dude101 did a short writeup on his Fallout modding blog to point out some good-looking material coming out of Russian Fallout 2 TC project Dominion. Take a look:
A comment posted on Reddit has led to a strange and silly legal situation. Apparently a Massachusetts pizza parlor is using Vault Boy as an advertising mascot unaware of its ownership by Bethesda. Joystiq in fact relayed this to Bethesda and received a surprising response:
"Well he is a big part of our Fallout brand and is copyrighted, so, yeah, deciding on your own to use him to promote your business or product, or to sell stuff, or whatever, without getting permission from us ... not a good idea."
Ausir of The Vault wiki is to be thanked for this news.
Thanks to Ausir we now have screenshots of Project V13, Interplay's unannounced MMO. Apparently, these screenshots are going to be used as evidence in the Bethesda vs Interplay case, as they were submitted as court evidence.
In addition to that, the court documents also yielded some concept art:
These pieces had earlier today been released by Duck and Cover, but they had smeared some rather obtrusive watermarks all over them.
"Brian Menze, the artist who drew all the new Vault Boy art in Fallout 2 (the original Fallout ones were drawn by Tramell Isaac), and who is now working on Fallout: New Vegas, decided to sell some of his drawings on eBay. The first ones to go are Scourge of the Wastes and Weapon Handling as well as Grave Digger and Villified."
Isn't it shocking when people just lie in the face of a judge? Who would even do that. Vigilant Ausir frequented a number of sleazy alehouses around the Caribbean to milk his spy network for information on the Bethesda/Interplay legal battle, and Bethesda's case seems to be a bit hit and miss:
In the original complaint, Bethesda not only claims that the name Fallout Trilogy for a compilation sold in the United States and containing Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics is misleading and cannibalizes on Fallout 3 sales. They also claim that around August 2009, Bethesda became aware of compilations of Fallout games distributed under the titles Fallout Collection and Saga Fallout in other countries. "Upon information and belief" Bethesda alleges that Interplay began packaging, advertising and promoting these packages after Bethesda's launch of Fallout 3.
While a lot of Bethesda's arguments in the filings are reasonable, this claim is entirely false. Saga Fallout has been sold in Poland by CD Projekt since 2004, and the White Label Fallout Collection has been available in the UK since 2006, while a previous Ultimate Fallout Collection was released in 2004.
Interplay's case on the other hand is a bit miss and hit:
Interplay does not have the necessary funds to fulfill the Trademark Licensing Agreement condition of securing 30 million dollars for the development of a Fallout MMORPG. And even if one were assume that they somehow did secure the money, by teaming up with Masthead Studios Interplay is still in breach of the provision that does not allow it to sublicense any of the development rights without Bethesda's approval.
The Merchandising Rights provision did not “grandfather” any prior packaging, advertising or promotional material, so even if they were identical to previously used materials, they would need to be approved by Bethesda before re-release, which Interplay did not do.
And that's just two items from a long list of... well, five. Maybe the court will rule against both parties and deport them to Alaska? For lying.*
Update: King of Creation of Duck and Cover also got hold of Bethesda's claims and posted some passages. Mainly stuff we already know, but now in Beth's own words.
Nearly all of Interplay’s arguments in the Opposition are based entirely on the unsupported statements, speculations and improper legal conclusions contained in the Declaration of Herve Caen, Interplay’s CEO (“Caen Declaration”).
They also claim that Interplay couldn't possibly be working with Masthead, since Masthead is already working on an MMOG and would explode if they took on a second.
* I'm not sure whether there's an actual courtroom involved. Maybe they're just passing papers back and forth. I'm pretty sure about the alehouses though.
Serg Souleiman has released yet another piece of concept art for the mysterious Project V13 on the Interplay Forums:
This one is from the bottom of the barrel, some of the very 1st sketches that I did on this project. We wanted to see what other directions we could push the characters and start pulling them back from there. None of these will be used, but I still wanted to show you guys what it all started with.
We have previously posted on iPlans for an iFallout on the iPhone. Kotaku now interviews John Carmack on the subject of iQuake and such. Fallout gets mentioned at the end, although in massively inconclusive terms.
In particular Carmack is interesting in getting parent company Bethesda interested in bringing some of their games over to the iPhone.
"I spent a bit of time talking to Todd Howard about the iPhone," he said. "We want to make something happen for those products as well."
