Battlezone Forums

Red Spot wrote:Fact that it openly claims to be a successor for BZ2, that might already be enough to get you in hot water, specially since it clearly is the same sort of game. But first the requirement of somebody caring needs to fulfilled, which doesnt seem to be the case.

Spiritual successors are not illegal.

Red Spot wrote:What info do you have, that we all seem to be missing, that gives away to you(plural? royalty?) that Rebellion as owner of the rights will do something with it and you(plural? ..) can guarantee it?

You don't buy rights to things you don't plan to use.

AHadley wrote:

Red Spot wrote:Fact that it openly claims to be a successor for BZ2, that might already be enough to get you in hot water, specially since it clearly is the same sort of game. But first the requirement of somebody caring needs to fulfilled, which doesnt seem to be the case.

Spiritual successors are not illegal.

Red Spot wrote:What info do you have, that we all seem to be missing, that gives away to you(plural? royalty?) that Rebellion as owner of the rights will do something with it and you(plural? ..) can guarantee it?

You don't buy rights to things you don't plan to use.

Correct, 'just' as spiritual successor isnt a problem, but generally there is some IP that is copied as well.
I dont know Bionite well enough to know if they really touches the IP, but I wouldnt be surprised if some legal goeroe is able to prove it is ... when money is involved. Specially since I could quote somebody saying it is a sequel to BZ2, effectively a BZ3, but under a different name cause of the lack of having any rights.


Yes, big companies may do exactly that. I've seen it loads of times in an industrial environment and dont see any reason why a developer/publisher couldnt/wouldnt do the same.
I could now hint something about control freaks and certain people always needing to put themselves in a place of authority, but that is not a subject I'm going to argue about with you.

Red Spot wrote:Correct, 'just' as spiritual successor isnt a problem, but generally there is some IP that is copied as well.
I dont know Bionite well enough to know if they really touches the IP, but I wouldnt be surprised if some legal goeroe is able to prove it is ... when money is involved. Specially since I could quote somebody saying it is a sequel to BZ2, effectively a BZ3, but under a different name cause of the lack of having any rights.

I do know it well enough. Anybody who claims it is a sequel to BZ2 is not affiliated with the team and/or not paying attention, since even in its embryonic development it ignored BZ2.

Red Spot wrote:Yes, big companies may do exactly that. I've seen it loads of times in an industrial environment and dont see any reason why a developer/publisher couldnt/wouldnt do the same.
I could now hint something about control freaks and certain people always needing to put themselves in a place of authority, but that is not a subject I'm going to argue about with you.

Rebellion is a small independent developer. A resourceful one, yes, but not resourceful enough to make a half-million payout for a mantel ornament.

Rebellion bought BZ in Atari's fire-sale. Half a million dollars/pounds would probably buy it quite a few times... but I wonder how much it really did cost.

I don't see any reason why Activision would seek to end Bionite's development, especially if Battlezone was still profitable. If that was the case, I wouldn't be surprised to see them do something on their bandwagon.

bigbadbogie wrote:Rebellion bought BZ in Atari's fire-sale. Half a million dollars/pounds would probably buy it quite a few times... but I wonder how much it really did cost.

Just over half-a-million, actually - $566,500

Bloody hell!

Was most of that for the original Atari Battlezone though?

99% of people when they hear the name "Battlezone" they only know of the 1980's atari game.

The term 'biometal' might not be under any trademark protections. It was used for a 1993 space shooter game as well as some obscure japanese Mega Man games.

And also, technology for crysis-like suits?
http://www.toki.co.jp/biometal/english/qanda.php

UPDATE: Looked into the crysis suits thing and nope, the technology is actually used to make tiny servos for tiny robots.

Zero Angel wrote:The term 'biometal' might not be under any trademark protections. It was used for a 1993 space shooter game as well as some obscure japanese Mega Man games.

And also, technology for crysis-like suits?
http://www.toki.co.jp/biometal/english/qanda.php

UPDATE: Looked into the crysis suits thing and nope, the technology is actually used to make tiny servos for tiny robots.

It doesnt always have to be 'protected' in order to get into hot water when you do use it.
In the case of Biometal for instance, if used without reference to an other game it is perfectly fine to use it, but if a game like Bionite would it could get them in hot water since the so called 'leader' has openly stated it is like a BZ3 and clearly is using BZ(2)'s concept as base for his game.

bigbadbogie wrote:Bloody hell!

Was most of that for the original Atari Battlezone though?

The simplest answer is that we don't know. There was a source at the time stating that it was only Battlezone and Battlezone 2000 (the two original Atari ones) but that is no longer online,and given that Nielk1 and I discussed the Activision series with Jason Kingsley (Rebellion CEO) not so long ago it's possible that it could be included.

Red Spot wrote:if a game like Bionite would it could get them in hot water since the so called 'leader' has openly stated it is like a BZ3 and clearly is using BZ(2)'s concept as base for his game.

You make that sound recent.

Honestly I'd say team with spAce and make a game about the ESAF, Shin'kul, American drone forces, and whatever else that man has in his head-canon. It makes America the bad guy while still letting them be awesome, lends well to asymmetric design, brings back the feeling of BZ1 in a more modern setting (harping on american use of dones, etc, rather than the space program), etc.

I'd also suggest that while there is a strong focus on vehicles, soldiers get some solid mechanics.

How much narrative does Zephyr have, exactly?

A lot he never put into the mod