I know, right? What are they thinking? It's not as if they're going to lose any sales over this, it looks like a legal shakedown. I could understand if Harmony Gold were going to be releasing a new anime featuring those designs, but they aren't, are they?Crimsane said:
New Mechwarrior Game Faces Legal Threat
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
Yep, the stupid ass Shadow Chronicles crap that they're using as an excuse to block any NA releases of any of the GOOD Macross stuff from Japan.paragon1 said:
But as the good Cmdr. Breetai has noted, Harmony Gold basically has "Robotech" in its stable, that's it.
Godddamns. I already had seen a story that, preemptively, Catalyst Game Labs learned they actually couldn't use the unseen designs like they originally, but this is just making it more complicated. Yes, FASA did rip off Robotech big-time back in the day (or they licensed the images under dubious circumstances, it's all very confusing), but the point is this is 2009 and this really needs to be settled in a mature way. The "unseen" designs are as much a part of Battletech as they are of Robotech, to the point they're only the same in the way they look.
Okay, so they copied some old Robotech designs. That happens a lot in the industry. By now the designs have changed enough that they could pretty much stand on their own anyways. If this lawsuit wastes away the new Mechwarrior game I will be pissed... very pissed.
I'd argue on behalf of Shouji Kowamori, the original designer of those mechs, but Harmony Gold is fucking him over too!BakaSmurf said:
The mechwarrior guys should find a way to get the creators of the original anime shows that harmony ripped off for robotech to give them permission, that sort this issue alot faster and easier than any crap harmony gold can try to pull in court, its time harmony got there asses handed to them in a court case after all these years of sitting on the rights and doing sod all with them.
another way to shut them up would be to change the designs ever so slightly so that harmony gold cant sue over copyright infringement as the designs ont match.
another way to shut them up would be to change the designs ever so slightly so that harmony gold cant sue over copyright infringement as the designs ont match.
A bit more information on what exactly is going on -
Original article - Sometimes Things Just Don?t Go As You Want Them To [http://catalystgamelabs.com/2009/08/10/sometimes-things-just-dont-go-as-you-want-them-to/]
So it's likely this will not effect the release of the new game that much, but unless they can come to some kind of deal it's doubtful we will see those specific models.
?Sometimes things just don?t go as you want them to.?
That?s always an auspicious beginning to anything, isn?t it? Well, in this case it?s true. A few weeks back, we came out with some fantastic news. We were bringing the ?Unseen? back! We reviewed documents, talked to a great many people, and spent time with some lawyers. We felt we had a solid position.
Sadly, some of the information we acted upon turned out to be inaccurate. Twelve of the ?Unseen? images previously used within the BattleTech universe were involved in a court case in the 1990s: Archer, Longbow, Rifleman, Warhammer, Wasp, Stinger, Phoenix Hawk, Crusader, Marauder, Stinger LAM, Wasp LAM and Phoenix Hawk LAM. This we knew. But at the end of that court case, as part of a confidential settlement, it was agreed that the sole and exclusive world-wide right to these images (outside of Japan) would rest with another US company.
It is for this reason that we have chosen to revise our plans to publish these specific images in current product.
Though we spoke with a number of individuals before making our initial decision, no one involved in Catalyst was aware of this agreement. Still, the owner to these images has been very cool with us about the whole situation. They are a good group of people, and we will continue our attempts to work with them as we look toward the future.
I hope you all know, this was something we attempted out of a true passion to bring you everything you have wanted out of BattleTech over the past 25 years. This was one of those big holes we thought we could patch, and sadly we were wrong. I know there are times where it?s easy to see Catalyst as ?The Powers that Be? for the games we make, but let me use this as an opportunity to remind you that we are also huge, huge fans (just in case you didn?t already know that from my years of blogs). Over the past two years there have been several projects behind the scenes that we?ve been working like crazy on because WE want to see BattleTech be a great game from every angle. We want it approachable for beginners, and compelling for veterans. More than anything we want to be able to share as much as we can from 25 years worth of story and products? and this was a big piece of that puzzle. Yet we simply can?t in this one case, and for that we as fans and game designers are truly saddened.
