Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: ViRGE on April 21, 2004, 08:42:44 pm
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6/2: Apologies for bumping an old thread, but better than starting a new one. After their past troubles, Interplay has reached the next stage in insolvency, with word coming out that their offices have been shutdown (http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/06/01/news_6099678.html). This comes on the heals of their website shutdown about 2 weeks ago, and their continued inability to pay their employees, rent, taxes, or outstanding payments to other companies.
And on a related note, I managed to get some of Interplay's financial information, which shows a couple of interesting points. First and foremost, they need about 3mil to make payroll, and only had about half that as of last month; it also seems likely, in turn, that the FS2 re-release was part of a "get rich quick" scheme for Interplay to take advantage of the FS2 shortage, and generate some cash. This point is moot now, since you can't buy the re-release anymore(no more Interplay.com to buy it from), but I think it properly illustrates what Interplay's intentions were. Also, should Interplay fold, it seems likely Vivendi Universal would get the Freespace license, since Titus Interactive, Interplay's owner, is also about to go under, putting Vivendi at the top of the chain.
The end is near, folks.
4/21: From the Gone Gold forums:
Originally posted by Rob_Merritt:
I think the watch is over. I saw via Quarter to three that nma-fallout had a rumor that they told everyone to go home and they were filing for bankrupcy. I sent an email to someone a knew that worked there (which was a surprise because up to last week I had assume no one I knew worked there still) The message came right back because they were in fact home. He confirmed they were sent home. He didn't get any real info. No one did. They don't know if it was a temporary work stopage in order to move or a permanet layoff.
/edit:
I'm getting a connect refused to interplay forums.
So I went to the redbull investment board and saw this:
I spoke with Luke Haase today, and he said that Vivendi and Avalon both owe Interplay money and that they are expecting payment from them sometime this week. Vivendi is currently going through a big transition in their management, and they are just now trying to catch up on things. Once Interplay receives the payments that are due to them, then they will make a formal announcement and immediately file with the SEC that they are now able to pay their rent, taxes, and payroll. They are expecting a payment in the range of 3 million dollars. Interplay is also right now in negotiations to sell an intellectual property to raise additional capital and has begun preliminary talks with several banks in order to raise money to fund all of their current and pending games.
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*praying they are selling the Freespace franchise*
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Oh god let them sell the FS License...
Get in touch with that guy and make them ask Interplay about it... :devil:
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The question is........
If at all they were selling it......Who would they sell it to? O_o
I sure as hell hope that if they sell it, they sell it to someone with a bit of sense to develop it properly....
If only Volition were seeing this.....
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Everybody keeps forgetting that almost everyone that worked at Volition when they made FS2 is now somewhere else and that :V: is a console exclusive.
BTW, when are we going to get the :V: smiley back?
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Isn't Vivendi the french company that owns blizzard entertainment?
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Vivendi owns a lot of company's, it has one of the largest (the largest?) group of gaming designers/publishers in the world. Hell, they own Sierra, Blizzard, etc...
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THQ could buy the rights and have one of its subsiduaries do it.
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I am expecting them to close up shop soon anyway. start selling those special fs2 copies for 30 bucks or something like that.
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I hope FS3 will never be made. I couldnt stand seeing Freespace formed into a ****ty cheap-made console game :(
The rights to FS would have to be given to someone who cares for the game and not just for money. Which does NOT apply to any of today's game companies, so I really really hope the rights will never be given out. Unless, they're given to us, or it is made freeware. :D
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I agree with you LS, I don't want to see FS3 made, not simply because it would probs be written for console first and PC second, but because I much prefer the ideas I've seen on here for what happens next, anything that a games company comes up with is just not going to cut it :)
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but, if some, erm, auctioneer after bankrupcy, is stuck with the rights, i'd be willing to pitch in $50 or something to get it public domain.....
:doubt:
but, we've been dreaming about :I: dieng and us buying for years, no reason to stop now......
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Hey, if HLP members collect enough cash, we could buy the rights to FS. I know its a stupid idea, but it just might me dumb enough to actually work.
Failing that, I'm sure THQ or Relic could take the reigns, or maybe activision.
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I wouldn't get your hopes up, T. This gets suggested every few months. Nothing's happened so far...
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Of course, if you really think about it, this is a sad thing, because a bunch of people are going home without jobs.
Just something to remember.
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Originally posted by diamondgeezer
I wouldn't get your hopes up, T. This gets suggested every few months. Nothing's happened so far...
