Hana Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 Who wants a free sweet roll?*drool* I want them all! *drool* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthmoor Posted August 19, 2012 Author Share Posted August 19, 2012 Arthmoor, would that be a bad thing if Bethesda and EA essentially combined forces?What Dwip said. EA getting their hands on Zenimax would mean the end of the Elder Scrolls series as we know it. Though I suspect Zenimax is about to take care of that one all on their own with TES Online. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ysne58 Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 Who wants a free sweet roll? *drool* I want them all! *drool* Those look absolutely amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndalayBay Posted August 19, 2012 Share Posted August 19, 2012 And Thomas is a tease. A cruel tease. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conner Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 Ask Richard Garriott about that some time. Or the guys at Bioware. Arthmoor' date=' would that be a bad thing if Bethesda and EA essentially combined forces?[/quote']What Dwip said. EA getting their hands on Zenimax would mean the end of the Elder Scrolls series as we know it. Though I suspect Zenimax is about to take care of that one all on their own with TES Online.Unfortunately, I don't know Richard Gariott nor the guys at Bioware, but I take it from your combined responses that this would be a bad thing because instead of us all benefiting from the two companies getting to take advantage of one another's strengths they'd only draw on each other's weaknesses? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthmoor Posted August 20, 2012 Author Share Posted August 20, 2012 No, it's more akin to EA would get ahold of them and fuck them in the ass the way they did to Origin and Bioware. Origin the game company btw, formerly run by Richard Garriott. Father of the Ultima series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Kaira Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 Ask Richard Garriott about that some time. Or the guys at Bioware.Unfortunately' date=' I don't know Richard Gariott nor the guys at Bioware' date=' but I take it from your combined responses that this would be a bad thing because instead of us all benefiting from the two companies getting to take advantage of one another's strengths they'd only draw on each other's weaknesses?[/quote'']Strengths and weaknesses don't mean shit to EA. All they care about is their bottom line, so we'd be looking at Elder Scrolls games where you would really come to know the definition of dumbed down spit out every two years or so. With full online multiplayer. In short, putting a bullet in the head of the TES franchise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwip Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 To elaborate a bit, EA bought Origin Systems back in the early 90s, and fairly infamously ran it into the ground - The two halves of Ultima VII are widely considered some of the best RPGs of all time, whereas the post-EA Ultima VIII is considered pretty mediocre, and Ultima IX is one of the worst games of all time, and you can watch Samson and I burn it in effigy on a regular basis. If you ask Richard Garriott about it, he will place the blame solidly on EA's management practices, and considering the track record, that seems fair.In the case of Bioware, it's a little more murky, and the jury remains out on just how much Bioware is to blame for their own decline, but there's pretty strong evidence that EA had Bioware eviscerate most of their other projects to fuel SWTOR, which damaged all of them, and from all I hear, SWTOR both isn't doing so hot and wasn't really worth the GDP-of-small-African-country sums that got poured into it.And so you look at the idea of Zenimax shacking up with EA, and you wince at the prospect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthmoor Posted August 20, 2012 Author Share Posted August 20, 2012 If you ask Richard Garriott about it, he will place the blame solidly on EA's management practices, and considering the track record, that seems fair.Garriott was one of the first to sound this alarm actually, given that Origin was one of the biggest acquisitions EA had made up to that point after they swallowed up Interplay. A lot of people thought he was just being paranoid until U9 came out and he flatly blamed EA for the debacle. It was SO BAD and SO BUGGY that they actually had to ship every registered owner a new set of game discs to fix the disaster. Which still didn't actually fix it either. The game was just that broken. Almost as though EA said "ship the beta and fuck QA". Origin as a brand was dead at that point until EA smeared their name by associating it with their online DRM system.EA gobbling up Zenimax would surely mean the end of TES as we know it. Though to be fair, Zenimax is already well on the way to accomplishing that on their own if TES Online is any indication of their future intent. Bethesda can claim separation all they want, but when the two companies share the same executive officers pool....Bioware had a fairly solid reputation until EA got involved. DA:O, by some miracle, managed to avoid most of the problems, but DA2 proved to be a bust at pretty much every level, and Bioware has openly blamed EA for it already. People also called them paranoid, or said they were just trying to avoid accountability, but let me see... we've heard all that before.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conner Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 Ok, didn't know who Garriott was, but I am familiar with what happened at Origin. One would think they'd have learned from their mistakes, though it's fairly clear from what y'all have to say about this prospect that they have not and just do this routinely to gaming companies they acquire. That really does seem ashame, but as Athmoor points out, Bethesda is already trying to turn TES into an MMORPG so if making the game multiplayer is it's demise, they've got that covered without EA's help. As long as EA has been around, and as big as they've grown, you'd think there must be something they're doing right though.. on the other hand, their own catalog of offerings is woefully sports heavy for my tastes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hana Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 Happy Birthday, prettyfly.(and happy belated birthday to me on the 23rd) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conner Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 Happy Birthday' date=' prettyfly.(and happy belated birthday to me on the 23rd)[/quote']What she said, prettyfly! Hope it's a good one for you. (and to you too, Hana, sorry that I missed it.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthmoor Posted August 25, 2012 Author Share Posted August 25, 2012 Happy birthday to both of you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ysne58 Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 Happy birthday to both of you +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prettyfly Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 And Happy Birthday to Hana for the 23rd. (3 days ago where I live and 2 days ago where you guys do). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwip Posted August 26, 2012 Share Posted August 26, 2012 Birthdays, yay! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthmoor Posted August 31, 2012 Author Share Posted August 31, 2012 Always amusing to see people thinking they can shame a corporation into bending to the internet's will - right after having JUST finished calling them a soulless, shameless, evil corporation for sending a C&D letter.Yes. This will work great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndalayBay Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 But the shame thing isn't shame - it's the loss of popularity, which is much more effective. If they think it's going to hit the pocket book, they'll listen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthmoor Posted August 31, 2012 Author Share Posted August 31, 2012 I think you've somewhat missed the point. The reason they're doing something is because they think it will affect the bottom line by diluting their future game properties. Thereby causing the lack of popularity for their own titles. This is why it's foolhardy to assume a copyright issue is only a real issue if the work in question is sold commercially, and is why copyright law makes no mention of the monetary value of a work.So yes. They think it will hit the pocket book, but not in the way you and others are thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hana Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 I just find it amusing that everyone is surprised by this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthmoor Posted August 31, 2012 Author Share Posted August 31, 2012 That too. This shouldn't have surprised anyone except for maybe how long they got away with it before being told to stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndalayBay Posted August 31, 2012 Share Posted August 31, 2012 I was only referring to the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of the internet protest. Unfortunately, WB is well within their right to distance themselves from MERP and make it clear there is no connection to the LotR franchise. So MERP will have to show that there is no connection and I have no idea how they are going to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthmoor Posted September 1, 2012 Author Share Posted September 1, 2012 They can't show that. WB owns all the license rights to movies and games for the LOTR franchise. They've got no choice but to pursue this. Licensing exclusivity can be lost easily if it's not defended, much like a trademark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndalayBay Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 Exactly. Hubby and I took a look at MERP's mod page last night and it's exactly the LotR story. If WB was to release a game, it's exactly what they would want to do. MERP is going to have to change all the names and references if they want to continue.It is a trademark issue and WB has to defend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthmoor Posted September 1, 2012 Author Share Posted September 1, 2012 If they copied it in that much detail it's probably both a trademark and copyright issue and they're lucky WB was nice enough to ask them to stop instead of going right into court. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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