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Farlan and NPCube sued
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We're now at: Their lawyers have to file their submissions with the court, but ...not before September now, since in France the judicial holiday season last two months. Anyway, since VWORLD attacks two companies, among which one off-shore, and NPCube's CEO as a natural person, it is very likely that many postponement requests will be made. However I truly hope that the fact it is the County Court of Paris that has been seized will shorten the proceedings.
BTW, FYI the other cases against NPCube on Reunion Island were postponed, once again, upon very strange reasons (but this part is not really a suprise).
So it wouldn't come so much as a surprise to me either that NPCube tries to gently close doors now, since:
- they managed to sell SnailGame all right (including giving out VWorldTerrain 2002 source code, even if apparently NPCube/Farlan were not very successful in understanding correctly how it works, but this is a Chinese problem now, so NPCube/Farlan must feel quite happy with it now ).
- they managed to get funded on Reunionese/French/European (who else?) public money quite satisfactorily on a project which to me has very little chances of coming out one day, since to get the funds the people that apparently skillfully submitted the project were pushing forward capabilities of an innovative technology, you know, a technology that the home studio NPCube had successfully developped in-house so that one does not hesitate to compare NPCube with Vivendi or Sony, and compare their flagship project Dark and Light with ...WoW (well, such a comparison is certainly quite necessary if one wants to make certain that public funds will be granted to the right people). Oh BTW, there's currently an enquiry on Reunion Island on the subject of corruption of civil servants (bribery) for attributing funds on public markets (compturer equipment), the whole thing for 4 million euros (sorry, French again: http://archives.clicanoo.com/article.php3?id_article=159846 ). But I already hear people arguing this is not the subject.
- they managed to have 4 proceedings against them on quite serious charges, proceedings that take quite a surprisingly long time to finally get through the legal system.
-they managed to build themselves up a very bad reputation due to recurrent mishandling of their billing system, for example (quite practical to accuse Click & Buy to charge customers unduly )
- they managed to have their most supportive partner companies to get scared of their friendly association with them and start discharging themselves (did you hear of Alchemic Dream recently?) it seems that they are no longer taking a stand for Farlan so much these days...as for BigWorld it's even more simple, I was told that they "believed" that the engine belonged Farlan as they were told so... (faith in your fellows' word , you know) and now claim that if DnL is considered as a failure by certain people it cannot possibly be the fault of their innovative solutions/ Technology Suite they provided the developer studio NPCube with. NPCube which I was told they believed was hired by Farlan to develop mostly the game design part. Lol.
BTW isn't BigWorld providing all the "nuts and bolts" developers/craftsmen would need to create an MMO except the design? lol: who is responsible in the end? who is the Great Architect of the Gaming Universe? oh I forgot, it was apparently due to twists in the design policy that Citizen Zero was cancelled after six years of development and marketing.
EDIT: HEY! did you see that? BigWorld removed DnL on their game-list gallery: http://www.bigworldtech.com/games/index.php
DnL was in first position for more than 3 years, showing a lot of terrain screenshots... Lol. But they kept Frederic Caille, head of Farlan's testimonial http://www.bigworldtech.com.cn/company/testimonials_en.php ( "seamless world with no load times" bla bla bla)
But you know what is the most gorgeous ????? The link to the testimonial above is available now only on the CHINESE website of BigWorld ( have a look here: the non-chinese version: http://www.bigworldtech.com/company/testimonials_en.php: no more Farlan testimonial ) You know what: they are still believing Chinese people don't know how to READ!!!
Ha! History cannot be forgotten nor re-written, things are not that easy in the real world. Any press-release on this? lol.
