Point And Click Adventures Were The Shit

[Mike McC]

Originally Posted by bluestarultor

Actually, abandonware is perfectly legal. The reason I use that site is because they know and strictly follow the laws. As much as business likes to skew and confuse the issue, there are real provisions to which a game can become abandoned.

Actually, the statement that 'abandonware' is a bullshit term is completely accurate. It's not rigorously defined, and some 'abandonware' still has copyrights in effect, making it piracy as well.

The stuff that is safe to release is stuff that has been released into the public domain, either by the copyright lapsing or the creators releasing it into the public domain. So check to make sure that is the case before linking, even if your site claims to 'follow the laws'. Remember, even is a company no longer exists, that doesn't mean that the copyright didn't default to the authors of the game.

In short: Don't trust the label abandonware. There are far better labels that are not ambiguous.

Anyhow, an Adventure game I still enjoy and occasionally return to today is Shivers, and it's sequel. Very puzzle centric with slight touches of horror, it was very well done.

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Mike McC

Actually, the statement that 'abandonware' is a bullshit term is completely accurate. It's not rigorously defined, and some 'abandonware' still has copyrights in effect, making it piracy as well.

The stuff that is safe to release is stuff that has been released into the public domain, either by the copyright lapsing or the creators releasing it into the public domain. So check to make sure that is the case before linking, even if your site claims to 'follow the laws'. Remember, even is a company no longer exists, that doesn't mean that the copyright didn't default to the authors of the game.

In short: Don't trust the label abandonware. There are far better labels that are not ambiguous.

Anyhow, an Adventure game I still enjoy and occasionally return to today is Shivers, and it's sequel. Very puzzle centric with slight touches of horror, it was very well done.

I said this elsewhere, but I'll reiterate it here. I rely exclusively on the site I linked because they have the strictest definition on the market (which I suppose I take for granted) and enforce it vigilantly. By their definition, it's not abandoned until there is literally no one left to speak for it, they do some pretty thorough research into whether there's anyone at all who legally can, and if they get so much as a phone call, the archive comes down. If I had any doubts as to whether it was legal or not, I wouldn't have posted the links.

As Synk and I seem to have agreed, again, elsewhere, it's at worst a legal gray area simply due to a lack of precedent, but bears the most similarity to orphaned works law, which simply hasn't yet been applied to it.


Edit: At any rate, I'm not going to argue this further. The links are down and if anyone wants to check out the games I mentioned, they're not exactly hard to find.

[Mike McC]

Originally Posted by bluestarultor

I said this elsewhere, but I'll reiterate it here. I rely exclusively on the site I linked because they have the strictest definition on the market (which I suppose I take for granted) and enforce it vigilantly. By their definition, it's not abandoned until there is literally no one left to speak for it, they do some pretty thorough research into whether there's anyone at all who legally can, and if they get so much as a phone call, the archive comes down. If I had any doubts as to whether it was legal or not, I wouldn't have posted the links.

Still very dubious, as the Legend Entertainment label was owned by the current incarnation of Atari when it was shut down, so it's likely that Atari still holds the rights to all those games.

[Seil]

Either way, the prices for a game more than a decade old are pretty high.

[DFM]

Funny you should bring that up, pirate.

Grim Fandango finally works BHS you are a life saver.

[Mike McC]

Originally Posted by Seil

Either way, the prices for a game more than a decade old are pretty high.

*links to mostly fairly reasonable prices* "OMG SO EXPENSIVE!"

Yeah, I honestly think paying $30~$40 is totally worth it for Day of the Tentacle, so I don't see the issue.

[Sky Warrior Bob]

Amazon.com is the place to go for Adventure games, Ebay jacks up the price like nobody's business. Lucasarts stuff is still pretty pricey there as well (except maybe for the Mac versions), but other than that everything is pretty reasonable.

I expect that Lucasarts will put up Day of the Tentacle & other such titles on Steam.

All that aside, I perfectly understand the legitimate reasoning behind considering the Abandonware route. However, because of its questionable legal status (no court rulings either way), it just isn't something I bother to truck with. Or is worth any potential (if albeit, very unlikely) trouble it could cause for the forum.

Not to say I'm perfect by any means, as I have helped out people absolutely desperate for one adventure game or another. However, when I've done that, its always been for free, and something I've taken off-line.

SWB
- DFM who is BHS?

[Mike McC]

Originally Posted by Sky Warrior Bob

DFM who is BHS?

Smarty McBarrelpants. He used to be Barrel-Hating Sycophant or something like that.

[Lyaer]

I love these types of games. Anyone play any of the amateur ones that have been pouring out lately? A Tale of Two Kingdoms, despite the overly generic Dickens ripoff of a title, is an absolute must play for anyone who still has fond memories of games like King's Quest and Quest for Glory.

[Seil]

Funny you should bring that up, pirate.

Hey - I bought Quest For Glory V, thank you very much. It's sitting atop my computer now.