[ReaperMan]

All we know for sure is 3DR owns the rights to all the Duke Nukem games made previously to DNF and GBX owns certain rights to all new Duke Nukem games.

[Jimmy]

Engel220, on 23 February 2014 - 03:55 AM, said:

Personally, I think this is about someone else getting to release what might be a good Duke game before Gearbox has had a chance. If they own the IP outright then they have the right to stop this from happening, but secretly I can't help but feel like this is a strike at outside competition getting somewhere first because Gearbox hasn't yet had their shot at reviving the Duke Nukem franchise properly.

Either shit or get off the pot, Pitchford; Borderlands 2 is soon going to be out of DLC, the crew that worked on those will possibly be without a current task at hand and it's time you either make a move on the IP with a new title or hand it over to developers with more open schedules.

It's like you have no idea how the games industry works. It's like you actually think the industry cares about you. Just look at games like Saints Row, or Bore-derlands, or Mass Effect. They charge you out the ass for shit that should have been in the game in the first place. Just look at the Doctor Who Cloned Me. Regardless of any 3DR/Triptych/Gearbox defenders, the game was split into two parts to capitalize on it. Plain and simple. Leaked design documents from 3DR confirm this fact. And people still deny this shit happens all the time. Fact of the matter is, it's a business. The ones in control, the ones with money, simply don't give a fuck about what people like. They only care about what sells. And sometimes this means buying up competition and putting it in the attic.

Ronan, on 23 February 2014 - 07:48 AM, said:

This is what we will hear from here on in: "Interceptors Duke game was soooo good that Gearbox became afraid that it would over shadow their own effort, so they shut it down".

Anybody who believes this is delusional/Fresch.

[Outtagum]

xMobilemux, on 23 February 2014 - 01:30 AM, said:

WTF does P have to do with a Emergency Broadcast?

P for Pathfinder.

[Hendricks266]

But isn't this Project Ascender?

[Ronin]

More like Project Descender now.

[Daedolon]

Ronan, on 23 February 2014 - 12:10 PM, said:

More like Project Descender now.

That would actually make more sense, top-down action rpg... Diablo anyone? (for some reason I don't think anyone has mentioned it in the thread, and it's like the definitive top-down action rpg).

[Ronin]

fiasco
fɪˈaskəʊ/Submit
noun
noun: fiasco; plural noun: fiascos
1.
a complete failure, especially a ludicrous or humiliating one.
"his plans turned into a fiasco"
synonyms: failure, disaster, catastrophe, debacle, shambles, farce, mess, wreck, ruin, ruination, blunder, botch, abortion.
antonyms: success

[Jimmy]

[Hool]

This image sort of reflects the Duke Nukem Franchise, we get somewhere with it after a few missteps then everything comes tumbling down when it's almost there.

[ReaperMan]

Ronan, on 23 February 2014 - 12:15 PM, said:

Duke Nukem Series
dook nook um seer-eez/Submit
noun
noun: Duke Nukem Series
1.
a complete failure, especially a ludicrous or humiliating one. Often associated with curse.
"his plans turned into a Duke Nukem Series"
synonyms: failure, disaster, catastrophe, debacle, shambles, farce, mess, wreck, ruin, ruination, blunder, botch, abortion, Curse, DNF.
antonyms: success

Fixed

[mechmorphix616]

Tea Monster, on 23 February 2014 - 11:41 AM, said:

I feel sorry for the people at Interceptor who made all the Duke content.

It's not going to be that easy. They've probably done marketing material, paid people to make all the Duke stuff - this isn't a mod - artists need to eat too. Just 'changing the assets' won't be cheap - if they bother to do it.

Of course, that is if they ever did any Duke content. Cynical me says that maybe they did know it would get shut down and the whole thing was engineered from the beginning to be something else. The whole Duke angle was solely for publicity. I hope I'm not right.


Fucking cursed. Damn straight.

They don't need to change much, necessarily. Quite the contrary: retain everything done so far and just remove all mentions of Duke Nukem, while still noting its influence on the game itself.

Of course it's still an effort to do so and a huge slap in the face, but this can potentially end reasonably.

Much more likely this will get aborted just like DN3D: Reloaded. At least Reloaded actually had evidence of its development.

[Tea Monster]

mechmorphix616, on 23 February 2014 - 12:30 PM, said:

...Quite the contrary: retain everything done so far and just remove all mentions of Duke Nukem...

