Been a long time since i've been here. How are you all folks?
Grats on the IWD:EE decision and good luck.
But i really need to ask one thing that i'm sure you know me about.
You don't have the assets for IWD either, so this means that graphics, especially sprites of characters, are still going to be the pixelated nightmare we are so familiar with, right?
Are you going to touch the character sprites, or make new ones? Or are you still unable to something like that?
I personally find the price point a bit high compared to the BG1:EE release and the amount of content there, though of course I can't speak for the quality of the IWD:EE content without having played it. I'll probably be swayed in time anyway.
I was wondering though, will there be new concept art or other cool artwork related to Icewind Dale released in the coming time?
Is the team introducing new content that hasn't previously been seen? I understand that there will be new items, but I am referring specifically to story elements or encounters. I know they are using the IWD UB mod, which is terrific. But, as they did with the Enhanced Edition for Baldur's Gate, I would like to see a few entirely original/new pieces of content to explore.
@Paladin They are not using the UB mod They actually had access to the development documents and could restore the quests to what was originally intended.
@Paladin They are not using the UB mod They actually had access to the development documents and could restore the quests to what was originally intended.
I wonder why they don't have the UB of BGs games and can't do the same there.
@kaguana Both BG games had heavy restrictions because of Atari. IWD does not have this problem. Also more documentation was received with IWD allowing the reconstruction of quests.
@kaguana AFAIK it's still Atari's property. One of the few they didn't sell. Atari still exists as a company in liquidation. It's hard to explain without going into full legalese :-)
@kaguana The fact a company enters bankruptcy doesn't mean the end for it. In fact, the bankruptcy procedure is aimed at a survival rather than an end.
In December, 2013, Atari has secured approval from both its creditors and the court for a plan to pay back part of its debt and exit bankruptcy. Atari's comeback plan, approved by Judge James Peck in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Manhattan, requires the company to pay back a $3.8 million bankruptcy loan from Alden Global Capital. Atari also promises to pay its unsecured creditors "up to $560,000" when it exits bankruptcy, plus a matching amount the year after and then an extra $630,000 the year after that, for a total of roughly $1.75 million.
Atari is expected to pay the debts from a $3.4 million cash reserve, along with an extra $1.75 million the company will receive when it formally exits bankruptcy.
As it stands, the rights for both BG games distribution are still in Atari's hands.
@kaguana Unfortunately Atari still holds the rights for both BG games.
Not that this is at all on topic but at this point to me it seems more likely that they might hold the license from Hasbro to publish Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 in terms of physical copies, but it could be that they don't have any licensing rights regarding digital copies of the game (or the EE's). I get that mostly from this
and the recent removal of all mentions of Atari from both the games steam page, the 1.3 BGEE trailer/version 1.3, and our forum. Not to mention the fact that they aren't brought up at all on Gog.com's page (even in an archived version the site from last august).
@bengoshi I know bankruptcy isn't the end of the company at some cases but I didn't follow (still don't) about Atari state of affairs, I only hope that they will sell BG 1+2 rights one of this days so we could have our parties.
@elminster I don't know if you are right or not but I think that in a way what they are doing is holding back the BG digital form, maybe they gonna publish physical copies but I think that whoever bought the EE version wouldn't go and buy their old version of the game also they will have to work on improvement for the old version and that will be kinda double work because there is already the EE version about so I don't know how much profitable that will be.
@mlnevese or @bengoshi please it off topic can you please split this conversation and pass it to BG talks, dosn't seem like it gonna end so fast
@kaguana Both BG games had heavy restrictions because of Atari. IWD does not have this problem. Also more documentation was received with IWD allowing the reconstruction of quests.
@mlnevese So, in general, i would be right to expect that the art of characters(sprites) and environment are left untouched in this EE as well?
Since it seems that the art assets are -again- missing.
@kaguana Both BG games had heavy restrictions because of Atari. IWD does not have this problem. Also more documentation was received with IWD allowing the reconstruction of quests.
@mlnevese So, in general, i would be right to expect that the art of characters(sprites) and environment are left untouched in this EE as well?
Since it seems that the art assets are -again- missing.
I mostly care about character models.
Sorry. There were no art assets this time as well.
Of course I find out about this after buying IWD-HOW-TOTLM+IWD2 for Windows and putting a week of effort into making a perfect Mac port for playing it all in one application file as a Complete Edition. Not intended for redistribution, just personal use since the Mac versions of IWD don't work on the latest version of Mac OS (and even if I did give it to people for free I could remove the game content so people would have to buy the games and copy the files over still).
I am definitely buying this game as soon as its available on the Mac App Store. I would pre-order if I could get it through the Mac App Store at no additional charge but if not forget it. I had to buy BGEE twice because I couldn't update the first version I bought, and even if the pre-order is updatable manual update is way too tedious. (The Mac App Store autoupdates all my software without me even looking at it.)
I would like to do the beta though... If I can get in the beta with a 2008 Mac Pro 8-Core running both Mavericks and Windows 8.1 Pro simultaneously via Parallels I would consider it... but if I have to double pay for the game just to get into the beta it makes me hesitant. Is there any way I can get into the beta without buying a copy outside of the Mac App Store?
