16 replies to this topic

[Badconduct]

Get the right to republish Mechwarrior 2, Ghostbear, 2 Mercs, 3, 3 pirates, 4 and 4 Mercs.

Optimize them to run on Windows 7/8.

Sell them on Steam.

Cut Activision/Microsoft a cheque.

Profit.

/end_idea

Edited by Badconduct, 17 May 2013 - 01:31 PM.

[Sephlock]

Better yet, let us play them on some of the monitors inside our mechs. We have plenty of dead time during matches on Alpine and Tourmaline.

[Neolisk]

Sephlock, on 17 May 2013 - 02:22 PM, said:

Better yet, let us play them on some of the monitors inside our mechs. We have plenty of dead time during matches on Alpine and Tourmaline.

Would not all those stationary mechs look stupid on the battlefield?

[FrostCollar]

To my untrained ear, this sounds very legally difficult.

But if it wasn't, sure.

[Sephlock]

Neolisk, on 17 May 2013 - 05:09 PM, said:

Would not all those stationary mechs look stupid on the battlefield?

I'm talking about the times when you are basically picking a direction, checking your map to see where your teammates are going, and then.... ... nothing. For three full minutes.

[Tlmitf]

If you can buy the licences back, GO FOR IT!
I would love to play through them all again.

I do have pirated versions of MW4 (because i cant buy it) and i have MW3 and 2.
My disks have died, and i have to resort to torrents to obtain them again.

A few minor tweaks to MW2 (like a hi def remake of the BEST INTRO MOVIE EVER!!)

[Sephlock]

Tlmitf, on 17 May 2013 - 06:18 PM, said:

If you can buy the licences back, GO FOR IT!
I would love to play through them all again.

I do have pirated versions of MW4 (because i cant buy it) and i have MW3 and 2.
My disks have died, and i have to resort to torrents to obtain them again.

A few minor tweaks to MW2 (like a hi def remake of the BEST INTRO MOVIE EVER!!)

http://www.atomicgam...ll-free-release

Do you feel like this guy now ?

Edited by Sephlock, 17 May 2013 - 07:37 PM.

[Deathlike]

Badconduct, on 17 May 2013 - 01:30 PM, said:

Get the right to republish Mechwarrior 2, Ghostbear, 2 Mercs, 3, 3 pirates, 4 and 4 Mercs.

Optimize them to run on Windows 7/8.

Sell them on Steam.

Cut Activision/Microsoft a cheque.

Profit.

/end_idea

I'm not sure if MW3 runs on Win7.. it runs fine on WinXP.. for a game that came out during Win98/Win98SE.

MW2 had a "3D edition".. which was cool, except the rendering is kinda iffy, if not downright atrocious. It was better rendered in Glide (an API, feel free to go google/wiki it). It's easy to acquire the Glide wrappers (it simply wraps to OpenGL or Direct3D calls IIRC). I'm unsure how "compatible" this game would be on Win7.

Both are like older DX games (MW3 is like DX5/DX6 tech.. the MW2 port is like DX5 or something).

The real issue though is how you would address the music portion of the games. Both games had their audio done in the same way old music CDs were done... redbook audio. To implement this correctly, usually some sort of CD image loading software would be used to emulate/simulate that to get it working properly. I'm sure you can find MP3s or other audio formats to play the music, but that would be the last hurdle.

In sum, it would take some real testing and work to making sure it can operate correctly with modern Windows versions.

[Neolisk]

Sephlock, on 17 May 2013 - 05:52 PM, said:

I'm talking about the times when you are basically picking a direction, checking your map to see where your teammates are going, and then.... ... nothing. For three full minutes.

Well I meant those times people connect to Alpine and just play MW4 until the timer runs out, without going anywhere.

[Syllogy]

Bottom line:

Even if the licensing could be obtained for the games, they would have to be reprogrammed and updated to work on Windows 7.

[Edson Drake]

Agreed.

[Dream sequence]

Imagine how awesome it would be playing Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries with Crytek Engine 2 and Mercs original audio remastered...

[/Dream sequence]

[Badconduct]

Sephlock, on 17 May 2013 - 06:53 PM, said:

http://www.atomicgam...ll-free-release

Do you feel like this guy now ?

Mektek lost the rights, it's not online anymore I don't believe.

Syllogy, on 18 May 2013 - 05:09 AM, said:

Bottom line:

Even if the licensing could be obtained for the games, they would have to be reprogrammed and updated to work on Windows 7.

That's simple enough, check out GOG. They do it all the time.

[Edson Drake]

Knowing GOG, they would just get the DOS versions running with DosBox and call it a day...

Not good enough.

[Zerberus]

Badconduct, on 17 May 2013 - 01:30 PM, said:

Get the right to republish Mechwarrior 2, Ghostbear, 2 Mercs, 3, 3 pirates, 4 and 4 Mercs.

Optimize them to run on Windows 7/8.

