And the mask comes off.

[Artillerie]

Thank you for the news :) Wishing you all the best for the onward progress of the venture, it all sounds very interesting!

[Kaos Arcanna]

To heck with it, I'm going to ask my questions. The worst that can happen is they can be ignored. :D

First, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the update. Win or lose, success or failure, at least you've made the effort and you've gone farther than anyone else has to this point. You have my gratitude-- and that of many others-- for making the effort. You have all given us hope in a dark time.


Questions:

1. When you say the other games will have the option to remove the "Spiritual" successor and go with something more official, will they be allowed to allowed to use the lore of COX (hero groups, villains, etc), and the various AT mechanics? Will they be buying a license to allow this?

2. Who will own the IP of COX? This will be a completely separate company from MWM?

3. If successful, will you continue working as part of MWM AND the COX venture?

[Fleur_uk]

Thank you :) wow eeek .... :D

[Surelle]

Thank you for all the time and effort you have put forth so far, and I hope everything goes well of course!

Er, are you really planning to migrate everyone off the original CoH right away when Windows 9 launches, or only years from now after everyone has universally adopted Windows 9, at which point CoH will no longer run for anyone because it won't be compatible with Win 9?   Because MS is showing off Win 9 publicly this September and wants to release it in 2015.  So how would you even get a reverse-engineered server completed for CoH before Win 9 launches?  I was figuring reverse-engineering would take 6 months to a year at a best-case scenario.

It's interesting that all the CoH spiritual successors may have the ability to reference CoH without penalty.  That could be opening a can of worms if they're not all ultimately high-quality games though.  I suspect NCSoft will do ongoing reviews of each game before it launches just in case. 

This sounds like it could be interesting, but it also all sounds a really long ways off.  I hope Team Hail Mary doesn't get harassed to death in the interim, and I wish the whole team the best of luck in getting CoH back and the sequels off the ground.  And even if it all comes to naught, I appreciate the time and dedication that everyone involved has shown.

Thanks, and have a great day!

[downix]

Um... wow.

I... errrr... wow.

(10 minutes later)

Okay, next question - "licensing the IP"... does that mean if, say, someone wanted to start writing books for the CoH IP, that spinoff company would be the one we'd talk to? Or is it solely for GAMING purposes?

(Yes I realize that's contingent on said sale actually going through.)

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

The goal is to have a spot to go for yes, writing books, licensing logos for shirts, etc.

[Tubbius]

Best wishes on everything!  I23 Maintenance Mode can work.  Here's hoping we can access it, play it, and rebuild on it.

[Shadowe]

Downix, and everyone else at MWM, Ironwolf, and everybody that has been involved in this process so far (yes, that includes NCSoft):

Thank you.

Thank you for taking the time, and looking to do it right.

Thank you for the hope this brings.

Thank you for working to bring our home back.

I know there is a long way to go, and I know there is a lot more to do, and I know this idea isn't in the bag. I sincerely hope it works to everyone's satisfaction.

Thank you.

[pinballdave]

I will do my best Wayne and Garth...

"We're not worthy!"

[TheBeatnik]

There's plenty to ponder here.

While I'm still digesting the news and speculating about implications, let me add my thanks to the team. Good luck, I'll be pulling for you guys.

[DemonCaller]

I'm floored. At least the part of me that kept saying that this was yet another failed pass is floored.

You just gave me another reason to get my computer fixed to get back up and running. Maybe even get that flame orange case I started to get it last month.

Tying CoH into CoT and Valance? All I can say is " Holy Mother of God and Rassilon!" (it's what I say when I'm floored like this, k?) That is ambitious.....

I gotta admire you for thinking big...no matter what happens. Thank you!

[Blackout]

I'm not sure as to whether Downix pulled a Nemesis or a Requiem here, but either way well done sir! And thank you very much for your efforts!
I will admit as well that it is very encouraging to finally hear something concrete about this deal and get confirmation that it is 101% real, so thanks very much for that too :)

[Remaugen]

Wooooot!


We're nearly there!   ;D

[Mental Minister]

Thanks for the update and for you hard work. As for now I will continue to wait patiently for the outcome.

[Kaos Arcanna]

Okay. I guess I have one more question because it's unclear to me.

So "COX 1.5" would be a port of COX into the Unreal Engine. Does that mean there would be no official COX 2?

[Illusionss]

This is....intriguing!
So many questions...but ... I'll keep my trap shut for now.

Very interesting stuff!

But..with Windows 9 supposedly being released very soon...some estimates at April, 2015, others say even earlier because of the flop that Windows 8 is...that really limits the time of this migration, I'm thinking. Or maybe it doesn't. No rule says we have to get Windows 9 right away - at least, I hope not.

I would be willing to have a CoX-dedicated PC that I did nothing else with, but keep the game on.

Here's my question [rhetorical only at this point]: if we get the game back, are we going to be able to use the game version we have DLed on our PC, the original one I mean? Or would we have to buy and install a new one?

Is the old version so tied to our original accounts that we could not use it? I would happily buy a new copy, I'm just curious.

[FourSpeed]

Interesting news.

Thanks for the update, and your team's efforts, downix.

GL on finalizing the deal in the (relatively?) near future. 

It's a shame you can't seem to get the source code for I23/24 (something compilable at least). If it's
true that Win-9 would likely break the binary anyway, that seems like a fairly short-lived resurrection
(W9 is rumoured to release Q2-Q3 of 2015).

I suppose anything is better than nothing, but that news is both intriguing ... and disappointing in its way.

In any case that doesn't detract from the grattitude I feel for making those efforts - thank you.


Regards,
4

[Lava-Lad]

Thank you, Downix and the whole team!  Your approach has worked well enough to get this far, so keep up the good work and let us know when we can pop the corks!!

[amethyst.andi]

Thank you so much, guys.  It is very much appreciated.

[Shifter]

An arrangement is also to be made for the Atlas Park Revival project. As part of the informal agreement we have with them, they would be given an official stamp of approval, and the CoT game build would be licensed to them, to create a kind of "CoH 1.5" and migrate people off of the classic game engine before it finally becomes unsuitable (we expect this to happen around when Windows 9 is released, due to binary compatibility).

Thank you and everyone who was involved for your efforts. Would CoH 1.5 be CoH rebuilt nearly from scratch on a new game engine?

[r00tb0ySlim]

Excellent news!!  The teams respectful approach to NCSoft speaks volumes, well done!!