Abandonware

Started by Duck, Thu 01/01/2004 23:45:49

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Anghellic

#40
<<No links to sites that offer warez please.>>
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MarkPhantom

I get eternally frustrated by the way the ESA covers games that are neither going to get sequels or games that are impossible to find anyway.

Example, Laura Bow 2 and Little Big Adventure. Unless we ever get a third LBA (never gonna happen) or a third Laura Bow (even less likely) we have to twiddle our thumbs, unless we want to take a less legal route. I tend to find Sierra Online are the worst people for the legal side of things.

'Hallow's End: Everyone goes there eventually'  http://www.freewebs.com/codpiecestudios

Glockenspiel

Abandonware is one of the best things since Lucas itself. It's a shame that the ESA still protects a fair amount of games (the good ones, obviously). However, those games are still owned and usually sold by their companies, so they aren't lost entirely.

Still, I'm in favor of abandonware as well. It's like warez, but with more nostalgia and it's legitimate. Just make sure you have a good DOS emulator!

the rev

Quote from: Duck on Fri 02/01/2004 21:19:11
I guess I didn't give my opinion on this. I think that the publishers have every right to protect their intellectual property, but on the other hand, I think that property should really belong to the developers. After all, did Sierra come up with Half-Life? No, it was Valve. Did LucasArts come up with Armed and Dangerous? Once again, it was Planet Moon.

But the fact is, the rights do belong to the publisher, and if they want to be a bunch of cranky old bastards and make it so that the only way you can get the game is second-hand from internet auction/old game sites, they have that right. It's not convenient, and it really hurts pretty much everybody, but they have the right to do that.

That said, while I wouldn't download Quest for Glory or Space Quest, I would download one of those rediculously old text-based adventures that came out before 1985 or something like that. Seriously, how much money are they going to make from that?

Keep in mind that I think that warez is crap and the people who provide it should be stoned in the street for what they're doing to the industry.

And thanks for the confirmation... this forum is going to be a lot different from others I frequent.


I worked as a professional programmer in the game industry for years (xbox w/ Microsoft as publisher was the latest).   The publishers always paid us up front for a title.  So, they really do own the IP--they paid for its maturation.  The game and the developers are both marketed by the publisher.  "Cool" developers are just as much a part of the product as the game.



Chroelle

Being aware that I posted something a bit like this short of an hour ago elsewhere in here I am gonna post it anyway.

The only thing I think we can do is get permission from developers to get the games released as freeware. Abandonware is a weird term, that has so wide boundries that it really cant be used.
Abandonware is simply: A product where the copyrigthholder is not going to defend his copyright anymore... Well that doesn't make it legal. If I leave my wallet unattended at my office, then it is still a crime if you take it for keeps.

So my hope is that more will join up in this project, where we try to get developers to release games from back-in-the-day by asking them nicely and showing interest.
The site is mine and we host alot of great freeware.
http://www.forum.connect-webdesign.dk/viewtopic.php?p=10973#10973
CWF Freeware. We are going to be the biggest freeware site ever. Trust me on this.

LimpingFish

Figured this might be the best place to post this.

According to Abandonia, a number of adventure games now fall outside ESA protection.

These include Monkey Island 1+2, Willy Beamish, and more. Their status may change in the future, but for the moment they are considered abandonware.
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Balin

QuoteThese include Monkey Island 1+2, Willy Beamish, and more. Their status may change in the future, but for the moment they are considered abandonware.

Serious?! If so, that's good news!


Balin

Domino

#47
I grabbed Monkey Island 2. The only one i don't own and the only MI game i haven't played. It still doesn't seem legal and will delete it if it isnt, but since they have it for download, i decided to download it. It works great under ScummVM.

LimpingFish

The legality of these games is moot until the ESA submits a cease-and-desist on behalf of the copyright holder.

Abandonia is probably the closest to a "legal" source of abandonware, in so much as they comply with the ESA and remove games if they are still being sold.
Steam: LimpingFish
PSN: LFishRoller
XB: TheActualLimpingFish
Spotify: LimpingFish

Unknown_Terror

I would have really hoped by now that Lucas Arts would have classed "Monkey Island" as abandonware, i know i could & have easily found a place to get it for free, but christ, They are Very Old Games. Rockstar set a good example by giving away GTA 1 & 2, but I don't think Lucas Arts ever will
"To Live a Perfectly Normal Life, You Must Accept The Fact That Life Will Never Be Normal"

TheCheese33

NOOO! LucasArts just updated the copyrights of Monkey Island 1 and 2!  :'(

Could anyone send me a copy?
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need...More...WOUND!

