by the fans for the fans

Warner Bros. buys MMO game developer Turbine

robot6.comicbookresources.com/2010/04/wa...e-developer-turbine/

Warner Bros. has acquired Lord of the Rings Online developer Turbine Inc. for a reported $160 million, adding the Massachusetts-based company to a rapidly growing video-game stable.

The move gives Warner Bros. control of all games based on the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy series, and enables the studio to develop online games around the DC Comics properties. As the Los Angeles Times notes, Turbine’s specializes in the creation of massively multi-player online games, such as Dungeons & Dragons Online, Asheron’s Call and the previously mentioned Lord of the Rings.

Warner Bros. obtained the rights to The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit in 2008 when it purchased New Line. It already has the license to make console-based games based on the Tolkien properties.

Turbine will become part of Warner Bros. Interactive, a division that’s expanded dramatically over the past few years with four major acquisitions: a majority stake in Batman: Arkham Asylum developer Rocksteady Studios in February; Snowblind Studios and most of the assets of bankrupt Midway Games last year; and LEGO games developer TT Games in 2007.

Just last month Warner Bros. announced plans the construction of a studio in Montreal that will develop games based on DC Comics properties.

TURBINE INC. WEBSITE
www.turbine.com/



I HAVE NOT PLAYED ANY OF THE GAMES BUT CAN THIS COMPANY HANDLE A GOOD ROBOTECH LIVE ACTION MMO GAME IF DECIDED TO ONE BE MADE?

I'm sure they'd do a great job with a Robotech game. It'd probably be well worth playing....BUT..... they'd have to make Robotech a viable property first, and right now, it just isn't. Now, that may be a decent number of people's same idea, and another side may just assume that it already is, but Robotech hasn't been tested in the general consumer market for a long time. Also, WB would probably look at the video game history of Robotech, and see that Battlecry, and especially Invasion, made terrible sales figures. That's why there were never any talks or even an idea of games till the license expired with the last game developer.

I'd love to see a Robotech MMO, but I wouldn't look into every one of WB's aquisitions and think Robotech. Surely that article points to them focusing that on their high profile money makers. I wish Robotech was up there though.

that make sense. Lord of the rings only got a lot of games after the live action moves were made. Robotech might only get a mmo after rlam has been released.

Towgrin wrote:

I'm sure they'd do a great job with a Robotech game. It'd probably be well worth playing....BUT..... they'd have to make Robotech a viable property first, and right now, it just isn't. Now, that may be a decent number of people's same idea, and another side may just assume that it already is, but Robotech hasn't been tested in the general consumer market for a long time. Also, WB would probably look at the video game history of Robotech, and see that Battlecry, and especially Invasion, made terrible sales figures. That's why there were never any talks or even an idea of games till the license expired with the last game developer.

I'd love to see a Robotech MMO, but I wouldn't look into every one of WB's aquisitions and think Robotech. Surely that article points to them focusing that on their high profile money makers. I wish Robotech was up there though.

I SEE WHERE YOU GETTING AT AND SPARK HIT IT ON THE MARK.

THERE HAS TO BE A ROBOTECH LIVE ACTION FIRST AND IT WONT BE LONG FOR THOSE THAT CAN WAIT. REMEMBER, WB DID NOT SPEND ALL THAT MONEY ON SCRIPTS AND LOOKING FOR A DIRECTOR AS WELL AND SINCE IT WAS NOT WB NOR HG THAT BROKE THE NEWS. IT WAS Sylvain White.

WHEN WB IS READY.. THEN WE WILL HEAR IT.

ALSO, BATTLECRY WAS A WELL DONE GAME FOR ROBOTECH FANS THAT SPANNED ACROSS THE AMERICAS AND WHEREVER FANS COULD GET THEIR HANDS ON IT. DOING A NEW GENERATION VERSION SURE BROUGHT IT DOWN WITH ITS BAD ONLINE PLAY.

AT THE SAME TIME IT'S NOT THAT BAD. JUST HOW GOOD CAN A COMPANY DESIGN IT.

I DO ASSUME THAT WB IS NOT JUST MAKING A BAD MOVIE WHERE A BAD GAME WILL BE MADE. YOU HAVE TO ALSO SEE THAT IF RLAM IS DONE WELL BY WB AND IT BECOMES A HIT AS EQUAL OR BETTER THAN TRANSFORMERS FOR A GOOD REVIVE, THEN SURE ENOUGH WB IS NOT GOING TO SIT ON THE SIDELINES WITH A LICENSE TO A VIDEO GAME OR MMO FOR THAT MATTER.

WB ACQUIRED THE RIGHTS TO THE GAME AS WELL. SO EXPECT IT.

I THINK WHEN THE MOVIE COMES OUT AND GAMES ARE PRODUCED.. AND ALL IS GOOD... THEN WRITING TO WB FOR A MMO WOULD SURE GENERATE A GAME FOR THE ONES THAT WANT IT. KINDA LIKE WHAT WE SEE ALREADY FOR MOVIE GAMES LIKE STAR WARS AND STAR TREK.

I agree. As tradition is now starting to dictate, most large production sci-fi movies with a good history have video games. Once Star Wars ep.1-3 started coming, games of Star Wars increased a lot, and started going cross platform. The Transformers movies had games released around the same time the movie came out, as did Spiderman. Even with TR2N Legacy, the game, I believe comes out this week, and the movie on the 17th. So, the probability of a Robotech game coming at the sime time as the movie would be a big probability. The other side of that though, is that TR2N Legacy has been marketed for so long, they've made the movie previews almost viral, and I think that alone sparked enough interest to invest millions into a game. Games aren't made for every sc-fi movie, and the fact that there just isn't any news on the movie yet means out of sight, out of mind. One can only hope that a good Robotech game does come, but the movie is definitely gonna need to come.

Lastly, if there is to be a Robotech game, I doubt it'll be a MMO. They'll probably test the waters with making a good 1 or 2 player game, before investing extra money and chancing enough people to pay a subscription for that sort of game. I mean, that's a hard nut to crack, with WOW, Starcraft, Warhammer 40K, and even the Star Trek version of MMO.

Towgrin wrote:

Lastly, if there is to be a Robotech game, I doubt it'll be a MMO. They'll probably test the waters with making a good 1 or 2 player game, before investing extra money and chancing enough people to pay a subscription for that sort of game. I mean, that's a hard nut to crack, with WOW, Starcraft, Warhammer 40K, and even the Star Trek version of MMO.

START TREK IS PRETTY GOOD. HAS A GREAT LOYAL FOLLOWING. RLAM GAME WOULD PROBABLY HAVE ITS HARDCORE FOLLOWERS. JUST WONDER HOW THE MECHA WOULD BE PLAYED. I JUST HOPE THEY HAVE GOOD DESTROIDS.

ALSO..

WOULD THERE BE A ROBOTECH ACADEMY?