"I just got off the phone after a 20 minute conversation with Kirk Lenke. On reading my post, and a couple of the PM's I have sent him over the months, he asked for a contact number to call me on.
In the 20 minutes we had on the phone, we discussed a lot about Neocron, its current state and its future. Kirk went into a lot of detail about certain things that I'm not sure I can discuss here, so I'll share with you the basics of what he specifically said I could talk about.
Pretty much the first point that came up was IP (Intellectual Property). I don't think I am over-stepping the line in saying this, as I'm pretty sure this is information that could be obtained from various Google searches/phone calls. Neocron is the IP of ReaKKtor Media, and Black Prophecy is the IP of Gamigo. So... what does that mean?
Essentially, it means that the team at KK are paid to work on BP, and only BP. They are not paid to work on Neocron. As such, the (failed) 174 patch of over a year ago was worked on by their developers in their FREE TIME. This is a big deal, and is something I wasn't entirely aware of prior to our phone call. This isn't the only issue though.
Kirk also confirmed what we already knew. The code is old, haggered and an utter nightmare to work with.
On a plus note, however, work is currently underway on re-developing the anti-cheat patch which failed many months ago; again, in their free time. Kirk did give me a rough ETA, but I can't share that. If he feels it's a date they can stick to, then I'm sure he will share it when he responds to this thread.
Kirk seemed like a nice bloke, and it seems I may have misjudged him based only on his lack of presence on this forum. It was clear to me on that phone call that Kirk is genuine when he says he cares about Neocron, and is proud of what the game achieved many years ahead of its time. I believe him when he says he is working on kick starting the development of Neocron 3, but for the reasons outlined above, there's a lot more to it than just taking 'some' of the team off Black Prophecy. Sadly, it's never going to be that simple.
Kirk was honest with me about everything I asked. Nothing was ignored or brushed away. Again, I wish I could share the entirety of our conversation, but some of what Kirk said is better left for him to share himself.
He said he'd take the time to read and reply to this at some point next week, and he's aware the timer is still ticking ;)"
Well after the threads on the Neocron Forums and the Black Prophecy Forums about the lack of communication and news on Neocron, we are pleased to report Kirk Lenke has replied in at least 2 differentthreads on the Neocron forums.
I will go through this thread within the next days and answer some of your questions and get back to you into a proper discussion!
All the best and thanks for caring about the game you seem to love (still)
Kirk"
Although, nothing on patches or anything related to the game, it's the first official response we have seen in a long time from anyone in KK and is a good start in the right direction to hopefully addressing the issues of Neocron in the next few days.
We at the THN and the Neocron Community will be watching the Neocron forums quite closely over the next few days.
It's a view that the THN shares, whether we are an official fansite or not. The lack of any communications from ReaKKtor cannot continue like this. If ReaKKtor do decide to post any news, we shall let you know.
We don't normally post news from Black Prophecy, but this press release from Gamigo has caught our attention.
The short version is Gamigo have brought a 19.9% stake in Reakktor.
The longer version is in the press release below, which you can discuss on the Official Neocron Forums. It isn't clear what, if any, what effect it will have on Neocron.
"Hamburg, January 27, 2011 – gamigo, one of the leading publishers of free-to-play online computer games in Europe and North America, is increasing its stake in the space action MMOG "Black Prophecy". Today gamigo announced that they have acquired all trademarks and copyrights associated with "Black Prophecy" as well as a 19.9% stake in the developer studio Reakktor Media GmbH from AAA Capital Game Production and Sales GmbH & Co. Fonds Nr. 2 KG. The remaining shares to Reakktor Media GmbH are held by its CEO, Kirk Lenke.
Patrick Streppel, Executive Board Member at gamigo, said this: "Investing in "Black Prophecy" and Reakktor Media GmbH is a forward-looking step for gamigo. "Black Prophecy" is the biggest project our company has worked on so far and is also an example of the high quality of games produced in Germany, completely unique in its market segment."
Rainer Markussen, Executive Board Member at gamigo, said this: "With the completion of closed beta testing and the award for "Best of gamescom (free to play)" last year, I'm really looking forward to seeing "Black Prophecy" go live in the very near future. With that step, gamigo will be cementing its position as one of the leading publishers and producers of premium online games that are marketed and licensed around the globe."
"Working even more closely together will give us more opportunity to trade know-how and will allow us to drive expansions of "Black Prophecy" and new high-quality games forward together," said Kirk Lenke, CEO of Reakktor Media."
Currently neocron.com and forum.neocron.com are not available, due to the domain name expiring, which probably means someone at Reakktor forgot to pay for the annual renewal of the domain!
No ETA for when it will be back, and I don’t know at this time if this effects the game servers. In the mean time, if you want to talk about Neocron, feel free to use the THN forums.
Update, 13:52 GMT:
The game servers appear to be online.
Update: 15:32 GMT:
Looks like the domain is back. In some cases, depending on your ISP, it may take anything from a few hours to a few days before you can connect to the websites again.
News 
