Atari is dying?

Obsidian, since BioWare is currently owned by EA. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing Chris Avellone write PS:T 2...
 
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Hear! Hear! Bring back MOM!

I wasn't aware that Atari owned the ghost of Microprose. I thought 2K had all that library (Pirates and Civ4 were both 2K releases).
The last I heard of a potential MoM remake was that Stardock (the developers of Galactic Civilization II) were in negotiations with Atari for the licence but the talks fell through. A real shame as Stardock have proven they can development a quality 4x. I believe work continues on their own turn-based fantasy IP regardless.
 
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Of course they won't take the D&D license down. Even if the company goes into liquidation, the valuable assets will be auctioned off, and the D&D license is just about as valuable as it gets.
 
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I'm not entirely sure they could sell the D&D license. Their rights expire soon...

Their rights expire in 2017. I wouldn't call that soon.

Even if the company goes into liquidation...

That seems extremely unlikely for now. Instead they are talking of new 'winning business plans'.

You can toss in D&D Online if you think it rates--I haven't played it.

Trust me, you haven't missed much.

Its not like there's a dirth of publishers anymore. If they go who's left, especially as the man says, who's interested in RPGs?

Personally, it is the quality of their publications (not that of the actual games) plus their total lack of post-release support (no need to mention NWN), that bothers me. At any rate, there doesn't seem to be any need for worry, none of their major RPG titles was developed internally. And hopefully their business strategies will change somewhat. But even if Atari goes down eventually, someone will be there to fill the gap.
 
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A licence garage sale could result in interesting new development projects. Master of Magic II is long, long, long overdue.

There's a blast from the past!

One of my all time favourites, I think it nailed the mix of heroes and army units better than anything else ever has and had a great range of races, terrain types, everything.

I'd shove women and children to the ground violently if they were in my way when heading to the shops to pick up the sequel, and feel entirely justified in doing so.
 
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Men for a RPG forum you are tough with one of the rare trademark that really continue to support CRPG those last years. What other american trademark really do a good job on this? NONE, I know Atari isn't purely American but American resources are american it doesn't matter if some of the money if french.

Atari :
* Gothic series, just the best modern series from far.
* The Witcher : Much better RPG than other recent RPG like Oblivion or Gothic 3.
* NWN2 OC : Great RPG.
* NWN MoTB : Even better than the OC, despite it's size could be bigger, best CD&D license ever and no SSI game nor even Baldur's Gate series that is now also Atari can deny the crown.
* NWN1 OC : Good game, even better with the official addons and even more with some great user addons.
* Arx Fatalis : Not yet played but recently bought the collector edition.
* Temple Of Elemental Evil : Many weakness but just the best turn based fight system ever done in CRPG.
* Baldur's gate series : Yep Atari license and still edited through the D&D pack.
* Icewindale series : I admit weak on a RPG point of view but one of the best design of fights and dungeons.

In comparison other american trademarks just show poor support of CRPG. Sierra? Arcanum, what else? Ha well ok, I dunno, I see some Activision games like Vampire Masquerade, not much else.

Anyway if Atari die it's CRPG death, almost, and it's not a matter of D&D license, anyway there's many D&D game rule I don't like that much, even if it brought some great CRPG games.
 
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At any rate, there doesn't seem to be any need for worry, none of their major RPG titles was developed internally. And hopefully their business strategies will change somewhat. But even if Atari goes down eventually, someone will be there to fill the gap.
LOL you are so naive, do you really think that other big companies like Sierra, Activision or any other had rush to publish some of the best modern CRPG? I doubt Atari seekers are better than other, they just still have resources that believe in CRPG. I just quote that they license the best of the modern CRPG that's all and I doubt it's hazard. Gothic series, NWN series, NWN2 series, The Witcher, eventually Arx Fatalis but ok I haven't yet played this one.
 
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You're off on a number of those, even though I take your overall point.

The Infinity Engine games - Baldur's Gate, IWD and so on - have absolutely nothing to do with Atari. They were published by Interplay.

Arx Fatalis was published by JoWood. Nothing to do with Atari.

The Gothic series is a bit complicated but, mostly, credit belongs to JoWood. Atari released an English version of Night of the Raven in the US and UK but only after a ridiculous delay.
 
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Ok it's a little complicated, I have all the games mentioned above and in my country all the games I mentioned above has the label Atari.

And yes including the whole Baldur's Gate series reissued under the single label of Atari in the Ultuimate D&D pack that also includes the other CD&D games, nice pack even if I had already most of the games it makes me discovered Temple of Elemental Evil and replay BG1.

