nin: "Interplay had the license for D&D, and it was my understanding Black Isle was working on it (BG3). So my question is: How the hell did Interplay lose the license? I mean, I understand it was their time to renew, and what? They missed it? Are they THAT broke?"

The problem relates to the parent company of Dungeons and Dragons, the paper and pencil RPG. Wizards of the Coast sold it's soul... er sold out to Hasbro. Yes, the toy company. Hasbro bought WotC for the Pokemon card franchise (which was already a dead horse by the time they bought it). Hasbro, being completely witless, had already sold the computer rights to all (yes all) of it's games to Infogrammes (now Atari), probably because they had no idea how to make a good game (or business deal). Hence, when WotC became part of Hasbro, the rights to D&D went to Atari (as Infogrammes in a fruitless attempt to hide it's identity is now called)... and Interplay, and Black Isle, got the shaft. Interestingly, the only division of Hasbro that has made money in the last several years is Wizards of the Coast. But don't worry, Hasbro is slashing creative talent and trying to drag WotC headquarters into the main Hasbro corporate offices (kicking and screaming) so that they may make it just another part of the money losing Hasbro family. Another morbid little business fairy tale brought to you by Chance. If there's a moral to the story, it's don't sell your company to idiots.