Bethesda Claims Interplay Wants to "Undermine" Fallout

[The Random One]

Even if it was a dick move for Interplay to undermine Fallout 3's story, there are plenty of old gamers who wanted just that. I can't fault them for using the IP they created in the way they wanted.

However, it's quite obvious that this lawsuit can only end in [redacted].

 

[Starke]

Interplay intends to [redacted]?! How dare they!

Seriously, though- how could you expect anyone to make any kind of Fallout game without access to Pip Boy? If all you're getting out of the deal is the ability to use the word "Fallout" in the title, jeez, you might as well make an MMO out of Wasteland.

And I would so not want to be the Interactive Game Group, whoever they are. "Hey, thanks for the funding! Now if you'll excuse us, we're going to tie all your 'development' funds up in legal wrangling, m'kay?"

It's possible they're actually talking about Pipboy and not Vaultboy... but I don't know.

 

[whaleswiththumbs]

I'll boil it down to the facts.

1. Interplay is not the Interplay we knew. Don't mourn what may happen to this Interplay - They're not who you think they are.
2. Bethesda are being dicks, but not without reason.
3. Interplay are in no shape to create, finance and run an MMO. The amount they're borrowing and the frequency of their near-bankruptcies should make that clear.
4. Interplay sold the rights to Bethesda, and in Interplay's hands the Fallout franchise would undoutably either be lost to the mists of time or fail in a non-spectacular fashion.

I think the ongoing lawsuits are what keeps near0bankrupting Interplay, not their in-ability to manage funds or their company. And in the deal it states that Interplay would still have the rights to use the things from the Fallout series. And only through finding loopholes and back doors have Bethesda found a way to try and take it. It is very easy to say, well tought tits, they should just let it go and we can all move on.

But think of it this way. Assume you are a rational human being(not saying you aren't, just saying we all have quirks) In order to stay alive, you have to sell off your children, and your favorite was Harold(Fallout). But you kept rights to see him and say that he was your's and that if you go on a vacation, you can take him with you. Now, the person you sold it to(Bethesda, or rather, Zenimax at this point) doesn't like that you could take Harold to France, he only wants Harold to go to NYC. So he(Zeni) studies over your contract with him, they find a few words typo'd or a sentence with a different meaning they can construe from it.

Now they sue saying that you breached the contract, which gives them ALL rights back, leaving you with NOTHING.

And wouldn't you be rather upset?

 

[ctuncks]

Even if it was a dick move for Interplay to undermine Fallout 3's story, there are plenty of old gamers who wanted just that. I can't fault them for using the IP they created in the way they wanted.

However, it's quite obvious that this lawsuit can only end in [redacted].

This is one thing everyone keeps stuffing up, The Fallout series was not developed by Interplay (The publisher) it was created by Black Isle (The developer). This is like saying that THQ ctreated the Dawn of War series; THQ is the publiser with the IP license while Relic is the devopler.

 

[Monk Ed]

It's hilarious that fictitious storylines are being talked about in legal briefs and being used as proof of a "crime".

Just goes to show how ridiculous the intellectual property regime has become.

Intellectual property does more harm than good. Even if it were of some economic betterment on the whole, it is still unenforceable without committing or threatening aggression against the "infringer".

Others can explain it far better than I can: http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/intellectual/against.htm

Let Interplay's MMO get made. Even if they're not the same Interplay we knew.

 

[matrix3509]

So Interplay is trying to make it so that Fallout 3 never happened? That settles it then. GO INTERPLAY!

 

[screwvalve]

Bethesda is just being a little kid, what did they think Interplay was planning on doing with the "fallout mmo" not use any of the IP's for it? They just want to muscle interplay out of their rights to the MMO.

Yes, they're a dick company, i hope interplay pulls through here. Todd howard can go eat a big one.

 

[boag]

Wait - can someone really claim that undermining established continuity in a fictional setting is an offense worthy of a lawsuit?

That's baloney - and if it's not, let me be the first to suggest a class-action lawsuit against George Lucas.

