181 replies to this topic

[Crifuan]

Greetings!

As discussed before in this and many other forums, the classic battlemechs,as the Warhammer, the Wasp or - most exiting for me- the Marauder, are very popular to the Battletech-Gamer.
A lot of those who are playing MWO would be very pleased if there would be an inclusion of those classic Mechdesigns in the MWO-Game.
The major problem is, that these Mechsdesigns had been drawn from the "Robotech-Saga".

So what about the idea, that PGI tries to get a contract with "Harmony Gold", the licenceowner of the Robotech-Saga.
Golden Harmony could get a percentage of the winspan of a package which includes the most popular Mechs, like the Marauder, the Warhammer, Archer, Wasp, Hornet, Longbow,...
They can perhaps even use the Robotech names in addition, like the IS-Names for the Clanmechs, so that it´s clear that these Mechs are not developed by PGI, FASA or the current licenceholder of the Battletech-Universe.

So please PGI trie to get an solution for the problem of bringing these very great classic Mechdesigns!

If there are Mechworrior-Player who agree or any other ideas, I´ll glad to see your posts.

[Critical Rocket]

Nice idea but it will never happen sadly. Harmony Gold are very aggressive when defending the Robotech license and the images used therein. Although they don't own the designs, they do have the exclusive rights for North America. Another issue is that Robotech is seeing a minor resurgence with a new anime film and games coming out so they will not allow anyone to use the images while they do this since it would potentially cause confusion.

The best we could hope for is PGI make these 'mechs with a Project Phoenix approach but don't expect them to look anything like the original designs.

[LordKnightFandragon]

James Heywood, on 14 October 2014 - 08:21 AM, said:

Nice idea but it will never happen sadly. Harmony Gold are very aggressive when defending the Robotech license and the images used therein. Although they don't own the designs, they do have the exclusive rights for North America. Another issue is that Robotech is seeing a minor resurgence with a new anime film and games coming out so they will not allow anyone to use the images while they do this since it would potentially cause confusion.

The best we could hope for is PGI make these 'mechs with a Project Phoenix approach but don't expect them to look anything like the original designs.

Yeah, Wizkids made warhammers and Marauders and dear god were they hideous......

At this point, if it cant be hte originals, then just leave those mechs out....Or hire Bishop Steiner to do the remodel....he made a King Crab and a few other mechs look really secksy.

Edited by LordKnightFandragon, 14 October 2014 - 08:24 AM.

[FupDup]

Harmony Gold said:

LOLNO

[Joseph Mallan]

LordKnightFandragon, on 14 October 2014 - 08:23 AM, said:

Or hire Bishop Steiner to do the remodel....he made a King Crab and a few other mechs look really secksy.

I second this! In fact I third it as well!

[Critical Rocket]

FupDup, on 14 October 2014 - 08:24 AM, said:

Even that answer would require effort on HG's part. they would just wave their hand and their lawyers would attack.

[Livewyr]

I heard that Harmony Gold sends out pre-declined deal options regarding anything that involves Battletech and anything harmony Gold.


(They are that difficult.)

[LordKnightFandragon]

James Heywood, on 14 October 2014 - 08:26 AM, said:

Even that answer would require effort on HG's part. they would just wave their hand and their lawyers would attack.

HG really is a douche of a company...they are just hoarding the Robotech rights, not really doing anything with them....its like they just wanna have them to say they have them, but they dont really own them..so wtf? as if they want mechs and robotech in general to just dissapear into the netherworld and never be heard from again...

[Tkhaw]

Not gonna happen...

[Wiley Coyote]

James Heywood, on 14 October 2014 - 08:26 AM, said:

...they would just wave their hand and their lawyers would attack.

[Johnny Z]

The original Robotech shows were awsome so dont get me wrong I like Robotech ALOT.

But remember that in a previous show called Star Blazers, they fixed up a sunk ship to fight aliens from outer space, and that Robotechs idea of fixing up a crashed ship to fight aliens from outer space came almost directly from that show, Star Blazers.

There was also a time, if I understand correctly, when Battletech "thought" they had the rights to these "Unseen" mechs.

Either way almost everything original in Battletech from the Wolfs Dragoons to the mechs themselves have had a revisionist bat taken to them. I find it mildly interesting so much effort was taken to completely alter everything in a simple board game.

[Belorion]

Crifuan, on 14 October 2014 - 08:17 AM, said:

Greetings!

