35 replies to this topic

[WandiXXL]

Hi,

are there any plans to include the missing Phoenix Mechs? Like Stinger, Wasp, Archer, Rifleman, Warhammer, Marauder, Ôstroc, Ostsol, Ostscout, Phoenix Hawk, Valkyrie and Crusader?

Or some Mechs like Enforcer, Zeus, Marauder II, Scorpion and Goliath

Edited by WandiXXL, 06 November 2013 - 10:49 AM.

[verybad]

There won't be 4 legged mechs (scorpion, Goliath) It's in a dev post somewhere.

Some Phoenix mechs are more © than others (Stinger, Wasp, Archer, Rifleman, Warhammer, Marauder, Ôstroc, Ostsol, Ostscout, Phoenix Hawk, Valkyrie and Crusader? Zeus and Enforcer aren't © and might show up later.

Edited by verybad, 06 November 2013 - 11:06 AM.

[FireSlade]

Nope not anytime soon. PGI has to be very careful when adding any of the Unseen/Reseen mechs or face crippling lawsuits. Harmony Gold is one of the worst in this case (they even sued Hasbro over a transformer) so we probably will not see any mechs that they claim is their design anytime soon, but you never know.

Edited by FireSlade, 06 November 2013 - 11:31 AM.

[WandiXXL]

But CGL [Catalyst Game Labs] (the rights owner for Battletech in general) has carefully redesigned the whole Phoenix Programm, so that shouldn't be a problem at all. The whole Phoenix Programm had the purpose to redesign the Unseen, so they wouldn't face any law suits

Edited by WandiXXL, 08 November 2013 - 12:04 AM.

[Hans Von Lohman]

The phoenix mechs we are getting are the only 6 they can do, as they come from Crusher Joe and Dougram anime series.

The rest of them are from Macross/Robotech anime, and the owners of that series are a LOT more lawyer happy and make it not worth the while to add them.

Crusher Joe and Dougram were apparently a lot less of a problem as those two series are not in production anymore and there doesn't seem to be any people who would care anymore to sue over it.

Macross is still very popular in Japan and they are still making new Macross series to this day, like Macross Frontier, Macross Plus, Macross animated movies like Macross Wings of Goodbye, ect.

[Hans Von Lohman]

Quote

Or some Mechs like Enforcer, Zeus, Marauder II, Scorpion and Goliath

Actually, the Enforcer and Zeus are original designs for BattleTech. Those they can do.

Marauder II is a Macross derived design, so that is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Goliath and Scorpion are 4 legged mechs and while they could do them, they said they won't because quad mechs would require a lot of new software programming development beyond what already exists, making it a lot more expensive to do it for not a lot of benefit for just 1 or 2 mechs that would need it.

[WandiXXL]

Has anyone of you seen the Technical Readout - Project Phoenix? None of the Phoenix mechs are similar to Macross Mechs anymore

[DarkDevilDancer]

They may no longer be similar but the patent system in the US is a mess and you can sue for stupid reasons look at apple and sony arguing about who owns the right to a rectangular shaped phone, Harmony Gold will sue if they can so its just not worth wasting the money for PGI.

Even if they win blood sucking lawyers will drain their coffers.

[Captain Stiffy]

They would have to be completely balls bouncing karate bananas ******** not to want to sell us Marauders.

Whatever their hangup with the new versions or with making their own version is they need to get over it and take our money.

[Hans Von Lohman]

Captain Stiffy, on 08 November 2013 - 03:21 PM, said:

They would have to be completely balls bouncing karate bananas ******** not to want to sell us Marauders.

Whatever their hangup with the new versions or with making their own version is they need to get over it and take our money.

They did make a re-designed Warhammer for their very first trailer in 2009. Guess what? it got them some legal action from Harmony Gold.

I bet PGI knows the Warhammer and Marauder would sell better than anything they've made to date. They would love to make them, but the fact they have not ought to tell you something about how the real world works for them.

Edited by Hans Von Lohman, 08 November 2013 - 10:57 PM.

[Captain Stiffy]

Hans Von Lohman, on 08 November 2013 - 10:47 PM, said:

They did make a re-designed Warhammer for their very first trailer in 2009. Guess what? it got them some legal action from Harmony Gold.

I bet PGI knows the Warhammer and Marauder would sell better than anything they've made to date. They would love to make them, but the fact they have not ought to tell you something about how the real world works for them.

The key is that they need to CALL it something else. And it needs to be different enough.

[DarkDevilDancer]

....its not the name thats always been owned by battletech its the design of the mech that HG holds the license for.

It does not matter what they call it if it looks even a little like a robotech design they will try to sue because HG are patent trolls.

[Escef]

What's worse is that a Japanese judge ruled that the company that sold the in perpetuity license to HG had no authority to do so (the case, however, was not in relation to HG, but to the business arrangement between various Japanese companies). I wager that a the next time a suit rises HG would lose if it went to court, but the problems is the time and the cost. Even Hasbro settled out of court with HG, simply because it was faster and cheaper. PGI is a pretty small company, and likely does not have the resources to settle out of court (never mind go forward with an actual suit), and so they bow to any C&D demands HG might send.

It's a business decision, and no one on the CBT/MWO side of things is happy with it. But it's better than a fight that sees the franchise and/or company that publishes it become casualties in the process.

[WandiXXL]

Hmm I don't think that is PGIs problem at all, it is Catalyst Game Labs Problem. The general Battletech rights are not with PGI, CGL owns that rights, if PGI would creat their OWN mechs, i don't mean Mech variants, i mean whole new mechs, they have to check that with CGL, even Microgarbage needet to do that,

[General Taskeen]

Captain Stiffy, on 09 November 2013 - 05:56 AM, said:

The key is that they need to CALL it something else. And it needs to be different enough.

Hammer-War. Warped Hammer. War Anvil. War Hammered.

[Escef]

WandiXXL, on 10 November 2013 - 08:51 AM, said:

The general Battletech rights are not with PGI, CGL owns that rights,...

Last I heard, Topps owned the rights after they acquired Wizkids, and simply chose to honor Wizkids licensing agreement with CGL.

[Whatzituyah]

Hans Von Lohman, on 08 November 2013 - 02:14 AM, said:

Actually, the Enforcer and Zeus are original designs for BattleTech. Those they can do.

Marauder II is a Macross derived design, so that is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Goliath and Scorpion are 4 legged mechs and while they could do them, they said they won't because quad mechs would require a lot of new software programming development beyond what already exists, making it a lot more expensive to do it for not a lot of benefit for just 1 or 2 mechs that would need it.

1 or 2 mechs hmmmm....

Edited by Whatzituyah, 10 November 2013 - 10:03 AM.

[Captain Stiffy]

General Taskeen, on 10 November 2013 - 09:12 AM, said:

Hammer-War. Warped Hammer. War Anvil. War Hammered.

Der-Maraud? Marry Rauder. Ma' Rauder?

[Ghogiel]

Captain Stiffy, on 09 November 2013 - 05:56 AM, said:

The key is that they need to CALL it something else. And it needs to be different enough.

They don't need to call it something else. Warhammer and Maurader are generic words and HG has no stake in them. They certainly need to get past derivative works law. The legal criteria of which is "originality".

[Captain Stiffy]

Ghogiel, on 10 November 2013 - 12:05 PM, said:

They don't need to call it something else. Warhammer and Maurader are generic words and HG has no stake in them. They certainly need to get past derivative works law. The legal criteria of which is "originality".

as I understand it they actually were not the original purchasers of the artwork they just bullied FASA or whoever held it at the time