How is that baloney? Its an IP, you shouldnt be able rewrite someone elses IP

It's baloney because there's no harm caused by there being two continuities - much like the existence of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida doesn't harm Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde. People rewrite stories all the time (just think about how many versions of Wonderland exist) - as long as Interplay secured the rights to the setting, it's ludicrous to say they can't write whatever story they want, even if it contradicts "canon" - barring some explicit clause in the rights contract that stipulates this as a condition of use; and, believe me, if that clause existed, it would be cited early and often in this claim.

Now, excuse me while I go write some Fan-Fiction and cause material harm to an existing continuity.

I agree with this, if you think about it, none of the star wars expanded universe books will ever be canon to George Lucas.

Besides, If people are put off by it, they just wont play the Fallout MMO.

 

[TheAngryMonkey]

Misquoting fun time:

"...aren't consistent enough with the current state of the franchise."

I guess they made a game that doesn't crash, every 5 minutes.

 

[Ausir]

I'll boil it down to the facts.

1. Interplay is not the Interplay we knew. Don't mourn what may happen to this Interplay - They're not who you think they are.
2. Bethesda are being dicks, but not without reason.
3. Interplay are in no shape to create, finance and run an MMO. The amount they're borrowing and the frequency of their near-bankruptcies should make that clear.
4. Interplay sold the rights to Bethesda, and in Interplay's hands the Fallout franchise would undoutably either be lost to the mists of time or fail in a non-spectacular fashion.
5. Bethesda have, and will, continue to use the license for "good". Getting Obsidian (The remnants of the original developers for Fallout) to do New Vegas should be near enough proof of that.
6. Interplay needs to die. Now.

Not really. If it were so simple, the lawsuit wouldn't be taking this long to resolve.

 

[RobfromtheGulag]

I'm not so much against Fallout taking a new direction; hell as a fan of only FO3 New Vegas seemed like a whole new direction but I didn't mind it.

However turning any game that's a decent single player into an MMO is a bad idea in my book. WoW is on top for a reason, and a good chunk of that is that it's easily accessible to casual players. Fallout doesn't possess the novelty nor game structure to be easily accessible and desirable to a casual gamer. Sure folks might buy it, but the appeal of a 'wasteland' that's populated by a bunch of other nerf herders like yourself is going to get old fast.

 

[Ausir]

This is one thing everyone keeps stuffing up, The Fallout series was not developed by Interplay (The publisher) it was created by Black Isle (The developer). This is like saying that THQ ctreated the Dawn of War series; THQ is the publiser with the IP license while Relic is the devopler.

Actually, this is a common misconception. Black Isle was never an external developer. It was never an independent company. In fact, it wasn't even named Black Isle when Fallout was released. It always was an internal development studio within Interplay. It wasn't even bought up by Interplay, it was an internal, initially unnamed team within the company that was named Black Isle during the development of Fallout 2.

And Relic is actually part of THQ currently, so it's not that great of an example either. But at least unlike Black Isle it used to be an independent company. Black Isle never was.

 

[badgersprite]

Translation:

Bethesda: "You suck."
Interplay: "No, Bethesda, it is you who are sucking."
Bethesda: "No, you suck."
Interplay: "No u."
Bethesda: "No u."
Interplay: "No u."
Bethesda: "No u."
Interplay: "No u."

 

[lukemdizzle]

I respect how Bethesda is protecting the IP. I feel that they wouldn't be this forceful if they thought the Interplay game would be good enough to do the series justice

 

[Blatherscythe]

Shame on Bethesda, Interplay would never do anything to suck cash out of the Fallout series regardless of lore and would certainly never undermine the franchise.

Cover says it all folks

Oh shit where did that crap game come from?

Interplay has pretty much unintentionally undermined the Fallout series with the above example. Bethesda should be worried if they actually tried to do so intentionally. Hell even tatics qualifies as a cash in that raped the lore and RPG elements for profit. Without Bioware or Black Isle Interplay was fucked, at least Bethesda can make a better game than tatics and BOS combined, it's called Fallout 3. With Black Isle's remenant's they made New Vegas.

 

[maturin]

Bethesda complaining about canon? That's rich