I wouldn't either but this is the closest Interplay have been to going bankrupt that we've seen so far.
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Sad to hear a lot of people losing their jobs. That just sucks.
Though I hope it's bussiness as usual in the Interplay store, for all time sake, I want a copy of the 20th edition of FS2 as a collectors copy before they go down :(
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The only reason I would want us to get the licence is so we can keep working on the SCP and put out full version downloads and jazz legally. That would be cool. :)
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Or release the big mods as full games :D:drevil:
EDIT: Not to canonize them, of course, but to provide a "possible future" hehe :D
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Originally posted by redmenace
I am expecting them to close up shop soon anyway. start selling those special fs2 copies for 30 bucks or something like that.
Won't happen; boxed copies of games are tangible assets, and will be one of the things the bankruptcy holds on to for the aunction block.
As for the rest of you, read No Mutants Allowed (http://nma-fallout.com/); they have a lot of information(new and old) about what's going on at Interplay.
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Originally posted by Setekh
The only reason I would want us to get the licence is so we can keep working on the SCP and put out full version downloads and jazz legally. That would be cool. :)
Make it easy to use and newbie friendly and I'm sure a lot of people like myself would pay for that. :)
Edit: I noticed that the Interplay.com Forums were taken down...temporarily...
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It is easy to use :D :p You just have to learn it, same as everything else worth doing ;)
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Originally posted by Unknown Target
It is easy to use :D :p You just have to learn it, same as everything else worth doing ;)
Ah true true. But I mean, if theoretically you fellows do get the license for Freespace, it would be good for the developers to at least get some monetary compensation for their efforts and at the same time draw new blood to the franchise by putting all the upgrades/new missions/enhancement in one attractive and convenient package.
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Apologies for bumping an old thread, but better than starting a new one. After their past troubles, Interplay has reached the next stage in insolvency, with word coming out that their offices have been shutdown (http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/06/01/news_6099678.html). This comes on the heals of their website shutdown about 2 weeks ago, and their continued inability to pay their employees, rent, taxes, or outstanding payments to other companies.
And on a related note, I managed to get some of Interplay's financial information, which shows a couple of interesting points. First and foremost, they need about 3mil to make payroll, and only had about half that as of last month; it also seems likely, in turn, that the FS2 re-release was part of a "get rich quick" scheme for Interplay to take advantage of the FS2 shortage, and generate some cash. This point is moot now, since you can't buy the re-release anymore(no more Interplay.com to buy it from), but I think it properly illustrates what Interplay's intentions were. Also, should Interplay fold, it seems likely Vivendi Universal would get the Freespace license, since Titus Interactive, Interplay's owner, is also about to go under, putting Vivendi at the top of the chain.
The end is near, folks.
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Since I really don't understand about licenses and stuff... Is the "end is near" good or bad??
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Originally posted by jdjtcagle
Since I really don't understand about licenses and stuff... Is the "end is near" good or bad??
Potentially very good, potentially very bad.
If interplay go bankrupt [V] may buy the licence and make FS3 for PC. They might just make it for the consoles (which would probably ruin it). Or it might get picked up by someone who does a dreadful cash-in on the PC.
Or if we're lucky and it's cheap enough the whole community could chip in and buy the license ourselves meaning that we could distribute FS2 ourselves for free from Gamespy (imagine how many new players we'd pick up from doing that!).
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Both... the license being in the hands of another company might disallow the use of the source code to spread the community or... FS... er.... 4!!! :nervous:
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Or nobody wants the license anymore.
:)
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Ooo... I would definatly throw in most of my of my salary (I need gas money :D) , and extra money I get. Screw buying things for myself this would be WAY!! more worth it... :nod:
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What would happen if no one bought the license? Abandonware?
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Yeah thier website is off. I tried to get in but I was brought with a page not found error. Bye Bye Interplay. I really hope you guys do buy the Freespace licenses maybe you guys will be the next group who comes out with Freespace 3. So far you guys have managed to do source coding, improved upon models and textures, and come out with some nice special effects. Most people don't know how to do that period. I actually think that in the future you could actually become a company IMHO. Keep up the good work.
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I am not a lawyer, the following is AFAIK only, and may only be applicable if :I: was a Dutch company, or not at all. Be warned, I am not sure of this.
