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Tempest 4000 announced (Jeff Minter, 2017, PC and consoles)

H

HueyFreeman

Banned
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...r-is-developing-it-and-atari-is-publishing-it

Crosspost from resurrected TxK thread via Toadthemushroom:)

- three game modes: standard, pure and endurance
- 100 levels
- 4K resolution support
- retro soundtrack "inspired by 1990s techno"
- features music from Tempest 2000 and TxK
- likely will support VR based on hints from Jeff (courtesy GAF user Beermonkey), though no direct confirmation yet

Wonderful news after the heartbreak of the 2015 cancellation of the TxK port.

Feel free to post more info and I'll update. Jeff is the man and I will buy all of his games forever.
 
B

Beer Monkey

Member
I may not need my Playstation TV much longer. Though it still manages to look great on a big screen because the art style scales well.

This is going to be off the fucking hook on PSVR.
 
R

robotrock

Banned
Hell yes! Polybius might be my favorite Minter game.

Edit: whoa can't believe Atari and Minter are actually working together
 
SturokBGD

SturokBGD

Member
Oh man.

I hate Fred with every ounce of my heart and soul.

But

I love Jeff with every ounce of my heart and soul... +1.

So I guess I'm in?

Wonder how much of this is actually just TxK. Scab Atari should've just gone with this in the first place.
 
T

Tain

Member
This has to have VR, right? If this doesn't have VR support I will be so disappointed.

That TxK DK2 tease and Polybius have raised the bar.
 
M

Moofers

Member
This is cool. I have Tempest 2000 on the Jaguar and would love to have a copy of 4000 sharing a shelf with it. I've also got TxK on my Vita and PSTV and I love it. Might have to play one of those tonight!
 
S

soundtest

Banned
is there anything that explicitly states that this is a renamed TxK? i didnt see it in the eurogamer article from what i skimmed of it
 
H

HueyFreeman

Banned
Beer Monkey said:
He went too far in terms of trademark violation with TxK. Jeff was in the wrong.

Now everybody gets to make money, Llamasoft and Atari too, so it's a win-win.
Click to expand...

I agree - though it might have been the TxK gambit that has given us this by showing Atari how viable it is.

Tain said:
This has to have VR, right? If this doesn't have VR support I will be so disappointed.

That TxK DK2 tease and Polybius have raised the bar.
Click to expand...

I can't seem to see it confirmed anywhere, but happy to update the OP if someone can point me to it.
 
Y

yyr

Member
Interesting that "Atari" is now willing to work with Llamasoft.

Eh, whatever. Glad it's coming! TxK was brilliant. I think I'm still top 10 on the Pure and Survival leaderboards. I'll buy this one too!
 
B

Beer Monkey

Member
If you love classic Atari franchises done right and have a PSVR or PC VR, don't forget Battlezone!

HueyFreeman said:
I can't seem to see it confirmed anywhere, but happy to update the OP if someone can point me to it.
Click to expand...

Jeff has been tweeting recently about trying to get this worked out with Atari and showing the VR build of TxK. He's been talking about coding it for VR, he's just gotten cryptic about the name which we now know the 'new' TxK he's been working on is Tempest 4000. It'll be VR, no worries.
 
H

HueyFreeman

Banned
yyr said:
Interesting that "Atari" is now willing to work with Llamasoft.

Eh, whatever. Glad it's coming! TxK was brilliant. I think I'm still top 10 on the Pure and Survival leaderboards. I'll buy this one too!
Click to expand...

holy shit!

Beer Monkey said:
Jeff has been tweeting recently about trying to get this worked out with Atari and showing the VR build of TxK. He's been talking about coding it for VR, he's just gotten cryptic about the name which we now know the 'new' TxK he's been working on is Tempest 4000. It'll be VR, no worries.
Click to expand...

Much obliged, OP updated
 
B

Beer Monkey

Member
HueyFreeman said:
Much obliged, OP updated
Click to expand...

Here's an example of what he's tweeted if you look closely among the noise tweets. This is five weeks ago. This is when I started to get excited.

ptr2ZDv.png


Rest assured. Tempest 4000 is a refined TxK (I think of it as TxK+) and supports VR, no worries. It'll support 4K for sure, also.
 
