Ask the Devs, XP Boost, Lawsuits, Codemasters, Video and More!
but first -
XP Boost!
Yup! +20%, now in effect. From the Festivult Jester on DDO.com:
Celebrate Festivult and ring in the New Year with bonus XP for all!
Starting this Friday, December 18th, and running through Sunday January3rd, all DDO Players will gain a 20% XP bonus in quests! This bonusstacks with Experience Elixirs! Happy Festivult!
However, Tolero mentioned today (Thursday) that Turbine put in the xp boost early. Very cool! This is a great time to do some leveling, and it's nice to see these boosts coming back after a pretty long hiatus, IMO. I would also note that this boost DOES stack with the xp boosts available for purchase in the DDO Store in addition to things like the Voice of the Master, an end reward from the Delera's quest chain that provides an additional +5% xp.
Ask the Devs!
I wanted to make everyone aware that this weekend's show, Episode 148, will feature the 10th Edition of Ask the Devs.
For people new to the show or web site, this is when I am lucky and grateful to be able to bring the executives, producers, developers, QA folks, community folks and others from Turbine on the show to answer questions from all of us players, as many as we can cram in. We already have a huge and ever-growing list, but there's always room for great questions. Send them to the email address (and stay tuned for this weekend's show for a bit of an announcement about that...) for the show.
I should note that due to time commitments, this was recorded earlier in the week, just before Wednesday's big patch. So no need to try to send a question in for this weekend's show, sorry.
From the business desk...Hasbro Sues Atari!
Yup. Lawsuits-a-plenty going on. This time it's Hasbro, suing Atari, and it kind of redefines a bit of the other disputes (in my opinion) involving Turbine, Codemasters and Atari. I should note that most of the articles I've read about it have been simple copy-and-pastes of the press releases announcing the lawsuit and Atari's response, so I'm just going to link to those.
Hasbro's comes from MarketWire.com, a pr-type place with lots of press releases. Here's the LINK.
SOURCE: Hasbro, Inc.
Dec 16, 2009 21:22 ETFraud and Breach Complaint Filed Against Atari Over Dungeons & Dragons License
PAWTUCKET, RI--(Marketwire - December 16, 2009) - Hasbro, Inc. (
NYSE : HAS) today filed acomplaint in the District Court of Rhode Island against InfogramesEntertainment S.A., a.k.a Atari, S.A., alleging fraud and five differentbreaches of their licensing agreement for the Dungeons & Dragons brand.Dungeons & Dragons is owned by Hasbro's wholly-owned subsidiary Wizards ofthe Coast, who discovered earlier this year that Atari may have enteredinto an unauthorized sublicensing relationship with Namco Bandai Partners(NBP) for the Dungeons & Dragons digital game rights. NBP is a competitorfor both Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro, and such an agreement isprohibited under the contract between Hasbro and Atari.
"While unfortunate that we had to take this action, it is crucial for us toprotect the Dungeons & Dragons brand," said Greg Leeds, President ofWizards of the Coast. "We have been working for several months now to reachresolution with Atari, and they have left us with no other choice than topursue legal action."
Hasbro is seeking compensatory damages for economic losses suffered as wellas a termination of the licensing agreement.
About Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE : HAS) is a worldwide leader in children's and familyleisure time products and services with a rich portfolio of brands andentertainment properties that provides some of the highest quality andmost recognizable play and recreational experiences in the world. As abrand-driven, consumer-focused global company, Hasbro brings to marketa range of toys, games and licensed products, from traditional to high-techand digital, under such powerful brand names as TRANSFORMERS, PLAYSKOOL,TONKA, MILTON BRADLEY, PARKER BROTHERS, CRANIUM and WIZARDS OF THE COAST.Come see how we inspire play through our brands at http://www.hasbro.com.© 2009 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
(I am not including the media contact info found in the releases for privacy reasons.)
Atari responded with this statement through the very-similar PRNewswire. Here's the LINK.
