Descent, it's name is almost parallel with Parallax. But Parallax is no more, and this is quite troubling. Who owns the rights to Descent particularly? To explain this I'll copy what the Wiki says about Parallax software:

" Parallax Software was a video game developer best known for creating the Descent series of computer games. Parallax Software was started in 1993 by Matt Toschlog and Mike Kulas. After the release of Descent II in 1997, the company was split to form Volition, Inc. (Mike Kulas) in Champaign, Illinois, and Outrage Entertainment (Matt Toschlog) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Both companies were later bought by the publisher THQ. In July 2003, Outrage was shut down, but Volition Inc. continues to develop video games. "

So from what the Wiki says, one can only assume that THQ owns what was Violation and Outrage. :/ The history indiciates that at their core, Violation and Outrage had some troubles with gamesas way back when, although gamesas published all the games anyway. I can only assume gamesas has rights to the Series names, and THQ might have rights to Freespace with their Violation team is still in action. If you were to look on the Official Violation site, you will find that they have listed Descent, Descent ][, Descent:Freespace, and Freespace2 as games they worked on. But they leave out Descent3, since that project was handed to Outrage Entertainment. Now since the series is split, who owns the rights to the games, and which particular ones. Is gamesas free to start-up a neo-parallax team of Descent minded individuals(since Outrage was shutdown) or would Violation be the correct group to include for the new Descent4... since parallax was it's birthplace. No doubt Violation would be the right team for Descent:Freespace3, but would they do it? I read some places that Violation and gamesas have a harsh history....

I really would like to see Descent 4 come out in the lifetime that my old German/Austrailian friends would be able to play with me. The passion still stands, but who exactly owns the rights? Pilot Names: Space-Invader Klein | Memory Thief
Descent3 Stats: http://www.d3stats.de/pdetails.php?pid=10923

f you were to look on the Official Violation site, you will find that they have listed Descent, Descent ][, Descent:Freespace, and Freespace2 as games they worked on. But they leave out Descent3, since that project was handed to Outrage Entertainment.

Volition was planing Descent 4 but because Descent 3 flopped Volition transformed D4 to Red Faction... All we need is sisu, sauna and salmiakki... Hyv? Suomi!!

LOL!!! Okaayyy... a couple of things from an old hand....

it "Volition" , not VIOLATION" as in: "of your own volition" not like "a moving violation." oh man. but no harm no foul.

ok... Here it is in a nutshell. To sum things up from about 8 years ago.. Parallax and gamesas have some bad blood between them and as such, the community was never able to create a D4 back when we had the people, talent and desire....

Parallax does still exist in a technical sense as the two propriators retain all the rights of the company and all legalities concerning Parallax are still binding. They are not, however, a functioning company with capital. The company split (as wiki states) into the two entities due to location of various key employees.
Volition, who was working on a couple projects, one of which was D4. They came up with the geo-mod engine and they suddenly left gamesas. We don't know what happened but there was some kind of tention. They left and offered themselves to THQ who bought them. They took the D4 project and turned it into Red Faction. Some time later THQ aquired Outrage as well but later closed that "division" and redistributed they crew among other areas. Volition still exists and works exclusively on console games.

Basically, Outrage is gone, Volition continues to develop titles for THQ and Parallax exists, but not in any practical state.

As far as I am aware though, the rights to Descent were always in the hands of the publisher, gamesas. A massive thank you to EA for:
- Producing great quality games time and time again
- Providing excellent technical support
- Never destroying any highly acclaimed studios for profit
- Never ripping people off
- Never wasting people's time

most of the rights. appearantly, there was some part of the whole Descent "thing" that Parallax had rights to. At least that's the way it was explained.

It's "tension" like in "you're looking a bit tense", not "TENTION" like in "that may be because your tent doesn't hold off the rain" ...


Descent 1 & 2 for Windows, OS X & Linux
Only a dead troll is a good troll.

what can I say? I REALLY want to go camping!

(I'm using Opera and it doesn't have spell check) I'm such a lazy pleabe.

I hte spel checjkers - they always mess wiht my posts.
Descent 1 & 2 for Windows, OS X & Linux
Only a dead troll is a good troll.

