Detonator Gauntlet renamed, delayed to February

[11.20.99] » Working Designs, facing legal pressure from Midway, renames its upcoming strategy RPG to "Vanguard Bandits."

   A few weeks ago, confusion arose when Working Designs mysteriously and inexplicably removed every instance of the word "Gauntlet" from "Detonator Gauntlet" on the company's homepage. Today, president Victor Ireland publicly explained the reason behind the removal: legal pressure from Midway, which felt that the name "Detonator Gauntlet" was too similar to the name of their flagship title "Gauntlet Legends." Consequently, Detonator Gauntlet has been completely renamed to "Vanguard Bandits" and delayed until February 2000 to modify packaging and advertising campaigns.

   "Detonator Gauntlet got pulled back into the shop (along with all the advertising and promotional materials) because Midway was ready to sue us because it had 'Gauntlet' in the name," Ireland explained. "Anyway, the game formerly known as 'Detonator Gauntlet' is now called 'Vanguard Bandits', and will probably ship in February because that's the earliest we can get new ads in print (mags run about 3 months ahead for ads). It will ship with a LUNAR 2 fully playable demo with a good chunk of the game. We're using the extra time to tighten up the Bandits gameplay and add bells and whistles to the interface."

   The strategy RPG's new name is the third title to be identified with the game: Human released Vanguard Bandits as "Epica Stella" over in Japan last summer. Head on over to the GIA's preview of Vanguard Bandits for more information on the game.

   Finally, Ireland hinted at a major upcoming announcement from the company in the new year: "We've got a really big announcement for y'all just after the first of the year..." The announcement will apparently coincide with the same time that Working Designs ceases production of Lunar: Silver Star Story for the PlayStation. So far, guesses on what the announcement may entail include new game publishing deals, Lunar 2: Eternal Blue extras, or a move into PC game publishing, which the company hinted at earlier this year.