Jump to content

Wildstar

Members
  • Posts

    326
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

Wildstar's Achievements

Moonsweeper

Moonsweeper (5/9)

130

Reputation

  1. However, there may be conditions in licensing agreement that if the copyright owner "developer" such as in the case of a corporate entity ceases to exist or otherwise goes out of business, a handover clause where the intellectual property is turned over to the publisher. Agreements with those kinds of clauses exists. This is similar to clauses used by record label companies may have with music bands. After all, the language of such licensing agreements were based directly off of music industry. Since, the industry was so new in those days, the licensing agreement template were based on the music industry agreements between record company (publisher) and music band (developer/author). Clauses like what I am saying was common like what happens if the lead vocal of the band dies because of overdose on narcotics and the band disband. It was to protect the record label company from such sudden situations. This contract clause is the equivalent of a corporate will, a contractual assign. Sometimes there is a related reversionary clause where the intellectual property is reversed back to the surviving authors as a collective or their respective estates or successors. However, that is very uncommon. So, what was the exact terms of the licensing agreement between Activision (publisher) and Imagic. It could mean that Imagic doesn't own its IP anymore except maybe the trademark/name. The copyrights, however, may have been contractually signed over by contract clauses that are automatically self-executing when the condition that triggers the clause exists. Historically, in those days, the publishers wrote the licensing agreement much like the record label companies. So they basically set the terms of the agreement so it is not uncommon for the agreement to benefit the publisher/record label. It's how they did business in those days.
  2. I prefer they get the Atari Games catalog, and numerous other games associated with the coin op and Atari consoles/computers as well as potential catalog of games that were popular on Apple, Commodore, Amiga, SEGA and other consoles, MSX, and several other systems associated with the era. In addition, there should also be arrangements with homebrew and new games.
  3. Right but in any case, all the above in some manner. They could even go for some of the titles associated with the era from 70s to 90s era that were associated with other consoles and computers. Even Atari made/published games for Atari but some of the other non-Atari stuff. Even remarketing those brands and their trademarks.
  4. First, I would do both options. Do both concurrently. Battlezone might take a little longer or the other might but it would build their portfolio. Additionally, having complete rights to Atari name and all associated trademarks from both the arcade and consumer division so they can return to a consolidated rights to the brand. In turn, with acquiring the Atari Games catalog as the IP owner, they could license a number of those titles to Warner Bros. game studios. Develop a working relationship with Warner as they have resources to make good games but they could also pick up some Bally Midway stuff from the era as well.
  5. You may find some on the Atari VCS discord server. https://discord.gg/atarivcs or https://discord.gg/gx7fdQmwzr One of these should work. Whether they will do such an AMA is hard to say.
  6. Fair enough. I'm relieved that you meant it as a joke and not seriously or were some petulant adolescent making a ridiculous Crack against 50+ year olds. I am sure that many 50+ year olds, there are shifts in priorities.
  7. Actually, the graph is more accurate because is does drop off after the arcade days but there are people familiar in one way or form to Atari up to about the Atari Jaguar days. After that, Atari is hardly known by younger individuals. Once you get to sub-teen, it really doesn't matter because 80-90% of them doesn't care about what happened before they were born except what is taught in school. Guess what, video game history isn't something public school and even most private schools don't even teach because it isn't "academic" enough. It doesn't fit the prescribed curriculum program. Video game industry is not something that academic ivory tower folks think is legitimate areas of academic study. Matt_B, just because someone is 50s, they are most likely not looking to retirement homes or incontinance products. Not for another 25-30 years. The standard retirement age is not the age most at that age go into retirement homes or looking for such products. People who get the medical health care and take care of themselves are likely to live until 85-105. Retiring at 65 and then spending the next 15 years going on vacations and stuff. They may downsize their homes from one that had 3-5 bedrooms to a 1-2 bedroom house because their children are grown up and out of the house. Retirement homes (facilities with certified caretakers) are if or when they no longer can care for themselves. This varies but typically, most will not need to be in such facilities until they are in their 80s if they manage their healthcare well. Most will only be their in the last 5-10 years of their life and with good care of oneself, that would begin around 85 to 95. While it is true that people are beginning to prepare and get their affairs together for their retirement in their 50s, but they aren't looking at retirement homes & incontinence products. They may look at downsizing their home to a smaller home. Your young age and comments are a bit off color and demonstrative of age discrimination against those who happen to be older than you. Try not being so adolescent. However, people tend to learn about the history of video games and such when they get into college and if you get into a video game design degree (and closely related degrees), you'll learn about Atari in video game history much like a subject covered in art history course sequence. There is even programs on Amazon Prime Video on the subject. You just can't expect grade school to teach it.
  8. True. Of course they were kind of introduced to the idea by us. They got hyper excited about it. The idea was new to them. Being that they got into this after WW II. We had mascots in games for like 50-60 year and so it was kind of been there done that with Americans but it was new fad thing for the Japanese. So we just are a little less flamboyantly excited about mascots. It's last week's toy to us. It's a new toy to them. We still get excited but less so on average.
  9. We had a major part to do with it after the end of WW II. This is perhaps why it was successful in both North America and Japan. They were perhaps a little more hyper about it than the U.S. but even today, it connects. Surely more so with the kids, teens, and young adults but some of us either grew past being as enamored and hyper excited regarding mascots or just never into the sports. Nintendo of America was targeting children and younger teens. The same traditional audience as Disney. Nintendo is the "Disney" of video game industry. Especially then with content standards to g rated movies. I have a copy of Nintendo content restrictions like no blood, pornographic, etc. from the NES/SNES Era. Games had to be FAMILY FRIENDLY... the FAMILY COMPUTER after all.... FAMICOM. This was especially the case by Nintendo of America. While the Japanese release were less restricted, the North American version had to meet this strict requirements in order to be published by Nintendo of America.
