Interplay Targeted By Bioware-fare

corby writes: "Bioware Corp., developer of the highly anticipated multiplayer Dungeons & Dragons game Neverwinter Nights, is escalating the conflict with their troubled publisher Interplay. In September, they filed a lawsuit against the publisher, and now they have terminated their contract with Interplay to distribute Neverwinter Nights. The problem is, these guys need each other. The loss of Neverwinter Nights means that Interplay will lose out on substantial revenue from a surefire hit, but Interplay is apparently the only company with rights to distribute games under the AD&D license."

They've already cut back Neverwinter Nights...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you haven't heard, the editing tools (the part of NWN most people thought was nifty) were already stripped from the Non-Windowes versions. Talk was made of including them later, but...

Stated reason was difficulty breaking them from an MS framework. Seems like a designer fubared by choosing that framework to begin with, huh?

Re:Well, there is alwasys Open Source

[Anonymous Coward]

As long as you don't call it AD&D and don't completely copy AD&D, yes. Then it's just another OS RPG.

If you want to make an exact copy of AD&D and call it GNU/AD&D, expect to get sued. A lot.

Whoa there!

[HunterZ]

Back that truck up, slick! Check this out:
http://www.poolofradiance.com/ [poolofradiance.com]

I don't see any mention of Interplay or Bioware there, yet it's an AD&D computer game. Would anyone care to explain?

Exclusive Rights?

[mESSDan]

BALDUR'S GATE: © 1998 BioWare Corp. All Rights Reserved. Baldur's Gate, Forgotten Realms, the Forgotten Realms logo, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the AD&D logo, and the TSR logo are trademarks of TSR, Inc., a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast, Inc, and are used by Interplay under license. All Rights Reserved. Interplay, the Interplay logo, Black Isle Studios, the Black Isle Studios logo, and "By Gamers, For Gamers." are trademarks of Interplay Productions. All Rights Reserved. The BioWare logo is the trademark of BioWare Corp. All Rights Reserved. Dolby, the Dolby Surround Logo and the double-D symbols are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Exclusively licensed and distributed by Interplay Productions. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners.

I stole this from the link in the article. The problem is, the second to last line is all that indicates "Exclusively licensed" (Emphasis mine), and it doesn't indicate what it pertains to.

The part that does mention AD&D indicates that it is being used under license, no mention of exclusivity.

Can anyone clear this up?

Re:They've already cut back Neverwinter Nights...

[LMCBoy]

As I understand it, they designed the Toolset with Borland C++ Builder. They were expecting Borland to have a Linux version of this product (not Kylix), but it never materialized. However, the fact that they used BCB means a Mac version was never in the works...

D&D is not enough

[fm6]

D&D software in itself is not that big a thing. Been around for years. Rogue [classicgaming.com] (the original version of Nethack) was an early example. Though Michael Toy had to change the names of the monsters after TSR reminded him that he didn't have a license to use them.

Put Baldur's Gate and Rogue side by side, and you see that Bioware has done more than just computerize D&D. They've greatly enhanced the user experience with sophisticated interaction, simulation, and non-player character engine. And they've also created a story that is sophisticated enough to engage but simple enough to be managed by a "Dungeon Master" that's just a piece of software, and thus has no ability to improvise. That last is not technically sophisticated, but it's what impresses me the most.

My solution

[Y-Crate]

How about makers of MMORPGs come up with something remotely new and inventive? Stop dragging out the Dungeons and Dragons license for the 50,000th time. You know, there are some rather interesting things you could come up with.