Err, no. Once Interplay files for bankrupcy properly, all it's property would be sold to its creditors (or is it debitors, the once who still need money from :I:) will get their part of :I: goods. By ratio of money owed, they will get to pick (or they get some stuff they can't pick, not sure on US law here) bits of good from :I:. Their furniture, PC's, publishing rights, intelectual property, stuff like that. The rights for FS will certainly go to someone, basicly because even if they are worth $5, it's still something. We could, off course, approach one of the guys who get the stuff and ask them if we can buy the license, but that's our gamble.
Either that, or the mother company pays for all the debts, and gets all the stuff. If the mother company goes, same thing applies, either the stuff gets auctioned to the people who want the money, or it goes to their mother company.
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Legal question: Is it just the name Freespace (a trademark, I would say) or the story as well (IP, I geuss) that's under dispute?
I'm trying to read up on US copyright law, but it seems limited to writing, architecture, and visual arts (paintings, video art?). Games aren't mentioned, and the site ( www.copyright.gov ) is about as clear as a muddy pool with algea.
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do we know any contact details to inquire about such a purchase?
plus, i think it maybe a combination of both.
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Nope, not untill :I: is officially bankrupt, anyway. Then, you could see if some of the guys who how them money have their phone number posted on the web, or in the yellow pages or something. Then you can see if they are interested in dealing with a bunch of greasy, teenage geeks trying to play big and buy some Intelectual Property.
The legal **** needed for a community to buy those rights is going to be hellish, we'll need a few people who are 1) of legal age, 2) in some country were the appropriate laws are good, and 3) want to devote their time to buying the title.
We would probably need to set up a foundation, or a trust, with board, secretary and the whole nine yards, for us to collectively own that stuff. Then, we would need to mass donate/join that organisation. Once we own the rights, we would need to get our money back, somehow, because we will need to invest a lot. Think big supporters giving more then 500 dollars, at least, and then we need an army of big supporters too. So we'll have to get a publisher to publish the stuff the SCP people made. But we can't, because the :V: license said we cannot make profit from the source code. So we will have to buy a license from :V: for the code, so we will have to talk to THQ as well. When we have all the licenses, we will need to get a publisher, or somebody who wants to make our CD's for no cost untill we make profit. And when we have the CD's, we will need a packager too. And distribution, and interested stores. So we will need to advertise, so we will need to invest even more.
This is just me being cynic, so it might be easier then this. But a lot of this stuff is probably close to the thruth. It might be wise to stop dreaming, unless you want your dreams to be crushed.
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Originally posted by Ghostavo
Both... the license being in the hands of another company might disallow the use of the source code to spread the community or... FS... er.... 4!!! :nervous:
Err, no. Kazan says, and I believe him, that only :V: can revoke the license for the source code usage. That says nothing about selling, but we will be able to use the source as we are using now untill :V: says otherwise.
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to make things simple
Volition owns everything in the origional sourceball distributed to use that spawned the SCP (and a few things they didn't include in it)
Interplay owns everthing in the VPs
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IIRC their release of the VP and POF format specs to DNet makes the licensing on the file formats something similiar to the CPL (yes CPL)
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I just emailed Adam Pletcher, nobody else bother him, I don't want him flooded with emails
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Originally posted by kasperl
I am not a lawyer, the following is AFAIK only, and may only be applicable if :I: was a Dutch company, or not at all. Be warned, I am not sure of this.
Err, no. Once Interplay files for bankrupcy properly, all it's property would be sold to its creditors (or is it debitors, the once who still need money from :I:) will get their part of :I: goods. By ratio of money owed, they will get to pick (or they get some stuff they can't pick, not sure on US law here) bits of good from :I:. Their furniture, PC's, publishing rights, intelectual property, stuff like that. The rights for FS will certainly go to someone, basicly because even if they are worth $5, it's still something. We could, off course, approach one of the guys who get the stuff and ask them if we can buy the license, but that's our gamble.
Either that, or the mother company pays for all the debts, and gets all the stuff. If the mother company goes, same thing applies, either the stuff gets auctioned to the people who want the money, or it goes to their mother company.
As per my knowledge, this would be the most correct interpretation. And if I got anyone's hopes up, I apologize; I was basically trying to do the opposite: Interplay has no interest in making another FS, they just wanted the quick cash; and the future owner of the Freespace license will almost assuredly be VU, which likely will also have no interest in the game, but little interest selling it for anything we peasants could afford(since if we tried to buy it, they'd know we'd be interested, and ask a lot for it). What I'm trying to get at is this: baring a miracle, when it's all over for Interplay, it's all over for Freespace; it will become a mothballed license in a file folder somewhere.
