Embattled Midway caught in Epic vs. Silicon Knights suit

by Richard Mitchell { Apr 7th 2009 at 1:35PM }

As Midway continues to fend off the courts and the government whilst floating in bankruptcy limbo, Edge Online reports that the company is now fighting yet another legal battle, this time over attorney fees in the Epic vs Silicon Knights lawsuit. Yeah, it's been a while since we wrote about that. Quick refresher: Silicon Knights is suing Epic over the "inadequacies" of the Unreal Engine used by licensees, which the developer originally used to craft Too Human before opting to create its own engine instead. As part of the proceedings, subpoenas for Unreal Engine records were issued to licensees, one of which was Midway.

Now, Midway is asking the court to defer all costs of the record review process to Silicon Knights. Additionally, the publisher is asking that certain documents be redacted so that Silicon Knights will not be exposed to any trade secrets. Midway cites its bankruptcy proceedings as preventing it from paying any costs associated with the review, including the hire of attorneys and former Midway employees.

The request resulted in a tit-for-tat between the companies' attorneys, with Silicon Knights responding that Midway's creditors have already approved a monthly expenditure of $35,000 over three months to pay for the review. Silicon Knights' attorneys also state that the company has "taken extraordinary steps" to prevent any "undue burden" on the beleaguered publisher.

This is normally where we would make a Mortal Kombat "Finish Him!" joke but, frankly, our hearts just aren't in it.

Tags: business, epic, legal, midway, silicon-knights, too-human, unreal

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Erluti @ Apr 7th 2009 1:45PM

So do they actually develop games or is their business model now based on suing epic?

dark_inchworm (on Steam!) dark inchworm (on XBL!) @ Apr 7th 2009 1:57PM

Suddenly I'm reminded of Darl McBride. A slimy motherfucker, he was.

baby sea tuna @ Apr 7th 2009 1:52PM

Ugh...I can't even think about Too Human without getting angry.

MowDownJoe @ Apr 7th 2009 2:22PM

Up! You died! Watch this unskippable cutscene with this Valkyrie!

baby sea tuna @ Apr 7th 2009 2:30PM

Over and over and over and over and...

Seriously, who thought that was a good idea? And that was probably one of 100 poor design decisions that they made along the way. I'd list more, but I'm just getting angry again thinking about it.

Redenbacher @ Apr 7th 2009 3:40PM

Here's a tip: Don't die. Take the time to learn the game, and you don't have to watch a Valkyrie.

On topic, I hope SK gets this sorted out to get their heads completely geared on their business. Legal battles are draining.

baby sea tuna @ Apr 7th 2009 3:57PM

Oh, brilliant solution Denis Dyack! I need to figure out how to play the game! Well, next time I'll tell the 8 robots shooting missles from off camera to just knock it off until I can wade through these 20 identical face-stabbing enemies surrounding me and smash them. Or maybe I'll politely ask those stupid spider things to let me finsh my power attack animation before they unleash their ridiculously overpowered splash-damage attacks. And why is it that if I'm a God, all the standard shit-ass enemies are just as fast and twice as strong as me?

Fuck, the stupidity of that game is making me mad again!

ittybittygirl @ Apr 7th 2009 4:09PM

"Take the time to learn the game..."

This isn't Steel Battalion, Civilization IV, or Flight Simulator X... This is Too Human, an Action RPG with influences ranging from Diablo through Devil May Cry, the only familiarizing you should need to do with this game is either read the manual or complete the in-game tutorial. Those only seem to complicate things more. Too Human is the most inaccessible, overly complicated, convoluted game out on any game console. You'd have a easier time figuring out Romance of the Three Kingdoms, renting without an instruction manual and having never played it before.

I kicked Too Human's demo's ass, and I loved every second of it. But I can't for the life of me figure out what the hell is going on with the finished product.

Sly (PSN slycooper_rocker) @ Apr 7th 2009 5:33PM

they released a patch for the game a while ago. it's called anger management.

AoE @ Apr 7th 2009 9:53PM

@Redenbacher

Here's a tip: Don't be a douchebag. Regardless of how many times you die the fact that they included an absurd and unskipable cut-scene was just a bad design decision. I'm sure even Dennis Dyack could admit that.