An obvious choice would be Fallout, something that Carmack says has already had internal proof of concepts made. But nothing has yet officially happened with the game.
Carmack says that Howard, a big fan of the iPhone, is very supportive of the idea and that anything made based on Bethesda's games would likely be created as a joint project between id and Bethesda.
Spotted through a site that made me wait to follow a hyperlink, so maybe I'll wait to credit them.
The entertainment critique website Media Consumes Me which graced us with a previously well-written article about the history of Fallout has just delivered a second part by author Ethan Quin. This continues right where the first left off covering the downfall of Interplay, Bethesda's Fallout 3, and any potential future for the series. It's just as verbose and awesomely detailed as the first part was and is strongly suggested reading.
The 4th piece of V13 concept art can be found on Interplay's forums. And here:
Chris Taylor remarks:
One of the themes we will be dealing with is regrowth and rebuilding. After X amount of time (notice that sly dodge about the timeline), there is bound to be some amount of rebirth. We've had some long (LONG) discussions about how much of that we want to present, how much is natural and how much is man-made.
You can't get much Game of the Yearerer than that. Press release.
Gaming innovation celebrated at record breaking Golden Joystick Awards
Boom for event as gamers cast 1.2m votes and name Fallout 3 their ultimate game
1500 HRS October 30th 2009 – The video games industry was recognized as the fastest-growing entertainment medium and the UK was acknowledged as a centre of creative excellence today as the winners of the world’s most popular video game awards show, the 27th annual Golden Joystick Awards were announced in London.
Fallout 3 was crowned “Ultimate Game of the Year”, whilst Call of Duty continued its annual winning streak with a hat-trick of accolades.
With UK consumers spending £2.7billion on gaming over the last year, the industry remains resilient through the current downturn. As games continue to increase in popularity, organisers of the Golden Joystick Awards reported a 47% surge in voting, with over 1.2m votes in another record breaking year.
The popular Call of Duty series from Activision Blizzard once again proved it was a fan favourite, scooping a trio of awards in 2009. Call of Duty: World at War won “Multiplayer Game of the Year” and “Nintendo Game of the Year.” The forthcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 looks set to rule Christmas 2009, bagging the “One to Watch” award.
The haul of awards for Activision Blizzard continued with Guitar Hero: World Tour winning “Soundtrack of the Year”, while the gaming giant rounded-off its haul with “Publisher of the Year”.
There was strong showing for UK-developed titles, as “Family Game of the Year” was taken by Guildford-based Media Molecule for LittleBigPlanet on PlayStation 3 - an innovative platform game voiced by Stephen Fry. “Handheld Game of the Year” was won by Rockstar Leeds' Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for Nintendo DS. The “UK Developer of the Year” category saw Cambridge company Jagex smash all-comers as the makers of Runescape – the biggest free massively multiplayer online role-playing game in the world - outflanked rivals in the category by an overwhelming margin.
The full list of winners in the 2009 Golden Joystick Awards is;
Family Game of the Year: LittleBigPlanet
Bliss Handheld Game of the Year: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Retailer of the Year: GAME
Mobile Game of the Year: Metal Gear Solid Touch
Nintendo Game of the Year: Call of Duty: World at War
MSN Multiplayer Game of the Year: Call Of Duty: World At War
The Rampage Soundtrack of the Year: Guitar Hero World Tour
Xbox Game of the Year: Gears of War 2
PC Game of the Year: Fallout 3
Amiqus Games UK Developer of the Year: Jagex
PlayStation Game of the Year: Killzone 2
Publisher of the Year: Activision Blizzard
Online Game of the Year: Left4Dead
ShortList One to Watch: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Ultimate Game of the Year, together with Zavvi.co.uk: Fallout 3
Rounding off the afternoon in style, the Golden Joystick Awards themselves were officially recognised by Guinness World Records as the “World’s Most Popular Video Game Awards.” The Golden Joysticks polled 1,223,646 votes in its 27th year.
Emma Parkinson is Organiser of the Golden Joystick Awards:
“The games industry remains innovative and vibrant despite economic pressures. Many of the winners at the Golden Joystick’s demonstrate that UK talent remains crucial to the success of this industry across the globe and must be nurtured at all cost.