What a pity when you know that DnL had the potential "to become the premier Big World game" ( http://www.warcry.com/news/view/63490-Ganareth-Rising ). So, what's the next step? SnailGame will anounce another report of their famous DnL Asia version? or not... Or maybe somebody will send me another message telling that it was not BigWorld nor AD nor SnailGame's fault and that they did not know Farlan/NPCube screwed me/VWORLD? Or WarCry will release another article followed by another right to answer from Farlan claiming that I had nothing to complain about since I was simple salaried employee in their wondrous company (oh yes granted, my case is even much worse, they "hired" me with the "double" status of salaried employee and associate for a compensation to the result ??? LOL again.
All the lies of the Farlan/NPCube 's very private club of fellows seem to be very hard to conceal nowadays and Truth (you know, the One and Only ) is gently but inevitably coming smashing in their faces. Come let the Truth be shared, you know. Amen.
/EDIT
As a final word, the free-to-play recent option is to me another token that SnailGame is in charge now and most certainly will go for a payment per item system, as it is quite successful in Asia. And no one is going to make me believe that companies will feed salaried employees on entirely free-to-play games. (especially a self-annonced 500 salaried employees company)
Therefore VWORLD is taking a close look at the current affairs handled by the commercial court of Saint-Denis, Reunion Island. IMHO, it would be regrettable that NPCube closes shop before having a chance to account in Court for its deeds.
But I may be wrong. Future will tell.
No, it's not only a flight sim
Current Work In Progress
So they're still getting issues in the news eh, im surprised people still talking about it so much, FYI the game has much improved since they initially made it free I don't know why it claims the game is on a retail and monthly fee basis, cause it's not. I've been testing out the game as a pvp mmorpg it's not too bad and you can't knock it when they downgraded it to a free mmorpg when you consider it's in 3d and they've resolved many of the bugs to at least being things you can work around easily via one of three techniques i've figured out, relogging, deleting character folder on your own s ystem, or if it's a UI map disappeared deleting the player settings UI xml file to force it to reset. Yes im a little off topic here but I think people are rating it a little harshly now, compared to how it should be rated, against wow as a purfect ten for example i'd probably have to rate it as a 7 but they aren't charging so they got hardly any bugget I wou ld think and therefore you should base it somewhat like a short films low bugget movie not like it's one of the top Hollywood producers 20 billion dollar bugget movies because at this point it is not.
Ex: WoW player
Working on Black Ice Games' game design team as a Lead game designer, as well as technical animator to build portfolio games.
http://www.nationofshadows.net/BlackIce/
Sorry, you can like the game if you want, but judging this "game" overly harsh is just not possible.
I believe Evilshadow was referring to the mechanics of the game as it is played, rather than the buisness practices of the parent company.
I would say that 7 is overly generous and 4 is more reflective of a year ago. It has probably improved to around the 4.8 - 5.4 range as far as the mechanics of the system, graphics, UI, annimations, etc. are concerned. MAJOR stability and performance issues still remain.
As to the law suit, it is still to be determined, and I would be suprised to see any determination before spring. If I read Pix' post correctly, there are signs that Snail Games has taken over DnL from Farlan or is in the process of doing so, and that the game is popular in Asia.
If this is so then, (I guess), VWorld would then have to sue Snail Games; which would be another lengthy, (and expensive), legal battle. Which may have been Farlan's strategy all along.
Am I interpreting what you are saying correctly Pix?
oh I am sure it will still be awhile before the final outcome. Was simply asking for any updates.
I hardly think that simply because Snaill Games may or may not be or have taken over from Farlan/NPC, that hardly excuses the actions of the now infamous gutter boys at Farlan/NPC. It would then be SnailGames suing Farlan/NPC.
With BigWorld now backing away from them, as well as Alchemic Dreams, I dont see too much in the future of Snail Games making this any "game" better than it is right now.
All signs are showing that they are beginning to reap what they sowed.
Improved with all those loops you gotta go through? What planet are you on man? Resolved the bugs by you having to manually figure out which "workaround" is gonna work this time? BWHAHAHAHAAAAAA
Sad, sad , sad.
