Bethesda Loses Again in Fallout Online Legal Battle

[The Random One]

They were looking for a TRO? I am a TRO... and I am right here.

(GET IT?)

Also I wasn't even aware Bethesda had lost the last injuction. Big Fallout fan am I.

 

[Matt K]

Hmmm, well I have mixed opinions. The delay in filing legal action could have come about due to attempts at negotiation before the desician to go to court. It's not like we have the details of everything that was said and done before then.

Actually, the courts get a pretty good picture of what's going on before they rule on these. If negotiations were going on then the Judge would have been informed and the decision would have reflected that since that is a valid reason to delay filing the case.

 

[Mr.Amakir]

Remember that this is not the developer Bethesda that is suing people but the company Bethesda, there is a difference.

 

[Frostbite3789]

Thank Christ, other developers have been shitting on the fallout franchise for far too long.

What, you mean critically acclaimed and all around enjoyed by most fans Fallout 3 and New Vegas? Those stains on the franchise?

Edit: Also, you know Obsidian, with it's bunch of employees that worked on Fallout and Fallout 2. They obviously have no idea how to handle a Fallout game AT ALL.

 

[Frostbite3789]

I thought one usually has 12 months to take legal action... Hmm, somthing's fishy here.

Strange though, with all of the hoopla in the States about copyrights, illegal downloads and all that, why is the judge ruling against Bethesda for something as trivial as "waiting 7 months" when clearly they have up to 12 months. IP is IP, whether you wait 1 or 7 months...

Messed up.

It has to do with the injunction, which as stated above is about delaying a project before the court date. Something that should be done as soon as a problem is found.

Meaning that 7th month is a problem. Someone explained it a lot better than me in a previous post.

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

I really hope that the judge throws the case out.

 

[ishist]

I thought one usually has 12 months to take legal action... Hmm, somthing's fishy here.

Strange though, with all of the hoopla in the States about copyrights, illegal downloads and all that, why is the judge ruling against Bethesda for something as trivial as "waiting 7 months" when clearly they have up to 12 months. IP is IP, whether you wait 1 or 7 months...

Messed up.

It's not messed up at all. What Bethesda was asking for was an emergency measure. This wasn't them defending their IP. What they were doing was the equivalent of calling the cops to report someone breaking in to your home after he's been sleeping on your couch and eating dinner with your family for 7 months. At that point it is obviously not an "emergency". If it had actually been an Emergency, you would have called right away.

The Corporation that cried Wolf.

 

[No_Remainders]

Wow, Bethesda really are all about suing people lately, aren't they?

First Mojang's Scrolls and now this? I don't pretend to know anything about copyright laws but this does seem like overkill. Seems like game development is a cut-throat business.

This isn't even just lately.

This has been going on for ages.

They've tried it a few times, actually.

OT: Shrug. I dislike Bethesda. I hope they fuck off and leave it alone.

 

[No_Remainders]

Edit: Also, you know Obsidian, with it's bunch of employees that worked on Fallout and Fallout 2. They obviously have no idea how to handle a Fallout game AT ALL.

I dislike double posting, but they know how to do a real Fallout game, like, y'know, Fallout.

I don't think of New Vegas as a Fallout game. It's got a totally different gameplay style.

Funnily enough, I didn't see people kicking up a fuss when Fallout 3 changed style, like, y'know, XCom or Syndicate.

 

[genericusername64]

Well V.A.T.S a relief for Fallout Fans everywhere.

Also, as long as they don't fuck up the continuity I'm fine with a fallout MMO

 

[adamtm]

And good fucking riddance (again), this is corporate bullying of the highest degree.

PS: STOP FUCKING SUING MORROBLIVION kthxbai

 

[JPArbiter]

But your take on obsidian in general seems to be coming from a distinctly bethesda viewpoint, and far as i know they had work to show had an engine running, i think it s bit much to just agree with bethesda that it was not enough to qualify their contractual obligiations, and the way these judgements have been going i would find it odd that the trend would reverse down the road in some crazy twist.

Oh I am biased as all hell, but at least I will be honest about it. I also loved every Fallut game that had come out so far even the ones that "True" Fans do not talk about. Fallout 3 revitalized the franchise and made it relevant, and was a good game to boot.

When Bethesda handed off Fallout to Obsidian I had a feeling of dread, thanks to my experiences with KOTOR 2 (buggy, delivered late and the story missing an entire second act, plus the make everyone a jedi mechanic sucked.) and Never Winter Knights 2. I rented Alpha Protocol, and well Yatzee was right. and they even boned Dungeon Seine 3 pretty well with it's piss poor multiplayer capability.

I still can not finish Fallout New Vegas on my Xbox because of all the bugs despite multiple patches and doing everything I can to AVOID them. this means no auto-saving, willfully ignoring some quests, and not going into some areas. and my save data still gets corrupted.

