The latest in the battle between Too Human developer Silicon Knights and Unreal Engine 3 peddler Epic games, which has already seen an initial suit followed by a countersuit, is a harsh dismissal of Epic’s claim by Silicon Knight’s attorney Christopher T. Holland.
"We don’t think Epic’s counterclaim has any merit. We believe strongly that our claims in our complaint will prevail and the damages Silicon Knights has suffered in connection with its original complaint are vastly more, millions of dollars more than what Epic claims its damages are in its counterclaim. They’ve set forth $650,000 and our claims will dwarf that substantially."
The countersuit by Epic Games claims that Silicon Knights is guilty of copyright infringement and breach of contract, but pales in comparison to Silicon Knights’ original claim againt the Gears of War creators. In the midst of all this legal warfare, Holland assures the gaming community that Too Human won’t be affected any further, and from here on out, everything will be biscuits and gravy.
"The lawsuit itself will not have any effect on Too Human. The lawsuit is based on substantial delay and damage that Epic caused us, but through our own sweat and toil, we have created a new and better game engine, in our view, that we’re utilizing now. We basically had to do ourselves what we paid Epic to do. As a result, we are back on track and this game is going to come out in a timely fashion."
From a gamer’s perspective, I have to remain optimistic in this situation. Silicon Knights have gone ahead with their own engine, and are building the game from the ground up, thus avoiding any comprimise in their design. Even though it has been delayed roughly forever, I still expect Too Human to be a stellar title.
Now I’m off to find some biscuits and gravy…
