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IGDA Announces Dr. Tim Langdell has stepped down from IGDA Board

Just got this email

IGDA Announces Dr. Tim Langdell has stepped down from IGDA Board

Monday Aug. 31st, Mt. Royal, NJ: The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) today announced that Tim Langdell has resigned from the IGDA Board of Directors, effective immediately. Dr Langdell had served on the Board since March 2009.

The resignation means that Dr Langdell's seat on the Board is vacated, and will be up for election in early 2010. The special meeting called for the membership in Oct. on this matter will no longer take place.
 

Beaulieu

Member
thats funny because another board member stepped down this week :

Bob Bates to Pursue “Dream Project”
Steps Down as IGDA Co-Chair

Mt. Royal, New Jersey – August 27, 2009 – The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) today announced that Bob Bates has told the IGDA Board of Directors that he is stepping down from his responsibilities as the Co-Chair of the organization after more than six years on the board to pursue a project that he has considered for more than a decade. Bates’ responsibilities will be taken over by Co-Chair Tobi Saulnier, who took on the role of co-chair at the beginning of August, and is currently leading the Board as it makes plans for the upcoming IGDA Leadership Forum in November.

Bates served in multiple roles during his time on the board, including chair of several committees, secretary, vice-chairman and chairman (2005 & 2009). During his tenure the organization grew from 5,000 members to over 13,000. He initiated a complete overhaul of the association’s technical infrastructure, and earlier this year oversaw the association’s transition to a new executive director.

“There are only a few times in life when the opportunity arises to work on one’s dream project,” said Bates. “Such an opportunity is before me now, and pursuing it will mean I cannot give the IGDA the level of attention I feel is required of a board member or Chair. It has been an honor to serve the organization, but I know that with Executive Director Joshua Caulfield and Co-Chair Tobi Saulnier at the helm, and with the help of our countless volunteers, the IGDA will continue to deliver on our mission of improving the lives and careers of professional game developers everywhere. I have been planning on pursuing this project for some time now, but wanted to ensure that the right team was in place to take the association to the next level. With Tobi and Joshua working together with the rest of the board and volunteer leadership, I feel comfortable with the timing of my decision.”

"Bob was a great leader for this organization, and we'll be sorry to see him take a seat on the sidelines," said Saulnier. "At the same time, we all know what it's like to have a chance to go for it!"

“Bob has been a fantastic mentor during my time with the IGDA,” said Joshua Caulfield, executive director of the IGDA. “It’s not often you can work with the guy who literally “wrote the book” on how the industry works. The good news is that I had the opportunity to know a great game developer and human being, and better yet, I still have his phone number."


This message was sent by: IGDA, 19 Mantua Road, Mt Royal, NJ 08061

I wonder if he did that to put pressure on the IDGA to kick out Langdell...
Well if he did, I'd say it worked pretty well.
 
Damn it. I was going to make that EDGE joke, but was beaten.

It's a good first step, but now stop threatening people with lawsuits because they want to use a common four letter word in their product name.
 
TelemachusD said:
It's a good first step, but now stop threatening people with lawsuits because they want to use a common four letter word in their product name.

It's ok if you've got a valid claim to the word (Apple vs Apple)
But the status of his trademark is pretty dubious, especially when he seems to have been doctoring evidence to protect his marks in the past.
 

bard

Member
Graphics Horse said:
It's ok if you've got a valid claim to the word (Apple vs Apple)
But the status of his trademark is pretty dubious, especially when he seems to have been doctoring evidence to protect his marks in the past.

Agreed on Apple vs. Apple. But do you think Apple (or any company with a common-use name like that) would pursue similar claims as fervently? If Apple was a game developer, could I sell a game called Apple Harvest without them bugging me?
 

Campster

Do you like my tight white sweater? STOP STARING
Graphics Horse said:
It's ok if you've got a valid claim to the word (Apple vs Apple)
But the status of his trademark is pretty dubious, especially when he seems to have been doctoring evidence to protect his marks in the past.

Well he definitely owns the trademark THE EDGE. The purportedly falsified evidence was used to make his brand look more important than it really is/was. Namely, faking a copy of EDGE magazine that had a "Special inside! EDGE computers!" label on it. The implication was that EDGE, a well known and respected computer games journal, found EDGE computers to be so relevant and important they'd put it on the cover. And since Langdell claims all of these companies are licensing the word "EDGE" from him, clearly his brand is super important and awesome and worthy of trademark protection despite A) Its generic nature and B) The fact that THE EDGE seems to do little else than license its name out to companies.

edgemagazine.png
 
bard said:
Agreed on Apple vs. Apple. But do you think Apple (or any company with a common-use name like that) would pursue similar claims as fervently? If Apple was a game developer, could I sell a game called Apple Harvest without them bugging me?

I'd hope they wouldn't, no, Indeed I don't think he ever released a game with 'Edge' in the title, but seemed to invent ones which did, probably for that reason.

