Classics for free

[XavierHyde]

OK everyone, time for a quick status update...

I'm currently awaiting a reply from Melbourne House regarding the legal status of Dethkarz, as well as questions pertaining to freeware releases of other MH classics like War in Middle Earth.

Aside from that, I'm giving up waiting for replies from many of the companies I've mailed, and I'll mail them from another address. I believe their reluctance to reply may have something to do with the fact that I'm using my public HoTMaiL account, so another try from a more serious-looking address might not be a bad idea. ;)

If you mail any company (and I would very much appreciate if you did), please notify me in this thread, and post the company's reply when and if you get it.

[Rexy]

nice thread you got here going. i like it.

and i have a request - Riddle of Master Lu (aka Ripley's Believe it or Not). i used to have this game a long while ago and really liked it but now i can't find where to get it. can anyone help?

[XavierHyde]

nice thread you got here going. i like it.

and i have a request - Riddle of Master Lu (aka Ripley's Believe it or Not). i used to have this game a long while ago and really liked it but now i can't find where to get it. can anyone help?

TNX 10E6 ;)

IIRC, they have some info on Master Lu over at the Underdogs (mentioned earlier in this thread). I don't remember if they have it for download or if they have a link to an online shop where you can order it, but either way it's a good place to start. I know it's a rather large (as in multi-disc?) CD game so I wouldn't expect to find any downloads of it except on shady filesharing networks... (to which I obviously won't refer anyone) :blink:

[spacey]

http://www.classicgaming.com/starcontrol/t...p/progress.shtm

star control rocked. this has multiplayer etc.

ah, remember sam and max hit the road? lucas is coming up with a new version.

i'll have to try this freespace 2..

i'm looking for little old games that'll run in linux... i just installed rh9 and i want some games to play :p

[Asmo]

I'd love to get the settlers 2 by bluebyte, amazing great old game!!

[radioboy]

nice thread you got I know it's a rather large (as in multi-disc?) CD game

nope... just one CD. I've got a copy around here SOMEPLACE.

[XavierHyde]

nuggetman: Thanks for the info, I stand corrected. I still don't think it's available for download on any known retrogaming site, though.

Asmo: I believe you can still get Settlers 2 Gold in some online stores.

spacey: I think we're all aware of the Sam & Max sequel by now, at least I hope so. Let's just hope it'll be as great as the first one ( - Does it involve wanton destruction? - We can only hope. ;) ). As for Linux games, there are many engines around for various games, but they assume you have the original data files. Descent is one example, Duke Nukem 3D and Doom some others.

Quickie progress report:

I've just mailed Studio 3, formerly System 3, the guys responsible for such great games as "The Last Ninja", "International Karate +", "Flimbo's Quest", "Putty" and more. Reading a recent article on retrogaming in the biggest Swedish gaming mag, I noticed an interview with Mark Cale, CEO of Studio 3, where he said

Emulation is good, it enables people to still play our games and it keeps the gaming industry alive"

(translated from the Swedish translation). :wacko:

So I looked at their website and there were no downloads whatsoever. I have now mailed them asking them to make good on their statements and contribute to the retrogaming preservation community. Their reply, if any, will be posted here.

I haven't decided which company is next in line to be contacted, it's likely to be Bitmap Brothers though, or maybe Bullfrog if I can get a good contact address.

If anyone else decides to help out and contact any game developers, please post a message here saying which ones you've contacted so we all know.

'Til next time, then... :D

[XavierHyde]

I just got a message from Digital Illusions saying they're currently checking their licenses to see if the publishing rights for the Pinball series (Dreams/Fantasies/Illusions) have returned to the company with the demise of their publisher, 21st Century.

If all goes well, we may see these games officially released as freeware soon. :woot:

[XavierHyde]

Status report:

I got a reply from Digital Illusions' PR department today. They've finished checking their contracts now, and unfortunately the publishing rights remain with the defunct companies that owned them in the first place (21st Century and Psygnosis).

In a very surprising turn of events, it turns out whoever bought 21st Century after the bankruptcy has given distribution rights to www.back2roots.org, and they currently offer Pinball Dreams, Fantasies, Illusions and an old coverdisk game called Amiganoid. I'll have to check my copy of Amiganoid but I believe there was a B2R-specific greeting from Fredrik Liljegren (the CEO of Digital Illusions) on it, which would indicate he was behind the giving of rights to the site. If this is so, I'll make one last attempt at getting more DI classics released by trying to contact him personally - he's a savvy Amiganut himself so it should be a bit easier to 'reach out' to him than to someone "new" in Public Relations.

