[LEC] Mercenaries [X-Box] was LucasArts registers 'Free Agent' trademark

As you can read in the latest TFn Games news, LucasArts has just registered the trademark Free Agent.

The trademark entry can be viewed by putting the word lucasfilm into the top left of the 4 search boxes here

What does it all mean? Nothing concrete, sometimes trademarks are registered as a precaution to stop others getting the name of potential new products.

But doesn't Free Agent sound like a good title for a Star Wars game about a mercenary, smuggler or bounty hunter...

 

Indeed.

 

Yes, that does indeed sound like a good title for a Fett game. Well a general merc. game would be nice as well.

 

Sounds like a good name for a Dark Forces prequel... well, I can dream, can't I?

 

For some reason, I envisage a Dark Forces prequel looking like this;

[image=http://www.hellspark.com/dm/mame/software/atari/stella/screen-shots/screenshots/berzerk.png]

 

Dear Lord that gave me a laugh. Nice.

Free Agent. What would I want that to turn out to be? Easy: Grand Theft Auto:Star Wars. Enough said.

 

jp!

Anyway, it would be great if it was a merc game where you could be your own character instead of playing an existing one. I started disliking Kyle due to there not being any other options (female for example) for a playable character on the DF/JK games.

 

Berzerk! Now that takes me back.

 

Because all my links I've tried posting expire, here's the full cut and paste of the entry at the trademark site.

Word Mark FREE AGENT

Goods and Services IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Interactive entertainment software and accompanying instruction manuals sold as a unit, namely computer game software and manuals sold as a unit, video game software and manuals sold as a unit, interactive video games, interactive computer games, pre-recorded audio and video tapes featuring adventure games, films, and music; and pre-recorded CD-ROMs and DVDs featuring adventure games, films, and music
Standard Characters Claimed

Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK

Serial Number 78351761

Filing Date January 14, 2004

Current Filing Basis 1B

Original Filing Basis 1B

Owner (APPLICANT) Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. CORPORATION CALIFORNIA P.O. Box 10307 San Rafael CALIFORNIA 94912

Attorney of Record Carole F. Barrett

Type of Mark TRADEMARK

Register PRINCIPAL

Live/Dead Indicator LIVE

This bit is interesting "interactive computer games, pre-recorded audio and video tapes featuring adventure games, as the entries for the recent Star Wars games (KOTOR / Galaxies) (say "pre-recorded CD-Roms featuring science fiction games".

So maybe it's not a Star Wars game after all...

 

"Free Agent"? That's the Vader game. We'll come to find out that the only reason he sided with Palpatine is because he was willing to pay more than the Jedi.

-Paul

 

And he provides better dental.

I started disliking Kyle due to there not being any other options (female for example) for a playable character on the DF/JK games.

Well, there was Mysteries of the Sith. Though I agree that there should be more female main characters, simply because there hardly are any. My JA character was female as was my first KOTOR character. Unfortunately, the male KOTOR storyline is better (by storyline, I mean the romance sidequest).

 

Well, there was Mysteries of the Sith. Though I agree that there should be more female main characters, simply because there hardly are any. My JA character was female as was my first KOTOR character. Unfortunately, the male KOTOR storyline is better (by storyline, I mean the romance sidequest).

I liked MOTS a lot, partly because it was a female lead character and partly because that character was Mara. I'd still prefer that most games included an option for male or female as the lead character.
And I actually liked the KOTOR romance options for my female character. Carth was a sissy, but Juhani ruled.

 

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Word Mark FREE AGENT

Goods and Services IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: Interactive entertainment software and accompanying instruction manuals sold as a unit, namely computer game software and manuals sold as a unit, video game software and manuals sold as a unit, interactive video games, interactive computer games, pre-recorded audio and video tapes featuring adventure games, films, and music; and pre-recorded CD-ROMs and DVDs featuring adventure games, films, and music
Standard Characters Claimed

Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK

Serial Number 78351761

Filing Date January 14, 2004

Current Filing Basis 1B

Original Filing Basis 1B

Owner (APPLICANT) Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. CORPORATION CALIFORNIA P.O. Box 10307 San Rafael CALIFORNIA 94912

Attorney of Record Carole F. Barrett

Type of Mark TRADEMARK

Register PRINCIPAL

Live/Dead Indicator LIVE[/b][hr][/blockquote]One of the things that I do for a living (being an intellectual property attorney, that oft-mystifying breed of lawyer beast who moves about in the secret, behind-the-scenes circles of finance and creative rights) is handling trademark-filings for various cliéntele, and in negotiating usage rights between certain specific affected parties where sum-divisible royalty and subsidiary statements come into effect within the purview of the case.

