"25 years is just too long a gap to redo ur-quan masters" (rough quote, copy paste doesn't work on mobile)
Just involve Beamdog, they are top of class at applying widescreen mods and making loads of cash.

You really think Atari misunderstood their own rights? I wouldn't have thought Atari would have allowed that if Fred and Paul had no rights.

I sincerely hope that does not happen. I really want Fred and Paul to be right about this.

Actually I think news of these sorts should be on the front page as well.
What about people that don't read forums? They will miss games they would maybe buy if they thought their gone for good (or half-good). One news post of this sort on front page can both alert players and bring additional profit to GOG (which can then lead to GOG releasing some great oldies and we all like that, right?! :P).

By the time Star Control showed up on GoG, Atari was in the process of disintegrating. Atari might not have cared enough or even had the resources to legally defend such an old and dead property. Atari declared bankruptcy about 2 years later.

If Fred and Paul have any written documentation from Atari stating this it would help their cause tremendously. Stardock has poured a significant amount of resources into Star Control and have a strong belief their documents are valid - I'm sure they have their lawyers on board with this as well. Paul and Fred posting stuff on a blog seems to indicate they didn't have their lawyers involved at the time which makes me have doubts about the strength of their case. Hopefully this gets resolved quickly but considering Stardock's investment I don't see them baacking down anytime soon (not without proof anyway).

http://www.gamezone.com/reviews/elemental_war_of_magic_review

2 years is a long time. At that point, even if they were in trouble I highly doubt they'd willingly pass up any revenue. Stardock have been replying publicly too ao I doubt it has much to do with whether they have lawyers or not. Apparently this has been going on for months privately, my guess is that they went public simply out of frustration.

I didn't say I completely believe Fred and Paul to be in the right (as I haven't seen evidence, nor would I expect to). I just hope they are right as I know which developer I prefer and which game I'd rather play. Obviously both is ideal but it seems like those bridges are all burned.

So the removal will take place today. Anybody knows at what time?

Their CEO had just left around the time Star Control was released here. Atari was in shambles.

Their is a big difference between the small amount of revenue Star Control would generate and the cost of a possibly significant legal battle at a time Atari was in dire straits. Fred and Paul making those accusations in the public eye is something most lawyers would want to keep quiet until all their ducks are in a row. If Stardock feels their reputation was tarnished it could open Fred and Paul to slander accusations. So far Stardock has just been defending themselves. I too wish to see Fred an Paul's vision of the next Star Control and Stardock was bending over backwards to let it happen (at least publicly). Something broke down and it seems we might not get it now - I'm still hoping for an amicable solution once all the documents are analyzed though.

Which means Atari either saw they were mistaken, or at least thought Fred and Paul had enough of a case for it to be worth them taking it to court. If Fred and Paul were as wrong as Stardock claims then Atari would just have laughed it off. I'm worried that even if it gets legally sorted out and the truth ends up being somewhere in the middle, there'll be enough resentment on both sides that the potential for any kind of agreement will be ruined.

I hope both the older Star Control games and Ghosts of the Precursors are here soon. Honestly you would think the original developers would be happy people want to play their older games not complaining about people being able to obtain them legally.

And in response, Stardock gave Elemental owners its sequel for free along with the expansion pack for it. Elemental was also updated to solve the technical problems.

There's actually an Ars technica documentary in the works talking about the unique circumstances behind that game.

Don't tell him that, though. He's complained a few times on these forums about how he didn't get his upgrade, though he's never been clear on how he got the game in the first place, and what steps if any he took to try to get his free FE code.

Regardless, you're right that E:WoM is in the running for being the textbook example of how to correctly handle a project that mismanaged production and disappointed the core audience. I was very sad about how the game worked out since Master of Magic is one of my favorite games of all time, sad because I had tried - as a tiny voice alongside other more active voices - to warn Stardock about the terrible mistakes they were making, but we all went unheard. And Stardock sold almost no copies and had to let go some employees and Brad took that failure to heart and did the very best that a CEO could do in that situation.

I'm hesitant about this new StarCon game, because every time they come out and say something new, it's like reading their updates from when E:WoM was in development, but Stardock as a company is a much better set of hands for the license than, say, EA.

As you may have noticed, the games are back on GOG.

Cool. Were you able to work something out with Fred and Paul?