While Silicon Knights had made some serious headway in their case agains Epic Games regarding the failure of Too Human and how it relates to the Unreal Engine, it looks Epic Games has conversely scored a “win” of their own. In the case, which was approved for trial early last year, one expert witness’s testimony has been thrown out for reasons that the courts nor Silicon Knights will reveal.

There is however, still a ton of evidence — from witness testimonies to official documents — that Silicon Knights have working in their favor. Testimony aside, Epic Games looks to have an uphill battle ahead of them as they are tried for Fraud, Unfair Competition, Deceptive Trade Practices, Breach of Warranty, and Breach of Contract.

For those who might not be familiar with the case, it essentially comes down to Silicon Knights blaming Epic Games for a large part of the failures in Too Human. SK claims that Epic held back certain parts of the Unreal Engine — failing to deliver regular updates and whatnot — but were still collecting licensing fees in order to fund development on what was to become Gears of War. Epic was ostensibly ensuring the success of their product, but, as Silicon Knights claims, they were letting other projects flounder under antequated technology.

The case has been officially approved for trial, but is only just getting started. Considering Too Human was released way back in 2008, that you should give you some perspective on how slow our judicial system works.

Though Silicon Knights should still be on the receiving end of a good part of the Too Human complaints, if this jury finds in favor of SK it could completely change the way gamers look at that colossal disappointment. Touted as the first part of a Norse-inspired sci-fi tale, Too Human was a game that was hyped beyond belief but was held back for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was its gameplay.

Since Too Human, Silicon Knights has struggled to find a traditional “hit” — this year they released the hugely disappointing X-Men: Destiny — but most gamers would like them to retry Too Human, hopefully with better results. Perhaps if Silicon Knights can win this case against Epic, that would give them the fervor to move forward with a Too Human sequel.

If Epic Games were to be found guilty of the charges, would be more lenient towards Silicon Knights for Too Human’s failure? Do you think Epic Games’ keeping the “best version” of Unreal for themselves is fair considering they created it?

Source: Industry Gamers