Obsidian can not produce games on time, on budget, finished, and playable, that is my opinion. If the Doomsday Option of Bethesda being forced to give back the Fallout IP to Interplay (vis a vie Interplays counter-suit) goes through, it will kill the franchise.

as far as this ruling, it is pretty standard, and distracting, Bethesda needs to no contest a lot of the side story crap and get on the Suit/Countersuit Against Interplay whole hog

 

[adamtm]

Edit: Also, you know Obsidian, with it's bunch of employees that worked on Fallout and Fallout 2. They obviously have no idea how to handle a Fallout game AT ALL.

I dislike double posting, but they know how to do a real Fallout game, like, y'know, Fallout.

I don't think of New Vegas as a Fallout game. It's got a totally different gameplay style.

Funnily enough, I didn't see people kicking up a fuss when Fallout 3 changed style, like, y'know, XCom or Syndicate.

Its mostly because after BoS everyone just accepted whatever as Fallout, as long as it wasn't as shit as BoS...

 

[Spencer Petersen]

I'll actually be interested in a Interplay produced Fallout MMO if I ever see any actual progress being made on it. Right now they are just sitting on the IP and letting it rot under false promises and fake screenshots. Interplay needs to start working or they deserve to lose the license, its DNF all over again.

 

[warmonkey]

TLDR; Bethesda is still crying themselves to sleep that they let the MMO rights for Fallout slip through their fingers, and is still trying their damnedest to stop it from happening so they can produce their own Fallout MMO.

Nothing to see here, folks. Just a big crybaby bully.

 

[UnravThreads]

That said, I'm becoming a little wary of Bethesda getting their hooks into the Fallout liscence so solidly right now, because I have some suspicians that they might want to lock it down just to sit on it and prevent anyone else from using it.

Bethesda own the license completely. It is 100% theirs. Part of the deal was that Bethesda licensed it to Interplay to create an MMO by a certain date, and that hasn't happened. Actually, there's been very little progress seen by the public from Interplay. What Bethesda are doing is trying to get Interplay off the game because they're not pulling their weight with it. Bethesda want their license back, and likely any and all assets created by Interplay/Masthead for the game, probably so they can give it to someone else or do it internally. As dickish as Bethesda seem in this, they're just doing what they have to. Interplay aren't holding up their side of the bargain.

I also think that there's an aspect of Bethesda's methods that is trying to crush Interplay. They're not the same publisher they were under Fargo, and they're run by the most notorious brothers in gaming (The Caen brothers). They're sat on various IPs, they're not really doing anything of note and really it's just a shambling corpse, a shadow of what it once was.

What obsidian cannot make a game properly? New vegas was no more buggy than any other game developed on the gamebro engine that includes oblivion and fallout 3 both made by bethesda.

Gamebryo was utterly butchered by Bethesda. If you look at its implementation in Civilization IV, you'll see just how badly Bethesda broke it. It was at its most stable with New Vegas, but it still has massive stability problems across all three games. A change in driver can turn Fallout 3 from a beautiful looking game into a blue screening nightmare.

When Bethesda handed off Fallout to Obsidian I had a feeling of dread, thanks to my experiences with KOTOR 2 (buggy, delivered late and the story missing an entire second act, plus the make everyone a jedi mechanic sucked.)

Not fair. Obsidian were screwed over with KotOR2 as much as the consumers were. They had 18 months for the complete project, and they started just as KotOR ended. That means they had 18 months to plan, write, develop, bug test, learn to use the engine, record voices, correct and, well, everything else that goes into making a game. Alpha Protocol they've admitted to screwing up with, although it has done quite well, and as for New Vegas? They inherited a bad lot with it and I think they did an admirable job. Yes, it does have problems, and some quite serious, but they weren't exactly in the best position with it.

Good for them, I'd prefer for masthead/Interplay to be able to make this game. Screw what Bethesda thinks (even though I am a major fan of their games). Can't say I feel sorry for Bethesda in this situation at all.

Current Interplay =/= Old Interplay. The Interplay you're thinking of is mostly in inXile Entertainment, BioWare and Obsidian Entertainment. The new one has no real talent, no real financial support and absolutely no ability to make a decent Fallout title. Chris Avellone, who is the Fallout guy, is with Obsidian, as are a lot of the Black Isle devs who worked on the series. Bethesda have experience with RPGs, Obsidian are formed from the remains of one of the most loved RPG studios in PC history. Interplay now? It's nothing. Absolutely nothing. The biggest title they've put out in recent years is Earthworm Jim HD. The IP is in much better hands with Bethesda.

