NWN availability.

[Legacy_B_Harrison]

               

AndarianTD wrote...

Agree with Bannor. It's not so much Bioware that pulled the rug out from under NWN, but Atari. They're the ones who own NWN's publishing rights. Bioware gave NWN unprecedented support for many years.

This.

For anyone in the UK, Neverwinter Nights Deluxe Edition (DVD) is currently available on Amazon for £2.49(!).
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Eradrain]

               Are you sure Atari's currently in a lawsuit with WotC?



I mean, they've practically announced the next NWN game (They announced an unnamed MMO project and simultaneously registered a bunch of web domains with the word Neverwinter in them).



Seems weird for them to be going full-steam ahead on the franchise if they're on the verge of financial collapse and in the middle of a lawsuit with the IP owner.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Genisys]

               As far as what Eradrain is talking about, man I sure hope your correct about that!

DO YOU HAVE A SOURCE??  (IF not, then we have to disregard your post)

Nevertheless, let's look at some fast facts...

TSR > owned by WOTC > owned by HASBRO...  (Mostly Card / Book / & Board Games)

Bioware Independent Corporation (of Computer Software Games)

Atari (Formely Known for the Atari Gaming Console, now a Gaming Software Maker As Well)

Then of course there was Also Floodgate Entertainment, don't know who they are or where they come in...

But when 4 Business (6 really), come together to do something, in the interest of all parties involved contracts are drawn up BEFORE that something happens...

Secondly WOTC / TSR / Hasbro (e.g. 3 companies in 1) have exclusive rights to ANYTHING that pertains to D&D, therefore, despite Atari, who may have rights to make NWN 2 and possibley 3, doesn't mean the TSR/WOTC aren't going to get their cut in royalties.. (Probably Bioware Included because of the Toolset  - Hopefully we will have a toolset still IF there is a NWN 3)

I'm positive that, any one of these three major corps don't need to sue anyone to survive, even in financially difficult times. Atari going under?  That seems a rather absurd statement consdering they have been around the longest...

If Atari was going to be a Fail, they would have failed a long time ago...  Who ever made that company is no dummy.

Furthermore, I think bioware / atari / wotc, or anyone else who may be involved cannot "leak" information out, so it would be in everyones best interest if they were not saying anything...

'>

I'm starting to believe there may be a possibility NWN3 could be comming, I sure hope the above poster has a source!

I think this is his SOURCE:   http://www.massively...npage_massively
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Genisys, 19 août 2010 - 09:57 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Malagant]

               You should do a bit more homework on the Atari name. The company that currently uses the name Atari originally started as GT Interactive until IESA acquired controlling interest and renamed it Infogrames then acquired Hasbro Interactive. In 2003 they licensed the Atari name and logo from Atari Interactive and changed its name to Atari Inc. It is a re-badged Infogrames and has no connection to the popular gaming console of the 80's.

TSR was purchased in 1997 by WotC and the name is no longer used by them on any of their products. It is not an existing corporation, brand, or subsidiary and thus are not 3 companies in one.

The Hasbro/WotC lawsuit issue stems from the current Atari sub-licensing the Dungeons & Dragons digital rights out to Namco-Bandai for European distribution. Namco-Bandai is a direct competitor to Hasbro products who's contract with Atari specifically forbids them from doing any licensing like this. Namco-Bandai had recently purchased Atari's distribution wing in Europe, renaming it to Namco-Bandai partners.

You can see where this may cause a bit of an upset over properties, intellectual or otherwise. In the meantime, Atari is alleging that the lawsuit is "meaningless," and that Hasbro is simply seeking a way to take the D&D game rights away from Atari. Gamasutra reported on the rumor that Atari is currently developing a NWN MMO in cooperation with Cryptic Studios, one of the issues that sparked the suit between Turbine and Atari.

The initial reporting on filings: http://www.gamasutra...php?story=26559

Turbine, of course, are the ones that run D&D Online and they are owned by Warner Bros as of April 20th. It's a big mess.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Malagant, 19 août 2010 - 10:47 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Guest_invisig0th_*]

               Registering domain names means little or nothing, as it costs about $10 to register one. Even if an idea has a million to one shot of seeing the light of day, registering a  handful of domains as early as possible is very typical. Almost all such domain names never actually get used.

As for moving forward, people should simply be aware that NWN is probably not going to be available on store shelves much longer. However, unused copies will be available on eBay for years for those who want them. Heck, you can still get unused copies of Planescape:Torment if you want it badly enough. It is highly unlikely that Atari will be releasing the game in any other format at this late date. NWN has pretty much made all the money for Atari that it's gonna make.

As for Bioware's support, online-only premium modules are no longer available for download. From what I've heard, Atari had Bioware remove them. So those are most likely gone forever.

People who have previously download the digital-only modules can still play them -- for the time being. I myself successfully played PotSC a few months back. However, there is no telling when Bioware's digital validation service for those modules might no longer be available, and you literally cannot play the module if the online validation does not succeed. So for those of you who have these modules, I'd strongly recommend that you play them now while the validation service is still available.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par invisig0th, 19 août 2010 - 10:56 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_AndarianTD]

               

B_Harrison wrote...

For anyone in the UK, Neverwinter Nights Deluxe Edition (DVD) is currently available on Amazon for £2.49(!).

