of things, but seeing you speaking with such informed vigour and sincerity on a topic as important as this shows strong value to your content and choice of words. Thank you Captain Astronaut.

I support the Defiance Act. I knew you were based. The Splatoon theft allegations were always an asinine POV, but the fact that it was a primer on the real topic being what actual theft looks like? C’est magnifique, well constructed essay.

this video lowkey has the same kind of vibe as hbomberguy an hour into the OOF video going "hey remember when this video was about the funny baby sound effect??" Remember when this video about the evils of plagiarism and generative AI was talking about that Splatoon ripoff game? but for real it's cool of you to have been in support of Foamstars despite the obvious comparisons to Splatoon, and then be willing to change your mind.

Ironically, AI would probably be better fit in management and CEO positions since they can’t be influenced by greed or corruption

I should note, for all my colorblind and photosensitive people, while the splattercolor sucks, I gotta say the Tritonopia and Tritonomaly options are really nice. (In Splat 3, correction) This past splatfest was really hard for me to live through because the magenta and purple blended too vibrantly sadly (it was the splatfest so everything was glowing too... and dark otherwise, so that sucks.) BUT, the Tritonopia option really helped me differentiate and process the colors effectively.

This is a game I always forget exists until it shows up with a new trailer at the Game Awards or GDC or something.

I see anything remotely splatoon related + Captain Astronaut, I click.

Foam stars is the only game I've seen that hurts my eyes, like literally watching footage of it causes me genuine pain

man i was legit excited for this game, it would've been some good competition to splatoon and worked as a way for nintendo to do better with the current state of 3, but then i saw the company that made it was square enix so now i lost all hope

Every Splatoon player: *Laughs in woomy*

0:09 She's holding a Needler like from Halo lol

"your honour, square enix" *D E A T H*

The "Foamstars is a ripoff of Splatoon" argument reminds me a lot of the old "Overwatch is a TF2 clone" argument, which is a silly comparison to make if you've played both the games - despite being team based objective hero shooters, they play VERY differently. It got most silly when TF2 players started taking Overwatch abilities out of context and stating they stole from TF2, as if TF2 was somehow the origin point of things such as shotguns, rocket jumping, or spamming grenades into a chokepoint.

only 5 minutes in, but even if gameplay can't be copyrighted, they really could have done something to differentiate the specials. I would argue only the Baller-like special was unique, having a different skipping animation and the ball itself being more bumpy. The rest... not all too spicy

Gotta be honest here. The first time I saw the title of the game and that it had something to do with splatoon I thought it was some kind of splatoon-like adult game.

Seeing the AI album art in Foamstars just makes me appreciate Splatoon's album art all the more. Even without any texts, the art in Splatoon tells so much story and even expands on the lore of the game, instead of just being random images for the sake of just being there. Also, let me add another guilty verdict in for they copied Splatoon 2's Marie in kimono with an umbrella at 11:51!!!!! JK, JK. LOL

Honestly, as a longtime Splatoon player and fan, I was exited to try Foamstars, but the price model is an aberation.

I feel like I shouldn't be surprised that a video about another Squeenix Live Service turned into a series of rants about how monetization and automation are designed to hurt the players and the artists but here we are. Normalization is real, and it feels like people have become tired of fighting back about it like you said. Thanks for another good video.

6:32 Wow, even in the microtransactions, they're still finding ways to plagarise? They either did it because of the Inkling Amiibo doing it (and that outfit also got into SSBU) or for the part of the Overwatch community that works harder than the people making the games.

The Genshin currency exchange bit is hilarious!

Voice acting that sounds like an alien. I am so happy someone else noticed this.

I was genuenly happy that splatoon was getting some competition so nintendo would wake the fuck up with the stages. Then i thought about it for 30 seconds and i said "this gsme is going to try to suck the ever living cash out of me isnt it"

14:29 You know that they're REAL ARTIST bc of the size of the censure bars on 'em 👀 💪💪💪

The biggest thing for me with Foam Stars vs. Splatoon is the fact that Foamstars has an emphasis on skins just like battle royales, genshin, and other games. Splatoon doesn’t. There’s nearly infinite possibilities across genders/feminine vs masculine styles, hair styles, eye and skin colors, the clothes you wear, and, hell, what abilities you put ON it. Despite there being MORE options than most other skin-games like Fortnite, you’ll never have the sense of individuality that Splatoon’s whole MESSAGE is about in a game like FOAMSTARS. That and the single players are usually fun. WAIT, climate change and guns? That’s a weird thing to copy Splatoon over…

I do testing to see if kids need special education. The school brought it some AI bro who kept trying to sell to us “oh, you should use AI to write your reports”. I was fucking horrified! I don’t think I should have to explain why an AI should have no fucking part in that.