Besides, if I were SnailGame, I would not feel too satisfied of having somehow "inherited" of a game engine whose "developers" are still at a loss to fix the current multiple bugs ... doesn't sound very comfortable a position to me to have acquired a car without disposing of the key to get it started, nor the assurance the car-seller will know how to teach me how to repair it if I were to tune it a little too much. Let's say, given the times we're living in, I might even give a passing thought at the possibility of having the car-seller simply vanish into thin air once I have paid the bill. Unless of course I don't care, because I am not the one who's paying the bill. But I am not SnailGame.
But what is really cool as that you can play DnL "for free" indeed. Enjoy.
No, it's not only a flight sim
Current Work In Progress
Again I thank you for your prompt and informative reply. I regret the whole situation vis-a-vie VWorld and Farlan, and I hope that in thecourse of time you will be vindicated and recieve the compensation you seek.
Suppose, for the sake of argument, a person wins the 'Power Ball' lottery here in the USA tommorow ($60,000,000), and decides to buy the rights to DnL from Farlan. And further suppose that, (for a change), they decide that they would try to settle the legal issues you have with the licensing of the VWorld terraim engine. Would that type of settlement be possible?
Forgive me if that is an inappropriate question, but I guess what I am really asking is:
Would it be possible for VWorld and some 'future' owner of DnL to arrive at a mutually agreeable settlement that would both allow the game to continue, and for VWorld to be compensated in some way for the use of it's graphic engine?
Furthermore, is DnL actually 'fixable' even if they settled the legal issues with VWorld? Are the game's problems SO tangled by poor coding and improvised solutions as to be unfixable?
I am curious as to what you think.
(BTW, I bought my ticket, and I'm feeling lucky...)
hmmm, I would think that would be something his attorneys would be better answering ......... and again, it would not be the position of the new owners in this, it still would fall back on Farlan/NPC. New owner would have to go after them, not _Pix_, and of course after litigation between VWORLD and Farlan/NPC is complete. I would think anyway. Im not an attorney but its not too hard to see.
**as far as "fixable" ...hmmm its taken Snailgames all this time to get nowhere on it, honestly do you need an answer?
*besides I think there is more than just a compensation issue involved in this.
Heh, there are still suckers for this game?
I was enjoying Vanguard for a few until I started getting teh same treatment as Farlan so I just recently quit it.
So decided to look at the 1 game that made me feel that pissed off and funny its still around.
PS:
Someone said something very intersting in the past:
I think that sums up what I think _Pix_ is doing
Go get 'em Pix!
______________________________
My Sager 5760 Review
I think that sums up what I think _Pix_ is doing
Go get 'em Pix!
HEY HOWDY THERE KILIM!!!! Nice to see you again!
And ayup, they are still trying to pull them in. Whats funny is they use the same tactics as before. They even use almost the exact same wording on each of the bs posts. LMAO Game aint changed and neither have they! LMAO
I think you got it with the quote Kilim. Its more than monetary compensation he's after and more than monetary compensation he deserves.
Humm, just a passing thought agh50, why are you so obsessed with the potential of DnL, the product, hum? Forgive me if that does not sound appropriate to you, but to me the problem is much more simple: not a single soul would be able to sell DnL to any decent company (I mean one capable of actually developing and publishing a product, and not only making a big marketing buzz around magic tools and big designs ). Unless one finds another not-so-decent company which incidentally won't care about IP rights and will be stupid enough to imagine having the capability of understanding how technology works without the creator's support .
