Being a D&D 3.5 only player, I had little experience with other systems, I never tried pre-3.5 and loved the D20 system, my experience is limited to the storyteller d10 system, D20 3.5 and Saga edition.

Our lifestyles changed, we are not 18 anymore and the hardships of the current economy don't help, so our RPG group stopped playing, I tried to play with my little brothers but they felt that the system was a bit overwhelming and boring at times. Recently we tried 4th edition, we found 4th edition easy to pick and play. I found it annoying that some roleplay based skills were now gone but overall we liked it. And since we also like to play some 3.5 based games, I wondered, who owns the 4th edition license?

Does Atari have the exclusivity of D&D? or just the 3.5 system? For how long?

I wanted to see some 4th editions games... Neverwinter Nights kind of game with 4th edition would be awesome.

Atari has the rights to D&D but any new game will have to use 4th edition because Hasbro don't want people using old rulesets. Which is probably why the D&D re-releases probably took so long to come out.

But unfortunately the announced D&D games are not adaptations from the pen & paper game. Not that it's a bad thing, Badulr's Gate Dark Alliance was great but still I wanted true adaption of the rpg.

And by took so long to come out you actually mean "have been consistently available for years and years in disc collections."

Anyway, I hear 4 is terrible but that could just be idiot chatter, I have no idea. I never played paper RPGs and probably never will, considering I have lovely interactive graphical RPGs on my personal computer. Neverwinter will be my first experience with 4 and I expect that game to suck anyway for entirely different reasons.

Yeah but discs ?= digital. Homeworld and Homeworld 2 are both available on that Sierra classics range but there is no sign of a digital release.

Only terrible in that it is different.
Think of it like a new game sequel that radically alters the mechanics, and as such is flamed by the fanbase at first. If it were a different series, they probably would like it. But it IS different. You compare 3.5 and 4e, they are different in almost every way. I personally like it.
This quote pretty much explains it, may not be exact:
"3.5 is a fantasy world simulator,
4e is a tactical combat game."

EDIT: Okay, how did I so royally screw up posting I quoted someone different?

All depends on what a publisher want to do with a license. Rights holders don't generally care about the content or quality of a game just that it fits certain criteria they lay out to the publisher. If you are after a new Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale you will be disappointed. Atari could do it but they don't want to.

I didn't see the word digital in your statement about re-releases taking so long to come out.

I wasn't being clear in my first statement but that's what I meant. Lot's of games are still available at retail but not on digital downloads.

Which is a real bummer for people who want to be all digital I would guess. I was thinking about it half-seriously the last couple days and one thing that really turned me off was having to keep roughly 40 games from my collection because they are not available anywhere digitally.

What reasons, exactly? I'm sincerely curious, as I have been able to find out next to nothing about Neverwinter, but what I have read at least sounded better than that Daggerdale game, which I believe is loosely (very, very loosely) based on 4th edition as well?...

I have the 4e manuals in PDF format, and have "flipped" through them a few times -- the system does seem more suitable for video games than previous versions, but that doesn't necessarily mean it'll be more enjoyable; just that it will probably be easier to implement. And some of the rules remind me of MMO mechanics, which is scary, to say the least.

Then again, I was introduced to D&D by way of the AD&D 2e rules, which I still prefer, though I enjoyed certain aspects of 3.5 as well. But really, how *good* a 4e CRPG would be depends a lot on the developer I think. And I doubt we'll find anything close to the likes of the Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights series in Neverwinter, and definitely not in Daggerdale... I'll wait for Obsidian to announce development of a 4e-based Baldur's Gate 3 ;) Now, that would be something to look forward to!

Nah, Baldur's gate already got a proper ending.

Wouldn't have to be a direct sequel -- just a game set in the same region, with the same focus on story, party interaction and tactical, group-based pause and play combat. Like what Black Isle was doing with The Black Hound before they were closed down. Or they can make Icewind Dale 3. I'd be cool with that, too.

I fear you are being kind to Cryptic. I unfotunately bought Star Trek: Online Digital Deluxe and it was f**king awful. Still is.