Just made lunch, sat down, opened YT, saw a new Captain Astronaut video. It's gonna be a good time ✨

Seeing you do the attorney poses is great

I realy like that whole section about ai. Not many poeple talk about it abd its just realy scary... Im scared that they everyone is normalizing it because it's "cool"

I appreciate your effort to make it look a lot like a Phoenix Wright court case like 6:24, bending over like Phoenix haha. Also nice video overall I support the DEFIANCE ACT

Splatoon 3s main problem is that it exploits FOMO, but it doesn’t lock WEAPONS behind the catalogue, you will NEVER GET MEL T if you don’t finish the battle pass this season.

Personally, I like the idea of taking Splatoon a step further to the point where your shots basically alter the map layout but Foamstars just hurts my eyes to look at.

3:30 holy sh*t thats alot of inspiration lol

This was an interesting watch! I liked the general setting of the video being in a court room Phoenix Wright-style, even down to the editing, and said editing and moments where the judge was doing goofy hand motions and playing the bass guitar was funny ;u; Thank you for also delving into AI stuff and explaining how there are both legitimate uses and non-so-legitimate uses for it. The mention of the SVPA was also appreciated, considering that this is the first time I've heard of the organization! It's nice to hear that there's a group out there doing what they can to protect others, and I support the Defiance Act.

This game was upsetting. Since it was “free to play”, I figured I’d put in some time and check it out. Honestly had a blast, the game itself is fun to play as a kind of Splatoon-alternative on Playstation. But after the first maybe 20 or so matches it became immediately clear I was just playing with zero incentive. Literally nothing you get by playing is of value besides maybe a color swap or two after tons and tons of victories, and the goal post moves immensely after you start making sone headway on the pass… again, with nothing truly gained or to earn. Everything you can buy is insanely priced and entirely cosmetic, exception being the single character who was premium pass only and tbh didn’t seem particularly better than anyone else. After literally dropping the game because it felt like a waste of time, I caught wind of how AI was behind how jank some of the stuff sounded, let alone the image generation. Couldn’t have uninstalled faster.

I've never seen someone give out such an educated an nuanced stance on the AI 'art' situation. Very inspirational for artists like me. Much needed.

I think splatoon 3's battle pass is fine for the most part. You're not missing out on much considering that you can just find the items and clothing in the shops and get the emotes from the shell out machine.

as someone hoping to go into a creative field for a career, the fact that major companies are willing to fire hundreds of workers in exchange for an ai scares me

Square enix just keeps missing on live service games lmao

damn right I support the defiance act! Man, I thought the AI allegations were bad enough (as an artist who was JUST starting to "set up shop" right around the time this all exploded, Generative AI fills me with righteous fury), but all the shop stuff? oof. Pointing out the good and the bad, reminding us all of the implications of normalization and such, all while being funny and not one-sided? Thanks for making videos like this, Space Man. You're a good one. 👍

Counter point to Splatoon 3's catalog invoking FOMO, since the 3.0.0 update it has been possible to acquire missed catalog items in the Shell Out machine and gear in the catalog is still acquirable in the shops.

I came here expecting a comparison/potential bashing of a video game, but instead I got a heated rant about how dumb generative AI is. Honestly more interesting than I was expecting a video about Foamstars to be :)

You could say the monetization... Exploits foam-o. EEEEEEYYYYY

10:43 what about helldivers 2's "battle passes", warbonds? They never expire, use in game currency you can get for free, and the premium warbonds can be obtained without spending money, too.

how is every single one of your videos a god dam banger?! so many quotable moments as well, i love it!

That "The in-game store?", _pitch. PERFECT._ Wright-vibe. Nailed that delivery, audiovisually, enough I'm compelled to comment! Additional kudos to having captions~

I forgot foam starts was a thing.

4:32 Shibyua. The word you're looking for is Shibyua.

