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General discussion (archive)Abandonia...some questions(139 posts)(139 posts)
(139 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted March 28, 2012
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spinefarm: If a GOG personel came in and say the links are problematic I will remove them.
They will. You're not the first to link to pirated games, you know. It's not like we haven't seen how this plays out lots of times before.

Abandonware is not legal. By linking to abandonware on the GOG forums, you are linking GOG to illegal activities, and they don't like that.

But by all means, if you don't believe me, wait and see.
Posted March 28, 2012
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spinefarm: The strangest thing is that a lot of the games sold on GOG are pointed as abandonware by the developers but yet the publishers want money for them... that's a bit anoying
Maybe because its the publisher who really sells the game - developer only delivers it.
Also sometimes it is confusing situation because of licensing way.

For example: Discworld - the game can be "abandoned" but Discworld trade mark still exists in form of books / their author. If developers gained license in the past to produce such game, it could be probably needed now to reactivate it to sell the game again "in this different form" of sale.
Posted March 28, 2012
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spinefarm: The strangest thing is that a lot of the games sold on GOG are pointed as abandonware by the developers but yet the publishers want money for them...
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rampancy: Can you provide a link to that? And what do you mean by "a lot"?
Goblins,Gabriel Knight 1...3-4 games just for 5minutes browsing...
Posted March 28, 2012
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rampancy: Can you provide a link to that? And what do you mean by "a lot"?
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spinefarm: Goblins,Gabriel Knight 1...3-4 games just for 5minutes browsing...
I think he wanted links to developer's quote like "we are officially abandoning this game and you may do what you want with it".
Posted March 28, 2012
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spinefarm: Goblins,Gabriel Knight 1...3-4 games just for 5minutes browsing...
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Lexor: I think he wanted links to developer's quote like "we are officially abandoning this game and you may do what you want with it".
Yeah I will link you to company that don't exist for 3+ years(Infogrames let's say) :)
Posted March 28, 2012
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rampancy: Can you provide a link to that? And what do you mean by "a lot"?
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spinefarm: Goblins,Gabriel Knight 1...3-4 games just for 5minutes browsing...
If the game is being sold somewhere, it mostly means developer doesn't want to give it for free.
Posted March 28, 2012
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spinefarm: Yeah I will link you to company that don't exist for 3+ years(Infogrames let's say) :)
So you now just can not say that developers "pointed these games abandonware" as you have no proof, right?
Post edited March 28, 2012 by Lexor
Posted March 28, 2012
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Lexor: I think he wanted links to developer's quote like "we are officially abandoning this game and you may do what you want with it".
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spinefarm: Yeah I will link you to company that don't exist for 3+ years(Infogrames let's say) :)
If a company winds up, usually another company buys rights for it's titles. From the fact infogrames doesn't exist you cant excerpt the fact you may get the games for free.

Like Bullfrog games are owned by EA now, they're not "really" abandoned.
Post edited March 28, 2012 by keeveek
Posted March 28, 2012
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spinefarm: Yeah I will link you to company that don't exist for 3+ years(Infogrames let's say) :)
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keeveek: If a company winds up, usually another company buys rights for it's titles. From the fact infogrames doesn't exist you cant excerpt the fact you may get the games for free.
Yes I don't except that fact but can you tell me who owns Discworld games rights... Psygnosis Limited are SCEE Studio Liverpool from 1993 so to get that game GOG have to aquire Sony? Yey...then we are screwed
Posted March 28, 2012
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spinefarm: Yes I don't except that fact but can you tell me who owns Discworld games rights... Psygnosis Limited are SCEE Studio Liverpool from 1993 so to get that game GOG have to aquire Sony? Yey...then we are screwed
Yeah, some games can be called really "abandoned". Like Need for speed Porsche. You know that it's an EA game, but EA's license agreement with Porsche is already expired and EA cannot sell this game, even if they wanted to. So you may get it for free.

But GOG cannot host it on their website, cause they can host only things they have signed agreements for. If they hosted NFS: Porsche for example, it's not only EA that could file a lawsuit against them, but also Porsche manufacturer.

This is why GOG will never host games with unlcear copyrights. But you may feel free to download them from abandonia.
Posted March 28, 2012
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spinefarm: Yes I don't except that fact but can you tell me who owns Discworld games rights... Psygnosis Limited are SCEE Studio Liverpool from 1993 so to get that game GOG have to aquire Sony? Yey...then we are screwed
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keeveek: Yeah, some games can be called really "abandoned". Like Need for speed Porsche. You know that it's an EA game, but EA's license agreement with Porsche is already expired and EA cannot sell this game, even if they wanted to. So you may get it for free.

But GOG cannot host it on their website, cause they can host only things they have signed agreements for. If they hosted NFS: Porsche for example, it's not only EA that could file a lawsuit against them, but also Porsche manufacturer.

This is why GOG will never host games with unlcear copyrights. But you may feel free to download them from abandonia.
Thank you for the polite explanation on abandoware. My issue was that for Publishers freeware/abandonware have not much of diff for instance the first 2 Elder Scrolls... it is a freware game... but still you can get a lawsuit for distributing it
Post edited March 28, 2012 by spinefarm
Posted March 28, 2012
Yep. For example, from the fact Bethesda released Daggerfall or Rockstar released GTA 1 as freeware on their own site, doesn't mean GOG can freely distribute it on their own site.

Even if a publisher would state "you may download it freely" , it doesn't mean GOG could host it.

What's free for users, doesn't mean it's free for digital distributors.

But you don''t need to worry about lawsuit from Rockstar, if you download GTA 1 from any website.Or any other "abandoned" game.
Posted March 28, 2012
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spinefarm: I was browsing through Abandonia and noticed couple of games that GOG could put in the free games here (yes I can download from Abandonia,but I prefer the shelf and extras here).

Blood Omen - Legacy Of Kain
Call of Cthulhu - Shadow of the Comet
Nightmare Creatures
Discworld

From the info on Abandonia it seems there is no problem with GOG releasing this games
From the info on my bank it seems there is no problem with me breaking open their ATMs.
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keeveek: But you don''t need to worry about lawsuit from Rockstar, if you download GTA 1 from any website.Or any other "abandoned" game.
For your convenience, use this link:
EDIT: Link removed by mod; if you want the game, go get it from Rockstar so they get your email address for the game. It's not freeware, it's "free to download from the website" as a user acquisition tactic.
Post edited March 28, 2012 by TheEnigmaticT
Posted March 28, 2012
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spinefarm: My issue was that for Publishers freeware/abandonware have not much of diff for instance the first 2 Elder Scrolls... it is a freware game... but still you can get a lawsuit for distributing it
Freeware does not mean Free to exploit. If a for profit company (like GOG) tries this without explicit and contractual permission from the rights-owner, they will in all likelyhood get sued. Abandonia goes below radar because they are just game enthusiasts who make very little (measurable) damage to the game owners and as such only get a cease and desist letters from time to time - which they always obey.
Posted March 28, 2012
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spinefarm: The strangest thing is that a lot of the games sold on GOG are pointed as abandonware by the developers but yet the publishers want money for them... that's a bit anoying
Well no video game purchase ever directly supports developers, all video game work is based on flat dev fees and bonuses. So I find the endless rants about GOG games not really giving money to developers to be kind of silly, one could say the same of a new game like The Darkness 2.

In any event, abandonware literally means not for sale anywhere, so anything on GOG is not abandonware by its very definition.
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This is my favourite topic
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General discussion (archive)Abandonia...some questions(139 posts)(139 posts)
(139 posts)