★ GAMES ★ EDITEURS ★ FURIOUS MARTECH TAKES MAG TO COURT ★ |
| Furious Martech takes Mag to Court (New Computer Express) | Games Editeurs |
An angry legal battle has broken out between games publisher Martech and the magazine Commodore User The row could have a knock-on effect on the way magazines review software. Martech is livid because Commodore User has slated its new game Phantom Fighter - allegedly without reviewing a completed version The software house says it only sent editor Mike Pattenden a pre-production demo for preview purposes. The firm claims that this fact was stressed to Pattenden. Last week Martech took the magazine to the High Court in The Strand with the aim of obtaining an injunction to prevent distribution of the magazine. The judge was said to have been sympathetic but due to the extraordinary costs of pulling a mag the injunction was refused. Martech is now set to sue CU's publisher EMAP. "Were as sick as pigs about this,' raged Martech's boss David Martin. “It's a fundamental breach of trust that you have to have with the magazines. The game was clearly a demo. When they asked if it was review-able we told them it wasnt. "I can only guess that Mr Pattenden was trying to be clever. We won't be submitt mg anything to Commodore User while he is editor." He went on: This will have relevance to every software house that sends out demos to magazines. We need to feel comfortable about sending these things out." He added that Phantom Fighter has been received well by all other magazines including CU s sister paper The One, which reviewed the completed version. Aspects of the game which Pattenden had scorned, said Martin, had been ironed out. What has upset Martin even more is that the game was programmed by an Irish development house, Emerald, which he set up in conjunction with the Irish Government. "This was Emerald's first venture and we wanted to show everyone what a great game it is. They will be extremely angry with this." Pattenden point blank refused to comment on the matter. Indeed, EMAP as a whole is currently preferring to remain tight lipped. |
