Game News Proof of the Existence of Fallout 3?

[Zetor]

Actually, that's FR6 (zoom in and you'll see the "leg" of the R) and I have no idea why it is numbered as such... the Forgotten Realms are traditionally abbreviated FR, so this'd make "FR6" (logically it's Jefferson) the 6th FR game JE worked on? IWD1-2, 2 IWD expansions, that's 4... hmmm, perhaps he counted BGDA1-2 as well, in that case the first 5 would be IWD1, HoW, BGDA, IWD2 and BGDA2. No idea about TotL, though.. or perhaps Jefferson predates BGDA2, then it'd fit. hmmm.

Or perhaps he's just screwing with our heads.


-- Z.

 

[Ausir]

I think it's BG, BG2, IWD, IWD2, BG:DA and Jefferson - that would make 6. Jefferson was started before BGDA2 (Jackson).

 

[huh]

ah, FR6 = Jefferson makes sense. it's kinda weird to spend, what was it 3 years?, developing this 'RPG to end all RPGs' and then just dump it. couldn't they have anticipated the license problems? also, I thought Jefferson was supposed to be configurable for any ruleset. btw, what role did J.E. Sawyer play in the creation of the original Fallouts?

 

[Whipporowill]

Doesn't it say FR6? As in Forgotten Realms 6...

<Edit> Good boy, you figured it out...

 

[Sol Invictus]

J.E. joined up with Black Isle just after FO2 was out to design IWD, I think.

As for Jefferson being FR6, Ausir is correct. Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 are counted. Tales of the Sword Coast, TOB and HOW do not count because they were planned together with the games that they expand. If you look inside the BG1 files you will find references to TOSC and IWD had that little 'locked house' where the HOW quest starts.

 

[Sabotai]

it's kinda weird to spend, what was it 3 years?, developing this 'RPG to end all RPGs' and then just dump it. couldn't they have anticipated the license problems?

It looks like they accidently sold thier right to publish BG3 in the NWN/BIOware transaction with Interplay/Atari. From the Interplay Annual Report,

On losing the license:

In February 2003, we amended our license agreement with Infogrames, the
holder of the TSR license which we rely on to publish the Baldur's Gate,
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, and Icewind Dale titles...

The amendment further terminates our rights to
certain titles in the event Interplay is unable to obtain certain third-party
waivers in accordance with the terms of the amendment. We were unable to obtain
the required waivers within the permitted time period and as a result have lost
rights to publish Baldur's Gate 3 and its sequels on the PC

On the dispute with BIOware:

The settlement agreement provided, among other things, that we assign our rights and obligations under the product agreement to the third party distributor.

This really makes my head spin, I think in plain English this is what might have happened. Interplay got in a dispute with Bioware regarding NWN. So Interplay sold the right to publish NWN to Infogrames for $5,6 million, but claimed the rights to make a BG3. But Interplay had forgotten an earlier agreement with Bioware, from the days when the relationship was still fuzzy and warm. This agreement held that somehow Interplay needed permission (waivers mentioned in the amendment) from BIOware (third party) for making a sequel to "their" BG2. Since the relationship between BIO and IPLY had frozen solid, BIO didn't give IPLY their waiver.

Or another possibility is that IPLY simple forgot to obtain or pay for the waiver in time. But I find this possibility highly unlikely because in this deal why would IPLY claim rights for BG3 and include a clause in which IPLY still needed a third party waiver. This gives incredible power to the third party whether or not BG3 is published. And Jefferson was already 2+ years in production.

Unless of course the third party is WotC. Now there is another possibility...

For more text see the Jefferson Wallpaper thread.

 

[Constipated Craprunner]

While I admire alot of the artwork in IWD2, does it really fit a FO setting?
Also, it's just fantastic that JE is talking with Tim.
Maybe this explains his praise by Tim?

 

[Jed]

While I admire alot of the artwork in IWD2, does it really fit a FO setting? Also, it's just fantastic that JE is talking with Tim.
Maybe this explains his praise by Tim?

Much of IWD art was done by Justin Sweet, who did (at least) the install screen (one of my favorite images) for Fallout, if not more art. Personally, I really like his style--it's very dark and gritty...but whether it is "right" for FO is surely debatable.

His art was one of the things that had me excited about Jefferson, though.

 

[Constipated Craprunner]

Huh. Still, the style of the Gasbot was odd.

 

[Rosh]

it's kinda weird to spend, what was it 3 years?, developing this 'RPG to end all RPGs' and then just dump it. couldn't they have anticipated the license problems?

There you have it in a nutshell. Interplay's suits = GEENYOUS!

 

[Duolithic]

Maybe it is just me, or that it is somewhat linear, but the Gasbot looks like an old style gas pump complete with a tire rim and shocks on the right leg. Thus - Gasbot. Although I do get the Nuka-Cola reference of course.

Ah well I was just lurking and I really enjoyed that artwork and the thought of a possible Fallout 3. Keep up the detective work.