Autoduel trademarked by inXile - sued by Steve Jackson Games, trademark cancelled

[Jedi Master Radek]

I have found this :

Source: http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=86702458&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch

So now we know what Fargo is up to and why is he opening the new studio. But maybe those are his plans for more far away future, who knows?

PS: It's my second time doing this http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...-and-also-van-buren.95740/page-3#post-3633273
Praise my stalking skills!

 

[Infinitron]

AGAIN! Crooked Bee

 

[Crooked Bee]

Hell yes.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

So, who is the boss?

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Hmmm. Don't think I ever played this back in the day:

Autoduel is a 1985 role-playing video game published by Origin Systems for the Atari 400 and 800, Commodore 64, Apple II, Apple Macintosh, and MS-DOS. It was released in 1987 for the Atari ST and in 1988 for the Amiga.
Developer: Origin Systems

 

[Infinitron]

The Origin game was designed by Chuck Bueche, aka Chuckles the Jester from Ultima. It's based on a Steve Jackson Games tabletop property. I hope Steve is okay with the ultra-violence this time around.

 

[Bubbles]

Is there a Codex retro review?

 

[likaq]

The game is set in a hypothetical future in the Northeast U.S., where cars are a primary means of protection and defense, and the highways are dangerous stretches of land ruled by gangs and vigilantes with armed vehicles.

The player creates a character, naming them and distributing 50 points between three skills: driving, marksmanship and mechanic. The player's character starts in New York, Friday 1-1-2030. Without a car the player has to enter amateur night in which they are provided a vehicle in order to raise enough money to buy and equip their own vehicle. With their own vehicle, a character can begin performing courier missions between the various towns along the Atlantic seaboard—including Syracuse, Boston, Manchester(Origin's headquarters at the time, which could be visited in the game) and Atlantic City among a few. The character may also enter more distinguished Arena events to earn money as well as take to the highways to fight the other cars and salvage their parts. In this sense, the game was very open-ended in what the player could do. The game also had a storyline, involving certain critical courier tasks, such as carrying important criminal evidence against "Mr. Big", through the dangerous terrain between cities.

The main feature of the game was combat involving customized vehicles. The vehicle construction portion of the game allowed a variety of power plants, guns, ammunition, mine-layers, smokescreens, oil slicks and rockets to be arranged onto an even larger selection of body and chassis types.

The game was developed using a top-down perspective and featured two distinct setting areas: the arena or highway style area and the city area. The highway and arenas allowed acceleration and driving skills to be used in a scrolling screen format, while the city area was a single screen in which stores and other attractions of a city could be visited.

Could be very cool.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Is there a Codex retro review?

There is one for 2400 A.D., also designed by Chuckles.

 

[Infinitron]

Is there a Codex retro review?

Nope. It's a rather obscure game, like pretty much all Origin games that didn't have the words "Ultima" or "Wing Commander" in their titles (inb4 pissed off Crusader fans)

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Seems like good timing with Mad Max revival etc. Fargo is a talented cyber squatter opportunist

 

[Sam Ecorners]

So just like new Mad Max?

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Brian Fargo responds to CB tweet:

Once again the Codex is the first on the scene..

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

RPG Codex - In your Trademark Application, watching Fargo fap.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Brian Fargo responds to CB tweet:

You're welcome


But seriously, I am excited.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Somebody check the 2400 A.D. trademark, too, while you're at it.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

I haven't heard about autoduel before, but the concept sounds promising

 

[crawlkill]

I've known people to shittalk the tabletop game. didn't know there was an adaptation.

 

[Infinitron]

Whoops, not actually a scoop: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1087494

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Somebody check the 2400 A.D. trademark, too, while you're at it.

No results. Both in USA and Australia inXile hasn't trademarked anything more as for now. But I will keep you updated

 

[HobGoblin42]

The Origin game was designed by Chuck Bueche, aka Chuckles the Jester from Ultima.

And by Lord British according to the gamebox in front of me.

 

[Infinitron]

Whoops, not actually a scoop: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1087494

THE PLOT THICKENS: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/16/david-jaffe-consulting-on-autoduel-multiplayer-car-combat-game/

David Jaffe consulting on Autoduel, multiplayer car combat game coming to Kickstarter

Noted Twisted Metal and God of War designer David Jaffe has signed on with Pixelbionic, a new independent games studio formed in southern California late last year. Jaffe will take a creative advisory role to aid in Pixelbionic's first game, Autoduel – an online vehicular combat game for the PC that will seek funding on Kickstarter sometime soon.

On the advisory board, Jaffe is joined by Zack Norman, the creator of Interstate '76, and Chanel Summers, a sound expert who helped design the audio systems of the Xbox hardware. There isn't much detail in the press release past the break about Autoduelitself, other than it's a team-based affair set in the post-apocalypse (of course) with "RPG-influenced persistence and progression gameplay."

Pixelbionic was founded by Maxx Kaufman – a founding member of inXile Entertainment with a long list of games to his name such as The Bard's Tale, Return to Castle Wolfensteinand the Redneck Rampage series – and Mike Arkin, who served as producer for many studios, including a stint at Fox Interactive where he helped on Die Hard Trilogy, ID4 andAliens vs. Predator.

Is Jaffe going to be involved with this? Is this going to be an attempt to relaunch that game or a completely different thing using the same title?

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

THE PLOT THICKENS: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/16/david-jaffe-consulting-on-autoduel-multiplayer-car-combat-game/

Is Jaffe going to be involved with this? Is this going to be an attempt to relaunch that game or a completely different thing using the same title?

Article is from May 16th 2013

 

[Crooked Bee]

multiplayer car combat game? not a crpg?

I think the point is that Maxx Kaufman is an inXile co-founder. And obviously it's no longer an online game.

 

[Bubbles]

And obviously it's no longer an online game.

Why is that obvious?