[Dean Ashcroft]

You are correct that the 36 months starts after the NoA has been issued. However, I disagree to an extent with your implication. If my interpretation is correct, then I don't think they can use the mark until after the application has cleared the Opposition hurdle and Zenimax has been issued a Notice of Allowance.

But Oblivion was announced before they even started the publication for opposition for the live Oblivion trademark.

[i grind hard]

But Oblivion was announced before they even started the publication for opposition for the live Oblivion trademark.

Which one?

EDIT: Nevermind...all of them apparently were after a quick glance at the database. Well, I guess we can just forget about that then... :whistling:

[Noely Ulloa]

Podcast 3! Which included some F:NV info. Cool. So... *Starts waiting for Podcast 4*

[Chris Johnston]

Guess what happened on 9/28?

Awe, come on... guess...

Spoiler

The CURRENT Skyrim trademark was Published for Opposition!!

Now if you guessed wrong, you lose. And you don't care. If you guessed right, then the following might mean something to you:

The trademark for Oblivion (the second mark, the living mark, not the dead mark) followed this timeline:

12/17/2004 - Approved For Pub - Principal Register (i.e. published for opposition)

3/20/2006 - TESIV: Oblivion Release Date

1 yr 3 months from this date until release.

Now if this were exactly followed, and they announced the game today, it would still be the shortest time between an announcement and a release for a TES game, should it be Skyrim.

Just something interesting to ponder for those who keep an eye on the trademark stuff. Don't get your panties in a bunch and go all "trademarks are meaningless and there is nothing to glean from this" because I was just making an interesting thought into words that some people might find interesting (but most will not).

Also, Oblivion was announced on 9/10/2004, so hopefully that means an announcement is imminent since they already announced Oblivion before they did the opposition.

[Jason Rice]

Also, Oblivion was announced on 9/10/2004, so hopefully that means an announcement is imminent since they already announced Oblivion before they did the opposition.

Doesn't opposition simply means that when an other company has tried to trademark a certain name, you can file opposition because you can prove you have the right to call dibs on that name, EVEN WHEN YOU ARE NOT GOING TO USE IT?

If I want to registers "Wookie", then George Lucas's lawyer will probably file an opposition for that name too. Does that mean they're going to make a new star wars movie, or a game called Wookie?

[Wayne Cole]

Doesn't opposition simply means that when an other company has tried to trademark a certain name, you can file opposition because you can prove you have the right to call dibs on that name, EVEN WHEN YOU ARE NOT GOING TO USE IT?

If I want to registers "Wookie", then George Lucas's lawyer will probably file an opposition for that name too. Does that mean they're going to make a new star wars movie, or a game called Wookie?

From my understanding, Published for Opposition is simply another step in the process of acquiring the trademark. It does not mean that somebody is currently opposing them but simply the start of a period of time in which if somebody does have issues with their trademark then they can make those issues known and oppose it.

Overall, I think the only information that can be gathered from this is the fact that Bethesda is moving forward with SKYRIM in the trademark process, and that is a very encouraging thought.

[Jordan Moreno]

From my understanding, Published for Opposition is simply another step in the process of acquiring the trademark. It does not mean that somebody is currently opposing them but simply the start of a period of time in which if somebody does have issues with their trademark then they can make those issues known and oppose it.

Overall, I think the only information that can be gathered from this is the fact that Bethesda is moving forward with SKYRIM in the trademark process, and that is a very encouraging thought.

That is correct. Publication for Opposition is just a step in the application process.

[Tammie Flint]

From my understanding, Published for Opposition is simply another step in the process of acquiring the trademark. It does not mean that somebody is currently opposing them but simply the start of a period of time in which if somebody does have issues with their trademark then they can make those issues known and oppose it.

Overall, I think the only information that can be gathered from this is the fact that Bethesda is moving forward with SKYRIM in the trademark process, and that is a very encouraging thought.

'Any person who believes that he would be damaged by the registration of the mark may file an opposition thereto, but the opposition may be filed only as a timely response to the publication of the of the mark...'
Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Manual of Procedure (TBMP), Section 102.02.


I don't speak attorney, but I think it's pretty clear that "response" means that an other company tries to register a name and that you have the right to step in to prevent it without having to go through lawsuits and whatnot.

