Does PGI have exclusive right to the battletech universe?
Are there any other MechWarrior games? I know there's living legends, but like servers are non-existant.
I'm looking at the forums, and it just looks like everyone is fed up with this game, but have no alternative. I'd LOVE LOVE LOVE to see something like MW:LL, or anything that's more than 12v12 deathmatch.
Posted Sep 11, 2016, 1:17 PM UTC
Nobody wanted to take a risk on the Battletech IP until PGI came along.
HBS is coming out with a turn based Battletech (3025 era) single player game in 2017, using PGI's assets. Check out battletechgame.com. Had a pretty good kickstarter. But that's it for the near future.
People (maybe not you in particular) use igp's risk as reason to forgive a lot of development things though.
If you really wanted to go free market on it, we should let it fail or succeed based on how good it is rather than nostalgia and mech collecting and let another company pick it up sometime in the future.
I like the game okay, I don't like the level of development it has, but it is, extremely slowly, doing a little better.
Except that nostalgia and mech collecting are a part of the business. The business as a whole is what succeeds or fails.
I personally think alot of that "nostalgia" has honestly sustained PGI to this point. Alot of the paying $$$ playerbase is much older 30yo & 40yo+ , they are the ones with jobs/families who play casually but make purchases on mechpacks and ingame items, sustaining the game essentially.
Some of them I know aren't happy with the direction of the game, but the nostalgia keeps them going, gives them hope lol for something better to come the next day.
I think you're right...but it's not unfair or anything. If it sells, makes you a profit, etc. then you're doing your job as a business. xD
EDIT: Question, couldn't you also lay some of it on the comp scene? How many players were a part of the arms race for the Jenner IICs, Kodiaks, Timbers, etc. You could argue that as long as PGI puts out stronk meks...the comp players will eat that shit up as much as lore-nerds will buy up Phoenix Hawks. (They'll call PGI idiots the whole time but they also have to keep up with the Jones...so they aren't really against it that much...)
Except for the entire universe has some solid back story and really good characters in its history. PGI has done SFA to utilize those characters and stories by making MWO entirely PvP, when one of the most enjoyable parts of BattleTech and MechWarrior are the characters, the world's and the continual strife that they all face.
Agreed, but I was only arguing that if they are making money off nostalgia...then they are succeeding as a business. I personally would love to "exist" in a time and space in the BT universe with a lot of lore-knobs to turn and shit to participate in.
That, to me, is b.s. I like the lore (and own most of it) and think the tabletop is okay, but I've also been a vocal proponent of what should be improved about the game for years now. I play because of a group of people, not because of the I.p itself. I honestly do not like that people play for nostalgia only.
Well it's not bs...it's the free market. If it makes you a profit, etc. then you're succeeding as a business. I may not like that McDs makes shitty cheap burgers but you can't say it's not working for them. xD That was my only point: nostalgia's fair game (as much as I'd like more out of MWO faction play, economy, etc. etc.)
After PGI came and revitalized the IP, Catalyst Games and HBS came along and started adding more. We have new Battletech rules now, a new game coming out, etc. You may have a particular opinion about what PGI has done, but you have to admit they kickstarted the interest in Battletech in general. They exposed it to a whole new generation of gamers.
I doubt another company would pick it up however. Certainly not to do an FPS/RPG style game, would be another F2P if any did.
Not looking for Turn based, but thanks for the suggestion. I was already aware of that game though. I gotta say, I REALLY enjoyed MW:LL, even if it didn't have the mechlab customization.
I wonder what the licensing fee looks like. If you compare it to the number of warhammer games being cranked out, it's really curious as to why such a classic IP isn't being used.
There are occasionally MW:LL matches still going on. Here's a big thread from some of the die hards, who can help you find matches:
http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/160636-mechwarrior-living-legends-is-not-dead/
Believe it or not, MWLL development wasn't shut down to licensing issues, apparently. I looked into the matter a year or so ago. Apparently the dev just completely lost interest. People still make maps, and some people still play, but that's the reasoning. Not legal business. Apparently.
The dev's received a cease and desist from IGP, and they didn't have any interest in fighting it.
