A friendly attempt at communications

So here’s an update (you can read about what started all this below).

I sent the copies of my books proving that The Bureau was my creation, and I attempted again at connecting with Whitney, but to no avail.  The game is now out and reviewed in Game Informer. The review reads as follows:

Music is muddled by too much repetition, confusing plot with balancing issues, and low replay value.

It got a 7.5 overall, which is not terrible. 2K Marin, best of luck to you. Contact me anytime.

**********

Recently I blogged about how 2K Marin is releasing a new game called The Bureau Declassified, and the staggering amount of similarities between their version of The Bureau, and my Version of The Bureau (which was conceived around August of 2011 and published through Eternal Press in the Lokians series in August of 2012)

Naturally I was a little peeved, and feel I may have blogged a bit aggressively. Having calmed down, I want to keep all my friends and supporters posted on the actions to come. I have tried to link up with Mr. Whitney on LinkedIn. Oddly enough we hover around some of the same connections, but are not connected to one another.

He viewed my profile, but did not accept my invitation.

My next step is to mail a friendly letter. This is basically the letter:

Greetings from: Aaron Dennis, creator of the Lokians science fiction series.

It may interest you to know that your upcoming release, The Bureau Declassified, is almost entirely based off The Bureau from the Lokians series. I’m not upset; on the contrary, I think we might be able to help one another out.

In lieu of some drawn out legal debacle, I’d like to reach out to you. You may either send me an email

aaron@dennisauthor.com

or call me directly

XXX XXX XXXX

Included in this package are the first three novels in the Lokians series. You can also find free Lokians based short at www.smashwords.com

The titles include: Skirmish, Extraction, The Planet Machine, and Apollo

For more information on the similarities between our two ideas you may check my blog: www.authaarondennis.wordpress.com or www.thebureauhq.wordpress.com

So, I figure the friendly greeting, and free copies of irrefutable proof, might entice Mr. Whitney into conversation.

Some of you have suggested legal action. I don’t think it’s feasible though because even if I were victorious in court, the resolution would simply demand they change the title of their game. Then they can keep everything the same, but call it, I don’t know, Alien Chasers. What I’m saying is, I like the fact that someone had a similar idea, and that both ideas are obviously worth pursuing, but I’m hoping to make contact with Mr. Whitney in order to form something.

Wish me well. Thanks for reading.

Quick update: The letter and books were sent, but I have not yet heard anything. It’s only been about a week, and I know they’re all very busy over there in California. I’m still hopeful though.

Again my genius is copied This time I have them

If you do a google search for The Bureau you find this link http://www.thebureau-game.com/ 

which leads to the upcoming video game release. However, for those of you either know me, the Lokians series, Eternal Press, or the old The Bureau Hq website, you know these guys are ripping me off nearly verbatim.

My problem isn’t even with the use of the term The Bureau, or that they can stand to profit. My problem is this, copied from the IGN site:

The Bureau tells the origin story of the clandestine XCOM organization’s first encounter with a mysterious and devastating enemy. Originally established as America’s covert defense against the Soviet Union, The Bureau must adapt and overcome a threat unlike anything the world has faced before. As special agent William Carter, players will call the shots and pull the trigger, leading their squad of agents in the high-stakes secret war for humanity’s survival. Paramount to repelling the outside threat is The Bureau’s ability to cover-up the enemy’s existence in order to prevent worldwide panic

this is surprisingly similar to the text found in my old The  Bureau website:

Due to recent trepidations and alien attacks on our home planet, Earth, we have decided to bring recent events to light. While the public is not altogether familiar with the concept of The Bureau, they will be slowly educated. First and foremost, let us begin with a little history.

The year was 1947, the place, Roswell, New Mexico. An unidentifiable craft had crashed. Word quickly spread like wild fire that aliens had landed on our planet. The next day, the information was retracted. Subsequent sightings of alien crafts and strange humanoids were documented. The military decided to dedicate a portion of its forces to extra-terrestrial studies.

Then there’s the Lokians series’ “Supplemental” at the end of all the novels:

Bureau Headquarters, New York
The Bureau has many offices throughout the galaxy. One such
office is at the base of the Bank of the World building in New York
on planet Earth. It is also the first Bureau Headquarters.
Agents stationed here have a Human-centric focus. Naturally,
they study alien races, but only in a manner that directly affects
Humanity.

Bureau Headquarters, Io
This Bureau office is built into the side of a cliff on Io, Jupiter’s
moon. Unlike the B.O.T.W. building, all the floors are dedicated to
Bureau business.
A gorgeous, frozen lake sits just outside the gray steel building.
Inside, agents work furiously to maintain solid relationships with
nearby alien races.

Also, we find the first mention of what The Bureau is in Lokians: Book1 Beyond the End of the World:

“True we first made contact with a race simply known as ‘the
Grays’ in the 1940’s,” Adams said.
O’Hara arched his brows as he set his teeth. He had heard of
the Grays.
“The Grays were actually created by another race. They were
genetically engineered to carry out certain tasks,” Franklin
continued.
“From their technology we were able to reverse engineer a
few things, patent a few ideas, and finally in 1963 we created ‘The
Bureau’,” Adams said.
Once more O’Hara was taken aback. Clearly this was no lie.
Unbelievable events had and were taking place. The effects of the
discoveries made since his first solo mission were compounding.
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Aaron Dennis
The Captain decided to listen to every detail.
“We made little contact with the race who created the Grays.
Apparently they were not interested in building relations. Then a
few other odd occurrences took place; the androids on the moon,
the pyramids on Mars, and finally our knowledge of the Sumerian
culture,” Franklin said.
“Right, the Sumerians clearly were keeping contact with a race
of aliens long before. The Sumerians knew the Earth revolved
around the sun. Their knowledge passed on to the Egyptians.
It wasn’t until Christianity took the forefront that some of this
knowledge was squelched, though I do believe much of it is available
to the proper eyes,” Adams paused.
The Captain nodded giving the impression of a cool and collected
individual but the information had him reeling.
“Why was this kept secret?” he slowly asked.
“Actually it wasn’t,” Adams said.
“No, there were some authors and entertainers, even a few
Presidents who tried to bring it to light,” Franklin added.
“There was always a global control issue. The governments
of the world needed to keep this information quelled in order to
push their agenda,” Adams explained.
“A lot changed after we began harvesting resources off planet.
Suddenly those agendas didn’t matter as much. There was also the
fact that the Sumerians’ alien friends never returned,” Franklin
finished.
As the Captain observed the relaxed demeanor of the agents
something clicked in his mind.

So, obviously, Producer Harvey Whitney needs to check with writer Jordan Thomas because this is pure crap. At least, when I make reference to something, for instance the Igigi, which are used in Zecharias sitchin’s books, I allude to his credit in the novel. Besides, when’s the last time Sitchin wrote a book? Mine just came out in 2012.

Here’s what I want, and it’s simple, I want to establish contact with Harvey Whitney. If anyone can help, I’d certainly appreciate it. Thanks for reading.