Tag: NCSoft

Tabula Rasa to Shut Down Feb 2009

Richard Garriott may be reaching for the stars, but Tabula Rasa has been grounded almost since the day it was released. So it comes as no surprise that NCSoft is finally shutting the game down,

Last November we launched what we hoped would be a ground breaking sci-fi MMO. In many ways, we think we’ve achieved that goal. Tabula Rasa has some unique features that make it fun and very different from every other MMO out there. Unfortunately, the fact is that the game hasn’t performed as expected. The development team has worked hard to improve the game since launch, but the game never achieved the player population we hoped for.

So it is with regret that we must announce that Tabula Rasa will end live service on February 28, 2009.

Marvel and NCSoft Settle Lawsuit Over “City of Heroes”

Not much in the way of details, but late last year Marvel settled its lawsuit against NCSoft, makers of MMORPG “City of Heroes.”

Marvel had sued NCSoft saying the ability of players to make characters that looked very similar to Marvel heroes represented copyright and trademark infringements.

This was pretty clearly a defeat for Marvel given that a press release from NCSoft announcing the settlement said,

The parties’ settlement allows them all to continue to develop and sell exciting and innovative products, but does not reduce the players’ ability to express their creativity in making and playing original and exciting characters. Therefore, no changes to City of Heroes or City of Villains’ character creation engine are part of the settlement.

I’ve actually been playing a bit of CoH ever since I kicked my WoW addiction. It is a pretty good game, though not nearly as compelling or enjoyable as WoW was.

At least when I play, I rarely see rip-offs of DC or Marvel characters. That’d be pretty boring anyway. Currently I’m playing The CandiMan. After all, who can stop criminals in their tracks? The CandiMan can!

Source:

Marvel vs. City of Heroes lawsuit settled. GameWinners.Com, December 15, 2005.

Marvel Sues City of Heroes

This is ridiculous. Marvel is suing the makers of MMORPG “City of Heroes” because, according to the Associated Press,

. . .it [Marvel] claims [City of Heroes] allows players to make virtual characters that are too similar to “The Hulk,” “X-Men” and other heroes in the comic book company’s stable.

Like, for example, Marvel’s version of the major DC superheroes in Supreme Power?

If that’s not bad enough,

The New York-based company also took issue with the ability of players to go so far as to name their superhero creations after Marvel comic book characters.

Yeah, what sort of company would be so negligent as to allow players to actually choose their characters’ names?

Stupid.

Source:

Marvel sues two companies over role-playing game. Associated Press, November 11, 2004.