Just another passing thought : why are you just mentionning Farlan as the "rightful owner" of DnL, agh50?. Wouldn't NPCube and in a certain respect BigWorld also have their word to say on DnL-the-product (apart from the obvious VWORLD of course, and perhaps SnailGame now)? Oh, unless you are in a position to know NPCube or BigWorld are not that much in a big shape and maybe have found a way to get away with that overall sad development? I mean, unless you've got elements which are allowing you to already consider NPCube (for example) is dead? Or unless like BigWorld, you consider it's all Farlan's "fault" : you know, quite practical, these off-shore companies hiding behing a mere mailbox in a fiscal paradise, or even I would say, a vapor mailbox, since when you write Farlan, you got a phantom signature on your read receipt (on your spare moments, you should READ and Google translate the recent updates of www.pourieux.com, quite pratical Google isn't it, leaves lots of info to perk into).
Anyway, just like Cholayna said, if such an hypothetical case were to be still envisageable, I guess VWORLD would be the first to hear about such a proposal, and that our attorneys will handle the matter. Back to normal business.
@Kilim: Many thanks for the quote and unswerving support! You're definitely right. Besides what turns out to be quite motivating in this fight, in the end, is that History is always repeating itself : we get back to the Roman times, XXX chapter, David vs Goliath. Anyhow, I am still very much impressed by the number of "fellows" who feel quite concerned by the whole affair, to the point of considering they are missionaries for the Right and Just cause of defending Farlan and al. But you know the old saying: what doesn't kill you ...
No, it's not only a flight sim
Current Work In Progress
Pix,
To answer your question about why I am interested in the potential future of DnL, I will confess that it is because I actually like the game. Even in it's current state. I believe that there are others that do as well. I would like to see the game in the hands of a company that could resolve DnL's legal issues, and that would have the resources and commitment to finish it and to see it reach the potential that it originally had. There really is nothing more to my interest than that.
I think you may be reading too much into the way I phrased my question to you, and into my motives. When I stated that someone might be able to buy the rights to DnL from Farlan, I did not mean to imply that Farlan was the 'legitimate' owner of DnL, or any other sinister motive. I was not speaking in such a legally percise manner, and I assumed you would understand the intent of my question. Perhaps I simply should have stated that a person might be able to buy the rights for DnL from *whomever* possesses those rights.
Yes, I realize that if someone was *really* serious about the purchase of a multi-million dollar buisiness that was involved in proprietory legal issues, that it would be the lawyers that would work out the details.
Mine was just a flight of fancy about what I might do if I won $60,000,000 dollars (btw way--I didn't win
)
I hope that you will not assume that my interest in the game or my desire to see it somehow fixed implies that I am 'for' Farlan or 'against' you in the legal disputes over ownership. Such matters are really beyond my pervue, and, (to be honest), beyond my interest.
I am simply a fan of the game, speaking to a person that knows about the internal details of the game. I am not blind or unaware of all the faults that DnL has as an MMORPG. I understand it's limitations, (after all I play every day, and have to deal with those limitations on a daily basis), and honestly, I would not consider subscribing to DnL in it's current state if it were not free to play. I am viewing DnL only as a game, and my questions to you have really been about the capabilities of the game itself. The legitimacy, honesty, or competence of the game's present owners I will leave to others to assess.
You seem to be a decent fellow, who has been forthwith, patient, and candid in your replies to my questions, and I wish you the best. If my questions have been presumptuous, or have offended you in some way, then I apologize; for such was not my intent.
very nicely said Agh50. You have to admit though that for such a mess that this game is, gameplay included, if you were _Pix_ you may have the same reservations about some of your posts and your almost "defensive" demeanor in them.
But again, it was a nice reply. Very decent of you and I tip my hat to you.
Things seem to going right along. Appears the judicial system over there is much like ours here in the sense that it runs like a turtle in molasses.
_Pix_ did make a good point about anyone taking on the game with the IP in question. Then even afterward, without the creator there, how does anyone else think they can make it work? Years for Farlan (which the world knows now hasnt the capability for such an immense project) and now seemingly at least, SG cant do any better. Companies moving away, distancing themselves..writing is on the wall for sure.