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Does that mean that I can 'sneak' in and 'aquire' these liscences when nobody is interested or looking? ;7
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Er....you could do that Sing but i'm not saing you should do that...neither 'm I sayng you should go in and grab every other intelectual properti of games you might come upon and then the HLP could sell them back to theyr owners at 10 times the price to get even with them for what they have done to all of FS fans out there or just for the hell of it.
Or you could just go get the FS licences or whatever give them to someone and then wait for the next day till they come to work and drill a whole woth theyr squeky little heads into a reinforced concrete wall..just for...the hell of it.
Oh and if the company that owns Interplay goes under like I read i think Viveddi was...and if that company owns blizzard and sierra what would happen with half-life starcraft and other games like that.....I realy was waiting for a sequal to starcraft broodwar
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No, Vivendi doesn't own Interplay, Titus does... right? :nervous:
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But apparently Vivendi owns Titus :D
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I just had a thought......who has rights on the story?
If [v] has right on the source, interplay on whatever's in the .vp, what about the actual story and universe itself?
If interplay doesnt own it...we need to get the people who created it, and ask THEM to get it (if it's possible), so at least we have somewhere to start :P
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Originally posted by Singh
I just had a thought......who has rights on the story?
If [v] has right on the source, interplay on whatever's in the .vp, what about the actual story and universe itself?
If interplay doesnt own it...we need to get the people who created it, and ask THEM to get it (if it's possible), so at least we have somewhere to start :P
Originally posted by Kazan
I just emailed Adam Pletcher, nobody else bother him, I don't want him flooded with emails
:nod: :)
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Originally posted by Kazan
to make things simple
Volition owns everything in the origional sourceball distributed to use that spawned the SCP (and a few things they didn't include in it)
Interplay owns everthing in the VPs
I was under the impression V owned everything Freespace, including what was under the VPs, but interplay had exclusive distribution rights, as well as the rights to the MVE format?
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Originally posted by Black Wolf
I was under the impression V owned everything Freespace, including what was under the VPs, but interplay had exclusive distribution rights, as well as the rights to the MVE format?
I think the VP content is regarded as the intellectual property (not sure if this is the right term) - i.e. everything that makes freespace what it is. I.e. the key characters, images, content that defines the series.
I believe a (possibly irrelevant) comparison is to a movie - the director, cast & crew may change (i.e. Volition), but the studio always owns the key assets which identify that series - story, visual designs, etc (i.e. Interplay).
Even though it was V's idea and work.
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I was under the understanding that the studio owns the intellectual property of the title (except for externally licensed/produced items) and that the publisher generally only owns the publishing rights.
I doubt Interplay going under will jeapordize the source code. I guess we'll have to see on that but I would doubt it. Its already a done deal...
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Originally posted by kasperl
Legal question: Is it just the name Freespace (a trademark, I would say) or the story as well (IP, I geuss) that's under dispute?
I'm trying to read up on US copyright law, but it seems limited to writing, architecture, and visual arts (paintings, video art?). Games aren't mentioned, and the site ( www.copyright.gov ) is about as clear as a muddy pool with algea.
You cannot copyright Titles, only ideas. Therefore i can create something called Freespace as well, as long as its not based on the idea im alright.
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Originally posted by Lonestar
You cannot copyright Titles, only ideas. Therefore i can create something called Freespace as well, as long as its not based on the idea im alright.
:yes: As long as FreeSpace isn't a trade mark. And even then Interplay would have had to previously have taken down anyone else with a product called Freespace or the trade mark would have become invalid.
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And they haven't. There are some other products on the market (though not software) called 'Freespace'. I think one of them is an audio system of some sort.
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And a domain name regger, IIRC.
But a space game called FS is a whole different cup 'o thea, AFAIK.
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Trademarks only apply to things in the same FIELD
there is a reason why it's "Descent: FreeSpace" for the first one - because they're used to be a disk maintainance software known as freespace, it's patent ran out after FS1 but before FS2 hence they could call FreeSpace 2 what they did
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Originally posted by karajorma
But apparently Vivendi owns Titus :D
I'm not sure of the exact configuration, but I think Titus is its own company, but it has distribution agreements and what-not with Vivendi, so Vivendi gets first pickings when Titus goes under.
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http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/06/04/news_6099957.html
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Meh. All those poor people working without getting paid...
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Sheesh. Who knew the death of a dead computer game publisher could be such a long and complicated process. :blah:
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The death of any company is a long and complicated process....
