Mechforce to the Amiga any one?
Andreas Engström
Does any one know whats happend to Ralph H Read the programmer of the
game. And where you can get new version of the game.
And are there a pc version coming up????? please answer me
me life depends on it (well if I want to enjoy life anyway :))
And for you mech fans outthere who havn't tried it buy a amiga and get the
game is's shareware, it's fantastic, mush better then mechwarrior 2 or the
board game.
DarkDork the Darkest of Dorks
dal9...@idt.mdh.se
~~~~~ <--- Central proceing unit
lo ol <--- Enhansed image intake
( ^ ) <--- Air intake
\~/ <--- Verbal comunicator unit
! <--- Waste desposal pipeline burst
/---------\ <---Axial rotating unit mount
/ l- ! -l \ <---2 axial rotating units
@ l- ! -l @ <---Inner life support units (GUTS)
l l- ! -l l <---Inner life support units (GORE)
l ! l <---Midsection conector
& < ! > & <---Motion suspension
/ U \ <---Reproducing unit type A
l l <---Bipedal movment unit
@ @ <---Shock absorbers
l l <---Lower bipedal movment unit
## ## <---Unit stabiltators
Rich Adams
=?iso-8859-1?Q?Andreas_Engstr=F6m?= (dal9...@idt.mdh.se) wrote:
: Does any one know whats happend to Ralph H Read the programmer of the
: game. And where you can get new version of the game.
: And are there a pc version coming up????? please answer me
: me life depends on it (well if I want to enjoy life anyway :))
: And for you mech fans outthere who havn't tried it buy a amiga and get the
: game is's shareware, it's fantastic, mush better then mechwarrior 2 or the
: board game.
The last release of Mechforce came out back in the 1980's. Ralph ran
into copyright troubles with FASA, mostly due to the fact he was
collecting shareware proceeds from a program which had the 'look and feel'
of FASA copyrighted material, as well as use of terms specific to
BattleTech.
FASA and Ralph Reed came to an agreement where few details have been
disclosed. The last time I talked with him he indicated materials had
been turned over to FASA and he had agreed not to release any more
versions of Mechforce. The ball was in FASA's court, or more accurately,
Activision's since they held exclusive rights for software development of
BattleTech related products. Activision had to opportunity to obtain code
and/or work with Reed to develop and market Mechforce at any time, while
they held license. They declined in favor of the line of products they
produced [Mechwarrior, BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception,
BattleTech, The Crescent Hawks' Revenge, Mechwarrior II, Ghost Bear
Legacy, Mercs] The argument I heard from Sam Lewis was Activision was not
interested in MechForce because wargames have limited appeal, Activision
looks toward a greater market of people who do not have any background in
BattleTech.
Activision's exclusive license has since expired and, as my
understanding goes, can only develop modules related to Mechwarrior II.
I am unsure whether FASA has copies of Ralph's code and if they or
Microprose are likely to express any interest in reviving it.
If FASA has retained any rights to develop BattleTech software titles I
would think they could contract some enterprising programmer to revive
this wonderful product, expand on it, and port it to PC and Mac platforms.
In any case the ball is still somewhere in FASA's court, but I have
ceased holding my breath on it. MechForce was, and still is, an addictive
game (having just played it a few more hours last evening :) and works
much better for those of us who don't have the hand to eye coordination of
a 12 year old. Besides, 3-D scrolling real-time action games give me
painful headaches, so I no longer play them.
Maybe Tom Dowd will see this (since tin apparently won't let me follow
up _and_ cc) and give us some word. Chances are he's forgotten about it
and would need several minutes to think about whatever it is I've been
talking about. :)
Last word:
Someone at FASA had actually played around with MechForce on an Amiga,
many years ago, and indicated it was indeed a fun game with considerable
promise, but they were skeptical about its future.
Rich
--
~ Rich Adams [DNRC] Women move in strange and mysterious ways.
~ ri...@alpha.delta.edu I can never find any of my stuff after
~ sp...@genie.geis.com they have moved it.
Chris
I have heard that it may be Spectrum Holobyte that will now produce
new Battletech based programs, bow that activision's licence has
expired.
Chris
<ra...@tartarus.uwa.edu.au>
Fredrick A Aaron
I think Spectrum holobyte is only distributing it and FASA is actually
producing the games.
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick A. Aaron Jr.
40mhz68030/10MB/170MB
faa...@mail.csrlink.net Amiga. (Of Course!)
HTTP://www.personal.psu.edu/faa102
The light at the end of the tunnel is the headlamp of an oncoming train.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Karl Falk
Rich Adams (ri...@alpha.delta.edu) wrote:
: FASA and Ralph Reed came to an agreement where few details have been
: disclosed. The last time I talked with him he indicated materials had
: been turned over to FASA and he had agreed not to release any more
: versions of Mechforce. The ball was in FASA's court, or more accurately,
: Activision's since they held exclusive rights for software development of
: BattleTech related products. Activision had to opportunity to obtain code
: and/or work with Reed to develop and market Mechforce at any time, while
: they held license. They declined in favor of the line of products they
: produced [Mechwarrior, BattleTech: The Crescent Hawk's Inception,
: BattleTech, The Crescent Hawks' Revenge, Mechwarrior II, Ghost Bear
: Legacy, Mercs] The argument I heard from Sam Lewis was Activision was not
: interested in MechForce because wargames have limited appeal, Activision
: looks toward a greater market of people who do not have any background in
: BattleTech.
Crescent Hawk's Inception and Crescent Hawk's Revenge are Infocom
products, not Activision.
: Rich
: --
: ~ Rich Adams [DNRC] Women move in strange and mysterious ways.
: ~ ri...@alpha.delta.edu I can never find any of my stuff after
: ~ sp...@genie.geis.com they have moved it.
--Karl