Bethesda finally announced the outcome of their Interplay/Fallout legal battle in a press release today:

FALLOUT® MMO RIGHTS RESTORED TO BETHESDA SOFTWORKS® IN INTERPLAY LITIGATION

All Fallout® Intellectual Property Rights Belong Exclusively to Bethesda

January 9, 2012 (Rockville, MD) –ZeniMax® Media Inc. today announced that a settlement had been reached in the lawsuit filed by its subsidiary, Bethesda Softworks®, against Interplay Entertainment Corporation in 2009, Bethesda Softworks LLC v Interplay Entertainment Corp., seeking cancellation of the license granted to Interplay to develop a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) based on the Fallout brand. Bethesda maintained in its complaint that Interplay had failed to meet the conditions for the license and the license was therefore of no continuing validity.

Under the terms of the settlement, the license granted to Interplay to develop the Fallout MMO is null and void, and all rights granted to Interplay to develop a Fallout MMO revert back to Bethesda, effective immediately. Interplay has no ongoing right to use the Fallout brand or any Fallout intellectual property for any game development. ZeniMax will pay Interplay $2 million as consideration in the settlement, each party will bear its own costs of the litigation, and Bethesda will continue to own all Fallout intellectual property rights. Interplay will be permitted to continue to sell the original Fallout ®Tactics, Fallout® and Fallout® 2 PC games through December 2013, after which time all rights to market those games revert to and become the sole property of Bethesda. Under the original agreement pursuant to which Bethesda had acquired the Fallout property, Interplay was granted certain merchandising rights to sell those original Fallout games, but those merchandising rights will now expire on December 31, 2013.

Blah blah blah.. Interplay did bad things "allegedly"..

If you might recall, here's what I was predicting several months ago:

I think Interplay is just playing the long game. They might not have any money, but they're thinking ahead and they just need to hold out longer then Zenimax can in facing their private investors.

There's probably no real development happening, and Interplay has no serious plans to produce a Fallout MMO, so they're just waiting for Bethesda to fold and finally purchase the Fallout IP unconditionally with an outrageous price tag. This recent legal game is just demonstrating how desperate and unplanned Bethesda is in dealing with the situation. I think, in the end, Bethesda will completely own the Fallout IP but they'll pay an arm and a leg for it.

Interplay originally sold the Fallout IP for $5.75 million, and now they're selling it back to them again for an additional $2 million. (I wonder if there is anything else undisclosed in the settlement?)

Plus, Q4 ends December 31 (I guess that makes it FY2012 Q1 in the US?) and quarterly shareholders meetings will be held in late January to early February 2012.

Nailed it. :)

Even with the rights to the MMO, it's not like Bethesda is even planning on creating a MMO. They just wanted the full IP to move forwards with their single player adventures. Although, even without a MMO, multiplayer features are still very likely for future installments. There are a lot of problems creating a MMO of this genre, and it's something I'll be talking about soon.

(By the way, I'm guessing that the Diablo 3 Release Date announcement will be made before Activision Blizzard's early Feb shareholders meeting if they intend on releasing it by March. They'll want something nice to tell their shareholders, but they won't be revealing any pre-order numbers or anything. Cataclysm was announced 1 month before the shareholders meeting, but SC2 was announced just 3 days before the meeting. Cataclysm had Digital Pre-Downloads though.)

• This post has been upgraded from "Minor" to "Significant Updates". A Public Relations representative from Irvine HQ has confirmed that the Korean Times article is correct. As you recall, I was waiting for a retraction, but instead there has been a confirmation. :)
  
  What was contained in the factual news (non-blog) source? Blizzard has a simultaneous global launch planned, it will be region-free for the first time in the company's history, each country will have identical software, and the Korean Board's decision has kept the game launching in other countries.
  
  Blizzard PR has also provided a quote that there are global launch plans, even though it was never officially announced. This is all some very credible evidence, and I can now call them "facts" which I wasn't able to do before. All of this confirms what I've been writing about to be accurate. :)
  

  Asked whether the situation might cause Blizzard to launch the game in other markets first, instead of a worldwide simultaneous release, Damron stated that “this will not impact our global launch plans.” Given this, a delay in the South Korean Market could impact the release in North America and Europe as well.