From what I've read, they never actually sent them an official cease and desist. However, Russ talked to the main devs after meeting some of them and had some discussions about them splitting the player base and how he didn't like that. I interpreted this as a thinly veiled cease and desist or "we'll send you an official one" kind of talk. At that point those devs probably didn't think it was worth dealing with. This is all just rumors though. So take what I say with a grain of salt.
They never sent out a C&D, they sent out a warning for a C&D saying that if they implemented a Mechlab then they'd get slapped with one.
Granted accounts for this vary, IIRC that caused some unrest with the MWLL devs and one or two of them left, saying that it was a full blown C&D, and the ones who just stopped development said the above. I'm more willing to believe the ones who didn't feel burnt by the move.
If anything it was a mixture of the two, the fracturing of the team convincing the devs who were losing interest to stop, and the loss in manpower from the warning.
Isn't the dev on the Star Citizen team now? A real paying job on the most successful crowdfunded game in ever would make me lose interest in a side project mod pretty quick, tbh.
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Honestly MWO is the best mechwarrior game ever made.
Does it have a shit load of problems yes, but it pretty great looking, the gameplay is amazing, it's currently strategically diverse, it's actively maintained, I could go on forever.
People, myself included bitch on the forums about problems because we want to see them improved and PGI is a sluggish company with very very little theoretical understanding of the game. Things get better all the time but ONLY ONLY ONLY if the community makes a big stink of it. PGI won't identify the problems on their own.
If you are looking for another slow paced, positional shooter in the vein of MWO you probably want to go to world of tanks.
If you want to find another place to go to jerk off to battletech lore there is a turn based battletech game coming out fairly soon, but obviously there isn't another mechwarrior brand FPS out. How do you think IP works?
It is most definitely not the best MW game to date.
I'll admit that the Multiplayer portion is incredibly strong, but the fact it's missing any sort of single player and the only thing to do is the WoT/WoWS/WarThunder style "Hit play over and over", it's lacking a mode with real depth.
FP/CW is a joke, that's just a reskin of the basic gameplay with meaningless planets and respawns.
Again, I'll reiterate that the core game is good. But considering that core game is just a drop in the bucket (comparatively speaking) in terms of content means that giving it the title of "Best Mechwarrior game ever" is a bit disingenuous, and frankly disrespecting its lineage.
Nostalgia goggles activate!
No actually.
I went back and replayed them just a couple months ago.
As for MW4, the single player, while a bit aged now, is well made and altogether very good. The fact you can pick mechs and loadouts based on what you have and the mission type, and needing to do so if you're on the higher difficulties, already is a leg up on MWO. Shit, the missions are actually incredibly different from each other, even the various Search and Destroy missions were varied enough for you to feel it. Add on that there were the various types of S&D, Escort missions, Defense missions, and good old fashioned arena fighting (Not mentioning maps that switched mission types in the middle), gives it another leg up on MWO.
The multiplayer was essentially the same as what we have now, except less fleshed out. It ran into the same problems as MWO too, with jumpsniping being the meta and low TTK.
For MW3, the single player was and still is incredible. You had to salvage your gear and the missions were actually hard, at least on the higher difficulties. Its level design and general atmosphere are incredible. The mech building system is primitive but functional, plus there's a pretty hearty amount of mechs. Can't speak for the Multiplayer as that was before my time.
I could go on for a long while about how these games were amazing for their time, and still hold up today.
ok have fun, please don't come back
Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries is still a good single player game, though a bit dated. It's abandonware though, which means its completely free.
I love how that's still getting referenced 2 years later.
Apparently upon updating to Windows 10, the Mektek version of MW4 stopped launching for me. The window appears and then it closes again, it's a bit frustrating after I got it to work on Windows 10.
Try running it in compatibility mode for Windows 7. That's what fixed it for me.
It ran the first time for me, but after restarting my computer it kept failing to load the main menu. Some error whereby it misplaced the sound buffer from the assigned memory address.
Maybe BattleTech by Harebrained Schemes will be something for you when it becomes available.
I'm not fed up - yet. I like the game for what it is, but I don't like PGI's incompetent flailing.
