Atari bets on Dungeons and Dragons license for 10 more years
2017.
That’s the year Atari (disclaimer: I own ATAR stock in my first life) has paid to extend their licensing to Dungeons & Dragons. Meanwhile, Atari sold back the license to nine Hasbro properties: Monopoly, Scrabble, Risk, Game of Life, Clue, Yahtzee, Battleship, Boggle and Simon.
Atari CEO Patrick Leleu explains:
Dungeons & Dragons is one of the Group’s historic intellectual properties on which we plan to expand our business, relying on one of the largest and most active gamer communities in the world of video games,” commented Patrick Leleu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
Is this a sign that there’s more profit in MMORPG than computerized versions of popular board games? Or is D&D the property making the most money for Atari? This VTOR author is glad to see Atari making this move. I’d rather play D&D Stormreach, or the upcoming Sony PSP game D&D: Tactics.
Please keep gaming in check
A sad D&D-related story pointed to me via fellow VTOR author Lestat that has been bothering me for days about a Reno, Nevada couple who were so addicted to playing D&D online that they were starving their children:
Michael Straw, 25, and Iana Straw, 23, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts each of child neglect. Each faces a maximum 12-year prison sentence. … “They had food; they just chose not to give it to their kids because they were too busy playing video games,”
Absolutely horrible.
July 19th, 2007 • 
TD Goodliffe • 
comment | July 19, 2007 at 12:05 | individual comment-link
In regards to the Reno couple, that story has bothered me for days also. I have decided to not have children for completely unrelated reasons but I would think I would at least keep my kids in the same room with me if I were on the computer playing one of my games. What really gets me is if they were so addicted to their games why didn’t they use part of the 50K to hire someone to take care of their babies and probably the rest of the house. I’m not new to gaming or hard core MMO playing. I was in a raiding guild in EQ1 which had 5 hour raids a few times a week and smaller raids the rest of the week. It really burned me out. So yes technically I could have been called an addict. What always worried me were the couples that played that had young children and would go on these 5 hour raids. Couples that were new parents and even new fathers would not play as much. All I can say is this was only a matter of time that it got so bad to make the news.
comment | July 20, 2007 at 06:01 | individual comment-link
It’s not the game’s fault. People can be completely evil without obsessing on video games. How many neglect cases are prosecuted on a nationwide, worldwide basis without having anything to do with games?
The parents in this case, in my opinion, are sick and possibly just plain broken. They need to have their kids taken away from them and given to folks who (I know for certain) desperately want kids and have struggled for years to be allowed to adopt them. I deplore what these people did.
At the same time, it isn’t about the damned game. People want an excuse, they want an explanation for why someone would be so awful. Well, the explanation is clear. These people are mentally ill and they need to be punished, they need treatment, and then they need to *never* be allowed around kids, pets, or even houseplants again.
comment | July 20, 2007 at 06:05 | individual comment-link
Um, one other thing. D&D is not typically thought of as a board game, even though one was made as its basis. The origins and nature of D&D are here. People are all the time blaming D&D and other roleplaying games for their bad behavior, and here is a link about that.