LimpingFish

According to our good friends at Abandonia, Quest for Glory I - So you want to be a Hero, Quest for Glory II - Trial by Fire, and Manhunter - New York are now considered abandoned. So grab them before Sierra files with the ESA and denies everybody some old-school adventure goodness.
Steam: LimpingFish
PSN: LFishRoller
XB: TheActualLimpingFish
Spotify: LimpingFish

Steel Drummer

Thanks for the tip. Just a question: If you download something once it becomes abandoned, but then it gets protected again, is it illegal to have the game?
I'm composing the music for this game:



LimpingFish

I wouldn't worry about it. Put it this way: No one is going to sue you for having it. :)

Once the ESA moves to have a game removed from a site like Abandonware, it's goal is to stop the "illegal" distribution of said game. Once a game is withdrawn, the ESA's job is pretty much done. They've served the interest of the game's current copyright holder and that's that.

The fact that people may have downloaded the game during the time it was considered "abandoned" is of little consequence.
Steam: LimpingFish
PSN: LFishRoller
XB: TheActualLimpingFish
Spotify: LimpingFish

covox

Listen to the words of the UK's most respected computer journalist: emulation and abandonware do not hurt the games industry. At all. Do they preserve the cultural heritage of that era? Yes.

http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/rob-o-tron.htm

While legally (at least in the lawsuit-happy US) reprehensible, morally you're in the clear if you're trying to obtain an title that is out of print. Saying otherwise would begat images of an Orwellian terror society controlled by the major publishers.

Sadly the DOS abandonware scene took the king's portion of the shafting administered by the IDSA to oldgame networks. Coupled with the staggeringly huge vastness of software made for DOS alone, that's probably why no-one has tried to make a TOSEC/definitive end-all collection of games for this historically-significant platform.

Steel Drummer

As far as I'm concerned, LucasArts has abandoned their adventure game titles. Sure, they might be selling some of them, but they treat them as if they don't exist.
I'm composing the music for this game:



LimpingFish

LucasArts still sell The Dig, Sam and Max, Full Throttle, Curse of Monkey Island, Escape From Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, and Day of the Tentacle.

The only LucasArts games I would even contemplate considering as abandonware would be those pre-MI 2.

But judging how LucasArts treats it's IPs, (frowning upon fan-made sequels to Zak McKraken, Indiana Jones, etc) I wouldn't class any LucasArts adventures as abandonware.
Steam: LimpingFish
PSN: LFishRoller
XB: TheActualLimpingFish
Spotify: LimpingFish

Steel Drummer

Yes, but if they really cared about adventure games, they'd still be making them.
I'm composing the music for this game:



ManicMatt

Yoda, it's their wallets they care about, not the adventure game scene. Even if it must be comparitively loose change they get from those games nowadays.

Renal Shutdown

A bit late, i realise, but..

Quote from: Chroelle on Tue 14/11/2006 14:52:10
If I leave my wallet unattended at my office, then it is still a crime if you take it for keeps.

Imagine I've just started at said office.  The company you worked for went bust/moved premises a few years ago.  Also, you left the company a while ago.  I phone the contact number/write to (and/or visit) the contact address stated in the wallet.  Nothing.  No one has a way of contacting you, as you've moved on.  There's 3 x $1 bills in the wallet, a nickel caught up it in the lining that I'd need a knife to remove, as well as a few unread business cards you've picked up on your travels.  "Suzie" tutors A level and O level French and Greek.  I've always thought about learning another language, but that's beside the point. There's also a coupon for saving 20 cents on your next VHS rental, from a rental shop that has closed down and has now become a butchers.  (Happened to me, b*st*rds).

Now, the dilemma..

I could hand the wallet in to the police, and hope they give a damn.

Or..

I could keep the $3.05, and just assume you have a new wallet and have found someone else to teach you how to swear at foreigners.

Personally, in the long term scale of things, handing in a wallet just gets dumber and dumber by the day.  The longer a game has been released, the less immoral a piracy is.

Abandonware, to me, is where the makers are past the point of caring about piracy, but are just too lazy to make it free (ie, remove copy protection).  Most people aren't going to buy it, even if it WAS available.  The few that WOULD buy it, probably already own it.
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