I accept the fact that PGI will only ever be 'average'. Once you take that perspective, sanity is gained, expectations are realistic, and more fun can be had looking at what they were able to do. Specially Alex. The re-imaging alone should breathe more interest in the IP.
I had nice big expectations about CW... but ive given up on them. The game is still fun, so i stay.
Honestly, Alex's redesigns and the mech models are simply gorgeous. They are hands down one of my favorite things about this game. Just something about looking at a hot hunk of my own personalized killing machines that keeps me hooked.
Yes! And they dont look anime either.They dont look comic book. Truly the shining high point of PGI.
The somewhat disappointing but true reality.
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BRIGADOR It scratches the same itch as Battletech for sega/nintendo. Choice excellent
For all it's flaws, it's probably the most complete in terms of the Mech building scope, I just wish we had the 3053 era IS tech base instead of pre-Helm Memory Core weapons sans a few extra guns that stopped being made like the Gauss Rifle. The OmniMech system beats the pants off MechWarrior 4, and 3 was just convoluted as hell because you had mixed tech bases but not near the customization capability that you have now.
I think the gameplay is better too, however there are still a lot of fixes that need to be made to improve it, particularly with jump jets not sucking the fat one, as well as collisions and environmental interaction with objects on the ground.
My biggest complaint is how mediocre the graphics are and how objects tend to disappear the lower your settings are. The Mech design is great but visually the game looks like shit and performs like ass at higher resolutions because of CryEngine. On top of that, the scope of the gameplay needs significant improvements, like having the Solaris Arena for a ranked queue type of play (as well as casual unranked play). Faction Play never should have even dropped with the design that it has, it's pointless for solo players and small units because capturing a planet is impossible unless you have significant numbers to do drops.
Texture popping from the LOD is my gripe... games lots of fun besides this.
Who runs www.battletech.com? Mechwarrior Tactics is still list as a game title on the homepage. We all know that game went the way of the DoDo Bird.
Microsoft owns the IP, PGI is licensing it.
This game is not bad, don't trust people in forums, most of the time they are just there to bitch.
I really like it, and its only FPS version of Battletech available.
Completely agree, the gameplay itself is GOOD. People forget the free to play nature just breeds and brings in certain individuals who rant almost for a living. More importantly PGI has improved their focus on gameplay over time as evident in the last 6 months or so of patches and tournament etc, far from perfect but definitely better. Finnally, a lot of people complain about various elements yet I guarantee they have invested many hundreds of hours into the game....point being how many games do you play that do that these days? If you played 500+ hours into a game then OFCOURSE you are going to get bored with the current gameplay elements or some issues - I find by taking 6 months off I can come back and its all good for a good while, the gameplay is solid and community is great.
The best thing in MWO is the actual gameplay. It is so solid I have put 200 euros in.
It is the other stuff around it that are not so good: the loading times, the balance, the failed FP... But as said, it is slowly getting better.
I have my share of complaints about the game, but the gameplay itself is unmatched by anything out there right now. I've played several AAA games but always come back to MWO, even if I admit that the polish on those other games is much better.
PGI may be small and inexperienced, which leads to slow development and some mistakes, but I think Microsoft's ownership is just as large an issue.
Why? Because they don't care whether the game sinks or not. To MS, they're just licensing it to make cash and not have the IP collect dust.
A more game-centric rights-holder might actually care and try to help the game succeed. MechWarrior is so low on MS's totem pole that it's underground.
Then why do they squat on the IP? If they don't give a shit, why wouldn't they sell it?
Because they're a huge company, most likely. They're aware enough of some potential to farm/license it out, but don't care enough to give it a AAA PC release comeback.
Because they're Microsoft and they're too busy with their OS and Xbox, I suspect it isn't enough of a priority to either sell or make it excel.
Selling it would require some effort. Relaunching it in-house would require significant effort and expense. Farming it out is the safe option, making some money on the IP investment while not requiring any oversight.
Added bonus: A trademark needs to be used in commerce to remain active and valid. By letting someone else do the work, MS can still point to "commerce" involving the mark.
Wait, the forum warriors are the real white knights though!