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Loading... is the premier daily
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Big news from Phoenix today as another nail is pounded into Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment's coffin. Ten Ton Hammer confirmed that CME filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on February 12th. What does this mean for those who purchased CME's just-released online-only shooter Stargate Resistance, the devs who just started working at CME last August, and the future of Stargate Worlds? Read on for our take in Loading... CME Insolvent.
The Pulse
You vote with what you
view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the
result is the Ten Ton Pulse (
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/thepulse/" target="_blank">What
is The Pulse?).
Here
are today's top 5 Pulse results:
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow">World
of Warcraft - href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/eq2">EverQuest II (Down 1)
- Lord of the Rings Online (UP 3
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/43">EVE
Online -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto">Star Trek
Online (down
3)
Biggest
movers in the last seven days:
- Guild Wars 2 (down 6 to 18)
- Global Agenda (UP 3 to #13)
-
Stargate Resistance (UP 3 to #15)
-
size="-1">12/1
- href="http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/464-answer-the-call-of-war">LotRO:
Siege of Mirkwood (expansion) -
size="-1">12/1
- href="http://www.eveonline.com/Dominion/">EVE
Online: Dominion (expansion) -
size="-1">12/15
- href="http://everquest.station.sony.com/everquest.vm">EverQuest:
Underfoot (expansion) -
size="-1">1/26
- href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2389">Mass
Effect 2
(release date) -
size="-1">2/1
- href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/926">Global
Agenda (release date) -
size="-1">
style="font-weight: bold;">2/1
- href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1004">Mortal
Online (release date) -
size="-1">2/2
size="-1">
- Star
Trek Online (release date) -
size="-1">2/10
- href="http://www.stargateresistance.com/">Stargate
Resistance (release date) -
size="-1">2/16
- href="http://everquest2.station.sony.com/expansions/sentinelsfate/index.vm">EverQuest
2: Sentinel's Fate (expansion)
Releases
-
size="-1">March
2010
- href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/998">APB -
size="-1">
style="font-weight: bold;">Spring 2010
- href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/1801">Mytheon -
size="-1">TBA
2010
- href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/taxonomy/term/2079">Final
Fantasy XIV
-
size="-1">
style="font-weight: bold;">Spring 2011
- href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/swtor">Star Wars:
The Old
Republic
Loading... Daily
Martuk, our dedicated newshound, spent the better part of yesterday evening knifing his eyeballs with a pile of legal documents to confirm that the rumors are true: Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment is insolvent. In a roundabout way, we've confirmed that the company filed for Chapter 11 on February 12th, days before the release of Stargate Resistance, CME's online-only 3rd person shooter set in the popular sci-fi universe.
Whatever your opinion of CME and the future of Stargate Worlds, this news is both good and bad. I'm no bankruptcy expert, but I spoke with a business lawyer friend this morning and learned a few things about Chapter 11.
First, Chapter 11 is the most flexible of your bankruptcy options - it's a reorganization of debt rather than waving the white flag of liquidation. In other words, the debtor (CME, in this case) usually retains their assets, but must work to the benefit of its creditors under the direction of the court. Famous Chapter 11 bankruptcies include names like Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, General Motors, Chrysler, and Delta Air Lines. So, as at least some of those names will tell you, CME is by no means finished, especially since it's a privately held concern and not open to the vicissitudes of the stock exchange. That said, look for a game developer that went through Chapter 11 and emerged victorious and you will find none. Delta can cut back on flights, GM can make better cars, but it takes either serious money or incredible ideas to make money in games development, and failed devcos seldom have access to either.
More importantly, however, is that Stargate Resistance players won't see their game servers disappear anytime soon, at least for the next four months (120 days - which, pending divine intervention, is the minimum amount of time something like this can take). That's especially true since SR is CME's largest (only?) revenue stream at the moment.
Given the rocks and hard places that CME has slithered out from under before, there's a chance that the company could survive with the Stargate IP, if nothing else. To me, that's the worst case scenario for Stargate Worlds fans, since CME would have the license but a very slim chance to raising the funding necessary to make the game. But if the court deems management ineffective or dishonest (which seems likely, given CME's rocky history including allegations that employees went unpaid for more than a hundred days in late 2008), they'll appoint a trustee to handle CME's side of the process.