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http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/06/04/news_6100019.html
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for all i care, Lucasarts buys the stuff, then they have something to make movies of after the SW stuff :p
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http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,24043.msg481804.html#msg481804
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/06/04/news_6100019.html
Also,
$079,000
$179,000
$432,000
$156,000
________
$846,000
If they got 1,2 million, why don't they pay up, and spent the last four hundred grand on golden handshakes and drinks for everyone?
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If you buy FS2 from this merchant he will order more disks like when we burned them in November!!! We made about 300 copies of all 3 disks.
Plus this guy is selling for $15.00 a pop plus shipping ect.. but only for US residents (upper 48 states) and you have to fillout the junk for the website..
here's the link I JUST tried it out still valid...
http://www.schoolpop.com/cgi/product_search.cgi?prodcat=0&search_terms=Freespace%202
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Originally posted by kasperl
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,24043.msg481804.html#msg481804
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/06/04/news_6100019.html
Also,
$079,000
$179,000
$432,000
$156,000
________
$846,000
If they got 1,2 million, why don't they pay up, and spent the last four hundred grand on golden handshakes and drinks for everyone?
The 1.2 million figure is nearly 2 months old, it's highly likely they don't even have that now, after paying what little payroll they could.
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Could a new rights owner shut down the FSSCP if they wanted to? (ie how much of the source and media would they legally control?)
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Originally posted by WMCoolmon
Could a new rights owner shut down the FSSCP if they wanted to? (ie how much of the source and media would they legally control?)
technically, i don't think so, 'cause Volition released the source code, not interplay..
i got fifty cents, who wants to buy interplay?;)
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tehe.
I'll donate the box. :D
(http://members.cox.net/~wmcoolmon/images/interplaybox.gif)
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hmmm........
lol......just tempts me to go and ask them "May we have the rights for Freespace before they fall into the hands of someone who may just screw it up too much please? If you do so I'll stop buggin ya!"
Who knows? maybe they'll just throw it at us :P
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Originally posted by WMCoolmon
Could a new rights owner shut down the FSSCP if they wanted to? (ie how much of the source and media would they legally control?)
The source code is free, as long as :V: wants, anyway. The media is all Interplay, meaning that they could shut Lightspeed and co. down, and the high poly models might have to go as well.
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gwalalala.
Don't care, there's much more interesting franchises that the Freespace one.
I think that interplay closing sucks. Any company that closes is a bad thing. To all the people who rejoice over that, I'm praying to that god of yours that you'll go throught the same thing, your company going down, getting unemplyed, and having through the hell of finding a nex job in todays sucky economy.
Tards.
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For the record, I never said this was a good thing. I do consider the employees, and I do find this a rather ****ty way to get a chance at the rights. However, I am interested in what happens to the rights of the franchise, and I do speculate about that.
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Originally posted by Nico
gwalalala.
Don't care, there's much more interesting franchises that the Freespace one.
I think that interplay closing sucks. Any company that closes is a bad thing. To all the people who rejoice over that, I'm praying to that god of yours that you'll go throught the same thing, your company going down, getting unemplyed, and having through the hell of finding a nex job in todays sucky economy.
Tards.
True:nod:
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Originally posted by Nico
gwalalala.
Don't care, there's much more interesting franchises that the Freespace one.
I think that interplay closing sucks. Any company that closes is a bad thing. To all the people who rejoice over that, I'm praying to that god of yours that you'll go throught the same thing, your company going down, getting unemplyed, and having through the hell of finding a nex job in todays sucky economy.
Tards.
quite true indeed......but unfortunately, it doesnt look like it can be avoided anymore. The truth is plain simple; Interplay is falling, nothing can stop it now.......nothing.
Well......maybe not nothing
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Originally posted by Nico
I think that interplay closing sucks. Any company that closes is a bad thing. To all the people who rejoice over that, I'm praying to that god of yours that you'll go throught the same thing, your company going down, getting unemplyed, and having through the hell of finding a nex job in todays sucky economy.
I feel sorry for the employees who work for Interplay but any fool can see that they company has been eating their seed corn for years now.
So I feel sorry for anyone who tried to get another job before they went down but couldn't find one. Anyone who hasn't been looking for a job elsewhere though is a fool. We all knew Interplay was doomed more than a year ago.
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Originally posted by kasperl
For the record, I never said this was a good thing. I do consider the employees, and I do find this a rather ****ty way to get a chance at the rights. However, I am interested in what happens to the rights of the franchise, and I do speculate about that.
ditto. i was just being cynical on how other companies would go on about it..
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*sighs and remains silent*
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...and that means?
