Atari and Hasbro swap game licenses/rights

[Everlost_MI]

Atari and Hasbro did some swapping of game licenses/rights (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/forgottenrealmsdemonstone/news_6127273.html) and here's the gist of it.

Hasbro paid Infogrames $65 million for the game rights to a series of toy properties including My Little Pony, Connect Four, Candyland, Playskool, Tonka, and the Transformers. It also re-acquired the rights to the ever-popular card-trading game Magic: The Gathering.

Infogrames acquired a 15-year exclusive to all the properties rights when it purchased Hasbro Interactive and Games.com from Hasbro in 2000...Infogrames will retain exclusive rights to Dungeons & Dragons in "all interactive formats" for another 10 years...The deal also means Atari will still publish the forthcoming D&D games Dragonshard, Neverwinter Nights 2, and Dungeons & Dragons Online.

Thanks to Gamespot (http://www.gamespot.com/) for the tip.

Err...yeah. So for the next ten years Atari is going to screw up D&D. Ok, got it.

[darkwarrior]

Wow....What a waste of money.

[BloodAngel]

Err...yeah. So for the next ten years Atari is going to screw up D&D. Ok, got it.

Truer words have never been spoken.

[Steve_Erhardt]

Err...yeah. So for the next ten years Atari is going to screw up D&D. Ok, got it.

Well, D&D has been kind of hit and miss regardless of publisher. That wouldn't make Atari blameless, of course, but I wouldn't lay it all at their feet. Plenty of other publishers have already trampled the license before now.

[Lodin]

If nothing else I hope they make another Transformers game cause Armada was K-rad.

[MrTA]

I really don't know why you guys talk shit about Atari? In my experience they have not been that bad. Ok so they have not been perfect either, but who is theese days? Neverwinter Nights was a great game, and what I saw at E3 earlier this year Dungens and Dragons Online looks good and Neverwinter Nights 2 is a must buy. Not to mention that I really look forward to Dragonshard as well.

[Rommel]

Maybe if they let developers finish one of their D&D games. Or maybe publishers needs to learn to stop announcing features that *they have no intention of delivering* (I stopped believing that whole "Wasn't enough time to add such and such" line, since it means they work by adding game play rules in order which makes zero sense) or started hiring programmers who can write code that is not a total buggy mess.

...And yet I still enjoyed the turn-based pleasure that is TOEE, buggy piece of featureless shit that it is.

[Redline]

I need another Fallout. Bethesda, don't fail me.

Or I'll... um, write indignant posts to messageboards.

[PIPBoy3000]

NWN was the best of the D&D bunch, almost despite of Atari as a publisher. Reading between the lines, it sounds like Bioware and Atari had some significant friction. At one point David Gaider made a reference about an "albatross around their neck".

Still, I'm hopeful that NWN2 will be the sort of game I'm looking for. Already we're planning a campaign (http://adamandjamie.com/da/) for it. Still, it's nice to have a backup plan. If it doesn't work out, there's always Dragon Age.

[ldi222]

only serious gripe I have with Atari is how bad they screwed up the Gothic II publishing here in the US. Probably the biggest reason we dont have an English version of the expansion pack yet.

[PacerDawn]

So for the next ten years Atari is going to screw up D&D.
D&D (don't know about current ruleset, last time I played was back in High School in the early 80's) doesn't translate well to computers. You have to make all kinds of modifications to get it to work right in a fast pace environment, so in effect it's not even true D&D. Publishers should stick to creating their own rules because, who really cares about dice rolls in a computer game anyway? I have way more fun with today's fantasty like EQ and the Elder Scrolls games than with mess like the gold box games (regen 1 hp per day??? You have to be out of your mind...)

[Royal Fool]

Just fucking give us Baldur's Gate 3/Another REAL Bioware RPG, not the useless shit that is Jade Empire.

Please. Okay?

[net7runner]

I remember being excited as hell for NWN. Once it came out, all I could do was compare it to Baldur's Gate 2, Planescape, etc., and realize that it was far, far beneath their level. :(

Oh Black Isle.....how I mourn you.

[emjoi]

Oh god, please don't screw up the My Little Pony franchise...

[Heretic Machine]

Oh whatever, NWN was the best D&D game ever made. I can't wait for NWN2. Hopefully it's RP community will experience better growth.

[Rathennen]

You know, NWN was a game I HAD to have. D&D 3rd edition rules on my PC, with the Aurora editor to make my own campaign. It was gonna be SOOO sweet.

Looking back on it now is kinda like remebering how great the movie "Masters of the Universe" was until you watch it again. Then you think, "Oh yeah, that's why I haven't watched this thing since I was Eight years old"

I mean, the game might have been a little better if the character models even remotely resembled something from Baldur's Gate or even the cruddy resolution toons from Warcraft 3. I'm sorry, I can't play a D&D game where my Human Fighter looks like a walking turd in crappy plate mail.

[bobbler]

You know, NWN was a game I HAD to have. D&D 3rd edition rules on my PC, with the Aurora editor to make my own campaign. It was gonna be SOOO sweet.

Looking back on it now is kinda like remebering how great the movie "Masters of the Universe" was until you watch it again. Then you think, "Oh yeah, that's why I haven't watched this thing since I was Eight years old"

I mean, the game might have been a little better if the character models even remotely resembled something from Baldur's Gate or even the cruddy resolution toons from Warcraft 3. I'm sorry, I can't play a D&D game where my Human Fighter looks like a walking turd in crappy plate mail.

Haha... Funny how memory sometimes works against you ;)

[Rathennen]

You can say that again...

Oh, two more points:

1) I actually AM looking forward to Dragonshard. Hopefully it will do the new Eberron setting justice. I don't really care how close it is to D&D gameplay, as long as it's fun.

2) Prime example of game companies effing up a D&D licenced product: "Descent to Undermountain." I STILL can't get that game to run on ANYTHING! Not even a computer that exceeds the RECOMENDED specifications, let alone the required. It keeps saying I don't have enough memory! =D