fallout-trilogy posts

Although there is no official statement from either party yet, a post on the Fallout Wikia page claims that Bethesda Softworks has been denied a preliminary injunction in their current court fight against Interplay over the Fallout game license.

As we have reported previously, Bethesda Softworks and its parent company ZeniMax Media have sued Interplay, claiming that Interplay did not have the rights to re-release the previous games in the Fallout series (ZeniMax bought the Fallout IP from Interplay several years ago and of course released Fallout 3 last year). If this new report is correct, Interplay can continue to sell the older games in the series and work on "Project V13" (the name that is being used for Interplay's likely Fallout MMO project) until the lawsuit is settled in court.

[Via No Mutants Allowed]

Things have apparently come to a head between Interplay and Bethesda Softworks over the Fallout game license. Bethesda's parent company Zenimax Media bought the full Fallout rights several years ago but allowed Interplay to proceed, with certain conditions, with their plans for a Fallout-based MMO. Last April Interplay warned that Bethesda was planning to " . . . to terminate the trademark license agreement . . . for the development of FALLOUT MMOG" because those conditions were not met.

Now Gamasutra reports that Bethesda Softworks has filed a lawsuit against Interplay this week, alledging that Interplay violated Bethesda's Fallout IP rights when Interplay released Fallout Trilogy, a collection of the first two Interplay made Fallout RPGs along with their spin-off title Fallout Tactics. Bethesda claims that while Interplay has the rights to sell those games, it must send over all promotional and packaging artwork to Bethesda for pre-apporval. Bethesda says Interplay did not fullfill this requirement and also made agreements to sell the games via digital download sites without Bethesda's approval.

Bethesda claims Interplay's actions have caused Bethesda "immediate, substantial, and irreparable harm" since they claim consumers would confuse Fallout Trilogy with Bethesda's own Fallout 3. Bethesda is seeking the termination of their previous MMO agreement with Interplay and that Interplay pay for damages and fees. They are also seeking an injunction against the sale of Fallout Trilogy and all of Interplay's back catalog of Fallout games.

There's no stopping the Fallout franchise on the PC these days. For the past two weeks Interplay's Fallout Trilogy collection (featuring Fallout 1 and 2 plus Fallout Tactics) has appeared in the top 10 best selling PC games list (compiled, as always, by the NPD Group). This week the game remains on the list for a third straight week (at number 8) and Bethesda Softworks' revival, Fallout 3, reappears at number nine on the list.

Other than that the list is rather dull this week with no all new games appearing for the week that ended May 16:
1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Blizzard
2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts
3. Empire: Total War - Creative Assembly/Sega
4. World Of Warcraft Battle Chest - Blizzard
5. Left 4 Dead - Valve
6. Spore - Electronic Arts
7. World Of Warcraft - Blizzard
8. Fallout Trilogy - Interplay
9. Fallout 3 - Bethesda Softworks
10. The Sims 2 Apartment Life - Electronic Arts

The NPD Group's latest list of the top 10 best selling PC games in US retail stores looks pretty familiar. That's because most of the games on the list (for the week ending May 9) were also on the list the previous week. The only major change is that Demigod, which had been on the list for the past three weeks, has moved out of the top 10 to be replaced by Bejeweled Twist. Also the Interplay classic PC game collection Fallout Trilogy remains on the list for the second week in a row.

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Blizzard
2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts
3. Left 4 Dead - Valve
4. World Of Warcraft - Blizzard
5. World Of Warcraft Battle Chest - Blizzard
6. Empire: Total War - Creative Assembly/Sega
7. Spore - Electronic Arts
8. Fallout Trilogy - Interplay
9. Bejeweled Twist - PopCap Games
10. The Sims 2 Apartment Life - Electronic Arts

The NPD Group's top 10 best selling PC games list (for sales of games at US retail stores) has a new edition for the week ending May 2 and in a bit of a surprise a new bundle of three classic Fallout games from its original developer Interplay made the list at number 7.

The $20 retail bundle called Fallout Trilogy contains the RPG titles Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 along with the spin-off game Fallout Tactics. It just goes to show even games made over 10 years ago can find new audiences. The rest of the list contains repeats from the last two weeks with World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King continuing to top the list.

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Blizzard
2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts
3. Left 4 Dead - Valve
4. World Of Warcraft Battle Chest - Blizzard
5. Empire: Total War - Creative Assembly/Sega
6. World Of Warcraft - Blizzard
7. Fallout Trilogy - Interplay
8. Demigod - Gas Powered Games/Stardock
9. The Sims 2 Apartment Life - Electronic Arts
10. Spore - Electronic Arts