Gas Guzzlers - Delorean

[DMCNI]

Being a petrol head I keep an eye out on new racing video games hitting the market and I found Gas Guzzlers....to my surprise the first image i seen was a car armed to the teeth that looks vaugley familiar.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/02/udysahev.jpg


More details can be found here...

http://www.cinemablend.com/m/games/Gas-Guzzlers-Extreme-First-Impressions-Mario-Kart-Meets-Mad-Max-59996.html

[Kenny_Z]

That looks pretty cool. I like the fact it has both stainless and red DeLoreans in the screenshot.

[DMCNI]

Heres a few more images, the car is called The Deflourator CMD-21.

I like the red one as well Kenny :)

The game also includes a vehicle similar to Mad Max's V8 Intercepter...let the carnage begin.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/03/buzededa.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/03/hu4avudu.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/03/asasu3e5.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/03/ety9uze9.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/11/03/nadary9y.jpg

[LordFly]

Well, it's ..... kind of .... a DeLorean?

[DMCNI]

Yeah not exactly a DeLorean...initially I based my first post on the image I found in the weblink....didnt know any different.

The new pictures are screen dumps from youtube, I found a German review of the game where they went through the vehicles....perhaps licensing laws prevented a proper DeLorean to be used.

[Kenny_Z]

Wow, a lot of wordplay in that name.

I think it's really close. Either they didn't have good references for the rear or someone doesn't like the look of the DeLorean rear and changed it. DeLorean up front, Mustang in the rear.

[DMCNI]

The rear lets the car down...the alloys are like the Hot Wheel DeLorean I think.

[LordFly]

Driver: San Francisco has the REAL DeLorean in it. It claims to be used under license too. Looks pretty good. And the game isn't half bad either :)

22873228742287522876

[RammJaeger]

I own a video game studio and let me tell you licensing fees can really add up. Many studios when they put cars in their game modify them slightly and name them something different. It's not that they don't know how to make the car correct, they just don't want to spend millions of dollars of their budget licensing every single car in their game.

[DeLorean03]

Can you imagine how much money Rockstar Studios saved doing that to every car in GTA5 ?

[dustybarn]

With respect to the appearance of the Delorean, I'm not entirely convinced that they'd have to pay anyone. Perhaps Italdesign might have some claim, depending on how their agreement with the original DMC was written, but I don't know who else would, given that DMC is dissolved and has AFAIK no legal successor. I remember in the original release of the game Grand Prix Legends, neither the Cooper or the Honda had their original names (IIRC they were the "Coventry" and the "Murasama"), but in appearance were dead-ringers for the original cars.

[RammJaeger]

With respect to the appearance of the Delorean, I'm not entirely convinced that they'd have to pay anyone. Perhaps Italdesign might have some claim, depending on how their agreement with the original DMC was written, but I don't know who else would, given that DMC is dissolved and has AFAIK no legal successor. I remember in the original release of the game Grand Prix Legends, neither the Cooper or the Honda had their original names (IIRC they were the "Coventry" and the "Murasama"), but in appearance were dead-ringers for the original cars.

DMCH owns the rights, and the game would have to pay them. That's why DMCH has to approve the hot wheels, models, etc. I'm sure DMCH would have offered them a reasonable deal, but most games just go the easy route and modify the cars a bit. And yes some games just change the names and logos. Really there are three levels of how games handle stuff like this:

1) Spend the money and license the real deal and use the name and likeness. Safe because you have the permission of the IP owner.
2) Make the item look the same but change the name and the logos. Not as safe, as the IP owner might still get fussy and go after you. But many companies will go this route.
3) Change the name, logos, and the likeness. This is safer than number 2, but still not as safe as number one. If you have a high profile and commercially successful game like GTA though, number 2 would be too risky. Basically when there is that much money involved, lawyers WILL get interested if they think there is a decent chance even for a settlement.

I've been doing this for a living for over ten years, and I also keep an IP lawyer on retainer just to make sure I get it right. In our video games we generally go the number 2 route. For us it is weapons as opposed to cars, but the same law and risks apply.

[dustybarn]

I guess I'm not entirely clear on what DMCH actually owns the rights to, given that they are not really legal successors to the original DMC. They *do* own the rights to the stylized DMC logo with beveled border. The original block DMC logo is listed by the USPTO as abandoned.

In the case of Grand Prix Legends, the developers were successfully able to license Brabham, AAR Eagle, Ferrari, and Lotus. IIRC John Cooper refused because of a misunderstanding about what rights the license would have granted, and Honda refused because of Jo Schlesser's death in a Honda in 1968.

[LordFly]

I was under the impression that DMCH bought the rights to EVERYTHING.

[Dangermouse]

Can you imagine how much money Rockstar Studios saved doing that to every car in GTA5 ?

So does anyone have any idea of how much a license fee would be for GTA?

Is it a flat fee or proportional to the sales?