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nothing :D :P
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I dont think Interplay is going to lie down and die just like that...here is what I found..:
State regulators shut down Interplay
By TAMARA CHUANG
The Orange County Register
The state labor department shut down Interplay Entertainment Corp. today after discovering the computer game developer had no workers’ compensation insurance and failed to pay employees on time.
Five employees filed complaints this week with the state’s Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement claiming Interplay hasn’t paid them several thousand dollars in wages in the past month. Interplay resolved two employee complaints over bounced paychecks in April.
"We’ve got seven claims in, which is enough for us to believe that the problem goes beyond these seven employees," said Dean Fryer, spokesman for the California Labor Commissioner, adding that 14 employees were at the Irvine office on Friday.
The labor agency also fined Interplay $79,000 - $1,000 for every employee found on the payroll.
"An employer has responsibilities when they open a business. The responsibilities include proper and timely payment of wages. It includes providing workers compensation coverage in case there are injuries. If the employer cannot accommodate those basic issues of doing business, we cannot allow employees to work," Fryer said.
Interplay is facing eviction from its landlord, Arden Realty, which hasn’t received a rent payment on the 81,000-square-foot space since January. Interplay, which has said it will run out of money by July, also owes $179,000 in payroll taxes and penalties, according to regulatory filings.
Herve Caen, Interplay’s CEO, said the company plans to reinstate its workers comp as soon as possible.
"The company has not shut down. (The state) can’t do that. It can only let me not let employees work," said Caen, adding that Interplay will move to a smaller office in mid-June. "I hope to have that (insurance) back by Monday or Tuesday."
Interplay, one of the hottest game companies in the 1990s with "Baldur’s Gate" and "Fallout," dwindled to 79 employees from 500 in its heyday. Nasdaq delisted its stock in 2002 because the price fell below $1. Interplay’s shares, which trade over the counter, closed Friday at 5 cents.
The company ended 2003 with net income of $3.3 million on revenue of $11.5 million in the fourth quarter. A year earlier, it had a loss of $5.4 million on $7.1 million in revenue. With only $1.2 million in cash in December, the company said it might run out of money before July.
Caen cut costs and sold off assets, including its right to develop popular games. But even as Interplay reported a profit in December, the company unexpectedly lost a $3 million cash payment from its distributor earlier this year, Caen said. That resulted in the lack of money to pay the rent and employees.
"They didn’t warn us when we had cash in the bank," Caen said. "It’s not going to kill us but it created a lot of consequences going forward."
On April 9, Arden Realty gave Interplay three days to pay its rent or surrender possession. A week later, Arden sued for $431,823 in back rent.
On Thursday, a state judge ruled in Arden’s favor, said its attorney. Interplay’s lawyer, Christopher J. Nelson, could not be reached.
The company’s front doors have been locked all week, while the interior lobby appeared desolate to anyone peering through the glass doors. Only a handful of cars were parked behind Interplay Entertainment’s headquarters on Von Karman Avenue.
Loyal employees continued to show up for work this week, although they said they haven’t been paid for a month.
"The reason I stick around is that I’m a diehard loyalist and I love the people I work with. If there is any sliver of hope that Interplay may someday turn around I want to be there to see it," said Steve Jobes, Interplay’s Internet Systems manager, who was at work today.
"The people I work with in my department are basically family to me and it’s very hard to let go. While I may be holding onto a fool’s hope at this point, I’d like to give Interplay every last chance I can to turn things around before I jump ship.
Phearuth Tuy, a 3D animator who started at Interplay in December, worries about finding a new job. He left Utah for his current position. He’s also bound to a contract, which says he must pay back a $2,000 signing bonus if he leaves before 18 months.
"I want to finish the game I’m working on and I like how it’s been going on (at Interplay) so far," said Tuy, who also was at work Friday. "But it’s unfortunate that (the lack of paychecks) has gone on for this long."
Not paying employees is a violation of the state labor code, said Fryer, with the state Labor Department. Employees have also said they aren’t getting health benefits. The only remedy, he said, would be for Interplay to get workers’ comp insurance and start paying its employees.
Matthew Sarinas, a quality assurance tester at the company, filed a complaint with the state agency June 2. He wrote: "Paychecks have been habitually late or skipped and we where [sic] asked not to show up for work for two weeks. When we were asked to return, we were given a 100% guarantee that all back pay would be caught up, it is now a month later and as of right now two paychecks are outstanding and a third is due in the middle of June."
Sarinas, along with other employees who contacted the Register, said they were told to take their belongings home in case the building was locked today by the landlord.