  Although the initial delay was caused by the SK issues, this means that Blizzard right now has plans to launch and the SK issues are no longer holding it back. Because they're having a worldwide simultaneous launch and you can't launch without all countries being in line, this means that Blizzard is plowing forwards with an expected approval. Meaning that Diablo 3 will be approved for use in SK either because Blizzard knows things are positive and it will be approved with the RMAH, or they're planning on stripping out the RMAH entirely. If this is the case, then they have a launch date planned already and it also might explain the confidence surrounding the new "Q1" statement instead of old "Early 2012" regurgitation. Atleast now you know why Bashiok had to be so ambiguous about his posts. :)

• Details about the Bethesda v. Interplay settlement have not been announced yet, but it appears that Bethesda has dismissed their lawsuit against Interplay. And by dismissing with prejudice, it might mean that Bethesda has made Interplay immune from being sued for the same reasons in the future. Can't wait to find out what really happened here. :)

• I've updated the "Diablo Delay Debate" post with additional information. I also moved that awesome "I'm a problem" Bashiok quote to my "Important Notices" page.

• The Korea GRB never made a final decision today. They meet every Wednesday and Friday and these constant delays in making a decision may force Blizzard's hand. Typically, release date announcements are made on Mondays (and right before their shareholders meeting, unless there's something unusual about the circumstances.) There won't be an announcement made next Monday, though, because Bashiok said that they still need to announce their new game changes "before or with the next beta patch."

• Bashiok confirmed that Blizzard is planning for a Q1 2012 release. So "Early" means Jan, Feb, or Mar.

• It also looks like Diablo 3 will indeed have Pre-Digital Downloads available. I wonder when (or if) the region-free announcement will be made and how this will work. For example, if you download the Digital Copy, they'll probably lock the game to the region's Battle.net that you downloaded it from. That way, you can't just download the game for a much cheaper price, but then register the game in your own country. Does that really matter though? If I setup a US Battle.net account, pay for and download the game, I still have the option of playing on faster AU servers and I can register my home region for the RMAH as AU. Will they have some security measure or process in place to prevent this though? (e.g. the B.Net account you register on automatically becomes your "home region" for RMAH.)

• I'm still working on another post about Titan, but I just haven't had a lot of time to work on it. It's getting pretty big too, so I might need to break it down into parts (surprised?). Really nothing much else going on, so don't be surprised if things are a little quiet around here. Until, that is, new or interesting information comes out.

Ah, cool.. more news about the continued battle between Interplay and Bethesda.

It seems like Bethesda is getting pretty desperate now. Unfortunately, their lawyers waited way too long (7 months knowing full well it was being developed) to file their restraining order, which is what undid them in the end.

I think they're getting really desperate because they want to start working on Fallout 5 soon. It's a highly successful IP after all, and they don't have much else planned. In the original Fallout IP sales contract, as soon as Fallout 5 is developed by Bethesda, the IP is reverted back to it's original owner: Interplay.

They have Fallout 3, which has 5 DLC packages. And Fallout 4: New Vegas (which I suspect they didn't call FO4 in the hopes that it might help them in court when the time comes) now has 6 DLC packages. The DLC is being used to buy them some more time, but they can only keep shoveling out crap so far.

Now, I suppose they could create a "new type" of "expansion pack" that completely rebuilds the graphics and gaming engine. Fallout 5 could in fact just be an "expansion pack" to Fallout 4 for example. :) But then there would probably be more legal fights about what exactly constitutes a PC game and an expansion pack.

I think Interplay is just playing the long game. They might not have any money, but they're thinking ahead and they just need to hold out longer then Take Two Interactive can in facing their investors Zenimax can in facing their private investors.

There's probably no real development happening, and Interplay has no serious plans to produce a Fallout MMO, so they're just waiting for Bethesda to fold and finally purchase the Fallout IP unconditionally with an outrageous price tag. This recent legal game is just demonstrating how desperate and unplanned Bethesda is in dealing with the situation. I think, in the end, Bethesda will completely own the Fallout IP but they'll pay an arm and a leg for it. Would be funny though if Interplay got the IP back, and sold it to their competitors.

* Correction: Take-Two published some of the Elder Scrolls, but not Fallout. Fallout was self-published by their Bethesda Softworks division. Although, Namco Bandai published FO4 New Vegas in EU, AU & NZ.

Back in 1995-96, Flatline Studios, LLC. pitched a game demo to Interplay and they were signed on to do a title which was eventually called AI: Alien Intelligence. Unfortunately, Interplay shelved the title after their unsuccessful IPO (and Flatline's 2 years of development). It was cancelled in 1999 just prior to the retail release.

Flatline consisted of about 20 employees at the time and they were responsible for all aspects of development (video, sound, coding, gameplay, cinematics, etc.) They were royally screwed over in the deal, and the company died after AI was shelved.