C

CazTGG

Member
So...is Atari going to allow TxK to release on other consoles and PC? That seems like the only way that "Atari" and Jeff would be able to come to an agreement given how bitterly he talked about the corpse-wearing company that is "Atari" following the infringement threat.

Beer Monkey said:
He went too far in terms of trademark violation with TxK. Jeff was in the wrong.
Click to expand...

You didn't play TxK, did you?

Baron_Calamity said:
Atari isn't Infogrames anymore.The current Atari is pretty much a new company started in 2013.
Click to expand...

And that same company gave Jeff the legal equivalent of a middle finger with a poorly spelled copyright infringement letter of "TENPEST 2000" in 2014. What's your point?
 
K

katsubento

Member
TXK is one of my fave Vita titles. Tempest 2000 was my fave Jag Title. Even bought it for my Sega Saturn.

Can't wait. I'll take a PS4 and a Switch version for on the go.
 
B

Beer Monkey

Member
CazTGG said:
So...is Atari going to allow TxK to release on other consoles and PC? That seems like the only way that "Atari" and Jeff would be able to come to an agreement given how bitterly he talked about the corpse-wearing company that is "Atari" following the infringement threat.
Click to expand...

Cooler heads prevail over time, and business is business. Better for everyone to make money!

Tempest 4000 is releasing on other consoles and PCs. "TxK" is retired, as a deal was made. Jeff was still calling Tempest 4000 "TxK" a few weeks ago.

You see that tweek where he talks about "updated and tweaked" TxK? That's Tempest 4000 he's talking about.

You didn't play TxK, did you?
Click to expand...

I was literally one of the first people who bought it. I have a PSTV that I use for no other reason to play it. I play it more on my Vita than any game except Spelunky. I actually have been playing it again in the last couple of weeks since Polybius reminded me that I should get the PSTV back out.

TxK was a trademark infringement. Llamasoft fucked up. Space Giraffe had plenty of wiggle room, TxK did not.
 
S

stan423321

Member
Honestly, discussing the exact status of TxK is not exactly constructive right now. They made up, end of the story for now, really. Minter discussing "tweaked TxK" before the announcement could be just a smokescreen, but we'll see how similar the end result will be. For all various things I could say about Llamasoft, their games tend to release fast after announcement.
 
C

CazTGG

Member
Beer Monkey said:
TxK was a trademark infringement. Llamasoft fucked up. Space Giraffe had plenty of wiggle room, TxK did not.
Click to expand...

That's not what "Atari" thought since they sent a letter claiming their copyright was infringed upon, not trademark infringement, something they've done a poor job enforcing with the app store being full of blatant Tempest rip-offs. That aside, the letter they threatened him with legal action is wrought with confounding logic like "it attempts to maintain the look and feel of an arcade game" or "images of flight through the playing field in both games" being evidence of infringement on the Tempest series, as if they can sue anyone who makes a stage transition, let alone citing reviews that draw a comparison between TxK and Tempest since drawing comparisons to another game to help the reader/viewer to better understand the components of a given game. TxK has some similarities to Minter's past games but at best, it's a spiritual successor to Tempest with enough mechanical differences like gyro controls to make it a distinct game and not a copy. If Tempest X received enough changes to be considered a different game (and thus screw Jeff out of royalties he would have received for the PlayStation port of Tempest 2000), I can't see how TxK is not.

Beer Monkey said:
Oh, give it a rest, thanks. It's got a SuperZapper I mean SuperTapper and bow tie shaped flippers and a crawling yellow claw and the exact same powerups (including their iconography) that are in T2K and it's named TxK after the common names given the two prior games, T2K and T3K.

When Jeff made T3K for Nuon, did he try to go do it himself and call it something else, using a different name but the same elements? No. He knew better. It was licensed.

When he made Space Giraffe, did he call it T?K? Did he change elements in the game to make it different enough than to be an obvious clone? No. He knew better.

He fucked up with TxK. So it got canned from PS4. Sony wasn't touching that hot potato because Sony's lawyers were smart enough to know that the courts would have sided with Atari. If Jeff were a billionaire he wouldn't be able to find lawyers that would win that case.