Would indeed be awesome for a company to come in and back VWORLD for game with his technology included in it. Heck, with the publicity about what Farlan/NPC did, they already are finally understanding just what _Pix_ created and just what kind of game could be done with it. Like you said, someone win a katrillion dollar lotto and get a kickbutt team together with VWORLD and you would have one heck of a hype train but also a train that will run on its tracks and get to the station on time. LOL
BTW -- sorry about the ticket .
Hi Cholayna! I remember you back before DnL was released. How ya been? Played any actual "good" MMO's lately?
Anyway, DnL was vapor long before it was released. I played it for literally 2 whole hours on release day. The entire playing experience was crap then and judging by most of everyones responces, the game is still bleh! With Farlan and Company being sued over some pretty hilarious shyyte, expect DnL to be completely dead sometime in the near future. No one would be stupid enough to take this pile of crap on, especially considering the embarrassment Farlan and Company has done to the loyal community still playing their game.
Personally, I think it's a shock to hear about this
Rallithon Oakthornn
(Retired Heirophant of the 60th season)
Finally! The laws starting to get it's hands into the Games Industry, I'm impatiently waiting for them to do something about SOE's business practices, the way they buy people out like that has to be illegal somewhere, good job I say! It's about time the lazy asses of the Games Industry got what's coming to them!
Quoting people doesn't make you clever, in fact, it makes you all the more stupid for not bothering to read the quotes you post in the first place.
LOL Aye its nice isnt it? Im just sitting here waiting for the day LOL they still dont realize just how foolish they CONTINUE to seem.
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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@ _Pix_ : I just wanted to let you know I had a chance to speak to one of the Big World sever technicians that worked on DnL. I spoke to him, via Instant Messenger and IRC. In all honesty, he didn't sound all that optimistic about DnL's chances back then. I spoke to him about the time SoG was coming to an end and before the Open beta of Dark and Light. He mentioned problems trying to get Big Worlds technology working with thier technology ( which was actually yours).
All the best to you _Pix_, I hope you get the monetary rewards and acclaim you deserve, and hopefully someone from Farlan/NPCube goes to jail for a very long time.
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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You really should read more, then post...
Epic did the same thing to Vanguard, the problem is Game engine designers lay some false claim to there engines capability , which happened with Dark Knights studio where they are suing Epic for not llicensing a complete engine.
So now the real question is did VWORLD or Big World lay claims that there engine did not fulfill, if the answer is yes the Farlen and Company have ever right to sue for creative damages as well as being neglect to licensing.
With out the lack of proper support from either engine creator, they are resposable for providing the costumer with optimal service through the license. Failure is a breach of contract and liable.
Tjhink this is good you post here so people like myself with a different perspective can look at it. Clearly to me, the favor lies with the games developer and producer, not with someone laying claim to technology that is used across theindustry, and if this VWORLD comapny wins this, every engine creator will have to pay them. It is a spiteful claim and really is annoying me .
Here again, you have no clue what is going on. If I'm not mistaken, as I have read most of what is going on, _Pix_ developed the VWorld engine technolgy, went to work for Farlan, they decided to use his technology , he quit, they refused to pay him for his technology, and hence we have a lawsuit. Unfortunately the Mafate Engine, that uses _Pix_'s VWorld tech, is a big piece of crap. If Farlan would have payed _Pix_ a licensing fee, like normally happens in the real world, there wouldn't be any problems.BigWorld server tech works just fine. BigWorld does offer a game engine and several other licensing options, but you can pick and choose which one you license or you can go with all of it. Farlan only chose the server technology.
This "solareus" is going around trying to promote DnL as a playable game, and make it look like everybody is at fault for it's failure (sound familiar).
Apparently, from the posts he's made above ( like asking why _Pix_ is worried about this "just now", like this has only happened in the last week or two) he hasn't read a damn thing about the game, other than the DnL webpage, or he's just flat ignoring everyone with something bad to say about Farlan/NPcube/DnL (don't know why that would be).
<Mod edit>
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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