So an other company has tried to register SKYRIM and Bethesda stepped in to prevent it from happening. If Bethesda doesn't do this, then they would have to file a lawsuit if they 'ever' plan on using that name and probably lose. (okay, your franchise has a province called Skyrim since 1995 but you didn't bother to file an opposition when a company registered the trademark in 2010; so bad luck buddy...)


EDIT: Oh, wait. Yeah, published FOR opposition. My bad.

[Micah Judaeah]

The last news for Fallout New Vegas was yesterday. The last REAL news for TES V was June third. That means there is still a lot they are putting into the game (hopefully), and since Oblivion was released in, what, 2006? TES V should've been released by now, but since we don't even have any news on it, they're probably giving themselves an extra year or two to really polish up their game. They might actually make it a fan-based game, not a casual head-puncher.

[Lakyn Ellery]

The last news for Fallout New Vegas was yesterday. The last REAL news for TES V was June third. That means there is still a lot they are putting into the game (hopefully), and since Oblivion was released in, what, 2006? TES V should've been released by now, but since we don't even have any news on it, they're probably giving themselves an extra year or two to really polish up their game. They might actually make it a fan-based game, not a casual head-puncher.

The last news we got on the progress of TES V was in August, during Quakecon. In an interview with Todd we found out they have not been working on it since Oblivion, but rather since the completion of Fallout 3, or 2 years total. Look at the first post of this thread and the links in it for more info.

[Andrew]

By the way, Antibody, can you post that section of the interview with Todd Howard from the recent magazine again?

Perhaps that part can be put in the first post for anyone to see what Todd Howard said specifically of what they changed, which is really interesting.

[Life long Observer]

By the way, Antibody, can you post that section of the interview with Todd Howard from the recent magazine again?

Perhaps that part can be put in the first post for anyone to see what Todd Howard said specifically of what they changed, which is really interesting.

Agreed...that may also serve to help jump start a better discussion than this current discussion on the very unreliable trademarks.

[Helen Quill]

In that interview, Todd specifically stated that he was "hard-pressed" to think of any technical aspect they didn't go back and replace. Animation, AI, rendering, and even the scripting language are some of the things Todd Howard said that they rebuilt.

Rebuilding the scripting language makes me especially excited, since that means events and characters will react more smoothly instead of the jarring transitions in scripts that occurred in Oblivion and Fallout 3.

[Megan Stabler]

Rebuilding the scripting language makes me especially excited, since that means events and characters will react more smoothly instead of the jarring transitions in scripts that occurred in Oblivion and Fallout 3.

I hadn't ever noticed these "jarring transitions," and I've played both games. Care to give an example so that I have an idea of what not to look forward to? Maybe then I'll be as excited as you. ^_^

EDIT: So as not to have mods breathing down our necks for going off-topic, perhaps former and future scripting languages should have a dedicated thread.

[Marie]

By the way, Antibody, can you post that section of the interview with Todd Howard from the recent magazine again?

Perhaps that part can be put in the first post for anyone to see what Todd Howard said specifically of what they changed, which is really interesting.

Sure thing:

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1113334-official-tes-v-speculation-thread-64/page__view__findpost__p__16358663

The post:

==================================

So I went down to Borders to find the new issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly and read the interview with Todd. Wow, that was a really good interview. So good, in fact, that despite sitting down and reading it all in the store, I still bought it just so I could read it again in the future. I suggest anybody who loves Todd or just loves Bethesda find it somewhere and read it. It's about 5-6 pages long.

Here are some quotes:

Interviewer: So are you happy with your progress [on the next project] so far?

Todd: Yeah, it's awesome, I'm ready to show it. It's a much bigger jump than Oblivion to Fallout 3. Much, much bigger in terms of fidelity, stuff on the screen, everything. I'm hard-pressed to think of a part we haven't ripped out and replaced. Rendering, animation, AI, interfaces, everything. New scripting language. We would take chunks out at a time, rework it, and put it back in. We need to have a stable codebase that's always up to prototype things.

And here's that part Controlled Chaos was talking about where Todd "almost let it slip:"

Todd: [continuing]...But I still sit down to play Oblivion, I sat down a couple weeks ago to play Shivering Isles, just to play again. I have a lot of fun in that game still.

Interviewer: I remember you told me a while ago, that before you make a new game in the Elder Scrolls series you go back and play all the previous games.