Essentially, on this one point:

[blockquote][i]Mark Drawing Code (4) STANDARD CHARACTER MARK[/i][/blockquote]...it means that Lucasfilm has the burden of demonstrating full origination of the feature in question, and of propagating any and all fronts against which such a claimant mark might get disputed in the future.

Patent "drawings" like this one (where the client seeks to obtain injunctions against similar concepts being trademarked without rights-of-discovery comparison) are pretty much [i]pro forma[/i] in these cases; when I present them to the court, they're usually motioned through without any difficulties.

But the lion's share of the work all comes [b][i]beforehand[/i][/b], when I (and my colleagues, where necessary) attempt to prove that any potentially existing doppelgangers to a particular claim are markedly dissimilar along several, predetermined lines allowed by law. Essentially, as a party, you've got to lay out EACH AND EVERY SINGLE DEFINING CHARACTERISTIC of the story/character(s)/object/what-have-you, before a filing will pass muster successfully.

If you're filing under the Patent Cooperation Treaty for international usage (typically only occurs in a handful of cases by certain firms seeking overseas markets), it saves us all a [b][i]lot[/b][/i] of legwork from having to re-adjust a case for the requirements of several different states, some very stringent. It would seem to me that Lucasfilm also works under this agreement, going by the need for entity-protection licensing rights.

 

So in layman's terms that means that LFL in order to patent that name must show a proof that they intend to use it?

 

It's sort of a bit more complicated than that (owing to jurisdictional statutes and other stuff)...but yeah.

That's the vital gist.

 

Perhaps the trademark on 'Free Agent' refers to the super-spooks from the Spec Force:Rules of Engagement Alliance Free Agent, independant intel operatives.

Perhaps we will see a SW-Splinter Cell style game, we can only hope...

 

Carth was a sissy

So? He's human. Men are not emotionless. Get a grip. And don't flame.

And, he slings a mean pistol.

As for the Splinter Cell-style SW game, it could be about Mara's earlier years as the Emperor's Hand.

 

Thanks to Mixnmojo.com for the heads up.

This game is now called "Mercenaries", and here's the scoop;

Pandemic and LucasArts have two games in development together! In addition to the already announced Star Wars Battlefront, Pandemic is working on a second non-Star Wars title for LEC, called Mercenaries, for XBox.

A different sounding title for LucasArts, Mercenaries is set in a near-future war-torn North Korea. Four groups, the North Koreans, the Chinese, the United Nations, and Russian crime syndicates are all vying for superiority in the battle, and you must chose who to fight for. However, in an interesting twist, since you're a mercenary (hence the title), you can apparently switch sides over the course of the war whenever you please.

More information coming soon, when LucasArts actually officially announces the game.

 

First look. Blah blah. FPS. Blah blah. (I still want my Sam & Max, dammit!)

Also for PS2 by the looks...

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/action/mercenaries/preview_6091361.html

---

[i]Mercenaries is the latest title to come out of the pairing of Southern California-based developer Pandemic Studios and LucasArts. The original third-person action game offers a rather unique experience that's similar in spirit to Pandemic's upcoming Star Wars Battlegrounds in the sense that you're being dropped into a fully loaded sandbox and allowed to run amok. We had the chance to get an exclusive look at work-in-progress versions of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox games and are pleased by Pandemic's inspired madness.[hr] [/i][/blockquote]

Hit the link for the rest, and 14 full size screenshots...

[image=http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2004/reviews/919925_20040312_thumb001.jpg] [image=http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2004/reviews/919925_20040312_thumb003.jpg] [image=http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2004/reviews/919925_20040312_thumb007.jpg]

 

JP, your sig is kinda contradictive. Was that your intention?

 

No.

 

HELLOOOOO, LucasArts!!!!
There IS a third concole! It's called the Nintendo Gamecube! Does that sound familiar!?!
Some of us play games on it and would very much like a new LucasArts game. PLEASE!
*sigh*

 

Editorial: Don't Leave Me Now

After initially supporting the console, several companies have said they have no further titles planned for GameCube, including Eidos, Acclaim, Midway, and LucasArts. Many other publishers have scaled back their lineups on GameCube, releasing only the games expected to appeal to the system?s demographics (young and/or hardcore).

These are major companies, and the absence of their games from the GameCube library has already been felt, and it will become even more intense as this generation proceeds.

Etc...

Time to buy another console, if you wanna play LucasARts games in future.

 

I do like the sound of that title. It does sound pretty sweet.

 

I'd just play their PC games but I only use Macs and LA gives even less support to the Mac than they do to the Gamecube.
I'm sick of being on the short end of the stick when it comes to gameing.
I guess it's time to give in and let Bill Gates own me too.