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Interplay Targeted By Bioware-fare

Posted by michael on from the neverpublished-nights dept.

corby writes: "Bioware Corp., developer of the highly anticipated multiplayer Dungeons & Dragons game Neverwinter Nights, is escalating the conflict with their troubled publisher Interplay. In September, they filed a lawsuit against the publisher, and now they have terminated their contract with Interplay to distribute Neverwinter Nights. The problem is, these guys need each other. The loss of Neverwinter Nights means that Interplay will lose out on substantial revenue from a surefire hit, but Interplay is apparently the only company with rights to distribute games under the AD&D license."

10 of 215 comments (clear)

  1. D&D Nitpicking by taion · · Score: 5, Informative

    AD&D is generally taken to refer to the second edition Dungeons & Dragons Rules.

    Neverwinter Nights will be based on the 3rd edition D&D rules (D&D3e), which is different from AD&D.

    A link to the 3rd Edition System Reference Document with all the core rules released to the Open Gaming Foundation (including Psionics!) may be found here.

    --

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    Floccinaucinihilipilification - the action or habit of judging something to be worthless
    1. Re:D&D Nitpicking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      You my friend will never ever have sex.

  2. Just great by serps · · Score: 4, Informative

    When Hasbro bought out Wizards of the Coast and sold off their rights to D&D computer games, you could see something like this eventually happening. Wizards had a 'Mastertools' program under development which was designed to remove all the bookkeeping tedium of handling a campaign. Once the license was transferred to Interplay, WotC had to gut the project to ensure compliance. I wish them all the best against Interplay.

    --
    "Einstein argued that [...] God is not capricious or arbitrary. No such faith comforts the software engineer." ~ Brooks
  3. They've already cut back Neverwinter Nights... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting
    If you haven't heard, the editing tools (the part of NWN most people thought was nifty) were already stripped from the Non-Windowes versions. Talk was made of including them later, but...


    Stated reason was difficulty breaking them from an MS framework. Seems like a designer fubared by choosing that framework to begin with, huh?

    1. Re:They've already cut back Neverwinter Nights... by LMCBoy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      As I understand it, they designed the Toolset with Borland C++ Builder. They were expecting Borland to have a Linux version of this product (not Kylix), but it never materialized. However, the fact that they used BCB means a Mac version was never in the works...

      --
      Liberal (adj.): Free from bigotry; open to progress; tolerant of others.
  4. Penny Arcade's take on it... by hiryuu · · Score: 5, Funny
    Here.

    I got a giggle out of it, at least...

    --
    Karma: Excellent, but still won't get you laid.
  5. Dungeons and Dragons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Flamebait

    Who cares, those games are for nerds and satanists.

    1. Re:Dungeons and Dragons by matrix29 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Even more hilarious are the parodies of Jack Chick
      http://www.lunarpages.com/darkdungeons/

      --
      "Face it, a nation that maintains a 72% approval rating on George W. Bush is a nation with a very loose grip on reality.
  6. Slashdot = Misinformation? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Once again slashdot amazes me with the ability not to be able to post reliable or good information.

    Bioware CAN publish titles under AD&D license, interplay has been rideing the "bioware" wave for over a year now. Bioware has every damn right to terminate their contract, especially since Interplay VIOLATED the terms of it.

    The game is slated to be released Mar 2002, and on another note, I submited this story on wednesday.

    I have posted anonymusly in order to protect myself and other sources.

  7. Someone should tell Infogrames by AlterEd · · Score: 5, Informative
    Infogrames bought Hasbro Interactive and now has publishing rights to all present and future Hasbro electronic games. Previous agreements notwithstanding, natch.

    If Bioware can't hash things out with Interplay, I'm sure they can get a deal with Infogrames.

    --

    Ed Chauvin IV