The Bookerman said:

This video is not available in your country due to copyright restrictions. >:|
 
Campster said:
Well he definitely owns the trademark THE EDGE. The purportedly falsified evidence was used to make his brand look more important than it really is/was. Namely, faking a copy of EDGE magazine that had a "Special inside! EDGE computers!" label on it. The implication was that EDGE, a well known and respected computer games journal, found EDGE computers to be so relevant and important they'd put it on the cover. And since Langdell claims all of these companies are licensing the word "EDGE" from him, clearly his brand is super important and awesome and worthy of trademark protection despite A) Its generic nature and B) The fact that THE EDGE seems to do little else than license its name out to companies.

There's also the doctoring covers of a Marvel comic to fit 'THE EDGE' too!

http://chaosedge.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/the-products-of-the-edge-empire/
 

Patrick Klepek

furiously molesting tim burton
Langdell commented on the news on the IGDA boards...

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/698825/Tim-Langdell-Steps-Down-From-IGDA.html

His comments in full:

Tim Langdell Steps Down From IGDA Board
August 31, 2009

With the process barely started leading up to the Special Meeting announced last Friday and set to take place on October 3, it is already clear to me that despite my being confident that thinking members of the IGDA will vote for me to remain on the board for the balance of my term, there is a contingent who were involved in sending the defamatory email to all members by exploiting the IGDA email system a few weeks ago who in their fanaticism will cause substantial negative press for the IGDA over the next month and place intolerable demands on the board and IGDA staff. And while I am confident that were the needed quorum of at least 50% of the voting membership to be achieved at the Special Meeting that the vote would go in favor of my remaining on the board, my fear is that a quorum will not be attained and that consequently this vocal minority will not accept the outcome of the October 3rd meeting as bringing closure to this issue.

My great fear, then, is that this vocal minority -- most of whom are not IGDA members -- will continue their negative attacks on the IGDA beyond October 3, refusing to accept the outcome of my remaining on the board. It seems nearly certain they will continue to generate even more negative press for the IGDA for weeks or even months to come and persist in causing substantial drain on IGDA board volunteer and staff resources and time, which is not in the interests of either the IGDA or its membership. Especially not at this time when all key IGDA resources should be focused on the Leadership Forum, not on dealing with this issue.

Thus with the best interests of the IGDA at heart, and mindful of the unfair demand on the time of my fellow board members and our truly excellent IGDA staff, including the remarkable Joda Sapp and our incomparable new ED Joshua Caulfield, I therefore announce my decision to resign as a member of the board of the IGDA, effective immediately. I make this decision not because I have done anything wrong -- on the contrary I am confident that all accusations against me were unfounded and purely intended to defame, and am confident that I have at all times acted in the best interest of the IGDA and its membership -- but because I must make this decision between concluding a process that will show I did no wrong, and having that process irreparably damage the IGDA, I cannot permit the latter to happen. This has to drive my decision today, taking priority over defending myself against these accusations to a conclusion. There are some who will take my stepping down as an admission of wrongdoing, but they are the same people who if the October 3 Special Meeting had gone ahead resulting in my remaining on the board would have refused to accept that outcome.

Last, I wish to say that the board is full of some incredible people, and you, the membership of the IGDA, are in excellent hands. For my part, I believe I made a solid contribution to the Association in my time on the board, taking on oversight of the web project which was not as advanced as we would have hoped, as head of web tech these past months, I was able to bring round so that the new website should now be able to go live very shortly. I am sorry that I will not personally be overseeing the launch of the new website, but I know that this process is in the excellent hands of a colleague on the board.

I will remain an active member of the IGDA, still supporting it in any way I can as a regular member, and still serving on some fifteen SIGs; indeed my departure from the board will give me more time to devote to supporting the SIGs.


__________________
Dr. Tim Langdell
CEO, EDGE Games, Inc.​
 

Campster

Do you like my tight white sweater? STOP STARING
Graphics Horse said:
I'd hope they wouldn't, no, Indeed I don't think he ever released a game with 'Edge' in the title, but seemed to invent ones which did, probably for that reason.


Oh, he totally and undeniably did. The whole "EDGY" debacle where he licensed the word "EDGY" immediately after Mobigame proposed it. Licensing the name "Edge of Twilight" this past June despite the real Edge of Twilight being around for much longer. The "Souledge" debacle that resulted in the ancestor of Soul Calibur to have its name changed. And then there's the potential trademarking he does like "soul spore" and "spore edge" that seem like they exist so that he could potentially in time sue EA. None of these have ever been turned into games, and in fact the EDGY trademark was killed only a few months after it was registered (May->Now).

The guy is a horrible fuck who is either one of the filthiest scumbags I've ever encountered or who is genuinely pathologically insane and doesn't believe he's doing anything wrong and feels constantly victimized.
 

chubigans

y'all should be ashamed
it is already clear to me that despite my being confident that thinking members of the IGDA will vote for me to remain on the board for the balance of my term, there is a contingent who were involved in sending the defamatory email to all members by exploiting the IGDA email system a few weeks ago who in their fanaticism will cause substantial negative press for the IGDA over the next month and place intolerable demands on the board and IGDA staff.

Man I love this guy.
 