If that happens, it's hard to tell how this will shake out. With the cold reception of Stargate Resistance, CME is going to have a tough time convincing anyone their next title will cover what they owe. And, as in real life, if you can't prove you can pay your debts given time, you'll have to give up the McMansion. The Stargate license is by far the juiciest asset that CME has, meaning there will be enormous pressure to either sell it off to the highest bidder or relinquish it to a major creditor. If CME refuses to confirm the creditors' plan or create a plan that its creditors will accept, the court will likely convert the case to a Chapter 7 liquidation. And that'll be all she wrote for CME.
Metro Goldwyn Meyer (MGM), the license holder for Stargate, is probably anxious to get the Stargate IP back at this point, before its good name is dragged through any more court filings. There's a good chance that the license reverts to MGM in case of liquidation, too, in which case they might choose to sit on it until a proven, published developer expresses interest. This is not a bad thing for Stargate Worlds - look no further than Star Trek Online for a game that saw the light of day 18 months after its original developer went the way of the mastodon.
Must CME die so Stargate Worlds might live? I think so. What's your take? Share it in the Loading… href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=49718">forum and have a great weekend.!
Shayalyn's Epic Thread of
the Day
From our Tavern of the Ten Ton Hammer forum
What would you think of a Shadowrun MMO?
WARNING: This post was necroed from its mid-2007 slumber, but it's open for business again!
Volamunn
has an idea for a new MMOG based on an existing IP. "I know there's a
few people in here familiar with table-top PnP games," he says, "But
for those that aren't, or are not familiar with Shadowrun in
particular,
I'll give a brief explanation of what Shadowrun is." He tells us a bit
about this cyberpunk pen-and-paper game,
and adds that "a Shadowrun MMO would be a genre-encompassing giant. I
would love to see it done and done right." It seems folks agree with
him. If you're among them, or you'd simply like to speculate about IPs
that would make great MMOGs, join us!
==============================
Awesome Quotes from the
Epic Thread
"I would love a Shadowrun MMO. I think the table top game is a
lot of fun. That and I would really get into another sci-fi/fantasy
type MMO."
- slessman
==============================
Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? Tell
us!
New and Exclusive Content
Today at Ten Ton Hammer
3 new Ten Ton Hammer
features today! 86 in February! 201
in 2010!
FEATURES & GUIDES
Global Agenda Intermediate PvE Guide
http://www.tentonhammer.com/globalagenda/guides/medium_pve
You've
conquered the Low Security bracket. It's time to take off those
training wheels! Medium Security is where death comes often and in the
form of grenade volleys and hails of bullets from the miniguns and
cannons of your new opponents. We give you the tips needed to survive
the robotic onslaught of Global Agenda!
Star Trek Online: The Traveler's Guide - Episode 3
http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/features/the_traveler_episode3
The
universe is an awfully big place and it would take more than a human
lifetime to see it all. Realizations like that make the idea of a
personal tour guide sound pretty good, don't they? Today's your lucky
day then, because we (allegedly) smuggled none other than The Traveler
onto a Federation ship to bring us weekly images from every quadrant of
the galaxy and beyond just for you!
WoW Loremaster's Corner #3: The Many Failures of Deathwing
http;//www.tentonhammer.com/wow/lore/deathwingsfailures
The
Loremaster's Corner, a spinoff from The Overpull, is here again this
week to talk about the lore of World of Warcraft. This week we're going
to start our first of many talks on the future endboss, Deathwing. He's
threatening, he's big, and he's crazy just like all endbosses should
be. But who is he and why is he in the spotlight all of a sudden? Read
our latest Loremaster's Corner to find out.
Today's
Hottest Articles and Guides
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80902">Love
Connections: Developers' First
Gaming Loves - Star Trek Online: The Traveler's Guide - Episode 3
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/81065">Stargate
Resistance PC Review href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/81065">
-
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/81024">Defining
the Lore of Guild Wars 2
- A Q&A with
ArenaNet's Jeff Grubb -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/81085">Allods
Online Archetype Interview
Series Part 2 - The Healer href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80983"> style="font-weight: bold;"> -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80983">
style="font-weight: bold;">Bioshock 2
Review -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/globalagenda/editorials/whatclass">
style="font-weight: bold;">Global Agenda
Questionnaire - Which
Class is Right for You -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/sto/features/crafting_guide">Star
Trek Online
- Memory Alpha Crafting Guide -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80976">
style="font-weight: bold;">EQ2 Battleground
Preview -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80680">EVE
Online href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80680">
Sins of a Solar Spymaster #38: Self-Immolation for Fun and Profit -
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/80808">Top
10
PvP MMOGs
Thanks
for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer
network!
- Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle
and the
Ten Ton Hammer team
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Stargate Worlds Game Page.