JackFlack Posted March 17, 2005 Share Posted March 17, 2005 Anyone know where I can get a Combat 2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Thag Posted March 18, 2005 Share Posted March 18, 2005 Mars, possibly AA no longer sells them due to copyright infringement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Posted March 18, 2005 Share Posted March 18, 2005 Lance Ringquist (Video 61) and Harry Dodgson (Programming Legend) own the intellectual property rights to Combat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziggystar Posted March 19, 2005 Share Posted March 19, 2005 I had express permision from Lance to produce Combat II. Yet Atari Inc. Still insisted they outright owned ALL Combat name and game rights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sku_u Posted March 19, 2005 Share Posted March 19, 2005 I had express permision from Lance to produce Combat II. Yet Atari Inc. Still insisted they outright owned ALL Combat name and game rights. Wanna sell me a Tetris? I can also send you a gift donation in exchange for one if you'd like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Posted March 19, 2005 Share Posted March 19, 2005 I had express permision from Lance to produce Combat II. Yet Atari Inc. Still insisted they outright owned ALL Combat name and game rights. I'm sure they did, but they are wrong. That's why Combat is not on the Atari Anthology. I'm sure the guys at Atari Legal would like to show paperwork for Combat but from everything I've seen with my own eye's I'd have to say Atari is down, but not out on this one. That's nice though that you guys were able to work together on Combat II, its a good game. Maybe if Lance or Harry would like to chime in on this they could say more than I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted March 19, 2005 Share Posted March 19, 2005 Lance Ringquist (Video 61) and Harry Dodgson (Programming Legend) own the intellectual property rights to Combat. I'd be interested in learning more about this story. It would seem very strange that Atari would sell the rights for Combat to a third-party, in such a fashion that they would lose the ability to sell the title themselves. Are there other titles that they also own the rights to? ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach Posted March 19, 2005 Share Posted March 19, 2005 I'd be interested in learning more about this story. Me too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted March 19, 2005 Share Posted March 19, 2005 I just took a look at the back of my boxed copy of Atari Anthology for the PC and it does indeed include Combat. I assume the other flavors of the Anthology also include it. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted March 19, 2005 Share Posted March 19, 2005 Lance Ringquist (Video 61) and Harry Dodgson (Programming Legend) own the intellectual property rights to Combat. I asked Lance many times to show proof of transfer of ownership, he has nothing to show and said that Tramiel verbally told him. Not gonna happen, I supposed he also threw in a couple of Federated Department stores and the Brooklyn Bridge too... I have assisted Atari's legal with many things and I know for a fact on file Atari actively holds the rights and trademarks to Atari's Combat, it never changed hands and never will. Atari released Combat as a standalone PC game, its included in most of their classic compilations and may be showing up in a certain new product shortly, so Atari does own Combat, not Lance. Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sku_u Posted March 19, 2005 Share Posted March 19, 2005 I have assisted Atari's legal with many things and I know for a fact on file Atari actively holds the rights and trademarks to Atari's Combat, it never changed hands and never will. Atari released Combat as a standalone PC game, its included in most of their classic compilations and may be showing up in a certain new product shortly, so Atari does own Combat, not Lance. That makes sense, but I don't see how the hell they can justify ownership of the names to games like Adventure and Combat. Maybe they should sue the category Adventure and the military if that's the case. Yes, I have a personal basis/bias for criticizing them and thinking they're mentally retarded for believing they "own" those names before you jump in with some legalese defense that wouldn't stand up in anything but a kangaroo court. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Posted March 19, 2005 Share Posted March 19, 2005 Okay so I'm being told by people currently working within Atari that Lance and Harry do *not* own the legal rights to Combat. I've always been told by them that they did so I'm just going to sit this one out as I'm hearing two totally different stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted March 19, 2005 Share Posted March 19, 2005 Okay so I'm being told by people currently working within Atari that Lance and Harry do *not* own the legal rights to Combat. I've always been told by them that they did so I'm just going to sit this one out as I'm hearing two totally different stories. Considering that Atari was the original owner of Combat and that in recent years they have produced several titles either based on the original game or including it, I'm inclined to believe that they still own the rights to it. I'd certainly like to hear Lance's and Harry's side of the story, though, and the conditions under which they believe they are the owners of Combat. I'm also curious if there are other titles involved as well. Did they pay some sum of money for these rights? Was a contract signed? If so, has anyone seen it? Which flavor of Atari was involved? ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Posted March 19, 2005 Share Posted March 19, 2005 From what Lance told me, the conditions of the "sale" were pretty simple. The "Book of Lance" states that when Harry was developing the Monitor Cartridge years ago he asked for some simple games that he could use as programming demos. At that point Atari didn't forsee a collector's market, retrogaming, etc. so they "signed over" Combat and one race game I think it was Slot Racers or Street Racers or something... Although I've *never* heard this from Harry, Lance has told me for years that once Harry aquired these titles he has done everything in his power to protect them. I'm not sure how it came to be but somehow Lance said he shared the "Harry 2600 Catalogue" of those two games. Again, I'm not involved between any business matters of those two gentlemen and its frankly none of my business what they do. But this is what I've always been told. And when you hear that, and then look on the Atari Anthology and see that Combat is absent, it all seems to make sense. So I'm just going to stay out of it. Lance and Harry are great guys and I'm not gonna cause problems for respected members of the gaming community. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted March 19, 2005 Share Posted March 19, 2005 Interesting... Combat is NOT in Anthology? Looks like it to me: http://www.atari.com/us/games/atari_anthol...gy/playstation2 Its also in Atari 80 Classic Game in One for the PC as well, it was also a standalone release game just a few years back and it is coming out on other projects this year as well... So if there is proof of transfer of ownership out of Atars' hands to Lance/Harry, Inc. its never been seen, if there is proof of it being enforced by Lance/Harry... again, not seen... Combat, Slot Racers, Indy 500, and everything within the Atari 2600 inventory all still belong to Atari and no one else. Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntavio Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Back to the original question.............I bought both Combat II and HH II from atari2600.com a few months ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Curt, I've been wondering for a while, was Indy 500 licensed from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway by Atari? If so, is that why it was absent in Atari Anthology (Not that it would work very well without the driving controllers, which could be the reason)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poker_plus Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Could it be released with the name Tank II with a Sears type label? Does Atari claim rights to the game concept? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziggystar Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 Thanks for clearing the air on that one Curt, I should of just asked you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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