The sharp-eyed folks at RPG Codex noticed something interesting yesterday: In late April, White Wolf Publishing filed for a trademark on Vampire Bloodlines, to cover downloadable publications in relation to role-playing games; downloadable publications in relation to computer games; video game software; application software for mobile phones; computer game software.

That's not the zippiest bit of writing ever, but it is exciting. Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines is one of the finest RPGs ever made not arguably, not maybe, it just is and also one that's been sorely neglected since its release all the way back in 2004. Could the new trademark mean that we're finally going to get the sequel it so richly deserved?

White Wolf, unfortunately, declined to be very helpful in the matter: In response to my inquiries, CEO Tobias Sj gren said only, While we don't comment on specifics what I can generally say is that we constantly work with renewing and strengthening our trademarks making sure we got them correctly registered in all countries and categories relevant.

But consider this: White Wolf and all its properties were acquired last year by Paradox Interactive. Paradox Interactive published Obsidian's 2015 fantasy RPG Pillars of Eternity, and will do the same for the recently-announced Tyranny. And Obsidian this is where it gets good recently signed up Leonard Boyarsky, who was the project lead on Bloodlines, and is thus now back together with Tim Cain, who worked as a programmer on the game.

That's a long way from confirmation that Smiling Jack is back, obviously, but it sure sounds good, doesn't it? And given the resurgence in old-school RPGs we've enjoyed over the past few years Wasteland, Divinity, Torment, Underworld, Bard's Tale, even Baldur's Gate I'd say it's worth keeping fingers crossed.

A couple of interesting bits of news have emerged from GOG today, the first being the kickoff of the Bundleopolis sale, which for the next week will offer a variety of game bundles at up to 80 percent off. The first three bundles on the block are Bit.Trip.Street, the Academy of LucasArts, and Nightmare Avenue, and new deals will be rolled out every six hours.

Games in the bundles can also be picked up individually, although at a lesser discount: The titles in the Nightmare Avenue bundle, for instance, are 60 percent off when purchased separately, but going the bundle route, either by taking them all or putting five or more together in a “build-your-own” package, will increase the discount to 80 percent. GOG also teased a “dark secret, which will be revealed just before the city lights go out.” My guess? All the past bundles in the sale will be brought back for one big “everything's on sale” blowout over the final 24 hours. We'll see.

Sales are great, but even more exciting is the GOG debut of Vampire: The Masquerade—Bloodlines, one of the deepest and most unforgettable RPGs ever made. It's been available on Steam for awhile now, but the GOG release includes third-party fixes created by Werner “Wesp5” Spahl, the man behind the Unofficial Patches that have dramatically improved the game over the past decade-plus. GOG also includes a link to the latest full Unofficial Patch release, which on top of fixing bugs restores quite a bit of cut content to the game, at Patches Scrolls.

The only downside to the GOG release is that the only thing in the “included goodies” is the manual; the brilliant, period-perfect soundtrack is nowhere to be seen (or heard, I guess). Licensing issues likely account for some of that (Ministry built the theme song, for instance) but the original music is really good in its own right and it's a shame those tracks aren't included with the package.

Even so, it's great to see Bloodlines available from another site—the more, the merrier, after all. Alas, it's not currently part of the Bundleopolis sale, so you'll have to pony up $20 for it, although I'll go out on a limb here and say that you're not likely to find too many better ways to drop twenty bucks. As for the sale itself, the action is live now and will run until May 1.

Paradox Interactive has acquired the White Wolf license from CCP Games, who at one time had plans to make an ambitious modern gothic MMO by the name of World of Darkness. Alas, that did not come to pass, with CCP cancelling the game and rededicating itself to the EVE universe. Now, it's sold the White Wolf license—which includes the World of Darkness and Vampire: The Masquerade pen 'n' paper RPGs—to Paradox. The sale includes previously released games such as Redemption and Bloodlines, but also all the assets from CCP's cancelled MMO—it "includes everything", in other words.

Shams Jorjani, Paradox's VP of Acquisition & Portfolio Strategy, announced the news on Twitter, stating that "Paradox Interactive has bought White wolf and all properties from CCP. Very very very exciting." Yes 'tis, as it was a huge shame to see the license lying dormant.

"We've been huge fans of the white wolf IPs for a long time," Shams added in another tweet, "especially World of Darkness/Vampire. Gonna be great to give it some fresh blood."

A press release sent out after the tweets added a bit more information, including that White Wolf Publishing will "operate as an independent entity with a dedicated team".

Paradox Interactive's CEO and president, Fredrik Wester, added that "like Paradox s games, White Wolf s properties have dedicated, passionate communities. While there are similarities in spirit, White Wolf s IPs have very different themes than Paradox s titles, and deserve their own brand and team".

Whoever that team is, can they make Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 top priority, please? Oh, and have someone finish World of Darkness while you're at it, cheers.

Hilmar Veigar P tursson, CEO of CCP Games, had this to say. "At CCP, we have great admiration for the White Wolf brands and communities, and it was extremely important to us that the acquiring company share the same respect and understanding. With Paradox, we know we are leaving the brands in good hands."

(Thanks, RPS.)