Luke Haase, Interplay’s spokesman, confirmed that Interplay is behind on paying some employees. "Some payments have been missed. Some back payments have been made," Haase said. "The company is still behind. A majority of employees are still coming in to work. It’s their choice." Haase has high hopes. Interplay hired SG Capital in April to raise money or sell the company. "From what I’ve seen, there are a number of options the company is working on," Haase said. "Fortunately or not, it’s a domino effect. Once one piece is in place, the others will fall into place. ... Bankruptcy is not in the top five options." Employees with salary or benefit concerns can download a complaint form at www.dir.ca.gov/dlse or get one in person at the division’s local office, Room 625 at 28 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana. Employees can also call the U.S. Labor Department at (866) 4US-WAGE (for wages) or (866) 444-3272 (for benefits).
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Whether they want to admit it or not, interplay is dead
5 cents a share eh? hmm.... how many shares do we need to have 51% share
If we as a community gobbled up 51% of Interplay's I think we could force the board to reassign the rights to FreeSpace to anyone or any entity we want
[edit]
Crap, Titus controls 73% of Interplay's stock
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=IPLYE.OB&t=1d&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
maybe we can get them to sell though
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I've got a $20 bill, maybe we should just buy Interplay. :p
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Well, if anyone else does, I won't be holding my breath for anything Freespacey, there are several other titles that might be considered, but the chances are that any company taking Interplay over now would probably focus on consoles, and would be more inclined to follow Decent, Red Faction or any other of the more famous Interplay series, if they choose to follow them at all, or simply use the Interplay logo to add selling power.
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Can someone get me a number on how many Interplay stocks there are in total? If Titus owns 73%, how much money is that at 5 ct per stock? What would happen to Interplay if we had a 51% interest? Who would 'we' be? Would we go through the foundation/organisation option (Lot's of organisation) or would we buy stocks as individual shareholders (harder for non-US citizens)?
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if we had 51% we could order them what to do - ie MAKE FREESPACE 3!
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Till they went bankrupt at which point we'd most likely be forced to sell the rights off to the highest bidder whether we wanted to or not.
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soon as we force them to reassign the rights to some third party we dump their stock :P
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That might be a bit harsh, and bloody hard to do.
Really, I wouldn't mind investing some cash in buying the rights fair and square, but first actually ading them a bit by buying stock, and then mass dumping it, is a bit OTT for one license. That, and I'd think trade authorities might have issues with that.
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Originally posted by kasperl
Can someone get me a number on how many Interplay stocks there are in total? If Titus owns 73%, how much money is that at 5 ct per stock? What would happen to Interplay if we had a 51% interest? Who would 'we' be? Would we go through the foundation/organisation option (Lot's of organisation) or would we buy stocks as individual shareholders (harder for non-US citizens)?
The market cap of Interplay, even at 5¢ a share, is $4.7 million, so it would take at least $2.4 million to buy a controlling stake in Interplay. Of course, if you start buying up lots of shares, the share price will go up. As for the total number of shares, I calculated approximately 94 million.
It probably wouldn't be a wise idea to buy shares now, though. Since Interplay is bankrupt, the shares will soon be worthless.
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2.4 million......
That is a bit much, I think......
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kasp why would the trade authorities have a problem with it
[if they rebound we're all going to be kicking ourselves for not buying their stock]
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Originally posted by Kazan
kasp why would the trade authorities have a problem with it
[if they rebound we're all going to be kicking ourselves for not buying their stock]
I think it's illegal ('pump & dump' that is), because of the potential for insider trading, etc.
The idea is that someone can buy cheap stock, then arrange false rumours etc (or just if they have insider knowledge) to raise the stock - before selling. I can think of a few cases where it;s been done, by using faked reports sent over the newswires.
I think that - even though this isn't exactly identical - the similar aspects would cause concern/suspicion.
Not sure, tho - someone with a business type legaly knowledge could clarify it.
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Yeah but that's not what we're doing. We're planning an asset strip. No idea if they are legal or not.
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If your going to be illegal and get some jain time with illegal trading, you might as well save yourself the hassale and the $ and kidnapp the CEO and force him to give it to you. A) you have somewhat of a chace to get away with it if you plan it right B) The guy ran his company into the ground, i dont think many of his employees are going to try to stop you or the union for that matter.
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I never post anymore. x.x
Anyways, see what Interplay says. For all we know they'll GIVE us the rights. After that I'd recommend talking to Violition to see if they'll give any more of the legal rights.
