4e Videogame

[Derren]

DS and PSP turn based games have done fairly well, actually, and we're getting more all the time. There's been a few turn based strategy games that have done well on the PC too.

Which is why I expect the first turn based 4th ed game to be a portable title.

I don't think that this is what Atari and WotC have in mind with this license. As second or third game maybe (see D&D Tactics) but not as first 4E game which should promote the new edition.
Especially as a lot of criticism of 4E right now is its video game similarity and combat focus I don't think making a tactic game which will focus only on the combat part would be a good idea.

And finally, Atari is not very strong in the handheld department. I think a PC game like NWN is more logical, especially to promote the roleplaying/multiplayer part.

Edit: Sorry, I misread your post. Yes the first turn based 4E game will likely be a handheld game, but that won't be the first digital 4E game and not come out for 4+ years I guess.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I don't think that this is what Atari and WotC have in mind with this license. As second or third game maybe (see D&D Tactics) but not as first 4E game which should promote the new edition.
Especially as a lot of criticism of 4E right now is its video game similarity and combat focus I don't think making a tactic game which will focus only on the combat part would be a good idea.

Well, Atari probably doesn't care about the image of 4E if it can still sell their tactical games well.

But I suppose that won't be their first choice, indeed. They will probably want something like NWN or Baldurs Gate in style and success.

 

[Derren]

Well, Atari probably doesn't care about the image of 4E if it can still sell their tactical games well.

But I suppose that won't be their first choice, indeed. They will probably want something like NWN or Baldurs Gate in style and success.

While they might not care about PnP D&D I don't think Atari wants to devalue one of their few big licenses. But with the money problem Atari is (and always was) in one can never know what they will do.

And we also don't know what contract Atari has with Hasbro/Wotc and how much influence they have.

 

[lurkinglidda]

Electronic rights are not linked to the GSL. The GSL itself forbids computer games, IIRC, but the video game license is not based on the GSL, and neither was Neverwinter Nights dependent on the OGL or the d20 SRD.

Yup. The license with Atari is separate from the GSL.

 

[Derren]

Yup. The license with Atari is separate from the GSL.

This question wasn't really aimed on the WotC/Atari deal but rather on how it would affect other persons making electronic aids like character generators, etc.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

AFAIK, EA only have struck a licensing deal for Hasbro games, including Scrabble.

Only Infogrames/Atari have exclusive D&D electronic license. Atari could contract EA to develop D&D videogames but I haven't heard much in the grapevine. Like Atari, EA is also a software publisher having contracted BioWare to develop Dragon: Origins.

Have we got any reason to believe that Atari's license extends beyond D&D 3.XE? Because I don't think that we have. People used to say the same exact thing about an "exclusive license" regarding SWG and said it was a copperplate certainty that there would never be another SW MMORPG until that license was pulled. Yet now we know that despite the "exclusive license", a KotOR MMORPG is in development.

So I'd be pretty unsurprised if we found that any D&D 4E RPG wasn't in fact from Atari.

 

[Derren]

So I'd be pretty unsurprised if we found that any D&D 4E RPG wasn't in fact from Atari.

I don't think pulling the contract from Atari/Obsidian is a smart idea (except when Atari is too greedy or not able to to produce the game). With Neverwinter Nights Atari has a pretty strong brand name for D&D PC games and the experience how to build them.

The only other company with that much experience is BioWare who work for EA, but with Mass Effect, KOTOR and Dragon Age they also have their hands full at the moment. Also I don't think that EA will be any less demanding than Atari.

Bethesda might also be possible, but their games focus on single player only and imo the balance between combat and role playing they prefer doesn't fit D&D. Also the quality of their games can be debated.

Another idea would be dtp/Radon Labs, a German company which recently released Drakensang a "The Dark Eye" game similar to Neverwinter Nights, but I don't think that Hasbro/Wotc will license D&D to a German company as the main market for D&D is not in Germany. Also Radon Labs are a small company and very likely not able to handle such a project.

 

[Zaukrie]

I'll just say I'd love to have a 4E video game. come on Lidda, you can make it happen.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I don't think pulling the contract from Atari/Obsidian is a smart idea (except when Atari is too greedy or not able to to produce the game). With Neverwinter Nights Atari has a pretty strong brand name for D&D PC games and the experience how to build them.