(Sorry about any possible bad speeling :wacko: )

[Reload]

A game called Dr.Spatzo used to be around in the early 90's. don't know where it got itself to though.. it would be great to have it again. As well as the original "battle chess"

[mzkhadir]

What about Stargunner ?

[mzkhadir]

and also I would like to see Balls of Steel from 3drealms that featured duke nukem 3d pinball and other pinball.

[XavierHyde]

and also I would like to see Balls of Steel from 3drealms that featured duke nukem 3d pinball and other pinball.

Well, you can still buy Balls of Steel I believe. It's available on 3DRealms' website. Here's a clicky that'll take you there.

A game called Dr.Spatzo used to be around in the early 90's. don't know where it got itself to though.. it would be great to have it again. As well as the original "battle chess"

IIRC, this Dr.Spatzo thingy wasn't really a game. More like a demo of the Soundblaster's text-to-speech technology. As for Battle Chess, you can download a demo here (DOS versions), or - believe it or not - you can actually buy the DOS versions of Battle Chess 1 & 2 at Interplay's Online store. Or you could go for broke and try to track down a copy of "Interplay 15th Anniversary" which contains many of the greatest Interplay games from all their years in the business. Details on the pack can be found here, and here's a shop link to CD-ROM Access. "Interplay All-Nighter Anthology no. 2" contains all Battle Chess games to date, details here.

What about Stargunner ?

I can't find any info on this on 3DRealms' site, and according to www.apogeegames.com it has been discontinued.

[XavierHyde]

Another short status update:

I've mailed Martyn Brown today to (politely) remind him of what we discussed and asked him if anything is happening with it.

I've also mailed Factor 5 and Housemarque asking for their cooperation in this project. We'll see if and how they reply. :shifty:

I've also sent a reminder to Studio 3 aka System 3 (the Last Ninja guys) since they haven't replied yet.

Any replies will be posted here if and when I recieve them.

And everyone who's reading this: don't give up! Mail your favourite developers and publishers of yesteryear and get them to participate in this momentous project!

[XavierHyde]

I've mailed some members of the original development team who made "The Legend of Kyrandia", to check on the possibility of getting up-to-date game engines released as open-source. While the full games may still be on sale on some budget labels, the engines won't work on any reasonably modern computer, and this should be corrected.

I've so far contacted the lead programmer, one of the other programmers and the coder responsible for the Mac port.

We'll see how/if they reply.

[XavierHyde]

News flash! Everyone please pay attention!

Last friday, I mailed Mike Legg, lead programmer on the Legend of Kyrandia series. I asked him if he would consider pulling together some of the original team members to create an updated engine for the series, much like Aaron Giles (of MAME and SCUMM fame) did for LucasArts' Entertainment Pack.

Here's the reply I recieved from Mike Legg this morning, quoted in full:

It's good to hear from you. We've been really busy getting Petroglyph set

up, so that we can keep making games. I'll see if I contact the right people

at Electronic Arts and see if I can get the source code to possibly create a

new executable. This would probably be much easier if there was still a

Westwood Studios, and I was still working there. I'll check with some of the

other cohorts from the team and see if they know anything about this as well

- we were doing Lands of Lore I, Dune II, and the Kyrandias using the same

tech. It would be great to get all these classic games working under modern

O/S's. Please keep in touch and bear with me, as Petroglyph is currently a

12-hour-a-day job. :)

Thank you for contacting me,

-Mike

Sounds great, doesn't it? :woot: I will most definitely keep in touch with him. May I give him the official three huge cheers from everyone on this forum? :D

To think I only asked him for the Kyrandia series, and he says he'd like to update Lands of Lore and Dune II too! :drool: Let's hope they can pull it through, then we're in for Westwood Classic Mania!

Actually, I wasn't aware that Westwood Studios didn't exist anymore. Who's doing all the Command & Conquer and Dune stuff nowadays then? Does anyone know more about this? (On the other hand (of Fate :laugh: ) I might just ask Mike).

This sounds even more promising than Martyn Brown's "promise" to look into dumping disk images of Team17 games for the Softography. He still hasn't replied to the reminder I mailed him on July 8th. Maybe someone else on this forum would be so kind as to - calmly and politely - ask him what's happening in this matter?

Until next update: we obviously have a new ally in Mike Legg, but I hope this is just the beginning. Please help me stay up-to-date on various developers' attitude towards game preservation. Please, please, everyone who cares about your old games: mail a (prefferably high-ranking or old-in-the-company) representative of your favourite old developers or publishers and ask for free releases or updated re-releases of their best oldies.