Todd: I don't play them all, I'll go back and look at them.

Interviewer: So it may have been just coincidental you were playing Shivering Isles?

Todd: No it- it was coincidental.

Interviewer: We're not giving anything away here?

Todd: [Smiles a knowing grin. Politely refusing to speak.]

Interviewer: Okay. You have to be careful what you say to me, because I remember everything.

-Interview ends-

I personally don't think he came close at all to letting it slip. Seems to me it really was coincidental, even though he's almost certainly making TES V. :shrug:

And he talked about how hard it was making Oblivion for the next console generation. Part of what he said was:

Interviewer: Speaking of, shipping Oblivion for the new consoles was tough.

Todd: Yeah, that was a rough time. That was a mad technical rush into the unknown for us. We definitely had our ducks in line to try and make launch. We found out there's a good reason people don't do 200-hour RPGs for console launches. The fact that we only missed by 4 months is...

Interviewer: It's pretty remarkable!

Todd: I think it's remarkable, to be honest... Before they launched, we probably had final hardware for four months.

Anyway, those quotes are all a really small part of a long, really good interview. I highly suggest you guys go read it.

==================================

[Rhiannon Jones]

So thats why Oblivion has a bunch of bugs in it they rushed development of it back when the 360 came out, then later the ps3.

I'd be surprised if we don't hear an announcement or a major slip within the next couple months.

[Nick Pryce]

So thats why Oblivion has a bunch of bugs in it they rushed development of it back when the 360 came out, then later the ps3.

I'd be surprised if we don't hear an announcement or a major slip within the next couple months.

They didn't rush development, the problem they had was they were developing a game for a console that was constantly changing before it launched. Like Todd said, they only had the final iteration of the console for about 4 months before they launched the Xbox 360.

[Sweets Sweets]

I'd be surprised if we don't hear an announcement or a major slip within the next couple months.

Well think about it: Their plate is almost completely clear. RAGE won't be coming out until later next year. Brink is already out. New Vegas is done and about to come out (and they'll probably give it a month or so leeway before they think about saying anything about any sort of new blockbuster game). They really don't have much going on right now because all that WAS going on is now released or about to be released.

So they either tell us about some new cool games they're publishing, or they finally tell us what their own studio has been up to all these years. Its one or the other now, and (obviously), we believe its the later of the two options.

[Lily Something]

Brink is already out.

I didn't know it was Spring 2011 already.

[jenny goodwin]

I didn't know it was Spring 2011 already.

Hmm, I could have sworn Brink was out.

Guess not, then.

[Adam Baumgartner]

In response to one of the posts at the top of this page, I'd be interested in what this scripting language change is, I remember back in the day I made my first mod for Morrowind, which was the riddle box to open it. I remember reading that the way Morrowind handled scripts what that it would constantly loop the script to check if its active... This is horribly inefficient!! And I believe Oblivion uses the same type of thing. Maybe someone can clarify this if its wrong.

Also, scripting changes means maybe they will give even more control over things in game (why not? They wouldnt be going backwards...) So this is some good news.

[Antonio Gigliotta]

Can you imagine if this huge new game turned out not to be Elder Scrolls V? In a way it would be kind of funny. Heartbreaking, but funny nonetheless.

[REVLUTIN]

Can you imagine if this huge new game turned out not to be Elder Scrolls V? In a way it would be kind of funny. Heartbreaking, but funny nonetheless.

Yeah it would be, but I dont think they would want to stomp on their fans like that, if it wasnt TES:V I think we would have had an announcement of sorts saying "ITS NOT !@#$ING TES:V PEOPLE!" with all the pestering about a tes:v you know?

[Krista Belle Davis]

There is a big difference between knowing something and infering that it exists. The truth is, we don't have enough information to be 100 per cent sure it's coming. I'm not convinced it's coming until I see the announcement.

Right. And evolution is just a theory.

[Rachyroo]

Right. And evolution is just a theory.

It is a theory. Theory is a hypothesis with enough evidence to reasonably believe it's true, as opposed to a "law," like Newton's stuff, than can be empiracally, mathematically calculated. For example, there is enough evidence to reasonably believe that TESV will be announced within the next six months. However, we can't be 100% certain because we might not have the full picture/can't empirically prove it.