You mean:

1. All the models of the main character, including art from cutscenes and prerendered cut scenes.
2. Any and all Boss, enemy monsters or NPC's that are characters from Duke Nukem 3D/Forever.
3.. Any and all textures even vaguely borrowed or directly influenced by Duke Nukem 3D/Forever or that mention any characters from said games.
4. Any and all box art, promotional materials, ads, web art etc, etc.,

It's possible, but it's a mammoth undertaking. I think you right that they would just can the project.

[Bloodshot]

I wonder how much trouble they would still get in if they just changed Duke's hair to black and his shirt to blue, renamed everything and released it anyway.

[Alithinos]

There is one thing I'm certain for: With all that bullcrap that we get,we must be one of the most hardcore and patient fanbases out there.
Others would have stopped caring ages ago. But we still have hope that something good might come out one day.

Some times I wish I'd win the lottery just so I can buy all the licenses of mistreated game franchises and make new games that do their franchises justice.

[mechmorphix616]

Tea Monster, on 23 February 2014 - 12:51 PM, said:

1. All the models of the main character, including art from cutscenes and prerendered cut scenes.
2. Any and all Boss, enemy monsters or NPC's that are characters from Duke Nukem 3D/Forever.
3.. Any and all textures even vaguely borrowed or directly influenced by Duke Nukem 3D/Forever or that mention any characters from said games.

These three points are actually ones I'm very curious about.

Sure, the main character can ostensibly resemble Duke, but just to what extent can one be legally prosecuted for having a character in a video game that resembles another? Remember, even Duke hasn't had consistent incarnations. His models have changed throughout the series. Can you really sue a company for having a muscular blonde dude in a tank top? Assuming that's how they modeled him. If he's any different, then that's actually a case in their favor.

I thought 3DR owned the rights to Duke3D, first of all. But once again, this is a very grey area. Artistic designs only go so far and a lot are bound to cross over or even directly emulate others, which occurs all the time without legal hassle. Having a generic armored lizard that just so happens to resemble an Assault Trooper is probably not territory to sue over, since it's not a unique idea by itself. However, you may have a point if they're blatantly similar or if they lifted someone like Dylan (oh fuck, I hope not).

Textures are frankly preposterous, unless they've blatantly lifted some from DNF (I'd love to know how, honestly) or unless they reference something unique to DNF, which is doubtful. I don't think they could be sued for having stencils of the Earth Defense Force, for instance, since Duke3D had them and 3DR still owns the rights to that game. What, are Gearbox going to file a cease-and-desist for having desert-themed tiles because DNF had levels set in a desert?

I guess Gearbox might be able to raise some hell over #2, I'll admit, but the rest is silly. This is assuming Interceptor has stepped the boundaries enough to warrant a reasonable case for having lifted model designs.

EDIT: Oh, and your fourth point which I did not quote is valid, however those are actually the most trivial to fix. Still a pain for the graphic designer who has to do it, but very much manageable as it is not related directly to game assets themselves.

[Ronin]

[Kristian Joensen]

As far as I can tell 3DR only owns the rights to SELL Duke3D and create ports of it. Not to create new products with elements from Duke3D.

". Can you really sue a company for having a muscular blonde dude in a tank top?"

You can basically sue for anything, but will you win? The standard for copyright infringement in the US is called substantial similarity. Notice this is a legal phrase with a set legal meaning based on statutes and case law, don't assume the law in the US considers something to be "subtantially similar" just because you do or doesn't consider it "substantially similar" just because don't. From what I can tell you can go pretty darn far. But anything that is an exact or almost exact copy is a definitive no-no, after that it start to go in to grey areas. With actual copying tending to be problematic in any case. Merely creating something that has thematic similarities shouldn't be problematic. The exception for all of this is if 3DR entered into a non-compete with GBX. For example the APA between 3DR, Remedy and Take Two has the following language:

Quote

(f) Noncompetition.

