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EA Files Trademarks For Populous, Wing Commander, And Other Classics
by Kris Graft
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August 12, 2009
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Since its founding in 1982, Electronic Arts has been the source -- or at least the rights holder -- to many franchises that have reached "classic" status.
New trademark filings unearthed by Superannuation may hint that EA is reaching back into its catalog of classic games for a possible revival of aging brands. Just this month, EA filed trademarks for the Bullfrog Productions-originated properties Populous and Theme Park, and the EA action games Wing Commander and Road Rash.
1989's Populous was a "god game" designed by Peter Molyneux, the Bullfrog founder who's now lead man at Microsoft-owned Lionhead, developer of Fable. 1992's Theme Park another Bullfrog-developed game, was a management sim based around operating a theme park. EA acquired both properties when it purchased Bullfrog in 1995.
The motorcycle combat sim Road Rash debuted in 1991 and saw several iterations, while 1990's space sim Wing Commander saw sequels and even a film.
The filing of a trademark application isn't a 100 percent guarantee that a product launch will follow. For example, in 2007, Sega filed a new trademark application for "Dreamcast". That, of course, didn't lead to a revival of Sega's final console.
But sometimes, a filing is a precursor to a to-be-announced product. For instance, in late 2008, Sega filed a patent for Virtual-On Oratorio Tangram, a mech-based fighter that appeared on the Dreamcast. In 2009, Sega released the game as a download for Xbox 360.
The EA trademarks were also filed about the same time as Harvey Elliot, the head of EA Bright Light Studio who has roots with Bullfrog, said in a kikizo interview, "For me, I love the old Bullfrog IP, it got me really passionately into games, and I'm really proud that Bullfrog is part of the heritage of Bright Light".
"I'm personally a huge fan of Populous and Theme Park, they were some of my favorite games - many years ago, obviously - and I'd love to see both of those remade."
The last time Populous hit shelves was with Populous DS, developed by EA Japan and published by Xseed Games.
The US Patent Office requires trademark holders to renew their patents after a period of 10 years.
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one speculation: this possible wing commander revival comes after lucasarts begin to toy with a possibloe comeback for the X-wing/tie-fighter series...so, there could be trying to follow lucasarts steps?
Now, if only there will be a new sindicate series of a redux of Dreamweb....:P
They brought Joysticks to control those games, that were Simulations compared to any Space-Action game on the market today, the whole Genre was a PC-Genre, but every attempt to do something like this in the last years wasn't a success. Only Egosoft's X series could survive.
Maybe a complete reboot of the Wing Commander series? This would end up in something like Factor 5's Star Wars games for the N64 and GC, but in my opinion they sold mainly because of it's license (nonetheless, they were great games), younger players know nothing about Wing Commander.
So as much as I would love to see more Space-Flight-Action-Sims, I think this genre is seriously dead.
so, didn't we learn something from the past?
don't dismiss anything as dead, zombies exist and they could eat your flesh!!!
:D
what I mean is that with the right design and the right brand in the proper moment, you can brin any genre back (except maybe text-based videogames)...but most likely I will be wrong :)
oh, and as there is no "edit" option....in my previous post I mean: "now if only there will be a new sincate game or a redux of Dreamweb"
I agree, Wing Commander was always more "light-hearted", an action game instead of a simulation, but the WC series always benefit from the huge ammount of Video Sequences, something nobody cares about today. Besides this games like WC or X-Wing were never in the same league as Street Fighter or Monkey Island. I can't think of any Space-Sim/Space-Flight-Action-Game that was as successful as an succesful Beat'Em'Up or Point & Click Adventure.
By the way, I still consider the Beat'em'Up and Point & Click Adventure as dead, there are some niche products, that sell in the adventure category and there is SF IV, GoW was always like DMC, not exactly a Beat'em'Up.
The Textadventure is still alive and kicking, just check
http://www.ifarchive.org/
;-)
The military sims, like DCS, are usually made for the military first, therefore they already have initial funds provided to them. Following that, they adapt the game to the gamer market.
Furthermore, joysticks and flight sim accessories are still on the rise, logitech just came out with a full hotas system.
;)