Being an avid Starcraft player, I was really looking forwards to the game back in 1998. It was a very ambitious project for it's time and it had the potential to succeed Blizzard's Starcraft. If history played a little different, we might all be playing "World of Alien Intelligence" right now. =]

So, imagine this scenario: It's about one year after Starcraft is first released and another Sci-Fi RTS arises. It has superior graphics, cinematics and sound. You can manage units on multiple planets throughout a universe (which you can also explore) and you can also travel between (ie, trade with), colonize, or conquer other (un)inhabited planets. All of this is in realtime Starcraft-style but with simultaneous land and space combat.. and even planetary bombardment. Oh yeah.

Not only that, but throw in:

- Massive technology research trees (150 levels of tech that you could develop or steal.)
- Six alien species (with their own characteristics, technologies, play styles, and combat strategies.)
- More advanced NPC A.I.
- Over 10,000 ship designs
- A playing field that spans multiple star systems.
- Diplomacy, trade and resource management (4X features).
- Non-linear sandbox-style gameplay in an realtime game universe (more of an epic feel rather than linear missions).
- Superior multiplayer support (LAN, Modem, Serial, and TCP/IP Internet).

(Historical Note: Starcraft 1 provided no method to play TCP/IP games over the internet other than through Battle.net which was extremely slow and unstable at the time. Many players couldn't even access Battle.net due to lack of internet connectivity (school, university netorks, LAN parties). There were also other major problems with Battle.net such as substantial cheating and the inability to locate friends.)

Anyhow, here were some old videos I was able to dig up:





Descriptions for each race:

1. Psionids - "highly evolved, possess strong mental powers that they use to confuse the enemy in the heat of battle."
2. Strixthes - "Insectoid, behave like ants with mindless drones being controlled by a queen."
3. Arkanians - "Insectoid, more like roaches that can construct anything out of garbage - they're also excellent thieves."
4. Munzoids - "Closest to the human race. Descended from Mongolians captured and enslaved by an alien race. The Munzoids are extremely aggressive and never surrender."
5. Metalloids - "Somewhere between Star Trek's Borg race and the T1000 from Terminator 2. Artificially created as servants, their individual thought processors are controlled by a central computer known as The One. They reproduce by absorbing metal and then splitting, amoeba like, in two."
6. Drache - "Dragon-like. These former slaves are skilled workers and can transform a barren landscape into a habitable world."

Here was an old write-up about the game:

"The planets that you colonise will give your race not only a place to grow, but also many resources. At the same time, planets have their own ecosystem which could be upset if you choose to meddle with it. For example, you may decide to eliminate a creature that becomes a pest, but in doing so, the predators that live off those creatures might start viewing your race as an alternative food source.

Once you've successfully populated one planet, you will want to expand and for that you need ships. In addition to outpost and colony ships, there are seven basic hull types for each race, all of which can be customised to some degree. Some of these are ideal for ferrying troops to newly discovered planets, while others are combat specific. Not only can these interstellar behemoths face off against enemy fleets, but they are also capable of bombing planets.

War is avoidable, though: diplomatic relations are a large part of the game and you can maintain neutrality, enter into hostilities or even form an alliance with another race. Trade is another area and will provide you with resources that you cannot get for yourself and money, which goes towards the development and running of your colonies.

Naturally, careful resource management is central to the success of your empire. For your colonies to flourish, you need sufficient food, as well as plenty of buildings and structures. You can't have buildings without metals, which must be mined, and power, which is derived from radioactives. And of course, you can't build anything without money, which you'll need for units, ships and structures. Fortunately, resource management is made easier because materials can be used anywhere, not just in the area they were acquired."

I was sitting on this blog post for quite a while now, but I was hoping to get some more information before posting this (e.g. more details, screenshots, videos), but my contact (Eric Smith - former President of Flatline Studios) got a little busy and forgot all about me. =[

Maybe if he finds this blog in his travels, he might get back in touch (I'm looking at you Eric!). Apparently, he still has Pre-Production boxes and a few Demo/Beta CD-ROMs lying around somewhere. I'd love to get my hands on some old videos or screenshots of live gameplay!

While preparing this entry, I also pleasantly discovered a recent post about Alien Intelligence here. Glad to see that it's memory is still being kept alive.

It has been described by some as a Turn-Based Strategy (what MOO3 should have been) and by others as a Real-Time Strategy (like Starcraft but on an epic scale). The demos seem to indicate that most of the game was a real time strategy - so I assume it had a lot of features like a 4X game (ie, resource management, diplomacy, espionage, etc) but there might have been a way to task a NPC to micromanage certain aspects of your empire for you. And, if you had time between building construction, combat, or travelling to other planets, you could do some micromanaging on your own. Without playing the actual game, though, I can only fill in the gaps with my imagination. =]

Oh well. At least I'm comforted in knowing that A.I. Alien Intelligence survives somewhere in a parallel dimension where Interplay made smart business decisions, the game shattered sales records, and my counterpart was addicted to it for several years.