Sell them on Steam.

Cut Activision/Microsoft a cheque.

Profit.

/end_idea

Unfortunately, the process is misordered, you first pay MS + Activision huge sums for the publishing rights after months of negotiation.

THEN optimize the code, assuming it can even be done.

Then try to sell them on Steam, assuming you werent explicitly forbidden to do so.

And then find out nobody is willing to pay for abandonware games that you can get for free literally everywhere

ESPECIALLY when the "new updated version" (MWO) is free, too.

For PGI or any other game publisher in the business of making money, there is no benefit to be had from purchasing the publiching rights to these games, much less investing hundreds of man hours in recoding them and optimizing them to run under Win 7/8, because you`re never going to get your money back. Where you see profit, I see an almost guaranteed loss of a few million dollars.

Even if it cost "only" 1 Mil per game for the publishing rights which it almost certainly will not, there is no way in hell you can sell them for full price, esp in todays F2P world. at 5$ / buindle of all 3, you still have top sell at least a million just to break even.

Problem is this is NOT a license, you are one step away from BUYING the IP, and that costs MUUUUUUUCH more... I will sell you a single copy of one of my songs for a dollar any day, but the publishing and distribution rights start at a few thousand per track, because at that point in time it is essentially no longer my property, just my creation. I`ll still collect royalties from you, thjough, because I still own the copyright. ANd as such , I decide how high those royalties are.

So MS or ACT/Bli could actually go ahead, sell them the publishing and distribution rights for an exhorbitant but somehow still palatable sum, and then still shut the whole thing down completely by simply saying "5 bucks per game sold or you stop selling them".

The potential for PGI (or anyone else who tires this) to get clusterfucked is immense.

Would I like to see them? Yes. But I also understand the costs and logistics involved and therefore won`t be getting my hopes up anytime before 2050 or so, when I can play them on a chip in my brain.

Edited by Zerberus, 18 May 2013 - 10:25 AM.

[Corvus Antaka]

Sephlock, on 17 May 2013 - 02:22 PM, said:

Better yet, let us play them on some of the monitors inside our mechs. We have plenty of dead time during matches on Alpine and Tourmaline.

Faster mechs dont have big downtimes on these maps. id go with "remake mech3 for mobile devices, then i can play mech3 on my cellphone when i cant play MWO at home

Edited by Colonel Pada Vinson, 18 May 2013 - 11:00 AM.

[Badconduct]

Zerberus, on 18 May 2013 - 10:09 AM, said:

Unfortunately, the process is misordered, you first pay MS + Activision huge sums for the publishing rights after months of negotiation.

THEN optimize the code, assuming it can even be done.

Then try to sell them on Steam, assuming you werent explicitly forbidden to do so.

And then find out nobody is willing to pay for abandonware games that you can get for free literally everywhere

ESPECIALLY when the "new updated version" (MWO) is free, too.

For PGI or any other game publisher in the business of making money, there is no benefit to be had from purchasing the publiching rights to these games, much less investing hundreds of man hours in recoding them and optimizing them to run under Win 7/8, because you`re never going to get your money back. Where you see profit, I see an almost guaranteed loss of a few million dollars.

Even if it cost "only" 1 Mil per game for the publishing rights which it almost certainly will not, there is no way in hell you can sell them for full price, esp in todays F2P world. at 5$ / buindle of all 3, you still have top sell at least a million just to break even.

Problem is this is NOT a license, you are one step away from BUYING the IP, and that costs MUUUUUUUCH more... I will sell you a single copy of one of my songs for a dollar any day, but the publishing and distribution rights start at a few thousand per track, because at that point in time it is essentially no longer my property, just my creation. I`ll still collect royalties from you, thjough, because I still own the copyright. ANd as such , I decide how high those royalties are.

So MS or ACT/Bli could actually go ahead, sell them the publishing and distribution rights for an exhorbitant but somehow still palatable sum, and then still shut the whole thing down completely by simply saying "5 bucks per game sold or you stop selling them".

The potential for PGI (or anyone else who tires this) to get clusterfucked is immense.

Would I like to see them? Yes. But I also understand the costs and logistics involved and therefore won`t be getting my hopes up anytime before 2050 or so, when I can play them on a chip in my brain.

Optimized for Win7?

Full soundtrack Windows version of Mercs?

Hell yah, I'd pay for it. full Mechwarrior 2 + mercs and ghost bear for 15-20, easily. I'd have it in my library forever (or until my email address is shut down)

[Gralzeim]

Doesn't Microsoft own the rights to the MechWarrior line of games? I seem to recall they purchased them when FASA went down.

Also, as far as I'm aware, none of the MechWarrior games are -abandonware-.

And regarding MechWarrior 4 Mercenaries...http://www.mektek.ne...n-mechwarrior4/ That sums up why the MekTek release of MW4 Mercs isn't being worked on (or available from them) anymore.