Here's a bit of news I've seen at the Sorcerers' the other day: The bad news is - we're all threatened by another 10 years of crappy, lousy, buggy "D&D" products. The good news is - maybe Atari will finally go under and someone else will get the D&D license? Seriously, I think it can't be much worse than now. What do you think, guys? - Agetian
Well, what does it say about WotC (or Hasbro, or whoever makes the big decisions) that they give a 10 year exclusive license to a company that sounds on the verge of collapse? :blink: Suits 1 - Gamers 0.
Well, if nothing else, Atari does leave us alone and does let us play in our proverbial corner with modding the ToEE game. So, it could get worse if another company were to receive and take over D&D computer game licensing rights.
You figure it takes 2 years or more to write a big game and I don't think Atari has the resources or desire to do so. If someone comes along and says let's do a ToEE like game, well good. Everyone concerned, Hasbro, WotC, etc know all about the modding and if it was a true concern ,then they would say so. Odds are ,there wont be a ToEE like game from Atari or anybody else. At least not in the next 2 to 3 years.
I just hope that the D&D: tactics game for the PSP turns out to be a really good game that sells well, not for Atari's benefit though, as far as I'm concerned they've given themselves plenty of rope to hang themselves with, but pehaps if D&D: Tactics does well, maybe Atari will be more willing to build isometric D&D turn based games regularly. I read somewhere about a group who were building a D&D engine that could be used and reused for any number of D&D computer games in the future.
I think that if they refined this engine, they could turn out numerous D&D games that might save them from bankruptcy. Especially if one refinement included multi-player. I'd love to run through a dungeon with you guys...:hug:
Yeah... I was always wondering why didn't they make this another Infinity... They made five great games with it... this engine could've done the same... if only they had given it a chance...
I'm not opposed to the new DnD tactics game as a tactical combat type thing. it's just really irking me that Atari avoiding doing a proper RPG. ToEE sold well and would have sold even better if it hadn't been such a bugfest on release. At least, as others have said, Atari have turned a blind eye to us (which is appreciated). I can't imagine some other companies doing the same.
That could simply be because they don't have enough left in the coffers for an expensive lawyer, or are worried that if they did sue us, we might be able to find a lawyer within our community who's willing to work pro bono, and actually win the case.
Lawsuits generally involve money and Atari hasn't lost any money because of co8. If anything, they may have made a little from people buying the game to play the mods. I think if Atari was really concerned, they would have acted long before now. "To speak the name of the dead is to make them live." Egypt - 3000bc. ToEE was a dead game ,but co8 makes it live. Atari should be grateful.
Afaik Atari have a history of supporting modding (such as with BG and NWN). I doubt they would rock that boat by coming after us when we are clearly acting within the spirit of the modding community. Its just a shame they missed the opportunity this engine presented.
Full-time, professional game writers get paid good bucks, but they make mistakes too. If a game company can get bugs fixed, etc, by modders, and not cost them a dime, what's there to sue for? As long as no money is lost or changing hands, there's not a problem. Like no-cd crack. How do they get away with that? I've had my cd since Nov,04 and have never had a problem with it. Buy the cd and install correctly, patch and mod, and have a good time. Co8 makes it work. I know my root directory and My Documents is filled with numerous downloads. Works for me. Now if I could get protoed to work for me consistantly.
Hmm... I think I might know one of those types... :shy: Wizgeorge - the securerom thing can be a bit tetchy with some CD players. No idea why. That's why I'm somewhat more supportive of the CD hack than I would otherwise be. But I think you're right in general about what we're doing. But it is getting to the point where there is no money left in the game for Atari (and the poor Troika lot are probably not getting a bean now, what with Troika not existing any more etc), and you've got to wonder what the future will hold if Atari passes the game rights on or something.
on the no-CD crack issue - before I formatted my HD the CD worked fine, afterwards it didn't want to work at all and I was forced to used the no-CD crack.