Fortnite popularized purchasing in game cosmetics but they give some options to earn Vbucks for free whether that’s through the battle pass or through Save the World if you’re a Founder meaning you’ve been playing since before 2020. They also have packs that are a lot cheaper than Foamstars that even come with Vbucks cuz their Starter Packs are $4.49 USD and include a skin, a pickaxe, a backbling, 600 Vbucks, and sometimes a wrap as an added bonus and those have way more value than Foamstar’s packs and way cheaper to. It’s just that Square Enix has greedy tendencies with games like this and try to ride off of the success of Fortnite’s item shop which makes billions of dollars a year while Foamstars will be lucky to make $100K before the servers get shutdown fast which Square is also notorious for if something doesn’t do well.

Splatoon works so well, not just because it’s a fantastic game, but every one is on the same playing field. If everyone in a game used the exact same weapon, nobody would play the same just on peoples skill and playstyle. Having classes sort of add an extra level of fuckery that’s just not fun.

During the first few minutes of the video, I was thinking ‘it looks similar to splatoon! That’s cool! Splatoon has a cool concept that definitely should be explored more!’ And then everything else happened.

Other games: Ehh, ehh, programming a battle pass is hard! Please pay me! Splatoon: Take this free battle pass, you can get the items later for a bit of in game currency from a gatcha machine or by simply playing salmon run.

14:11 That could be used for a game where you have to detect if the art is real or not. Like a deduction game of some kind. It can also serve as a way for more people to know how to detect AI images.

I'm dying at 8:01 LMAO (I'm stilly dying at 8:01 but the rest of the video made me die in the not fun way) fantastic video Capt and incredible insight to help level up awareness

Midjourney even stole art from a child? This sounds like a job for the Kids Next Door!

The whole ai art segment was amazing. Love seeing CC’s speak out against this shit.

13:29 Thank you! Great example on how to use AI in a way that helps artists instead of replacing them. I like to throw another recent animated film that also used AI to help artists but in a different way and that’s Kung Fu Panda 4. (No spoilers this was shown in the trailers) In Kung Fu Panda 4, they used AI as a reference for the transformation animation for the villain Chameleon as her powers is about stealing other people’s Kung fu and transform into them. No AI was used in the actual animation itself, AI was only used as a reference and only as a reference in order to make the transformation look creepy/uncanny. Kung Fu Panda 4 may have a lot of issues, especially in the story and writing, but the animation and the way they used AI only as a reference are not one of them.

I was somewhat excited for Foamstars as Im a fan of splatoon, but the release day I saw what the microtransactions had in store for the game and instantly decided I wasnt going to play it.

I was so prepared to get foamstars since I had such a good time with the demo but did a complete 180 when they revealed AI art. Glad to know I'm avoiding all the FOMO as well.

DRG is the only game that does battle pass right. Everything is free in it, it lasts for months, and everything in it will be added to other (sometimes random but still free) ways to obtain cosmetics in-game.

cool format, I can tell it took you a while to put together

Dude, so much heart in this channel. Your scipts are tight, your editing is good, your bass playing is groovy. Super cool stuff ^^

Its funny that a foamstars skin pack is more expensive then helldivers 2

You have no idea how glad I am that you fixed the echo-y audio from the last two odd videos For a second I thought you lost your sound preferences/settings or something This video sounds great, _whatever you did, please keep it_

9:53 Most fair Ace Attorney trial: (Just pretend it's not a good argument idk)

this video is like the Game Theory series called DEADLOCK and I'm all for it!

11:06 splatoon have the vending machine for old stuff, i get all the emotes i miss there.

8:03 Damn, that is absolutely savage.

Digging the Dai Gyakuten Saiban soundtrack

Me playing ff7r Why did Shinra make this game?

A bit of an addendum to the plagiarism part: rules cannot be copyrighted, a principle that is valid for all types of games (cards, boards, sports, video). Rules are the "atoms" of every game, from which mechanics and gameplay derive. Imagine if that wasn't the case, and one could copyright rules, whoever owned "moving the analog will make the character run in that direction" would be the most hated person/entity in the universe.

The use of generative AI on album covers gotta be one of the lamest and ironic things I've ever seen in my life

commenting on this video to bump its chances in the algorithm. The defiance act sounds like a great step in protecting people, and hopefully if it does get passed that other countries follow suit + give the rise to other protections to help shield people and their work from generative AI.

>why AI art? because the current Square-Enix CEO is obsessed with chasing tech trends, including NFTs

The reference to the Ace Attorney Smooth Criminal video and then going in to Chrono Trigger court music makes my brain produce happy chemical, good work. I support the DEFIANCE act

Bro what the heck, this is the first video I watch of yours, you're really good at presentation, good stuff

5:17 adding palworld sneakily was hilarious