And now it's all better. Everybody wins! Jeff is happy, Atari is happy, gamers are happy. Go make your stink face somewhere else, I'm done with it and you are ridiculous.
Click to expand...

It's adorable how you top off your thoroughly demonstrated lack of understanding of copyright law with a childish insult.
 
B

Beer Monkey

Member
CazTGG said:
That's not what "Atari" thought since they sent a letter claiming their copyright was infringed upon, not trademark infringement, something they've done a poor job enforcing with the app store being full of blatant Tempest rip-offs. That aside, the letter they threatened him with legal action is wrought with confounding logic like "it attempts to maintain the look and feel of an arcade game" or "images of flight through the playing field in both games" being evidence of infringement on the Tempest series, as if they can sue anyone who makes a stage transition, let alone citing reviews that draw a comparison between TxK and Tempest since drawing comparisons to another game to help the reader/viewer to better understand the components of a given game. TxK has some similarities to Minter's past games but at best, it's a spiritual successor to Tempest with enough mechanical differences like gyro controls to make it a distinct game and not a copy. If Tempest X received enough changes to be considered a different game (and thus screw Jeff out of royalties he would have received for the PlayStation port of Tempest 2000), I can't see how TxK is not.
Click to expand...

Oh, give it a rest, thanks. It's got a SuperZapper I mean SuperTapper and bow tie shaped flippers and a crawling yellow claw and the exact same powerups (including their iconography) that are in T2K and it's named TxK after the common names given the two prior games, T2K and T3K.

When Jeff made T3K for Nuon, did he try to go do it himself and call it something else, using a different name but the same elements? No. He knew better. It was licensed.

When he made Space Giraffe, did he call it T?K? Did he change elements in the game to make it different enough than to be an obvious clone? Yes. He knew better.

He fucked up with TxK. So it got canned from PS4. Sony wasn't touching that hot potato because Sony's lawyers were smart enough to know that the courts would have sided with Atari. If Jeff were a billionaire he wouldn't be able to find lawyers that would win that case.

And now it's all better. Everybody wins! Jeff is happy, Atari is happy, gamers are happy. Go make your stink face somewhere else, I'm done with it and you are ridiculous.
 
CamHostage

CamHostage

Member
Beer Monkey said:
Cooler heads prevail over time, and business is business. Better for everyone to make money!
Click to expand...

Plus, companies tend to have lots of people with lots of different approaches to work. At the macro level, it was Atari vs Llamasoft, but at the micro level, the lawyers for Atari saw it one way but it seems like the producers at Atari (either through bad feedback on the TxK action or in good relations worked out with Minter once they started talking to each other outside the bounds of paperwork) saw it another, and the matter worked itself out in what seems to so far be the best possible way.
 
H

HueyFreeman

Banned
What the hell happened in here? This is a great day, I won't have these arguments spoiling what should be a thread of celebration!
 
Y

yyr

Member
Thanks Beer Monkey for posting the tweets. That basically confirms that the work on the PS4/PC versions of TxK will not have gone to waste. =)

Beer Monkey said:
Oh, give it a rest, thanks. It's got a SuperZapper I mean SuperTapper and bow tie shaped flippers and
Click to expand...

Yes, I see what you're saying. TxK is definitely a Tempest sequel, nobody disputes that. But only the name is protected. Legal precedent says that you can copyright names, but not gameplay concepts. Look up Data East vs. Capcom, etc. This entire industry is full of games that can be described as "this other game, but better" or "this other game, with improvements" and TxK is no exception.

Konami seeks legal action against anyone who attempts to create rhythm games using a "scrolling thing reaches line" style of gameplay and finds success doing so. They've sued everyone from Harmonix to Andamiro to Pentavision to the makers of In The Groove (which they then acquired). AFAIK, they did so by actually patenting the graphical interface that makes this sort of gameplay possible, because they couldn't do it any other way.

If it had gone to trial, I figure Jeff would have won, but the necessary legal team would have likely cost more than the game had made in the first place, so it wasn't worth it. So the point is moot.

HueyFreeman said:
holy shit!
Click to expand...

Granted, the player population was not that huge, so it's not as much of an accomplishment as you'd think, lol.
 
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