You seem to assuming there's anything to pull, and I'm questioning whether there is. I think this whole "Only Atari can make ALL D&D GAMES 4EVER!" deal that some people seem to convinced is the case is pretty much as delusional as the "Only SOE can make SW MMOs!".

I don't see any evidence, whatsoever, that Atari has "the experience how to build them". Turbine's DDO for Atari was total crap, frankly, on virtually any level (from art design to "being D&D" to "being a good MMORPG"), as reflected by it's subscription figures, and BioWare/Obsidian's NWN series isn't so compelling as to draw people from miles around. Frankly, the D&D name is a whole lot bigger than NWN.

The only other company with that much experience is BioWare who work for EA, but with Mass Effect, KOTOR and Dragon Age they also have their hands full at the moment. Also I don't think that EA will be any less demanding than Atari.

Bethesda might also be possible, but their games focus on single player only and imo the balance between combat and role playing they prefer doesn't fit D&D. Also the quality of their games can be debated.

Another idea would be dtp/Radon Labs, a German company which recently released Drakensang a "The Dark Eye" game similar to Neverwinter Nights, but I don't think that Hasbro/Wotc will license D&D to a German company as the main market for D&D is not in Germany. Also Radon Labs are a small company and very likely not able to handle such a project.

Really, I think you're completely off-track here. There's no reason to believe that a publisher or developer with previous experience building D&D games would help at all in developing a GENUINELY GOOD 4E game. I'd rather see the license go to someone who hasn't put out a lot of previous D&D stuff, and who is less locked into convention.

The Atari name does not sell games, and that's a fact. Of all the names mentioned, only one does. BioWare. And it won't be them, so if it's not BioWare, then it will be someone else, and the only thing that matters is that they are committed to making a good, successful game, and have appropriate funding. Even a brand new studio would have as good a chance of putting out an excellent D&D 4E game, I'd say, as say, Obsidian, or the random German company you mention.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I don't think pulling the contract from Atari/Obsidian is a smart idea (except when Atari is too greedy or not able to to produce the game). With Neverwinter Nights Atari has a pretty strong brand name for D&D PC games and the experience how to build them.

You seem to assuming there's anything to pull, and I'm questioning whether there is. I think this whole "Only Atari can make ALL D&D GAMES 4EVER!" deal that some people seem to convinced is the case is pretty much as delusional as the "Only SOE can make SW MMOs!".

I don't see any evidence, whatsoever, that Atari has "the experience how to build them". Turbine's DDO for Atari was total crap, frankly, on virtually any level (from art design to "being D&D" to "being a good MMORPG"), as reflected by it's subscription figures, and BioWare/Obsidian's NWN series isn't so compelling as to draw people from miles around. Frankly, the D&D name is a whole lot bigger than NWN.

The only other company with that much experience is BioWare who work for EA, but with Mass Effect, KOTOR and Dragon Age they also have their hands full at the moment. Also I don't think that EA will be any less demanding than Atari.

Bethesda might also be possible, but their games focus on single player only and imo the balance between combat and role playing they prefer doesn't fit D&D. Also the quality of their games can be debated.

Another idea would be dtp/Radon Labs, a German company which recently released Drakensang a "The Dark Eye" game similar to Neverwinter Nights, but I don't think that Hasbro/Wotc will license D&D to a German company as the main market for D&D is not in Germany. Also Radon Labs are a small company and very likely not able to handle such a project.

Really, I think you're completely off-track here. There's no reason to believe that a publisher or developer with previous experience building D&D games would help at all in developing a GENUINELY GOOD 4E game. I'd rather see the license go to someone who hasn't put out a lot of previous D&D stuff, and who is less locked into convention.

The Atari name does not sell games, and that's a fact. Of all the names mentioned, only one does. BioWare. And it won't be them, so if it's not BioWare, then it will be someone else, and the only thing that matters is that they are committed to making a good, successful game, and have appropriate funding. Even a brand new studio would have as good a chance of putting out an excellent D&D 4E game, I'd say, as say, Obsidian, or the random German company you mention.