I’m delighted by the record number of votes – gamers deserve to have their say about their favourite games, having spent £2.7billion of their hard-earned cash in the toughest year the industry has experienced.”
Correction on earlier post, Interplay's lawyer states.
You will not often hear from me, but as Interplay's in-house lawyer I feel the need to set the record straight here...
The Court has not ruled on Bethesda's Motion for Prelminary Injunction. A proposed order was filed with our Opposition to the Motion, but that is not the same as an Order of the Court. The hearing is weeks away. Interplay will issue an official statement if there is a material development that needs to be addressed. Please do not rely on rumor or speculation.
In the meantime, we all appreciate your enthusiasm and support.
NMA apologizes for the error. As stated, the news on Interplay winning the hearing came from Interplay investor frymuchan, who had apparently misinterpreted the court filings posted on earlier.
This seemingly rhetorical question is the subject of an editorial on the Examiner.
Fallout 3 is Bethesda's most recent--and best selling--title. Released on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC, the game has received universal acclaim from critics and rightfully so. This may be the third in the Fallout franchise, but it is the first time Bethesda has taken over the reigns of this fan favorite PC series and brought it to console gamers to boot. The post-apocalyptic role playing game has been widely enjoyed in Europe, North America and recently, has stunned aficionados of the RPG genre by actually cracking a recent Japanese poll of best RPGs of all time, an unheard of feat for a western RPG. It is also, sadly, a game that is riddled with glitches, bugs and other defects across all platforms. The fan/knowledge-base site wikia has a Fallout 3 section with numerous documented bugs and glitches for every version of the game. Everything from the game slowing down, freezing, crashing and missions not correctly playing out despite required objectives being completed have been noted by gamers since the game went on sale. In some cases, these errors and bugs have been fixed by the numerous patches that have gone on-line subsequent to the game's release. In other cases, these errors remain within the game to this very day.
(...)
But in all fairness, a lot of what has occurred with Bethesda games are understandable to a degree. Expansive games such as Fallout 3 are some of the most technically complex games available on the market with numerous variables to consider. Between free roaming NPCs, conflicts between multiple objectives and numerous conditions and factors built into environments, missions and even equipment, it's a daunting task to go over such a massive work with a fine toothed comb and take every consideration into account. Other games such as Bioware's Mass Effect have had the occasional hiccup that was eventually addressed. Recently the multi-platform Gearbox title Borderlands had a bug that affected the multi-player component on the PS3, though the error was rapidly corrected in less than 24 hours. It is unrealistic to expect that with games as large and complex as those we enjoy today, they will be perfect, bug free experiences. What gamers should be concerned about is whether this is a trend that will worsen in the future, particularly in terms of response from the creators of these games. Right now Bethesda is in a comfortable position; they make brilliant games that are enormously fun to play and gamers have few, if any alternatives for similar experiences. However if they continue to release games riddled with bugs that either take weeks to address or remain ignored entirely when developers such as Gearbox issue fixes within a day, it does not reflect well on the company and may possibly affect how willing gamers are to forgive their gaffs in the games to come.
If the future of gaming is one where gamers must accept the reality of fixes to games after release, then it will be the developers and publishers that get their fixes out in a timely manner who will win the favor of consumers. The good will Bethesda has among fans who love the games they provide may not last if a competitor arrives that offers a similar experience with fewer issues, or more timely fixes.
Parts 3, 4 and 5 of the independent post-apoc movie "Mad Nation" are available on YouTube. Ethan "InTheOnlineAsbestosSuit" Taranto-Kent did it, so blame him for any damage your old black and white photos might receive... Here's the third part, the other two are linked to at the end of the post.
For the uninitiated in law a preliminary injunction is when one party (Bethesda) asks the courts to restrain another party (Interplay) of going forward with their activities (publishing Fallout, working on FOOL) until such time as the case has been decided. Bethesda was denied its request for a preliminary injunction according to Interplay investor frymuchan, and this would seem to be the case as Interplay has started publishing V13 concept art. NMA has a copy of Interplay's proposed order denying the preliminary injunction (though not the ruling) and - of more interest - Interplay's opposition to said motion, including its arguments.
Interplay had to argue on four points (the traditional four for preliminary injunctions). The one of the most interest to us is that "Bethesda cannot show a clear likelihood of success on the merits of its claims". The case is about the Asset Purchase Agreement (APA) - by which Interplay sold Fallout but retained the right to publish the older titles - and the Trademark License Agreement (TLA) - by which Interplay licensed back the limited rights to produce FOOL.