I've ordered from Amazon UK at least once in the past (I'm in the US), so for the record it can be done.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Urk]

               Genisys, you're information is way out of date. TSR is dead. Defunct. Kaput. And Bioware is not an independent company. It hasn't been for years. Bioware is now a wholly owned subsidiary of EA games, one of Atari's most despised competitors. Bioware is out of the D&D business for good... unless Hasbro can wrestle the license away from Atari.



Hasbro has had it up to the eyeballs with Atari's seemingly incurable stupidity and is trying to do just that. Atari has sub-licensed the D&D franchise in Europe to Nameco-Bandai, one of Hasbro's competitors, in blatant violation of their licensing agreement. This is the grounds for Hasbro's lawsuit.



Last I heard the lawsuit was alive and well, but that doesn't mean rumors about NWN3 are untrue. I'm inclined to believe them. It's vintage Atari. It sounds like Atari, being... well... Atari... has seen the writing on the wall and are trying to push NWN3 title through as quickly as possible so they can milk the franchise for everything they can get before they lose it. They've hired the cheapest, crappiest game studio in the business to crank it out ASAP in the hope that they'll be able to drag the lawsuit out long enough to make some money on it before Hasbro cuts them loose.



If they had moved a year ago it might have worked. But while the wheels of justice grind slowly, I find it unlikely they'll grind THAT slowly. It's a desperate grab by a desperate company, and hopefully it will spell the end for them and the D&D franchise can get a fresh start. Unfortunately Atari is the cockroach of the gaming industry. They have an uncanny ability to survive meteoric collapses in value. I could tell you exactly how much value Atari stock has lost in the last 15 years, but you wouldn't believe it.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Eradrain]

               Urk is pretty much absolutely on the money.  About pushing NWN3, about Atari (Which has posted losses in the tens of millions every year since 2005, according to Wikipedia).

Genisys, as someone else mentioned, your information is pretty, well, wrong.  Atari in its modern incarnation is not a game developer, but a publisher, called Atari SA, formerly known as Infrogrames.  They acquired Atari some years ago and adopted the name and branding for brand-recognition.  The Atari SA label is new, as of 2009.

Sources on the MMO announcement:
http://weblogs.varie...ter-nights.html
http://www.mmorpg.co....cfm/read/17742 (<-- Official announcement of an Atari D&D MMO in development.  I would say, since it's a confirmed, in-development D&D MMO, that the registering of neverwinter-relevant domain names is pretty significant in this case, invisig0th).
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Eradrain, 20 août 2010 - 01:40 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Calvinthesneak]

               In all honesty I don't see any new D&D licensing until the contract with Atari ends in 2014.  Whatever we get will most likely be the new 4th edition, and I'm not sure how well that will go down with the gaming public.  I have a feeling Hasbro will win the lawsuit against Atari and maybe get out of the contract, but by the time they find another publisher and develop a game that will do it justice, I don't think we'd see something till 2014
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_edosan]

               At least where I am Best Buy seems to have more copies of NWN Diamond than it does of NWN2 in any flavor.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Guest_invisig0th_*]

               Well, it's not Bioware related, but Atari has just published a press release regarding "Neverwinter", an online PC roleplaying game based on 4th edition rules -- hence the domain name registrations mentioned above.

http://www.playneverwinter.com/press

[Edit: I had posted here that it didn't look much like NWN3, but Atari makes it clear on the site that it is pitching this game as ths successor to the NWN franchise. Please pardon me if I'm skeptical.]
               
               

               

                     Modifié par invisig0th, 24 août 2010 - 09:47 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Downslide]

               Just ran down to the Best Buy near my office. They had two copies on the shelf, so I snatched 'em BOTH!  Getting a couple of friends into it this month.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_NWN DM]

               

Downslide wrote...

Just ran down to the Best Buy near my office. They had two copies on the shelf, so I snatched 'em BOTH!  Getting a couple of friends into it this month.

Good for you... that's quite a find for you.

When I was trying to get a childhood friend and D&D nut into NWN (don't know how he managed to avoid it for 5+ years...), we had to go to three different towns and 7 stores before we found everything.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_SuperFly_2000]

               A re-release would be really nice yes. Probably a dream...

Anyway...I found out that you can actually buy and download the game from a site called Gametap. (( http://www.gametap.com/ )) Now I haven't tried this myself and it is a little complicated because you have to sign up for subscription that costs 10$ per month. What would be nifty of course would be to download NWN1 (and NWN2 if you really must) and then cancel the subscription.

I didn't read anything about that you have to delete the games when canceling the subscription...and the CD-keys are yours already...so....

As I said I am not 100% sure on this. But as it seems you can get theese games and even some others and just pay 10$ in total. Which is kind of revoloutionary! Please correct me if I am wrong.

If not...shop away!

PS. Again thanks to Skunkeen from the Neverwinter Podcast for the heads up! DS.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par SuperFly_2000, 02 septembre 2010 - 02:38 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_SuperFly_2000]

               Oh wait...



It seems NWN isn't avaliable in the "Download to own" section. It is only avaliable under the "Unlimited Play" section.



....whatever that means...



It probably uninstalls your game if you quit the subscription. So it only works if you want an "extra" CD key?



Who knows....