  10. Yes but it is also not 1982. It is 2023. Connect multi-generationally. Don't be stuck in the past. Atari to remain relevant needs to not just look to those 6 year olds back from 1972 - 1982. Got to not just aim to game development only for those 49-59 year olds.
  11. Right, I agree that many Japanese game console companies and developers prioritized it. Sequels with modern gamers (not always... but) tend to need characters that are easy to like or remember or player attach to the characters like those from movies and cartoons. Having a story makes it easier to franchise. I agree that Nintendo (namely the American company Nintendo of America, a subsidiary of the Japanese based parent company Nintendo Co. Ltd.), and others from Japan had really put an effort in franchising their characters and game and this approach to game design with memorable characters. I propose that Atari (with third-party developers) develop and employ this strategy and build franchises. I don't say all games have to be. A game can be successful without memorable characters and story. They tend to be one-off successes. However, sequels tend to inherit some story. Games aimed towards 6-12 year olds, the story should be easy to grasp. Games aimed for more mature audience would have a more sophisticated or potentially complex story but even an 8-14 year old should grasp the essence of the story as in the 'big picture'. We should have a good array of games. Atari should strive along that front. Atari can approach things similar to Sega and Nintendo and Sony/Microsoft and take lessons from all of them. They do good for a reason with the games. There is a reason. Especially when you look at the third-party developers that makes these gems. Atari has their arcade games era games and arcade ports legacy and there is that recipe but you have to adapt and apply lessons of others who succeeded and learn from mistakes including those made by others.
  12. While it is true to a point as far as game design tradition goes but in reality to the player, the video game design tradition that Japanese companies.... "the Nintendo-style" video game design tradition of the player getting attached to the main character was equally if not more popular in North America as is or than in Japan. The "western" tradition or you can say the Arcade tradition that Atari and others has developed, was invented around coin-op machines where players were usually only a few minutes... as long as the player's supply of quarters or tokens lasted. The early Atari consoles were very limited in capacity of the ROMs to have the story. However, the "Nintendo style" of game design came about as a result of the video games market crash of 1983. The were introducing a new video game console in 1985, with more ROM memory in the cartridges. Nintendo decided they have to make a different kind of game with story, characters that people would get attached to. It was mainly the Nintendo of America that pioneered this new approach to video game design. They studied the prior years, that console players played longer stretches of time. Not limited by the quarters in their pocket. Where did Nintendo get the idea for this new approach to video game design..... they got it right here in the U.S. and studied Americans and looked at the Disney films, the cartoons on TV and live action films, the had characters. Characters with a story, background. Early famicom games before 1985 were arcade ports. Donkey Kong.... the Mario character at that point was a largely nameless, storyline character. They develop the story over time with the franchise of super mario bros. The evolution to the game design style where players get attached to the main character that has a story, an identity... from that point and into the 16 bit Era. We saw characters with a name. It was successful in the world not just Japan. Mainly U.S. With arcades, the main character were more or less nameless or otherwise generic archetypes. Hero, you must save the damsel in disress from the big hairy monster. Any of these generic archetypes can be elaborated with a story and deeper in-depth story plot. With an arcade coin op game, you don't have the time to reveal the story. The player may have only a few minutes and the next player comes to the controls. With the consoles, the players are likely siblings and the play longer game sessions. This non-timelimited gameplay of consoles allowed for games at a slower pace, with story and so forth. How we have games like Zelda, Castlevania, and many others.
  13. Atari during Tramiel's era squandered that opportunity but then Atari was ran like a Commodore computer company but with the Atari name and logo. Jack Tramiel was never big on video games. He was into comuters and related to it better and understood how to sell computers and to a degree, did fine there but was kind of not well gripped with the video game business. He didn't really bring in video game designers or looked at Nintendo in what they did. Commodore's success with Commodore 64 and games was the computer was low cost, it had decent gfx and sound and third-party game developers took the cake in making computer video games. There was somewhat a difference in how video games for computers were made and approached compared to consoles. If Atari got the rights or license or something for The Great Giana Sisters, that could be sticking a thorn in Nintendo's side. There's an actual story behind that. Work out a deal with THQ and who knows. Trace down the IP ownership because Time Warp Productions created it and Rainbow Arts published it and somewhere along the lines it was absorbed into THQ. I think some of the titles are now ar Ziggurat Interactive. So, something there, Atari.
  14. It has nothing to do with them being Japanese companies. It happens to be popular in North American market as well as happens to be popular in Japan. They noticed how characters relate. They wanted to make games with story and depth and is part of the result of Nintendo's strict quality standards. They say what happed a year or two before the NES release in North America. It was part of their response the video game crash in 1983/1984. Nintendo and then SEGA and various others started to do likewise. When you have a character, a name, a story, the player relates to the character like they did as children playing with their GI Joes. They were also aiming for that age group. 6-12 year old players were Nintendo's main target audience as they were being the Disney of video games. Disney has their portfolio of highly protected characters that are recognized. This was a large part of Nintendo of America's strategy and Nintendo Japan greenlight that strategy and well they succeeded. Sega chose to target more of your 9 to high school teens. Part of it was Sega's less strict policy on content guidelines.
×
×
  • Create New...