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Judge overturns ruling in John Madden Football designer's case
Despite winning his case against Electronic Arts back in July, John Madden Football designer Robin Antonick will not see his promised $11 million. The San Francisco Chronicles reports US district judge Charles Breyer has overturned that ruling. Breyer said there was no clear evidence that Antonick's work had been copied by EA without his permission. Breyer added that jurors in the original ruling weren't shown Antonick's game alongside EA's subsequent efforts, as the law requires in copyright infringement disputes, and therefore were unable to make a proper evaluation. Antonick's lawyer Robert Carey said they plan to appeal Breyer's new ruling, of course, and added that evidence showed EA "used his source code without permission." Antonick first filed suit against EA back in 2011. The original John Madden Football launched in 1988 on the C64, Apple 2 and on MS-DOS. The modern incarnation of the series is one of EA's most successful franchises. Antonick is currently working on a basketball game called Grudge Match.
Trip Hawkins disputes Madden lawsuit claims
Robin Antonick, a designer on John Madden Football, filed a lawsuit against EA recently, looking for monetary compensation and credit for his work. He claims the current generation's installments were "derived from software" he helped develop. But according to statements from Trip Hawkins (via LA Times), Antonick's recollection of the past is a bit off. First of all, he says that Antonick didn't work side-by-side with Hawkins in the office as he claims, but was rather a contractor who worked out of his home in Chicago. Hawkins also claims that Antonick was "one of many" people who worked on the game and wasn't responsible for "driving the game" at any point. Apparently there's press corroboration to some of this, as well -- Hawkins' four-year stint developing the game would be referred to as "Trip's Folly" internally, suggesting that Antonick's role was more diminished than he suggests. Hawkins also claims that Antonick was only commissioned to work on the first 8-bit game, and wasn't tapped to help work on subsequent 16-bit versions of the game, which he claims needed "more advanced" programmers than Antonick. [Image: Retro Games DB]
Boom! Original John Madden Football designer files lawsuit against EA
No, John Madden isn't the person who designed John Madden Football. That credit goes to a man named Robin Antonick, who created the first game in the megahit sports series (and its little-known spinoff, Tough-Actin' Tinaction) for C64, Apple 2, and MS-DOS back in 1988. Twenty-three years later, the series is a multi-multi-million-selling institution, and he's seeking some of the revenue from it in addition to the credit. Antonick has filed suit against Electronic Arts, seeking (as Reuters puts it) "tens of millions" in royalties, plus a portion of the enormous profits EA has made on the series. "According to recent statements by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins," Antonick's complaint reads, "the current generation of software apparently derived from software developed by Antonick." And though "he was responsible for the development of virtually all of the ground-breaking technology at the heart of the game," Electronic Arts has not issued a royalty payment to Antonick since 1992, according to the claim -- though it has tried to settle in the past. [Image: Retro Games DB]
Judge rules against Hawkins personal bankruptcy, EA founder still owes millions in taxes
A reading from Forbes on the prophet Trip Hawkins: And lo, the San Francisco federal judge saw through the abusive tax shelters Hawkins used to hide millions in profits from his Electronic Arts days and declared them bad. Smiting a declaration of personal bankruptcy, the judge believed that Hawkins should give unto the government the estimated $20 million or more in federal and California state taxes he is in arrears to. The 16-page opinion by US District Judge Jeffrey S. White pointed out that Hawkins "continued to spend money extravagantly with knowledge or his tax liabilities" and that he "planned to defeat his taxes via bankruptcy and continue living the lifestyle to which he had grown accustomed." General rule: Pay your taxes. It's what did in Capone. Better rule: When the government is on your butt about tax evasion, it's best not to play it like Hawkins and purchase a $70,000 car ... especially when it's your fourth automobile in a two-driver household. [Image credit: AlanCleaver_2000]
Social game devs rail against divisiveness, armchair designers, and s*** crayons
As a response to frequent use of social games as punching bags by the rest of the industry, a group of Facebook, mobile, and otherwise social game-identified creators took part in a series of short "rants" during GDC. During this event, a social game was happening in real time: coins were handed out, and attendees were encouraged to collect coins from each other, with the person who was able to get the most invited up for a mini-rant. The winner's rant turned out to be about the positive mental and developmental effects of games. Longtime game designer and Loot Drop founder Brenda Brathwaite opened with an impassioned refutation of the division of social gamers from other gamers. People told her she was "ruining games" back when she was working on Wizardry, for making an RPG that could be played alone, implying that this attitude was as harmful as the dismissal of social games now. "We stood together," she said, when games like Mortal Kombat came under attack from government and other groups, and when "hot coffee" came to be known not as a "steaming hot beverage but a steaming pile of shit". She urged that game fans stand together now "because we love games." A transcript of Brathwaite's rant has since been posted on her blog.
