News: MechWarrior reboot in licensing blunder
Posted on : 07-09-2009 | By : Cacophanus | In : News
Tags: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
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Back in the 80′s when the early iterations of Battledroids (then later Battletech) surfaced, many of the designs had been not very surreptitiously lifted from various anime shows. Notably that of Dougram and Macross. FASA were suitably sued for their troubles. That said, over the years FASA did their best to throw several olive branches in the direction of the anime industry. Especially when they hired Shoji Kawamori to pen the designs for the Japanese edition of Battletech.
Fast forward to the recent trailer for the MechWarrior reboot featuring a Warhammer (or a destroid Tomahawk from Macross in case you’re wondering) and it seems that this has opened up the legal can of worms all over again. Considering the original case was with FASA it is interesting that the same designs can come under dispute when the rights are owned by another institution.
Personally, I don’t understand why they just didn’t get Hajime Katoki, Yutaka Izubuchi or Junji Okubo to pen new designs for the reboot and be done with it. At the very least they’d have had mecha that at least looked awesome.
Seems like the devs originally thought they were in the clear:
http://battletech.catalystgamelabs.com/2009/08/10/sometimes-things-just-dont-go-as-we-want-them-to/
The post there doesn’t make much sense to me, though. The court case was common knowledge, and everyone knows how it turned out, but the article implies there was more to the case than what was made official–which doesn’t make too much sense, as it seemed the official result was the same as the one they claimed was part of the secret agreement. Probably some sort of legalese we don’t know about, maybe.
Either way, it seems like less of a blunder and more like an honest misunderstanding.
So which automobile company is going to sue who for having 4 tires on the ground? I can only see simularities in the mechs. I think some cars look alike also.
This is the Tomahawk from Macross…
…and this is the Warhammer from BattleTech
It’s no wonder they got sued (and lost)!
They just took what FASA already stole and brought it forward. This isn’t the only mech either. Should look at the Marauder if I remember correctly…
Indeed, almost all the original designs were directly copied from a number of anime series. The Marauder
…was actually the Glaug from Macross…
…and, my favourite, was the Shadowhawk actually being…
…the Dougram – with much of the mecha’s base capabilities forming the backbone of BattleTech’s ruleset…
Indeed, almost all the original designs were directly copied from a number of anime series. The Marauder
…was actually the Glaug from Macross…
…and, my favourite, was the Shadowhawk actually being…
…the Dougram – with much of the mecha’s base capabilities forming the backbone of BattleTech’s ruleset…