Interplay Confirms Project V13… Again?

January 26, 2010

Interplay dropped a press release last week announcing they have finalized their agreement with Masthead Studios, which is extremely similar to their previous announcement we covered here. Except this time it has been upgraded from a “binding letter of intent” to “signed definitive agreements”. Does this mean it’s a Fallout MMO? Nope, because Interplay and Bethesda are still fully engaged in their slap fight over the Fallout rights. Really it means nothing except maybe Interplay now finally has the funding they were required to have last year in order to retain the Fallout MMO rights. That’s a big MAYBE.

Regardless I don’t want to hear Interplay or Bethesda fanboys screaming back and forth about who does what to their mothers in the basement. It was spelled out in a previous article Interplay needed $30 million in funding secured, their financials have not shown any of it. There are a few other considerations to play with but I’m thinking after the court case settles Bethesda will win and have ZeniMax Online Studios ramp up to drop a Fallout MMO in the future (distant future so keep it in your pants). The good news for Interplay fans is Project V13, Fallout or not, is expected to have a public beta in 2012.

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By Keith Carter | Posted in Loot Ninja | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Fallout MMO Concept Art

October 29, 2009

A while ago we reported on the trouble faced by Interplay and their attempts to retain the rights for the Fallout MMO, speculated to be codenamed Project V13. Well a lot has happened since then, most behind closed doors. Short story is Bethesda sued Interplay to stop work on the Fallout MMO. Interplay then countersued Bethesda and a slap fight has commenced. Court ensues, more details later.

Why do you care? Because of the lawsuit all sorts of juicy details are being released, like concept art from Interplay themselves. Here is a little taste with more beyond the jump.

Fallout MMO 01_Factory_S

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By Keith Carter | Posted in Loot Ninja | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Interplay to Lose Fallout MMOG Rights

April 16, 2009

project v13 cafe of broken dreams

If you’ve been following our stories on Interplay and their Project: V13 / Fallout MMOG license, you will know things it’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride for a while.  Now things have gotten a lot worse.  According to the most recent 10-K filing by Interplay Entertainment Corp (OTC:IPLY), Bethesda Softworks, the current owners of the Fallout IP, have issued a notice to Interplay that they intend to terminate the license back agreement on grounds of Interplay’s failure to begin full development and raise funding by the 2 year deadline.

Interplay states “Interplay adamantly disputes these claims.”

At present it is not clear what basis Interplay has for disputing these claims as their financials do not display any financing secured that nears the required amount of 30 million dollars.  Interplay has a cash balance of zero and a working capital deficit of something in the range of 2.4 million dollars at year end.  If you think about it, Interplay needs serious cash just to stay alive.  If they don’t know where they are getting that cash from, where are they going to find another 30 million on top of it?  For a company with little operational incoming cash flow and no credit facilities, Interplay are in a very tough position.

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By Keith Carter | Posted in Loot Ninja | Tagged , , , | Comments (6)

Masthead + Interplay = ?

April 3, 2009

interplay logo

Earlier this week I wrote quite a lengthy article about Interplay and raised the question of what direction are they heading.  Interplay has been quick to respond, but unfortunately not directly.

This week Interplay (OTC.BB:IPLY) sent out a press release announcing to all they have formed a partnership with Masthead Studios to develop Project: V13, their not very secret MMOG.  This partnership has been agreed under a “binding letter of intent” which will see Interplay providing the funding for development of Project: V13.  While this is progress toward seeing a MMOG from Interplay become reality, they have yet to announce that they have secured the required $30 million to brand the MMOG as Fallout.  Yes they can change aspects of the game and call it Shmallout but the APA excludes them from having Vaults or similar set ups to the Fallout universe.  The list of items that Interplay cannot use is fairly extensive:

“…without limitation any Fallout artwork, locations, graphic representations, story lines, creatures, monsters, names, likenesses,  behaviors, environments (e.g., vaults), universes,   settings,   legends,   characters,   character  classes,  character professions,  packaging,  advertisements, text and translations, and any and all Fallout  proprietary  characters,  trademarks,  copyrights and artwork …”

So the whole Project Vault 13 thing may require a re-think that V really stands for Vault.  Luckily Interplay is teamed with Masthead Studios, who interestingly enough is currently developing their own post-apocalyptic MMOG called Earthrise, so it’s not clear at this point if Project: V13 is completely independent from Earthrise.  Why would a studio develop their own competition?  Speculation leads to Earthrise being either almost complete, or going to be incorporated with Project: V13.  Either way Project: V13 will be coming to life, hopefully Interplay uses the plethora of suggestions thrown at them on their forums.

This all still leaves open the question of will Interplay announce they have the financing for to keep the Fallout name attached?  I find it odd Interplay have announced this partnership, funding for it, and have yet to announce the financing for the MMOG so close to the deadline.  Is this just to start up the hype train?  I’m curious to see how the funding for this partnership is appearing, but to know for sure we will have to wait for Interplay to post their financials. My shot in the dark is Interplay announces Masthead funding, ditches the Fallout funding because 30 million is a lot of debt and ZeniMax makes the Fallout MMOG.  Personally I hope for a Fallout MMOG and another one or two new IP’s coming out of this.

Lot’s to speculate here, hit up the comments with what you think.

Thanks to mw for the tip!

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By Keith Carter | Posted in Loot Ninja | Tagged , , | Comments (3)

Interplay’s Fallout

April 1, 2009

fallout-box-art

To many young gamers, the name Interplay is not one they are too familiar with.  You actually have to blow some dust off the history books to find their last major new release.  The only way some people may know of Interplay is their legacy titles which have recently been re-released or reborn, such as games like Clayfighter, Earthworm Jim, and Baldur’s Gate.  All classic titles which personally ate up many many hours of my life, and that doesn’t even begin to break the ice on Interplay. They have released many famous and great games like Descent, the flight simulator which I used to play until I got motion sickness or until my computer unceremoniously crapped out giving me the blue screen of death.  Descent went on to spawn its own sequel and spin-offs in Freespace, an award winning title which has been repeatedly modded into high quality award winning mods.  Alone in the Dark you should at least be familiar with, it’s fifth installment was recently released in late 2008, now from a different developer/publisher, but it was the original that set the tone for the horror genre and serving as inspiration for titles like Silent Hill and Resident Evil years later. Interplay also managed the Star Trek franchise for something like 7 titles.  Earthworm Jim was a hit platformer that became a TV show.  Baldur’s Gate is a classic, award winning RPG, which was the start of the series under its namesake and other spiritual successors.

But the crown jewel in the Interplay coronet all started with a little RPG called Wasteland.  A survivor of a nuclear holocaust wandering the Wasteland, the title turned out to be considered one of the best games of all time and was heavily influential on another hit for Interplay… Fallout, now I have your attention young ones.  Yes, you may recognize this title if you put a “3″ at the end of it.  Interplay is the birthplace of Fallout.

At a quick glance all indicators point to a kick ass, highly successful game company, right?  Dead fucking wrong. Yes Interplay has rocked some amazing titles which have taken more hours of my life than I care to count or admit, but they have been something of a shit show behind the scenes which disqualify them from being considered a highly successful game company.  Now as a heavy disclaimer, I am not criticizing Interplay or it’s management.  It is not easy to run a business, or turn one around, especially in this day and age and in the industry we hold so dear.  I actually hold Interplay and it’s team in high regard for keeping the ship sailing where many others would have sunk.  Now that is out of the way I’m sure some flames will pop up, but oh well, onwards.

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By Keith Carter | Posted in Loot Ninja | Tagged , , , , | Comments (10)