While it does not contain convincing instances of what frymuchan would no doubt call "sleazy interference" from Bethesda, it does cite a few instances of how Interplay and Bethesda would interact on the use of the Fallout license. The biggest example is Interplay's website: Interplay had initially submitted for approval a website that prominently featured Fallout Online, but no permission for this was given by Bethesda. They then switched from FOOL to Project V13 and resubmitted for approval, Bethesda noting that the art "relates to a possible MMOG based on Fallout". Interplay removed said art, but never got a response from Bethesda on further approval requests.
When it comes to Fallout Online itself, Interplay notes it has "more than 600 pages of extensive game design documents detaling, without limitation: characters, character abilities, equipment and in game items, weapons, concept art, story outlines, and environment descriptions, among other game information." Interplay claims to have entered full production with Masthead prior to the deadline set by the TLA and to have created a demo that "included a playable portion of the 3-D game environment, which was based upon the game design documents and showcased the art style selected by the team." Interplay sent notice on April 2 to Bethesda that they had satisfied the TLA conditions. Bethesda unilaterally revoked Interplay's rights under the TLA on April 7, claiming Interplay was not allowed to use independent contractors and rejecting Interplay's financial arrangements. Bethesda also claimed Interplay was not allowed to use digital distribution channels under the APA.
Interplay argues:
Interplay's distribution methods do not breach the APA, as the APA does not limit bundling of the games or sublicensing to publishers and digital distribution channels.
Interplay did not violate the Merchandising Rights approval provision, as said provision was only to give Bethesda the rights to see if Interplay's packaging did not "use, refer to, trade upon, reflect the look and feel of or otherwise exploit any of the Fallout games or products...developed by or for Bethesda or its licensees."
And here's an interesting point I've tried to make clear before: Interplay's packaging predates Bethesa's approval right. Interplay was using the packaging "Fallout Trilogy" and "Saga Fallout" for Fallout 1, 2 and Tactics bundles before the APA was signed, and thus said packaging is not bound to Bethesda's approval. Furthermore the package clearly shows it does not contain Fallout Interplay further claims that while it acted in good faith, Bethesda's refusal to let Interplay announce and promote its MMOG using the Fallout mark has a direct negative impact on the functioning of the company and is done in bad faith by Bethesda.
The APA is an "entire contract". This is a bit of legalise that basically states that given certain terms a contract can only be wholly undone, not partially. The opening language of the APA almost exactly follows that of an earlier contract that was declare to be entire by the courts, giving Interplay a strong case to argue the same is true here. If such is the case, then the rights of Interplay to distribute the pre-existing Fallout games can not be undone without the entire APA being undone and Bethesda and Interplay reverting to the earlier Exclusive Licensing Agreement.
Interplay can not be in violation of trademark as the APA is not yet invalidated.
Interplay satisfied the terms of the TLA. Now this is a somewhat hilarious read, as Interplay takes the imprecise language of the TLA and just stretches it every which way.
Interplay argues that "full production" is an undefined term taken to just mean the "production stage" of development, which Interplay has entered with Masthead technology.
Then Interplay argues the 30 million USD in the TLA is not defined as having to be held in Interplay's account, or that "the entirity of the funding must be received in a single installment or a single line of credit", and that "no provision of the TLA requires Interplay to spend US$30,000,000, or any other amount, to create the game. Thus, the funding requirement serves no material purpose." Hence Interplay claims the funding requirement served only a quality control function, and Interplay's arrangement with Masthead satisfied the financial conditions.
You don't need to be a legal wizz to see that this is a nebulous, nonsensical argument that stands and falls only on inexact language of the contract.
The remaining arguments, dealing with balance of harm and public interest, are of no extensive interest to us as readers. The countersuit by Interplay is not discussed in this document as it is not a part of the preliminary injunction hearing. There are no doubt rows of court documents NMA has not laid eyes on, but going from this, Interplay's arguments regarding the APA and their right to publish pre-existing Fallout games in perpetuity is strong, but I can't really take their arguments regarding the TLA and the funding for FOOL seriously. Regardless, they won the claim based on the above arguments.
