XPost: alt.startrek, alt.tv.star-trek, alt.tv.star-trek.enterprise   
   From: bothecat@hotmail.com   
      
   Stan Jensen wrote:   
   >   
   > [I only hope that something good will come out of this, like the   
   > firing - immediately - of Bernman and Braga, and all their cronies.   
   > Then  we'll get someone intelligent to run the Trek franchise]   
   >   
   > Video game publisher Activision announced today it is pulling out of   
   > its contract with Viacom to produce Star Trek games, and is suing the   
   > entertainment company for damages caused by the declining value of the   
   > Trek franchise.   
   >   
   > In a complaint filed in Californian court yesterday, Activision   
   > accused Viacom of not exploiting the Star Trek franchise in the way it   
   > did in 1998, when Activision obtained a ten-year licence to develop   
   > Trek games. "Through its actions and inactions, Viacom has let the   
   > once proud Star Trek franchise stagnate and decay," the company said   
   > in a statement. "Viacom has released only one Star Trek movie since   
   > entering into agreement with Activision and has recently informed   
   > Activision it has no current plans for further Star Trek films."   
   >   
   > The latter statement comes as the first official confirmation that the   
   > box office failure of Star Trek: Nemesis has put an end to the Trek   
   > movie franchise for the near future.   
   >   
   > Other grievances from Activision include the fact the television   
   > branch of the audience has dwindled since 1998, when both Deep Space   
   > Nine and Voyager were still in production. "Viacom also has allowed   
   > two Star Trek television series to go off the air and the remaining   
   > series suffers from weak ratings. Viacom also frustrated Activision's   
   > efforts to coordinate the development and marketing of its games with   
   > Viacom's development and marketing of its new movies and television   
   > series."   
   >   
   > After Activision obtained the Star Trek game licence in 1998, it   
   > embarked on a mission to develop several Trek games per year, quickly   
   > announcing titles such as Armada, Hidden Evil and Elite Force.   
   > However, most of the Trek games the company released for the PC failed   
   > to deliver large sales numbers. Only two games were even released for   
   > the consoles: Star Trek: Invasion and Voyager: Elite Force, for the   
   > PlayStation and the PlayStation 2, respectively.   
   >   
   > The most recent Trek game released by Activision was Elite Force 2,   
   > and it seems this will be the last for a while. "As a result of the   
   > breaches by Viacom," the company's press release continued,   
   > "Activision has terminated the agreement and filed a complaint seeking   
   > to recover the damages it has suffered and will suffer as a result of   
   > Viacom's failure to abide by its agreement, and its stated intention   
   > to continue to breach its agreement."   
   >   
   > Besides Elite Force 2, Activision was last reported to have at least   
   > one further Trek game in development, the action game Shattered   
   > Universe game for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It is not known how   
   > these latest events will affect the development of this game, which   
   > was to have featured the voice of George Takei (Hikaru Sulu).   
   >   
   > The full press release from Activision can be found here on its   
   > official web site.   
   >   
   > http://www.activision.com/en_US/news_article_cc/a2d66498-9dde-   
   9c0-ade0-fde70b0caab9.html   
      
   This lawsuit is ludicrous. Maybe their games just sucked.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)