Bethesda gets FOOL rights, Interplay gets $2 million

darby70 said:
Brother None said:
Yeah, Bethesda does stick to their prototype a bit too much. All their games are basically the same at heart, which is a good approach, they do what they do very well, but if it doesn't click with you it's a little tiring.

My dream would be they allow Obsidian to do a genuine, not-main-game related spinoff, on Obsidian's own engine. But that would not be a very un-Bethesda thing to do.
That's the most respectful opinion I've ever heard anyone on NMA say about Bethesda.
Yeah, BN has really gone soft over the years.
 
Brother None said:
Yeah, V13 is going to continue as generic, or maybe Fallen Earth 2 since they're already working with Masthead (assuming that cooperation can continue).

Actually, I think you mean Earthrise 2. Not that there's much of a difference between all these generic post-apoc MMORPGs.
 
I get the impression you're interested in V13. Don't be.
I have lost my interest in it because i have my doubts that the whole project will live to see the light of day. And even if it does, like you said, it most likely will be something not worth even paying for, you know, one of them MMO's that no one pays attention to, people will not even know of it's existence (especially the new generation of gamers). I have read of Fallout Wiki that Interplay supposedly has 90 second video of the game process for V13. If they do, now would be a good time to show it.

Actually, I think you mean Earthrise 2. Not that there's much of a difference between all these generic post-apoc MMORPGs.
IMHO it would wiser to create a new setting rather than taking one which isn't really successful or well known by players.
 
Ausir said:
Actually, I think you mean Earthrise 2. Not that there's much of a difference between all these generic post-apoc MMORPGs.

Oh yeah. Shows you how much I care about either of those two titles.
 
I have read of Fallout Wiki that Interplay supposedly has 90 second video of the game process for V13. If they do, now would be a good time to show it.

Not if they don't want to be sued by Bethesda again.
 
maximaz said:
I'd fucking love me some Earthworm Jim actually. That and MDK are two reasons why I'm still hoping Interplay makes it somehow. But I do agree with your overall message.
That's why I hope that they get bought out, are forced into chapter 7 bankruptcy or chapter 11 bankruptcy to the point where they have to sell off a lot of their IPs.

Brother None said:
Yeah, Bethesda does stick to their prototype a bit too much. All their games are basically the same at heart, which is a good approach, they do what they do very well, but if it doesn't click with you it's a little tiring.
It's debatable whether or not the games are well made or designed, it's not debatable that they sell like hotcakes, probably because, like MMOs, they are designed to be addictive.

darby70 said:
That's the most respectful opinion I've ever heard anyone on NMA say about Bethesda.
You clearly rely on NMA's reputation rather than reading the forums for your information about opinions around here. There are a number of Bethesda fans on the site and a number of people like their games.

Ausir said:
Not if they don't want to be sued by Bethesda again.
If it's presented in a documentary style then they are safe, as they are merely talking about the development of the game. If it's a blatant advertisement they would get sued as soon as it hit the web. If it's somewhere in between then they would also likely be sued but they could have a case. Regardless, I doubt they'll release it unless it's stripped of all IP infringement.
 
On the question of funding, I think we can agree that Interplay did have funding via investments in the company, whether or not they equate to $30 million is debatable of course. Unless these investments and deals (like the Masthead deal) are now void as a result of Interplay losing the brand license I don't see why Project V13 can't continue. If I'm remembering correctly, the press releases that announced this stuff said they were for Project V13 versus the "Fallout MMO" so I guess it could hint at them still being valid?

If Project V13 sees the light of day I'll certainly check it out since I really liked the Armageddon Rag (which I believe was done by Mark O'Green?), assuming that tone/style transfers over I don't see the harm in giving it a go.
 
I read one deal, it was a vague deal about providing funding for "a game" "up to" a certain amount. There was no guarantee in there anywhere that said amount would actually be fulfilled. That was the I2G deal that apparently counted for $15 million.

Masthead's side was even worse. The argument was that Masthead's side of the work (engine, resources) "represented" $20 million. It was completely undefined how much actual money Masthead was putting up.

So yeah. Obviously Interplay had some funding, or they wouldn't have been able to do anything, but we have no realistic indication of how much funding they had.
 
I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when Herve was negotiating the original contract with Zenimax.

*Here is Herve trying to settle on an amount for the Fallout license. The poor bastard...:lol:

senate-filibuster-climate-kill.jpg.492x0_q85_crop-smart.jpg


Who's stopping Interplay from using a description on their packaging that connects them to the original franchise:

*From the makers of the original Fallout.

*From the original writer of Fallout, "Chris Taylor" comes a new shitty MMO.

Those are recognized facts, and I can't see anyone disputing them successfully in court, not that Zenimax wouldn't try. Remember Empire Earth - with Rick Goodman. I'm sure Microsoft Studios and Ensemble Studios didn't like it, but there was nothing they could do about it.

empire_earth_frontcover_large_37Yze2XYUzVtZ6c.jpg
 
UncannyGarlic
I said respectful not loving. I'm talking about when someone has an opinion on Bethesda here, it's hot or cold. I've never seen anyone on NMA disagree with Bethesda with kindness and respect.
I personally would've never known about Fallout if it weren't for Fallout 3. I still love that game and the other two.
 