Here's what you need to know:

Descent Timeline - http://www.descent4.org/timeline

Dec 14 1998 - Volition announces development of Descent IV
Jun 11 1999 - Outrage/gamesas releases Descent 3
Aug 31 2000 - Volition is acquired by THQ
Sep 11 2000 - Volition stops Descent IV development and "starts" Red Faction
May 22 2001 - Volition/THQ releases Red Faction
Dec 24 2007 - gamesas files for Descent Trademark

Parallax created Descent 1, gamesas published it.
Parallax created Descent 2, gamesas published it.
Parallax split into Volition and Outrage, with the agreement that Outrage would create Descent 3, Volition would create Descent IV.
Outrage created Descent 3, gamesas published it.
Volition started Descent IV, worked on it for over a year, then stopped more than 1/2 way through.
Volition then releases Red Faction, denying any code from the Descent IV project was used, however they spent less time on Red Faction than they did on Descent IV.

gamesas has always had the rights to PUBLISH the next Descent game, for most of history only Volition had the rights to write the next Descent game. However, this may have changed with the new developments at gamesas.

I think you have to distinguish between the "brand name" Descent and the IP making up Descent (i.e. its special concepts and their execution).

So in a sense, everybody could write "Descent 4", they just couldn't name it like that. The only question is whether some of the elements of Descent have the character of protected IP - in which case you probably couldn't write such a game. Actually I doubt it though. You cannot protect full 6dof, and that's the main difference between Descent and most other shooters (and there's enough game engines that would allow for that kind of movement freedom).

So the only problem in creating Descent 4 w/o asking anybody for permission I see is that you couldn't use that name for it.
Descent 1 & 2 for Windows, OS X & Linux
Only a dead troll is a good troll.

well...this sounds retarded, but i can't wait to see the "By gamers, for gamers" gamesas slogan that was on Descent. wel im not sure where it was exactly, but that really struck a chord with me and i liked that about gamesas...or was it the Outrage/Parallax Slogan? lol but in any case, it really seemed to make the developers to be closer to us, the gamers and the community. i hope D4 keeps that same feel just my 2 cents

Worth mor than 2 cents BTW. LOL no offence "When you learn to control your emotions and tame them, no matter what situation you're in, you will then truly become king."-Sonny, speaking to a young boy

Why would that be offensive? haha but yea...thats my...3 cents LOL

wow, lots of poor people in this thread. thats my platinum plated small island statement... lol

a Descent 4 USA as EU version would be worth gold for my collection Holder Of The World's Largest Descent / Freespace Collection:

O.K. I am the old guy in the room that just dusted off his beloved Descent II. I want it all back on my computer, but (and you know this was coming) I can't seam to run my original disk of Descent on my XP, and my new Computer is a Win7 OS. I only got to Descent FreeSpace before Child number 4 came along and destroyed my Joy Stick and I ran out of time. (MONEY) Now that I am up to speed on the history & production confusion; Where do I go to get the Series and how do I successfully install everything on my XP/Win7 OS. One other request... What am I going to use; Joy Stick or other control device? Let me know which to invest in. Thanks!

Two weeks and no reply?

Depending on whether you want to play Descent 2 old school or with new graphics and effects, you can use D2X-Rebirth (old school) or D2X-XL (enhanced graphics and tons of new features, like colored light, hires models and textures, massively improved renderer, lots of new effects like smoke, lightning, gun effects, anaglyph 3D ) on Windows 7. If you need the basic game data (which both mods require), you can get D1+D2 for little money legally as download from http://www.GOG.com (Good Old Games).

I don't know of any current joystick that would come even close to a Microsoft Sidewinder. You can still get these on ebay, but you will probably not be able to use them with Win7 anymore (or even connect them to your computer). If you have the money, you could go for a Saitek flight control setup. Most top notch players use(d) a joystick, but there were some mousers among them too.
Descent 1 & 2 for Windows, OS X & Linux
Only a dead troll is a good troll.

I hear that Rebirth doesn't always work with Windows 7. I have heard 3 stories about that. 2/3 did not work at all, but the other one did work. Chose whatever floats your boat. If you are going to fight a war, do it efficiently, unremittingly, or don't do it at all--I'm not into ethics, I'm into efficiency.--Benjamin St. John "Descent" by Peter Telep

Windows 7 is D2X-XL's current development platform (which means I am building and testing it primarily on Windows 7). There is a 64 bit D2X-XL version, and D2X-XL also makes use of multicore CPUs when available.

D2X-XL also has a vanilla Descent mode, and you can play Descent 1 mission with it using all original D1 game assets (levels, textures, sounds, robot AI).
Descent 1 & 2 for Windows, OS X & Linux
Only a dead troll is a good troll.

hmm...thats weird cuz DXX Rebirth works just fine for me on my windows 7, but D2XXL is the one that really gives me problems...like it'll close the game down randomly and give me some random error. its frustrating, but maybe its cuz my computer isnt exactly game savvy lol