I'm already over the IWDEE announcement. When is PST:EE plz?
That would be cool. I only first heard about PS:T a couple years ago (I've always been more in the FR crowd) and its old so I didn't want to bother making a Mac version so I could play it. I could play it via Parallels but that eats up +3GB of RAM on top of the game usage so I don't like to.
So an EE would allow me to try it and that would be awesome. However I am not expecting it at all at this point, so far they've only released games taking place in the Forgotten Realms. That doesn't mean they won't make EEs of other games just that I won't get my hopes up until I see an announcement saying they're working on it.
Perhaps we could be seeing a Pool of Radiance EE though o.O hehe. Ah, Phlan... and your unthinkably poor graphics. They probably won't remake the original PoR though, maybe Ruins of Myth Drannor. It would be equally as (or more) cool to see an EE of PoR:RoMD as PS:T.
I just PRAY to Lathander they don't do NWN. I didn't like NWN1, so it would be a waste of their time to me. I love NWN2 as much as the BG and IWD series though, but its still playable on Mac unlike all the BG and IWD and other older games. I'd just prefer to see an EE of PoR:RoMD or PS:T or even a Baldur's Gate 3 before NWN.
@Darek_Death if you buy it through Beamdog you can apply to get access to the beta and you only need to purchase one copy to play it on both mac and pc. As far as I know however there aren't any plans to have the beta for mac app store purchasers (but I don't have any insider information about their beta rollout plans).
Comments
Grats on the IWD:EE decision and good luck.
But i really need to ask one thing that i'm sure you know me about.
You don't have the assets for IWD either, so this means that graphics, especially sprites of characters, are still going to be the pixelated nightmare we are so familiar with, right?
Are you going to touch the character sprites, or make new ones? Or are you still unable to something like that?
@Dee, @Cuv ?
Thanks.
I was wondering though, will there be new concept art or other cool artwork related to Icewind Dale released in the coming time?
In December, 2013, Atari has secured approval from both its creditors and the court for a plan to pay back part of its debt and exit bankruptcy. Atari's comeback plan, approved by Judge James Peck in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Manhattan, requires the company to pay back a $3.8 million bankruptcy loan from Alden Global Capital. Atari also promises to pay its unsecured creditors "up to $560,000" when it exits bankruptcy, plus a matching amount the year after and then an extra $630,000 the year after that, for a total of roughly $1.75 million.
Atari is expected to pay the debts from a $3.4 million cash reserve, along with an extra $1.75 million the company will receive when it formally exits bankruptcy.
As it stands, the rights for both BG games distribution are still in Atari's hands.
http://www.atari.com/sites/default/files/ATA_DisputeResolutionHasbroWizards_20110815.pdf
and the recent removal of all mentions of Atari from both the games steam page, the 1.3 BGEE trailer/version 1.3, and our forum. Not to mention the fact that they aren't brought up at all on Gog.com's page (even in an archived version the site from last august).
@elminster I don't know if you are right or not but I think that in a way what they are doing is holding back the BG digital form, maybe they gonna publish physical copies but I think that whoever bought the EE version wouldn't go and buy their old version of the game also they will have to work on improvement for the old version and that will be kinda double work because there is already the EE version about so I don't know how much profitable that will be.
@mlnevese or @bengoshi please it off topic can you please split this conversation and pass it to BG talks, dosn't seem like it gonna end so fast
I am definitely buying this game as soon as its available on the Mac App Store. I would pre-order if I could get it through the Mac App Store at no additional charge but if not forget it. I had to buy BGEE twice because I couldn't update the first version I bought, and even if the pre-order is updatable manual update is way too tedious. (The Mac App Store autoupdates all my software without me even looking at it.)
I would like to do the beta though... If I can get in the beta with a 2008 Mac Pro 8-Core running both Mavericks and Windows 8.1 Pro simultaneously via Parallels I would consider it... but if I have to double pay for the game just to get into the beta it makes me hesitant. Is there any way I can get into the beta without buying a copy outside of the Mac App Store? That would be cool. I only first heard about PS:T a couple years ago (I've always been more in the FR crowd) and its old so I didn't want to bother making a Mac version so I could play it. I could play it via Parallels but that eats up +3GB of RAM on top of the game usage so I don't like to.
So an EE would allow me to try it and that would be awesome. However I am not expecting it at all at this point, so far they've only released games taking place in the Forgotten Realms. That doesn't mean they won't make EEs of other games just that I won't get my hopes up until I see an announcement saying they're working on it.
Perhaps we could be seeing a Pool of Radiance EE though o.O hehe. Ah, Phlan... and your unthinkably poor graphics. They probably won't remake the original PoR though, maybe Ruins of Myth Drannor. It would be equally as (or more) cool to see an EE of PoR:RoMD as PS:T.
I just PRAY to Lathander they don't do NWN. I didn't like NWN1, so it would be a waste of their time to me. I love NWN2 as much as the BG and IWD series though, but its still playable on Mac unlike all the BG and IWD and other older games. I'd just prefer to see an EE of PoR:RoMD or PS:T or even a Baldur's Gate 3 before NWN. Thanks, I didn't notice that one. I'll include that on my Icewind Dale Complete Edition for Mac.