Brother None said:
I read one deal, it was a vague deal about providing funding for "a game" "up to" a certain amount. There was no guarantee in there anywhere that said amount would actually be fulfilled. That was the I2G deal that apparently counted for $15 million.

Masthead's side was even worse. The argument was that Masthead's side of the work (engine, resources) "represented" $20 million. It was completely undefined how much actual money Masthead was putting up.

So yeah. Obviously Interplay had some funding, or they wouldn't have been able to do anything, but we have no realistic indication of how much funding they had.

I can see how one could work up a figure of $20 million to value R&D but whether or not it would be enough to fulfill the contract obligations, I'm not sure. An unfortunate side effect of Masthead evidence being dismissed from the case, I guess we'll never know for sure.
 
*From the makers of the original Fallout.

Those are recognized facts

The vast majority of the "makers of the original Fallout" do not even work for Interplay, that's not a fact by any means.
 
The people that actually "made" Fallout worked at what would become known as Black Isle Studios. They were a subsidiary of Interplay. As I said previously, Interplay shot themselves in the foot when they fired the people at Black Isle and cancelled Van Buren. With Black Isle gone, there is no bringing Fallout "back to it's roots" at Interplay.

While Bethesda game designers are not exactly reverent toward the franchise, the current leadership of Interplay would be much worse. Bethesda, at least, wants players to have fun playing their games. Whether they succeed or not is debatable to some people. The people at the current Interplay just want to suck money out of Fallout. Now they can't.

Again, the band broke up years ago. It's not getting back together. Modern music didn't die when the Beatles broke up. It's still possible for someone else to make a great Fallout game. It just couldn't happen at Interplay even if they had gotten the franchise back. Unless someone here wants to buy the franchise from Bethesda and do it right, all we can do is wait and hope.
 
Richwizard said:
With Black Isle gone, there is no bringing Fallout "back to it's roots" at Interplay.

What? Black Isle doesn't have to bring Fallout back to its roots. In fact, no one from the original team has to.

It all comes down the developer, pal. If you've got a team of talented, enthusiastic designers at hand, I'm pretty sure they could bring Fallout back to its roots. In fact, I could point my finger at a few people even on this forum who from my opinion understand the franchise well enough to be able to work with this team and make the game a true Fallout.

And not all of them have to work at EA or Activision, you know. Every developer has to start somewhere, and this could just as well be the case. I may not know the whole story, but I suppose there's someone at Interplay who's a great developer, just that unluckily, his talent can't be shown with Herve around.
 
Like I said, "the CURRENT leadership of Interplay would be much worse."

I also said, "It's still possible for someone else to make a great Fallout game."

Please learn to read and stop the sarcastic "pal" comments. You've done that to me twice in this thread so far.
 
Thank you. It's good that we can agree. It's a pity about Interplay's current mess. Interplay has been sinking since Hervé Caen took over. I just don't see any hope for anything they do until he leaves. Unfortunately, his ego won't let him leave. I see he made $270,000 in 2010. He probably made something like that in 2011. I just don't see how that leech can get away with drawing that kind of salary in a company that he's killing. Corith used to work there and he probably doesn't understand it either.

Hervé and his brother Eric ran their original company, Titus Interactive, right into the ground back in 2005. After this fiasco, things look really bad for Interplay.
 
Joelzania said:
pfffft, like the Fallout setting should be translated to a multi player setting anyway...

Exactly! It's a stupid idea in the first place. Not to mention how disgustingly watered down it would be as an MMO. A regular Fallout game with some sort of multiplayer functionality I could handle (like VB was planned to have) but an MMO would just water it down to a WOW style grindfest, it would be bad for Fallout and bad for the setting.

When it comes to the Interplay/Bethesda thing, I essentially agree with Richwizard:

While Bethesda game designers are not exactly reverent toward the franchise, the current leadership of Interplay would be much worse. Bethesda, at least, wants players to have fun playing their games. Whether they succeed or not is debatable to some people. The people at the current Interplay just want to suck money out of Fallout. Now they can't.

Bethesda might have done some annoying shit and Fallout 3 did have a lot of stuff that pissed me off, but they are still infinitely better for Fallout than Interplay. Interplay just wants to do what they did back when they released FT and FOBOS: just churn out whatever crap they can to suck more money out of the franchise.
 
To be fair, we don't exactly know how the Fallout MMO would have been planned in regards to other players, it's possible the game could have been limited where each player sees only a set number of people, similar to Phantasy Star (technically it would still count as an MMO), and it's also possible that we could have had thousands of real players running around the wasteland like World of Warcraft.

Unless we hear something from a developer or Project V13 releases and follows the same structure, I doubt we'll know for sure.
 
Back
Top