Digital Chocolate suing Zynga over Mafia Wars trademark
Put down that Mafia Wars Slurpee! Trip Hawkins and his company Digital Chocolate claim that one of Zynga's biggest Facebook moneymakers isn't actually owned by Zynga -- in name, at least -- and he would really like you to quit giving them credit. According to Courthouse News, Digital Chocolate seeks to have Zynga "enjoined from using the Mafia Wars name," "ordered to deliver up all Mafia Wars products," and "engage in corrective advertising costing twice what Zynga spend promoting Mafia Wars." Which means you should stop drinking that Slurpee, like, right now. Litigation is stemming from Digital Chocolate's previously trademarked mobile game of the same name, Mafia Wars, where players "must advance their characters through levels of a fictional crime syndicate by completing tasks." DC also claims that, in speaking with Zynga last year about the trademark rights, "Zynga attorneys responded with a letter promising to stop using the name." In its defense, a Zynga rep told Joystiq, "We are surprised and disappointed by Digital Chocolate's lawsuit. The timing of the action appears to be opportunistic, and we plan to defend ourselves vigorously." The United States Patent and Trademark Office lists Zynga's first filing date for a game under the name "Mafia Wars" as July 1, 2009, though no filing under that name could be located with Digital Chocolate as the applicant. Digital Chocolate has not responded to requests for comment by press time.
Trip Hawkins believes iPhone is 'freaking out' Nintendo & Sony
The founder of EA and mobile developer Digital Chocolate, Trip Hawkins, thinks iPhone is the best thing since sliced bread Sega Genesis. In an interview with VentureBeat, the exec said, "We make as much money with these [iPhone] games on one device as we do putting a game on 100 different cell phone platforms." In fact, mobile developers are making so much money with games for iPhone, at such a low overhead, that Hawkins believes the iPhone is "freaking out" Sony and Nintendo.And though Hawkins' company publishes games on the web and Facebook as well as for Apple's devices, he believes competitors (including Blackberry) to be stuck in the past. "Everybody else is a couple of years behind Apple" -- a notion that he credits to the iTunes Store's relative ubiquity among consumers even before the iPhone existed. "They've spent years building up those iTunes accounts and it's much easier for the money to flow." And not forcing consumers to convert to a ridiculous points currency probably doesn't hurt that flow either.
EA's admirable beginnings remembered
This past week, Next Generation continued its gaming industry retrospective with a look back at the formative years of Electronic Arts. Originally conceived by industry luminary Trip Hawkins to be an independent publishing house for fresh talent, EA now resembles more of a Matrix-like incubator of human wage slaves producing endless, disposable iterations of worn-out franchises.But the company everyone loves to hate wasn't always that way. The article stirs up fond memories of some of the best computer games the early eighties had to offer. Who needed ABC afterschool movies when you could play Archon, M.U.L.E., and The Bard's Tale until dinner? But the publish-only model eventually gave way to development aspirations, and then the fun began! Read all about some of EA's most infamous acquisitions, and what steps the über developer needs to take in order to repair its tarnished image.For instance, EA is doing its part to make gaming more attractive to the female demographic, so the company can't be all bad. Right?