You don't need to feel sorry for Bethesda. You need to look at the facts and see that Interplay is not going to ever deliver Fallout Online, and whilst Bethesda are being almost too aggressive with their litigating against Interplay, it is necessary. Interplay do not have the finances to make the game, they do not have the talent to make the game, they do not have anything.

 

[ike42]

So if you wait a little while before filing you suddenly lose your right to your own intellectual property? That sounds pretty suspect to me.

IP Law has this generally unwritten rule where if you do not defend it promptly you lose a lot of options to protect it. it is the number one reason why Harmony Gold, despite doing jack squat with the robotech property for the past 15 years will sue the pants off of anyone who release anything with a robot even remotely looking like a Warhammer... excuse me Tomahawk.

I love following this case, because Bethesda's core claim, that Interplay was not fulfilling the contractual obligations to develop the fallout MMO is pretty solid. but all of the other crap that they have thrown at the courts as well is meaningless, and they have been beaten down. this will sadly work against them when the central case finally gets decided.

I just hope thew doomsday scenario does not happen and Bethesda has to cede Fallout back to Interplay, who is financially and creatively incapable of doing anything with the property. they would have to subliscene to Obsidian and I think New Vegas has shown that Obsidian can not make a game properly.

I didn't really dislike New Vegas, I just thought that they didn't do as good a job as on Fallout 3. Also, there were way more bugs.

 

[Nokiro]

That said, I'm becoming a little wary of Bethesda getting their hooks into the Fallout liscence so solidly right now, because I have some suspicians that they might want to lock it down just to sit on it and prevent anyone else from using it.

Bethesda own the license completely. It is 100% theirs. Part of the deal was that Bethesda licensed it to Interplay to create an MMO by a certain date, and that hasn't happened. Actually, there's been very little progress seen by the public from Interplay. What Bethesda are doing is trying to get Interplay off the game because they're not pulling their weight with it. Bethesda want their license back, and likely any and all assets created by Interplay/Masthead for the game, probably so they can give it to someone else or do it internally. As dickish as Bethesda seem in this, they're just doing what they have to. Interplay aren't holding up their side of the bargain.

I also think that there's an aspect of Bethesda's methods that is trying to crush Interplay. They're not the same publisher they were under Fargo, and they're run by the most notorious brothers in gaming (The Caen brothers). They're sat on various IPs, they're not really doing anything of note and really it's just a shambling corpse, a shadow of what it once was.

What obsidian cannot make a game properly? New vegas was no more buggy than any other game developed on the gamebro engine that includes oblivion and fallout 3 both made by bethesda.

Gamebryo was utterly butchered by Bethesda. If you look at its implementation in Civilization IV, you'll see just how badly Bethesda broke it. It was at its most stable with New Vegas, but it still has massive stability problems across all three games. A change in driver can turn Fallout 3 from a beautiful looking game into a blue screening nightmare.

When Bethesda handed off Fallout to Obsidian I had a feeling of dread, thanks to my experiences with KOTOR 2 (buggy, delivered late and the story missing an entire second act, plus the make everyone a jedi mechanic sucked.)

Not fair. Obsidian were screwed over with KotOR2 as much as the consumers were. They had 18 months for the complete project, and they started just as KotOR ended. That means they had 18 months to plan, write, develop, bug test, learn to use the engine, record voices, correct and, well, everything else that goes into making a game. Alpha Protocol they've admitted to screwing up with, although it has done quite well, and as for New Vegas? They inherited a bad lot with it and I think they did an admirable job. Yes, it does have problems, and some quite serious, but they weren't exactly in the best position with it.

Good for them, I'd prefer for masthead/Interplay to be able to make this game. Screw what Bethesda thinks (even though I am a major fan of their games). Can't say I feel sorry for Bethesda in this situation at all.

Current Interplay =/= Old Interplay. The Interplay you're thinking of is mostly in inXile Entertainment, BioWare and Obsidian Entertainment. The new one has no real talent, no real financial support and absolutely no ability to make a decent Fallout title. Chris Avellone, who is the Fallout guy, is with Obsidian, as are a lot of the Black Isle devs who worked on the series. Bethesda have experience with RPGs, Obsidian are formed from the remains of one of the most loved RPG studios in PC history. Interplay now? It's nothing. Absolutely nothing. The biggest title they've put out in recent years is Earthworm Jim HD. The IP is in much better hands with Bethesda.

You don't need to feel sorry for Bethesda. You need to look at the facts and see that Interplay is not going to ever deliver Fallout Online, and whilst Bethesda are being almost too aggressive with their litigating against Interplay, it is necessary. Interplay do not have the finances to make the game, they do not have the talent to make the game, they do not have anything.

This man speaks the truth, InterPlay is currently not doing anything with the Fallout MMO. It's just wasting away, instead of being worked on.
Nice Avatar, btw coldalarm. Fellow TLJ fan here.