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Obsidian has Icewind Dale License?


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GB: We've heard a rumor that you may have acquired the Icewind Dale license from Interplay. Is there any truth to this?

 

JM: Feargus had the foresight to buy several assets from Interplay as it collapsed. It's a great opportunity for some of that work and effort to shine when otherwise it might not ever see the light of day.

 

NWN2 interview

 

How would this work? Surely such a title could only be published by Atari, so the license would have to be purchased from them rather than Interplay. Perhaps they are rather referring to engine assets/concept art?

 

In any case, I would not be surprised if Obsidian produce an IWD3 title utilising a modified NWN2 engine.

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*gasp*

 

This might really be something. Thanks for the info.

 

Too bad Atari owns license to everything gamey related to D&D.

kirottu said:
I was raised by polar bears. I had to fight against blood thirsty wolves and rabid penguins to get my food. Those who were too weak to survive were sent to Sweden.

 

It has made me the man I am today. A man who craves furry hentai.

So let us go and embrace the rustling smells of unseen worlds

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In any case, I would not be surprised if Obsidian produce an IWD3 title utilising a modified NWN2 engine.

 

Or maybe IWD3 using the Jefferson engine... Who knows what Feargus bought (he does apparently).

 

I think Interplay owned the fanchise Icewind Dale, meaning no other developer can produce a game with that name. If Obsidian has that franchise now then they are the only ones that can make it. They still have to get it published by Atari though, since they are the only ones allowed to publish D&D stuff.

 

At least that's how I think it works, my knowledge in US copyright law is a bit rusty.

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It would be neat to see IWD3 designed as a full out RPG instead of a dungeon crawl. Just using the name to get a bit of extra recognition. IMO the Icewind Dale games had better stories than the BG games, they just weren't fleshed out as much with the non-combat options.

 

It would also be nice to know what other properties Feargus got off Interplay.

 

Hey John, Feargus, MCA, etc. can you spill the beans?

The area between the balls and the butt is a hotbed of terrorist activity.

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Why would they use the Jefferson Engine if they have more polished, modern NWN 2 Engine available then? What's the logic in that?

kirottu said:
I was raised by polar bears. I had to fight against blood thirsty wolves and rabid penguins to get my food. Those who were too weak to survive were sent to Sweden.

 

It has made me the man I am today. A man who craves furry hentai.

So let us go and embrace the rustling smells of unseen worlds

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This just proves that gaming still has some light at the end of the tunnel.

kirottu said:
I was raised by polar bears. I had to fight against blood thirsty wolves and rabid penguins to get my food. Those who were too weak to survive were sent to Sweden.

 

It has made me the man I am today. A man who craves furry hentai.

So let us go and embrace the rustling smells of unseen worlds

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Why would they use the Jefferson Engine if they have more polished, modern NWN 2 Engine available then? What's the logic in that?

because the NWN2 engine is most likely similar to the aurora or odyssey engine... whereas the j engine is the standard ISO with full 3-D rendering and party based system...

taks

comrade taks... just because.

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You do understand how old the Jefferson engine already is? It's older than NWN, which most people agree to be rather ugly already. I'm not saying that graphics are the main selling point of an rpg, but well...you know. NWN2 engine slightly modified would support larger parties, all the new graphical gimmicks, better textures etc.

kirottu said:
I was raised by polar bears. I had to fight against blood thirsty wolves and rabid penguins to get my food. Those who were too weak to survive were sent to Sweden.

 

It has made me the man I am today. A man who craves furry hentai.

So let us go and embrace the rustling smells of unseen worlds

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Isnt the Jeferson engine obsolete by now? I dont remember when they first started working on it.

DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself.

 

Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture.

 

"I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "

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It's almost 5 years old now; I mean why would they bother?

kirottu said:
I was raised by polar bears. I had to fight against blood thirsty wolves and rabid penguins to get my food. Those who were too weak to survive were sent to Sweden.

 

It has made me the man I am today. A man who craves furry hentai.

So let us go and embrace the rustling smells of unseen worlds

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Well...I think we can safely say Interplay's possession of a D&D license (or more specifically an IWD license) is a moot point, since they were almost certainly in default of their payments and legally have no rights any more.

not if they owned the license outright... i got the impression there were no payments to be made other than royalties from the games they sold, which were apparently up to date. the deal with BG was structured much differently because of bioware's involvement.

 

taks

comrade taks... just because.

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You do understand how old the Jefferson engine already is? It's older than NWN, which most people agree to be rather ugly already. I'm not saying that graphics are the main selling point of an rpg, but well...you know. NWN2 engine slightly modified would support larger parties, all the new graphical gimmicks, better textures etc.

no it's not... NWN engine is about 5 years old... the j engine is around 2 or 3 years old.