So after all of that, I would like to extend my sincerest apologies. Though we?re still able to use many of the unseen designs, these core twelve remain some of the most beloved. I hope you understand it was entirely out of our own passion for the game that this entire situation has unfolded as it did.
The BattleTech: 25 Years of Art & Fiction PDF has been adjusted accordingly, as has the printed product
Thank you all for your support over these past few years. It?s what has made even set backs like this all worth it as we continued forward making a great game even better.
Randall Bills
Managing Developer
Catalyst Game Labs
That?s always an auspicious beginning to anything, isn?t it? Well, in this case it?s true. A few weeks back, we came out with some fantastic news. We were bringing the ?Unseen? back! We reviewed documents, talked to a great many people, and spent time with some lawyers. We felt we had a solid position.
Sadly, some of the information we acted upon turned out to be inaccurate. Twelve of the ?Unseen? images previously used within the BattleTech universe were involved in a court case in the 1990s: Archer, Longbow, Rifleman, Warhammer, Wasp, Stinger, Phoenix Hawk, Crusader, Marauder, Stinger LAM, Wasp LAM and Phoenix Hawk LAM. This we knew. But at the end of that court case, as part of a confidential settlement, it was agreed that the sole and exclusive world-wide right to these images (outside of Japan) would rest with another US company.
It is for this reason that we have chosen to revise our plans to publish these specific images in current product.
Though we spoke with a number of individuals before making our initial decision, no one involved in Catalyst was aware of this agreement. Still, the owner to these images has been very cool with us about the whole situation. They are a good group of people, and we will continue our attempts to work with them as we look toward the future.
I hope you all know, this was something we attempted out of a true passion to bring you everything you have wanted out of BattleTech over the past 25 years. This was one of those big holes we thought we could patch, and sadly we were wrong. I know there are times where it?s easy to see Catalyst as ?The Powers that Be? for the games we make, but let me use this as an opportunity to remind you that we are also huge, huge fans (just in case you didn?t already know that from my years of blogs). Over the past two years there have been several projects behind the scenes that we?ve been working like crazy on because WE want to see BattleTech be a great game from every angle. We want it approachable for beginners, and compelling for veterans. More than anything we want to be able to share as much as we can from 25 years worth of story and products? and this was a big piece of that puzzle. Yet we simply can?t in this one case, and for that we as fans and game designers are truly saddened.
So after all of that, I would like to extend my sincerest apologies. Though we?re still able to use many of the unseen designs, these core twelve remain some of the most beloved. I hope you understand it was entirely out of our own passion for the game that this entire situation has unfolded as it did.
The BattleTech: 25 Years of Art & Fiction PDF has been adjusted accordingly, as has the printed product
Thank you all for your support over these past few years. It?s what has made even set backs like this all worth it as we continued forward making a great game even better.
Randall Bills
Managing Developer
Catalyst Game Labs
Original article - Sometimes Things Just Don?t Go As You Want Them To [http://catalystgamelabs.com/2009/08/10/sometimes-things-just-dont-go-as-you-want-them-to/]
So it's likely this will not effect the release of the new game that much, but unless they can come to some kind of deal it's doubtful we will see those specific models.
The problem is that those 12 designs, since they're all from Robotech/Macross, also happen to be 12 of the more iconic and beloved designs of the unseen among fans. Hence my own consternationSlycne said:
hell the only reason they're still afloat is because of their DVD market. It's all they have at this point. Somebody just throw some money at them so they go away, even though they don't exactly deserve any (and yes, I thought "The Macross Saga" was great but then again hindsight is always 20/20)Onmi said:
you know the easiest way to just get around this would be to put the unseen designs out as a free download add-on. Nobody is profiting from it and therefore nobody can sue.
I'm sure I'll be proven very wrong within 3 posts but given how MekTek has made free mech pack addons for Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries, including some of the unseen designs...
I'm sure I'll be proven very wrong within 3 posts but given how MekTek has made free mech pack addons for Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries, including some of the unseen designs...