Interplay has opened a forum dedicated to posting Project V13 concept art, presumably mostly by their lead concept artist Serge.S. Chris Taylor notes:
Some of the concept art for the game has been released due to the lawsuit. This forum will be a place where we can post high quality versions of the same art and you can give us some feedback on it at the same time.
Keep in mind that this is concept art. It's not finalized art, but it will give you a feel for what we are aiming for with V13.
(And I'll keep bugging the lawyers to release more art when we can... I'm pretty excited that we're finally able to show you some of the work that we've been doing up until now.)
Mad Max: Fury Road is now in the early stages of pre-production. This will be the fourth installment in the series that began with Mad Max and was continued by Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome. To maintain setting it too will be filmed in Australia:
Aussie film director George Miller says pre-production work will start next week on the latest Mad Max film, which is to be produced in New South Wales.
Thirty years after the release of the original Mad Max, Miller is preparing to head out west for Fury Road - the fourth installment of the popular franchise.
Filming on Fury Road will begin in NSW in August 2010.
Casting for the lead role is already underway, but the big question is whether Mel Gibson is set to return as the star.
Miller is staying tight-lipped about who he would like to take the lead.
Special thanks to Dutch of Duck and Cover for this news.
Interplay has filed an 8-K summing up its court dealings with Bethesda, which tells us nothing new but is easier on the eyes than frymuchan's rather biased take.
On October 16, 2009, Interplay Entertainment Corp. (“Interplay”) answered the lawsuit filed by Bethesda Softworks LLC (“Bethesda”) in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland on September 8, 2009. In conjunction with its Answer, Interplay asserted Counter-Claims against Bethesda seeking affirmative relief, including for Breach of Contract, Declaratory Judgment, and other relief. Interplay alleges Bethesda breached the terms of Asset Purchase Agreement related to the sale of the FALLOUT® intellectual property to Bethesda.
Interplay’s counter-suit alleges that Bethesda interfered with Interplay’s business, including distribution of the previously released FALLOUT ®, FALLOUT® 2, and FALLOUT® Tactics games, by attempting to terminate Interplay’s distribution rights, among other acts. Interplay asks the Court to decide whether Bethesda’s attempt to terminate Interplay’s rights under the Asset Purchase Agreement results in nullification of the entire contract such that the Parties should be returned to the status quo under their former Exclusive Licensing Agreement. If the Exclusive Licensing Agreement is restored, Bethesda may owe royalties based upon sales of its FALLOUT ® 3 title. Interplay also seeks a declaration from the Court that it has not infringed upon the FALLOUT® mark and that it has satisfied the terms of a Trademark Licensing Agreement it signed with Bethesda related to Interplay’s production of a massively-multiplayer online game.
For its part, Bethesda seeks to cancel the Trademark License Agreement, which conditionally allows Interplay to use the FALLOUT ® brand in conjunction with its currently-in-production massively multiplayer online game. Bethesda claims that Interplay breached the trademark license agreement because it allegedly failed to commence full scale development and satisfy a funding requirement within a specified time frame. Bethesda also seeks to terminate Interplay’s rights with respect to Interplay’s distribution of the FALLOUT® back catalog of games. Interplay disputes these allegations. Although the potential damages are currently unknown, if Bethesda ultimately prevails, Bethesda could obtain a damages award and cancel the trademark license agreement. Interplay could lose its license to use the FALLOUT® brand with respect to its massively multiplayer online game, and also its right to distribute the pre-existing FALLOUT® titles.
Set in the shattered subway of a post apocalyptic Moscow, Metro 2033 is a story of intensive underground survival where the fate of mankind rests in your hands.
In 2013 the world was devastated by an apocalyptic event, annihilating almost all mankind and turning the earth’s surface into a poisonous wasteland. A handful of survivors took refuge in the depths of the Moscow underground, and human civilization entered a new Dark Age.
The year is 2033. An entire generation has been born and raised underground, and their besieged Metro Station-Cities struggle for survival, with each other, and the mutant horrors that await outside.
You are Artyom, born in the last days before the fire, but raised Underground. Having never ventured beyond your Metro Station-City limits, one fateful event sparks a desperate mission to the heart of the Metro system, to warn the remnants of mankind of a terrible impending threat. Your journey takes you from the forgotten catacombs beneath the subway to the desolate wastelands above, where your actions will determine the fate of mankind.