Campster said:
The guy is a horrible fuck who is either one of the filthiest scumbags I've ever encountered or who is genuinely pathologically insane and doesn't believe he's doing anything wrong and feels constantly victimized.

It's weird, I'm sure he can't be making that much money from all this shit, unless there are people who went along with his demands of giving him 10% of past and future profits.
 
So all he did there was some web development stuff? Despite his own site being pretty hideous? And IGDA felt it was important enough that he stay on to do that despite actively goading developers and attempting to exploit them?
 

Campster

Do you like my tight white sweater? STOP STARING
Graphics Horse said:
It's weird, I'm sure he can't be making that much money from all this shit, unless there are people who went along with his demands of giving him 10% of past and future profits.

Honestly I have no idea. But I mean, he tries to have his cake and eat it too. He is simulatneously:

1. The CEO of one of the most important and oldest game companies in the world, with licensing deals for magazines, games, computer equipment and even movies! Langdell alone has credited himself with over 700 titles (and that's an incomplete list!). His brand name and trademarks are so ubiquitous in the games industry that clearly Edge of Twilight and Mobigame's Edge were destined to create brand confusion! Also, Mobigame's Edge was clearly based around Bobby Bearing, the rockin'est 80's arcade hit you've ever played! Yeah!

-And-

2. A totally small indie developer who is getting stomped on by the big boys. :( He just wants to occasionally release Bobby Bearing to mobile devices and make a quiet living, you guys! Stop trampling on the little guy who worked so hard to get where he is! Not every game needs to be released on a huge platform or sell more than a hundred or two copies to let him still count as a developer! Just because you can't prove he's released a damned thing in the past 12 years or has ever actually used most of those trademarks doesn't mean he didn't try dammit! Stop attacking the IGDA with your evil conspiracies! Stop spreading utter lies with your 'court records' and 'public documents' to make him look like a complete asshole!

It's just surreal. He's a complete megalomaniac and the victim you desperately need to feel sorry for because the rest of the world is out to get him.

At no point does he seem to level with anybody; at no point has he seemed to have been intellectually honest about any of this - what his company actually does, his interest in trademarking random words and then not using them, his overly litigious nature, the evidence that he's falsified evidence in court, the fact that he's likely the only employee at EDGE, the conflict of interest with his being on the board of the IGDA, the history of developers he didn't pay, the fact that EDGE hasn't released anything of substance in 12 years, the weird adoption of defunct Eastern European games as his own... It's seriously disconcerting to me that he can't even cop to basic stuff that anyone with a cursory knowledge of this situation could call him on; he just dodges it entirely and accuses people of making up wild claims of wrongdoing. It's frustrating because it belies a man who is entirely impossible to reason with, who seems to actually warp his interpretation of reality to fit his own needs.

Then you get crap like that Escapist article that just glosses over the whole thing, or the fact that most "game journalists" are too busy circle-jerking over the latest Halo ODST and Heavy Rain previews to cover this. The whole situation is crazy.
 

squall211

Member
Campster said:
Honestly I have no idea. But I mean, he tries to have his cake and eat it too. He is simulatneously:

1. The CEO of one of the most important and oldest game companies in the world, with licensing deals for magazines, games, computer equipment and even movies! Langdell alone has credited himself with over 700 titles (and that's an incomplete list!). His brand name and trademarks are so ubiquitous in the games industry that clearly Edge of Twilight and Mobigame's Edge were destined to create brand confusion! Also, Mobigame's Edge was clearly based around Bobby Bearing, the rockin'est 80's arcade hit you've ever played! Yeah!


lol where has he ever claimed this? I'm not doubting you at all, I genuinely want to read where he's made this claim.
 

Campster

Do you like my tight white sweater? STOP STARING
squall211 said:
lol where has he ever claimed this? I'm not doubting you at all, I genuinely want to read where he's made this claim.


http://www.edgegames.com/ Click on "Games." Now granted those are games he credits EDGE with rather than himself, but Langdell has yet to show he (and potentially his wife) aren't the only employees at this company.

I mean, he counts the upcoming release of Bobby Bearing for the iPhone (if it even exists) as six games. How? English, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish versions!
 

squall211

Member
Campster said:
http://www.edgegames.com/ Click on "Games." Now granted those are games he credits EDGE with rather than himself, but Langdell has yet to show he (and potentially his wife) aren't the only employees at this company.

I mean, he counts the upcoming release of Bobby Bearing for the iPhone (if it even exists) as six games. How? English, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish versions!


Man, that's awesome. I honestly thought you were lying about the English, French, German etc. releases counting as separate games. :lol
 

Goron2000

best junior ever
According to his site he owns the trademarks to:

EDGE
THE EDGE
GAMER'S EDGE
EDGE GAMES
CUTTING EDGE
EDGEGAMERS

I personally am looking forward to his upcoming multi-platform game "MIRRORS by EDGE" :lol
 
Excellent news. Hopefully his whole trademark scam can be shut down as well.
That resignation letter is vomit-inducing though. Yes Timmy, you're such a martyr.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
well this is an awesome note to end a shitty day on

thank god, I was worried I was about to go to bed sad
 
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