Atari Statement regarding Dungeons and Dragons
NEW YORK, Dec, 17 /PRNewswire/ --"Atari has had a long and rich history with the Dungeons and Dragonsfranchise, investing millions of dollars into numerous criticallyacclaimed and commercially successful games that have generatedsignificant revenue for Hasbro. Hasbro has resorted to these meritlessallegations, in an apparent attempt to unfairly take back rightsgranted to Atari. Atari has sought to resolve the matter withoutcooperation from Hasbro. We regret that our long-time partner hasdecided to pursue this action. Atari will respond appropriately throughits legal counsel in court."
SOURCE Atari
So, what's this about Namco Bandai? This is what gets a bit interesting. Apparently, Atari (which is a division of the French-based Infogrames, hence the naming in the press release) early this year announced plans to form a sort of distribution partnership with Namco Bandai, with each company having certain voting rights based on percentage of ownership, to distribute games in Europe. Remember that in Atari and Turbine's lawsuits, Atari has fought to retain control of DDO's distribution in Europe through Turbine's partnership with Codemasters since 2006. Here's the LINK to the announcement.
Why it matters is that early this year, Atari Europe sold off all of its shares to Namco, giving in Hasbro's mind control of the Dungeons and Dragons license to an unauthorized partner. Here's the LINK to the sale announcement.
Could this be related to the split between the U.S. and European versions of DDO? Or sort of Hasbro getting involved in what appears to be a growing, International licensing dispute over licensing of Dungeons and Dragons video game properties? Is it Atari's decision-making coming back to haunt it, after years of causing trouble for others? This could also have an impact on the overall D&D license granted by Hasbro to Atari through 2017 a while back.
The first additional info I want to pass along comes from IGN.com (I can't find the link at this point, sorry), where it was mentioned that there have been no D&D-licensed games announced by Namco Bandai. The second and more critical bit is this article from 1up which directly mentions DDO as being one of the properties Atari sold to Namco Bandai. Here's the LINK and here's the critical bit:
So what specific wrongdoing does Hasbro accuse Atari of committing?When Atari sold off their European operations to Namco Bandai earlierthis year, they entered into an agreement with the Japanese publisher(and Hasbro competitor) to distribute Atari products (including D&DOnline) outside the U.S. until the year 2014. And according to Hasbro,this agreement violates their contract with Atari.
Keep in mind that in Turbine's lawsuit against Atari, they claim that Atari was conspiring to make a competing MMO to DDO. I look forward to hopefully reading the complaint to see if DDO is indeed the game that caused Hasbro to say Atari violated it's D&D license. But what else could it be?
Codemasters Support:
On to much better business news. Codemasters today announced that it would be bringing its support in-house. Here's the word from DNote (LINK):
Codemasters Online today announces the expansion of the division through bringing all in-game customer support staff in-house.
This move provides Codemasters Online with the opportunity to offermore flexible and fluid customer service, responding quickly to playerfeedback and suggestions. With the direct management of customer carenow available, all aspects of the service are being completely reviewedin order to ensure that the customer is getting the very best serviceavailable.
This expansion has created more than 30 positions for new staff basedat the Codemasters HQ in Southam Warwickshire and sees experiencedpersonnel hired from all over Europe taking up roles within the team asSenior Game Masters and Game Masters.
Candidates interested in applying for one of the remaining roles can visit the Codemasters Careers web page at http://www.codemasters.com/careers for full details on the roles and on how to submit an application.
A Chance of a Lifetime!
Finally, Turbine is hiring a lead games systems designer for DDO. Here's a LINK to it and here's a critical bit:
Job Summary:
Turbine is seeking an experienced software engineer toassume leadership responsibilities for the Game Systems Engineeringteam for the industry’s premier Free to Play MMO, Dungeons &Dragons Online®: Eberron Unlimited™. The Lead Engineer will coordinatethe daily activities of a skilled team of software engineers byperforming such duties as project management, task prioritization, riskassessment, interdepartmental coordination, hiring, firing and employeegrowth. The lead engineer will play a key leadership role on theproject and oversee new development in system areas including internaldevelopment tools, artificial intelligence, user interface, game logic,and many other components of the game.