On topic, SK seems to be a rather douchey company, or at least the guy running the place is. I suspect they'll find themselves on the losing side of this legal case... I only hope it spells the end for Dennis Dyack's career. I've got nothing against the 9-5ers at SK, but the leadership blows. Dyack is an arrogant prick and I delight seeing that mouthy bitch get taken down a peg every time it happens.

baron681 @ Apr 7th 2009 10:25PM

You tell em Red!

Too Human is an awesome game if you put the time in to get familiar with it. The problem with "gamers" today is they just want the next cookie cutter, easy to play/understand title that looks good. I still play TH regularly and enjoy it quite a bit. I can't wait for the sequels. SK has always been great at what they do. They've always been willing to try new and different ways of making games, and it's sad that the gaming community treated TH like it did. It's hands down THE best dungeon crawler / loot gathering game on any console since the Baldur's Gate series.

Dirty @ Apr 7th 2009 2:03PM

The game has its problems (mainly Dyack being able to speak on camera). But I love the game. I really hope the sequel see's the light of day.

Knight Marquise @ Apr 7th 2009 2:31PM

I'm with you Dirty. I loved Too Human, and seriously hope to see a sequel.

RiccochetJ @ Apr 7th 2009 3:16PM

Ditto. Absolutely loved the game despite its flaws. Still have to beat Ice Forest without dying for the last achievement though (shudder).

Dirty @ Apr 7th 2009 3:42PM

ugh the ice Forrest is the worst level. Its sooo long, and then Hod is such a bitch, especially with a bezerker.

I have yet to beat helheim without dying either.

Knight Marquise @ Apr 7th 2009 4:59PM

I made it through Hellheim w/o dying, but the Ice Forest? That's the last one I have to make it though w/o dying....damn that's tough.

AoE @ Apr 7th 2009 9:58PM

I'm pretty impressed you guys made it through the dialogue/plot! I mean I don't expect Dostoevsky; but even by the generally abysmal standards of plot/dialogue that games have this one did not measure up. It was actually painful for me, I couldn't get through it it got so bad.

Maybe I am wrong, but I am fairly certain they hired a 12 year old child with a recently purchased book on Norse mythology (maybe they studied it in class a few months before he wrote the script?) on-hand. The dialogue in this game is a perfect example of why people think games cannot tell stories or be "art" as other mediums can.

xFenixKnightx @ Apr 7th 2009 2:05PM

Hey guys, off topic I know but i just got the RE5 DLC. It's....interesting. lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFXsPwUrYUc

Knight Marquise @ Apr 7th 2009 2:35PM

Fenix,

That vid is epic! Admittedly, I'm not an RE fan, but that is funny because it captures the game mechanics that turned me off of RE.

syco @ Apr 7th 2009 5:16PM

Well, basically all they should need from Midway is paperwork documenting how difficult it was for Midway to adapt the Unreal engine into an Action RPG, which they never have. They've made an Action game (Stranglehold) and an RPG (Lost Odyssey), but never a combination.

Too Human was a technically complex game, so I can imagine how frustrating it would be spend a lot of time trying to adapt that engine into what they wanted, be given the cold shoulder by Epic's tech support, and be forced to drop the thing and rewrite the engine from scratch.

It didn't matter in the end, Too Human was one of the more entertaining console games I've played in a while. I didn't hit the level cap, and I never played it Coop (I haven't payed the Microsoft Gold Internet Tax yet), but damn it was pretty, and the plot was really cool, and I am waiting with bated breath for the sequel. The only real complaint I have with it is that it was short and it's almost impossible to read the menu and stat text on a normal television. I played most of the game with the Xbox lugged into my room and attached to my computer moniter, just so I could read things.

Knight Marquise @ Apr 7th 2009 6:55PM

Syco,

I believe Lost Odyssey was devved by Mistwalked and Feelplus, and published by Microsoft Game Studios, not Midway. (At least that what is on my box) Anyways, Too Human was the most enjoyable dungeon crawler/loot horder I've played on a console. Lost Odyssey did, however, use the UE3.