...This is being overly optimistic, but still.
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Yeah, but what are you going to DO with the rights?
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Originally posted by WildWolf
Yeah, but what are you going to DO with the rights?
I would guess either a: give them all to THQ / Volition#, or b: use them to allow freeware distribution of FS2 or its content*
#less likely nowadays given V's shift towards consoles, and especially the less than stellar reception given to Red Faction 1 & 2 when their PC incarnations arrived.
*not sure on legal issues. Basically, if we could freely distribute the game content, it would provide a method to try and boost the community, as well as facilitate more 'standalone' use of the engine for TCs. Not too unfair methinks, considering you can;t really buy FS2 nowadays, and it is getting on a bit. This would also be of benefit RE: attempts to move the SCP towards a pseudo-full-sequel.
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Freeware distribution of FS2 would be a good idea even if [V] or another company did get the rights and wanted to make FS3.
It would basically be free advertising since Gamespy have already agreed to host it if we could get the rights. So in return for giving up the game for free they'd have tonnes of people who never tried out FS2 giving it a go and waiting with baited breath for the sequel.
Balance the money you'd make from a bugdet release against the cost of an advertising campaign that would get you the same publicity.... :)
As for what HLP would do with it. Aldo's pretty close. Freeware distribution of the game. Tons of new users. A second golden age for HLP :D
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Originally posted by karajorma
Freeware distribution of FS2 would be a good idea even if [V] or another company did get the rights and wanted to make FS3.
It would basically be free advertising since Gamespy have already agreed to host it if we could get the rights. So in return for giving up the game for free they'd have tonnes of people who never tried out FS2 giving it a go and waiting with baited breath for the sequel.
Balance the money you'd make from a bugdet release against the cost of an advertising campaign that would get you the same publicity.... :)
As for what HLP would do with it. Aldo's pretty close. Freeware distribution of the game. Tons of new users. A second golden age for HLP :D
As an aside, i wonder how well the freeware release of Tribes/Tribes 2 will work in terms of the sales of Tribes 3 (when it gets released)?
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Here's an idea:
Write a very well thought out letter to the person in charge of Interplay (preferably to their home adddress). Include a proposition on the FreeSpace/2 title and rights. Mention the financial problem Interplay is stricken with, and inform him that holding on to these rights is a poor investment as the interest has died off.
Your interests in the title are only so that you can freely distribute the source code of the program, so those left still interested can continue to modify the game for free, and distribute their modifications across the internet freely. Ask for correspondence to your offer (directly offer the payment to him).
THEN, after it's all signed over, create a community-driven expansion to FS2. Ask Volition if they would like to partake interest in it's development. If so, groovy. Terms of release would NOT be through a distributor. Save money by placing orders over the internet, burn discs from homes of those producing the game. Mail directly to customers overnight. Suggested price would be $25 +s/h.
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Problem is that we can freely distribute the source code (just not the content) - and that holding the FS1/2 rights doesn't hurt interplay, so they have no wish to just give them away. Especially if anyone shows an interest.
Plus, I'm not sure we have the whole logistics setup to actually make, distribute or market an expansion, and it'd probably be illegal under any terms setup to give the license away free.
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Also, the source code license by :V: states that you cannot make profit off the source.
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you can't make a profit out of the source for any program, game, application, etc. usually.
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that's for FS1, i'm talking FS2 here. Whole 'nother ballpark and game :)
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It's over...
"Interplay essentially closes; employees wait to be paid
Interplay has essentially shut down, after moving equipment out of its Irvine headquarters over the weekend and putting it in storage. Herve Caen, its chief executive, is still counting on finding new funding to revive the forlorn game maker, known for titles such as "Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance."
Caen skipped a Wednesday meeting with the labor agency but later told investigators that he has kept payments current on medical insurance and 401-k plans for employees and anticipates money will come in soon to pay employees, said Dean Fryer, spokesman for the California Labor Commissioner.
If Interplay continues to shirk its responsibility to employees, the state can take the company to court to seek assets, Fryer said. "
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Originally posted by Brando
that's for FS1, i'm talking FS2 here. Whole 'nother ballpark and game :)
UH?
The source is released for FS2. The FS1 source has never been released.
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<- retarded.
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naaa Brando ;)
See, the source code was released for FS2, never for FS1. but generally when the source code is released, it's for non-profit use only
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o.o
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Oh well RIP I suppose, unless someone does revive her. I wonder who will buy the rights and continue the franchise of their games.