Edited July 24, 2003 by cappuchok

[Gary_Player]

Man, i can't make heads or tails out of this Amiga Emulation business. Ugh! I give up. lol

Dood man, if the almighty Keldyn cant figure this crap out...

And that one site did want me to download some "free browser" plugin and there were 15 GD popups...dunny why my popup blocker didnt smack them into oblivion...*sigh* time to tweak it smore

[XavierHyde]

Dood man, if the almighty Keldyn cant figure this crap out...

And that one site did want me to download some "free browser" plugin and there were 15 GD popups...dunny why my popup blocker didnt smack them into oblivion...*sigh* time to tweak it smore

Tip: if you want to use The Underdogs without getting bugged by spyware and such (they use a really crappy ad service) I recommend getting the Google Toolbar to stop popups, and SpywareBlaster to stop those drive-by downloads in their tracks.

Using these tools, I haven't had a single popup or a single ActiveX installation query on The Underdogs or any other site in months.

[ajayl]

Didn't notice if it was posted or not:

www.subspace.net

Subspace, now Continuum lives on.

[XavierHyde]

Didn't notice if it was posted or not:

www.subspace.net

Subspace, now Continuum lives on.

You're right, I don't believe it was.

Thanks, I don't know how this great free game (originally released commercially by Virgin if memory serves) could have slipped my mind! :argh:

[djgramma]

Anyone remember Whiplash? I loved that racing game. No physics or realism whatsoever. Just pure racing fun. I remember multiplay on my old system, people used to come over just to play on my old P75 running this game for hours. I used the keyboard and the other used the sidewinder joystick. Fun fun fun.

[Elliot B.]

Anyone remember Whiplash? I loved that racing game. No physics or realism whatsoever. Just pure racing fun. I remember multiplay on my old system, people used to come over just to play on my old P75 running this game for hours. I used the keyboard and the other used the sidewinder joystick. Fun fun fun.

That game RULED :D I would't mind playing that again some day

[djgramma]

Hehe I found the Whiplash cd a while back and tried it on my new XP system. Sadly the game crashed no matter what settings I put it on. Compatibility modes were crap and I think the vids were messed up. Yeah, wish they'd port that over and make better graphix (not that they really need better fx, damn it looked fine on me P75 already)

[XavierHyde]

QUICKIE NEWS UPDATE

I wondered what Mike Legg meant when he said there was no Westwood Studios anymore, so I asked him for the details.

He told me a very interesting story of how EA decided to move certain teams and parts of teams to new offices in Los Angeles, thereby effectively disbanding the Westwood Studios label :cry: (which is why those who didn't move to LA started forming Petroglyph to continue making RTS games). He also told me about who were in the team back when Dune II and Kyrandia were made.

He also told me the following (which is the really interesting part, trust me - edited for clarity):

Louis Castle, cofounder of Westwood, works for EA LA and still

lives here in Las Vegas. Brett Sperry, cofounder of Westwood, also still

works for EA. Both are still great friends.

...

All of these guys are easy to track down. I see Louis all the time, so I'll ask him

about getting the code from one of the Westwood network drives. He'll know

who to talk to at EA.

We're currently very swamped getting Petroglyph up and running, and are in

contract negotiations for our first project. We're rewriting all of our

underlying technology from scratch. 

Let's keep in touch,

-Mike

So while we may not see these ports very soon, if it is possible to get the source code it will be done. I do hope they will let the worldwide fan base help them out to lift some load off their backs with this new company being set up and everything.

Obviously we'll have to wait for a definitive answer as to wether the Kyrandia update project will be an open-source effort or not until Mike can talk to the rest of his old teammates and possibly get the rights from EA (that might be the tricky bit but as EA don't seem to care much about adventure games it might not be that hard after all - we'll just have to wait and see).

This is also proof that contacting your favourite developers is not always in vain. If we show respect for the developers' intellectual property and a deep and genuine care for the games we feel deserve preservation measures, serious developers will not ignore us. They may not be able to give us what we want, but if they care about their fans, they will at least be able to give a (hopefully good) reason why they can't.

Don't give up, and do post any good findings or replies from developers here so I know what's happening out there - it's not easy having an 8-hour day job and still keep up-to-date on everything that's needed to make this project work.

--- Quote of the Day, GPL version ;) ---

"The Source is my ally, and a powerful ally it is."

[spacey]

mmm dune II was good.

subspace / continuum is really cool. i love playing that at 1600x1200.