(i) Each Seller individually covenants to Purchasers that,
subject to the provisions of Section 6(f)(ii), from the Closing Date until the
tenth (10th) anniversary of the Closing Date, such Seller shall not (without the
prior written consent of Purchasers), and no principal stockholders or partners
identified on the signature page to this Agreement shall (without the prior
written consent of Purchasers), knowingly permit any of its subsidiaries,
Affiliates, officers, directors, employees, agents or representatives
(collectively, the "Covenantors"), directly or indirectly, to (x) develop,
produce, build, design, or otherwise create in any manner, any Competitive
Product, (y) enter into a transaction to acquire (whether by merger, asset
purchase or otherwise similar type transaction) any Competitive Product or any
competitor of the Purchasers then developing or owning a Competitive Product, or
(z) as a sole proprietor, member of a partnership, stockholder, investor,
officer or director of a corporation, or as an employee, associate, consultant
or agent of any person, partnership, corporation or other business organization
or entity, render any service (including the making of investments in or
otherwise providing capital to) directly or indirectly related to a Competitive
Product for or on behalf of any competitor (or any person or entity that is
reasonably anticipated to become a competitor within the term hereof) of the
Purchasers or their respective subsidiaries or Affiliates. A person,
partnership, corporation or other business organization or entity is "a
competitor of the Purchasers" if it is then designing, developing and/or
marketing any Competitive Product. For purposes hereof, a "Competitive Product"
is any original third person perspective 3D simulated game based in a modern
(currently timed) urban city (e.g., Los Angeles, Tokyo, London, New York,
Chicago, Las Vegas) with a male main character in the role of a police officer
or ex-police officer.

(Emphasis mine).

This provision has by the way expired now.

[Soap DX]

I did find it strange I didn't see the Gearbox logo at the bottom of the webpage, but I figured they just gave them permission for this game via some sort of contract / agreement.

Looks like they went ahead without the rights.... of course they're going to be sued, it's gearboxes intellectual property now.

And I hope this isn't a trick, and it's a publicity stunt, either way for any of the 3 companies involves, 'cause it's not funny. And I hope this won't push away our next Duke games any more years. If I was a boss id say lets wait a good while for all the stink to die down, that or try to use it to their advantage, which I dought.


*gasp* this story is so annoying, is it possible interceptor is so reckless, didn't they learn anything from Reloaded!? I though they did, I imagined they had permission.

*walks out mumbling to himself*

[hismasterplan]

The stink will never where off, especially after one disaster after another. That's why Randy needs to reassure the fanbase that good things are coming for Duke or sell the franchise to someone else if Duke isn't in his plans anymore.

[Alithinos]

Its 3 years since last game,and not even announcement for next one.

[Person of Color]

Fresch is a longstanding member of the community. His work speaks for itself.

[Lunick]

Protected by Viper, on 23 February 2014 - 03:04 PM, said:

Fresch is a longstanding member of the community. His work speaks for itself.

(Not the image I was looking for but this will do)

[Hool]

Ronan, on 23 February 2014 - 01:29 PM, said:

I decided to make this animated .GIF after seeing that.

To be honest, Interceptor should have been notified about the Duke Nukem license before hand, for I thought that 3D realms could only release previous Duke games to Forever and Gearbox would work on any future titles.

[Kathy]

Jimmy, on 23 February 2014 - 11:59 AM, said:

Just look at the Doctor Who Cloned Me. Regardless of any 3DR/Triptych/Gearbox defenders, the game was split into two parts to capitalize on it. Plain and simple. Leaked design documents from 3DR confirm this fact. And people still deny this shit happens all the time.

But you can't deny that it probably wasn't finished anyway since it wasn't day-1 or even month-1 dlc. Of course, GBX had an abundance of time to finish it for the main game anyway.

Ronan, on 23 February 2014 - 12:10 PM, said:

More like Project Descender now.

Descent top down shooter with RPG elements by Interceptor? Viper would be thrilled!

[Person of Color]

Kathy, on 23 February 2014 - 03:44 PM, said:

\
Descent top down shooter with RPG elements by Interceptor? Viper would be thrilled!

I'd jump off the fucking George Washington Bridge. Fuuuuuuuck....THAT!

[Jimmy]

Holy shit Wheatley, we just kind of had a hivemind.

[Come On And Slam]

This is possibly the saddest thing I've ever seen on a forum before.

[mpuone]

Whatever Interceptor is working on, there MUST be part where Duke is clinically depressed!

[Mr. Tibbs]

What the hell were they thinking? Was Gearbox just supposed to be pleasantly surprised when the countdown finished? "Oh, sweet! A company that recently dropped a lawsuit against us is using our licence without permission. Better yet, they roped in a developer who have criticized our work and given us scores of bad press. Thanks dudes! Best of luck. ALWAYS BET ON DUKE!"

[uh . . . .]

A-always b-bet on Duke. . . !