As discussed before in this and many other forums, the classic battlemechs,as the Warhammer, the Wasp or - most exiting for me- the Marauder, are very popular to the Battletech-Gamer.
A lot of those who are playing MWO would be very pleased if there would be an inclusion of those classic Mechdesigns in the MWO-Game.
The major problem is, that these Mechsdesigns had been drawn from the "Robotech-Saga".

So what about the idea, that PGI tries to get a contract with "Harmony Gold", the licenceowner of the Robotech-Saga.
Golden Harmony could get a percentage of the winspan of a package which includes the most popular Mechs, like the Marauder, the Warhammer, Archer, Wasp, Hornet, Longbow,...
They can perhaps even use the Robotech names in addition, like the IS-Names for the Clanmechs, so that it´s clear that these Mechs are not developed by PGI, FASA or the current licenceholder of the Battletech-Universe.

So please PGI trie to get an solution for the problem of bringing these very great classic Mechdesigns!

Both Battletech and Robotech licensed the designs from Macross.... so they should be referred to as the Macross designs.

PGI has already tried to talk to HG, and were turned down.

[Vassago Rain]

This is never gonna happen.

[Johnny Z]

Vassago Rain, on 14 October 2014 - 08:49 AM, said:

This is never gonna happen.

I'll take that bet.

[Malcolm Vordermark]

Unfortunately, thats probably never going to happen. As I understand it, HG only owns the visual representation of the Marauder that we know and love. They don't own the name, or specifications of that battlemech, though.

So, the only way to have those mechs in game is to redesign them so much that they bear very little resemblance to the originals. However, I'm willing to bet that wouldn't fly with the community. So we simply can't have them.

There is also the potential that HG would take them to court no matter how unlike their mech it looked. That would likely be a lengthy and expensive legal battle that would likely hurt PGI more than the sales of such a mech would make up for.

Edited by Rouken, 14 October 2014 - 08:52 AM.

[Bishop Steiner]

Crifuan, on 14 October 2014 - 08:17 AM, said:

thoughts

Well, even supposing HG was actually willing to play nice with other kids for a change (And so far, they don't want to leave ANY grey zone for legal interpretation), PGI just freed themselves of one financial yoke. Why would they want another, with the constant payments that licensing Robotech would require?

[Johnny Z]

Bishop Steiner, on 14 October 2014 - 08:56 AM, said:

Well, even supposing HG was actually willing to play nice with other kids for a change (And so far, they don't want to leave ANY grey zone for legal interpretation), PGI just freed themselves of one financial yoke. Why would they want another, with the constant payments that licensing Robotech would require?

I guess it wouldnt be much different than their deal with the other big player in Mecharrior stuff.

It goes without saying that it would depend on how well this game does and that the original mechs not already in would do very well in sales. But it would be smarter to wait till the audience is larger, am i right?

But dont be in a rush I am sure by 2018 the unseen mechs will be in. Up for C-bills by 2019 at the latest.

Edited by Johnny Z, 14 October 2014 - 09:03 AM.

[BourbonFaucet]

Johnny Z, on 14 October 2014 - 08:42 AM, said:

The original Robotech shows were awsome so dont get me wrong I like Robotech ALOT.

But remember that in a previous show called Star Blazers, they fixed up a sunk ship to fight aliens from outer space, and that Robotechs idea of fixing up a crashed ship to fight aliens from outer space came almost directly from that show, Star Blazers.

There was also a time, if I understand correctly, when Battletech "thought" they had the rights to these "Unseen" mechs.

Either way almost everything original in Battletech from the Wolfs Dragoons to the mechs themselves have had a revisionist bat taken to them. I find it mildly interesting so much effort was taken to completely alter everything in a simple board game.

Star Blazers, or Space Battleship Yamato started the trend of fixing up ancient technology with advanced technology to go fight an alien menace. In a way the Battleship film that came out a while ago is pretty much this concept as well. Story archetypes are not as heavily defended copyright wise as visual images are.

At this point we have to have reseen mechs to use the older mech stats in the game.

[Bishop Steiner]

Johnny Z, on 14 October 2014 - 09:01 AM, said:

I guess it wouldnt be much different than their deal with the other big player in Mecharrior stuff.

.

Except that now they would be paying to license TWO IPs, not one. One is essential for the game to exist. The other is added cost, for minimal gain.

Edited by Bishop Steiner, 14 October 2014 - 09:09 AM.

[AlexEss]

As nice as it would be from a pokemon kind of stance (got to catch them all) why should PGI pay HG to use a handful of fairly crappy (but good looking) mechs when they still have a few dossen they do not need to pay a cent extra to use. And that is even if PGI actually have the financial wiggle-room to make such a deal.

No it is a bad idea for now.