 

taks

 

PS: an engine is always significantly older than it's actual release date. NWN has been out for over 2 years now, but was in development for 5 years prior to release, with several engine changes. the j engine was slated for an xmas release in 2004, with about 2-3 years of total development time. by the time NWN2 is released, that engine will already be 3 years old...

comrade taks... just because.

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Evidence?

kirottu said:
I was raised by polar bears. I had to fight against blood thirsty wolves and rabid penguins to get my food. Those who were too weak to survive were sent to Sweden.

 

It has made me the man I am today. A man who craves furry hentai.

So let us go and embrace the rustling smells of unseen worlds

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Thanks, but it still doesn't matter. Jefferson engine is obsolete already.

kirottu said:
I was raised by polar bears. I had to fight against blood thirsty wolves and rabid penguins to get my food. Those who were too weak to survive were sent to Sweden.

 

It has made me the man I am today. A man who craves furry hentai.

So let us go and embrace the rustling smells of unseen worlds

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oh, not 2004 xmas, 2003 xmas, but JE said that it probably needed another 6 months. that means the J engine was probably first brought to the drawing board in early 2002 or thereabouts. the "evidence" is based on his discussions on when they began developing J.

 

taks

comrade taks... just because.

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Thanks, but it still doesn't matter. Jefferson engine is obsolete already.

that's bull. IE lasted almost 4 years AFTER the first game release. the J engine, based on screenshots and dev comments, was more advanced than that used by Troika on ToEE. there still does not exist a fully rendered, ISO, party based engine. the only mods they'd need would be graphics resolution.

 

taks

comrade taks... just because.

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IE lasted so long because it relied on painted 2D backrounds, not full 3D worlds. Anyway, Jeff wouldn't stand up to any engine nowadays. I mean; look at some of the character, models they had(google helps): low-poly, blocky aliaised twaddlers. They were great then, but now even the basic NWN does better work. NWN2 supports 4 member parties (with summons and familiars), and it has graphic standards up to today's pars. Jefferson just can't compete.

kirottu said:
I was raised by polar bears. I had to fight against blood thirsty wolves and rabid penguins to get my food. Those who were too weak to survive were sent to Sweden.

 

It has made me the man I am today. A man who craves furry hentai.

So let us go and embrace the rustling smells of unseen worlds

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If Obsidian has the Jeffeson engine they probably would have to work on it a bit, since noone has touched it since I don't know when.

 

But why exactly would they do that if they can just take the updated (Aurora?)/NWN2 engine that they've spent 2 years working on? Both will probably be out of date whenever, and if, they wanted to make a new IWD.

 

So either they make a new engine, rework/update a by then very untouched engine or rework/update a rather up to par engine (NWN2).

 

And I don't see how these engines support more or less members in their parties. AI is AI, regardless of wether it's working for the player (NPC) or against (NPC - monster). I'd say 4 party members in NWN2 is a design choice, not a limitation of the engine.

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Jeff wouldn't stand up to any engine nowadays. I mean; look at some of the character, models they had(google helps): low-poly, blocky aliaised twaddlers. They were great then, but now even the basic NWN does better work.

No the NWN engine is not that great, heck many complained about the graphics when it was released in 2002. I think the Troll picture has been seen by many was just hilarious on how bad it was constructed. It looks like a bunch of barrels and blocks put together. This is why Obsidian is making a lot of modifications to it. They could do the same with the Jefferson engine without it being a problem.

Life is like a clam. Years of filtering crap then some bastard cracks you open and scrapes you into its damned mouth, end of story.

- Steven Erikson

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regarding the whole "Aurora doesnt support more than 3 party members" its because people get confused about what an engine really is and what can be said to belong to that engine. Im not even sure myself.

 

 

 

The biggest fault of the Aurora engine is that its so damn slow and sludgy, compared to FPS engines it feels like you're playing on a 486. And it has nothing to do with how hot your comp is, its just a badly made engine. It should have been buried after NWN.

DISCLAIMER: Do not take what I write seriously unless it is clearly and in no uncertain terms, declared by me to be meant in a serious and non-humoristic manner. If there is no clear indication, asume the post is written in jest. This notification is meant very seriously and its purpouse is to avoid misunderstandings and the consequences thereof. Furthermore; I can not be held accountable for anything I write on these forums since the idea of taking serious responsability for my unserious actions, is an oxymoron in itself.

 

Important: as the following sentence contains many naughty words I warn you not to read it under any circumstances; botty, knickers, wee, erogenous zone, psychiatrist, clitoris, stockings, bosom, poetry reading, dentist, fellatio and the department of agriculture.

 

"I suppose outright stupidity and complete lack of taste could also be considered points of view. "

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