This position willinfluence the game’s design and architecture and help to develop aroadmap for the creation of the game systems. The ideal candidateshould have experience working in a multi-project environment and beable to detail past successes in managing a multi-disciplineengineering team. Applicants should demonstrate expertise and passionin the field of video games and video game technology.
Essential Functions:
1. Lead the DDO software development team to create top-quality, bug free game code
2. Manages engineering schedules and bug queues.
3. Provide accurate estimates and author clear technical design documents
4. Manage requirements gathering, documentation and implementation of systems
5. Represent engineering in game lead meetings and in cross-departmental discussions
6. Contribute to and enforce engineering standards and best practices for software engineering
7. Champion tools and process improvements to allow for more efficient software development
8. Perform code reviews of other team members to ensure code quality
9. Other duties and responsibilities as assigned by the manager
Required Skills:
Requirements and Qualifications:
1. 5+ years experience in software engineering developing in C++ or another OOP language
2. 2+ years experience in an engineering manager or software architect role
3. Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills
4. Demonstrable knowledge of software engineering best practices
Pluses:
1. Masters Degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience
2. Previous game industry experience
3. Experience developing and playing MMOs or other online games
4. Experience supporting a live product
5. Experience with level editors and scripting systems of other games
6. Experience designing or implementing internal development tools
Sounds easy, huh? Well, if you think so and love DDO, I think I speak on behalf of all of us in the DDO community that you should put in an application. This could be your chance!
Release Notes, Update Two:
I realized that I haven't yet put up the Release Notes for Update Two. Reason is, there really isn't much, just the new adventure pack, which has been covered here. However, for archival reasons, I'd really like to LINK to it and post it here:
Release Notes: Update 2
Welcome to the Release Notes for Dungeons & Dragons Online! These release notes were posted Wednesday, December 16th 2009.
News & Notes
Just in time for the holidays, Update 2 contains a challenging newadventure pack with five exciting dungeons that will turn your hairwhite. And all through December, join in the Festivult HolidayCelebration where you can find special coins and earn seasonal goodies!
Of Special Note:
New Adventure Packs
Dreaming Dark
For thousands of years the Dreaming Dark have watched and waited inour dreams. Now at long last they strike. Horrific creatures from thePlane of Nightmares threaten to overrun Xen’drik and it’s up to you todefeat them. Explore five new dungeons that will send you back in time,explain ancient mysteries of the Giants, and take you to the Plane ofNightmares itself.
- Delve deeper into the mystery of the inspired visitors in the Stormreach Harbor.
- Unravel the forgotten secrets of the Warforged Titan and it’s tragic use by the Dreaming Dark.
- Travel to the ancient ruins on a remote island in an effort understand the Inspired.
- Discover the secrets of the Dreamforge.
- Thwart the plans of the Inspired for “vessel domination”!
This level 18 to 20 adventure pack includes 5 hand-craftedadventures, and will be available for purchase Friday, December 18th!This adventure pack is available free for VIPs today, December 16th! Adventurers seeking to confront the Dreaming Dark should visit the Inspired Quarter.
Known Issues
- Known Issues are available, click here
All right, I'll have more soon.
Jerry
Categories: xp boost,lawsuits,videos,video,update two,ask the devs,lawsuit
Tags: Eberron Unlimited Codemasters Dungeons and Dragons Online Turbine DDO DDOcast
Yeah. I really hope Atari will lose both cases. It's really a time to change this horrible (in my opinion) license holder.
One thing is certain - losing Bioware and not supporting a D&D product of such exceptional developer that Turbine is, is clearly showing they have no interest in making D&D successful and rich brand. After DDO and Bioware's denial to work with Atari anymore, there were NO good D&D games since years.
Or were there ANY D&D games since then? Atari has let a total D&D success started with Baldur's Gate go into total nothingness in mere moments.
Personally I'd like to see Turbine holding all D&D MMO game rights (DDO 2 in future, anyone?), and some other BIG company holding rights for other computer games.
I'd like to see Bioware making D&D games once again. Maybe even with cooperation with Turbine? Now, that would be like a dream
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