Ok the point is that there is for a game the distributor, the producer and the developer and for National version translation this can be even more complicated.

That said among big compagnies and distributors Atari would be the last I drop and spite on. Serria just disgust me with their long time tradition of profit first. EA probably doesn't exist anymore? Or eventually exists but haven't done since age any game that can interest me. Dream Catcher? A robber gang that released Dundeon Lord and totally unfinished game and sold the fix that complete few missing features under a new game label you had to pay for. What else?
 
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Ok it's a little complicated, I have all the games mentioned above and in my country all the games I mentioned above has the label Atari.

Example:

Baldur's Gate was first published within Germany by Interplay.

From one point on, Atari publishes it.

These are the facts.

I assume that Interplay sold the license to Atari or the former Infogrames, which resulted in Atari publishing these games (BG, Icewind Dale too ...) here in Germany. No more interplay.

So both of you are right.
 
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Releasing a budget collection 10 years later (or whatever) counts in a discussion about supporting RPGs? OK, sure, different countries have different publishers, which makes this difficult. The commissioning publisher takes all the financial risk, so they are the ones that actually get these RPGs we are talking about created. Atari might have released a compilation years after the fact - fair enough - but without Interplay, the game wouldn't exist in the first place.

In that sense, Atari's contribution is far more limited than that list. I still agree with the main point - that other publishers may not take up these games if they ceased to exist - but Atari doesn't deserve credit for giving us BG or Arx Fatalis or Gothic.
 
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Releasing a budget collection 10 years later (or whatever) counts in a discussion about supporting RPGs?
Certainly, from a player point of view I feel the publishing of the ultimate AD@D pack by Atari is a really cool thing, it's still some publishing risk and more moneys where it should go like paying the licenses.

For Gothic series and Arx Fatalis ok so it's JoWood and without Atari I would have got the national language version from someone else, well let hope.

This let anyway NWN1 and the addons, NWN2 and the addon, Temple Of Elemental Evil and it seems The Witcher. Don't throw me the multiple diablo clones, shooters or mmorpg, then wich company show a fair support to real CRPG?
* AE or Sierra? LOL certainly not at all.
* Ok JoWood anyone else?
* Dream Catcher? As I already mentioned they deserve much more hate because of what they did for Dungeon Lords.
* Bethesda? Well when I look at the pathetic waste that is Oblivion just to support 5 years old console players, my smile is yellow if not brown, anyway on a support and patch point of view for Morrowind I got a much less good service than I got for Atari games mentioned above but Temple Of Elemental Evil but it's obvious this one got a commercial failure from the start and couldn't get years of fix support.

Ha well from a strict true CRPG point of view you can't compare support and bug fixing with any other kind of game and when compared to other for me Atari did quite well and even better than most other.
 
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OK, sure, different countries have different publishers, which makes this difficult.

This is the problem.

Younger generations might even not know that BG was published by Interplay in the first games.

Plus, it's some kind of hard to find information sometimes with a single game spread throughout the world via several publishers.
 
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No sorry, I'm probably much older than you and bought the original BG but still the reissue of the series in the ultimate AD&D pack by Atari is for me a really good move, I give them credits for that, if you don't, ok your problem.
 
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Well, i don't know who's older here ;) , but I'm not really interested in THAT. ;)

I also have the original version by Interplay, and often think of buying the pack, because of using TUTU, the mod, I mean.

But since it's still widely available here (the pack, I mean), I can pursue other priorities instead. ;)
 
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Well, i don't know who's older here ;) , but I'm not really interested in THAT. ;)
Ok fine for me, at least we agree on one subject! :biggrin: But certainly not for the other subject, that smells piracy, well your problem.
 
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I don't understand what smells like piracy in that.

I'm rather interested in adventures than in RPGs nowadays, and my "other priorities" are called "Ankh" and "Sam & Max".

And with "the pack" I mean the pack that Atari sells here.
 
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Ok that was just your last sentence :
But since it's still widely available here (the pack, I mean), I can pursue other priorities instead.
I translated this as :
But since I can get it everywhere for free I can use my money for something else.
:)
 
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LOL ! :D

Yes, I've already found several treasures on flea markets, no doubt ! ;)
(The Eye of the Beholder Trilogy on CD-ROM, for example.)

No, what I meant with "widely available", I meant the local electronic chans, in these markets the "pack" is still sold in some quantities due to BG's popularity ... so I can wait until I buy it. ;)
 
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