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Abandonware and open system?


Atlantis

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Things got me pondering...

Abandonware? Games, let say well checked up to be abandoned by companies not longer existing and not owned by anyone, lets say with small (not Starwars tm). (Let's say the imaginary game Quacky McQuack from 1992 made by Joe in heaven drinking pina colada.)
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Open platform, a system no longer in commercial use, expressed to be free for anyone to make games for without license needed.
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The combination wouldn't that make it pretty much an endless resource of abandonware that could be ported to lets say, Jaguar, if this is the case in the small-text, which I got the impression is an open system??

Just words here no more no less...

Any thoughts?

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Unless I'm misunderstanding your topic...Abandonware is not freeware, it's Nobody-caresware. Unless somebody starts making money off of it. Then it turns into Sue-your-pants-off-if-we-start-to-careware. The latter is mandatory where active trademarks are concerned (which must be protected or they would be lost).

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Guess I need a skunk (which won't happen) to play gauntlet (which is a .rom, not a .abs) 4-player via teamtap, is 0%, so I'll let it go, since this is rage material as shown (by king of true story land*). Sad, but true story.

*For you who don't like Jaguar games or -forum, there might be a forum for you over at 3do where 3 (ascetic) people say the same once a month (my opinion). There's the answer to Atlantis = WTF? And you called me a dick long ago**.

**And for your info English is spoken "correct" in England today, or used by the global community somewhat correct and it's ok. True story, right?

Edited by Atlantis
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Guess I need a skunk (which won't happen) to play gauntlet (which is a .rom, not a .abs) 4-player via teamtap, is 0%, so I'll let it go, since this is rage material as shown (by king of true story land*). Sad, but true story.

 

I need a skunk to play Gauntlet 4-player since putting it on cart and selling it would be sue-you-ass-scenario for the guy selling it. Now I know.

 

I guess that the ST games being either .rom or .abs are well thought out, conserning this matter, that I started the thread about.

 

No more secret messages like above, promiz

 

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I need a skunk to play Gauntlet 4-player since putting it on cart and selling it would be sue-you-ass-scenario for the guy selling it. Now I know.

This is now exacerbated by the fact that Gauntlet is now on PSN. Just played it on PS4.

 

So, it's really not a good idea to poke into that nest.

 

In short, you never know, which game IP will in future be reactivated by big publishers. Who, legally, are required to protect their IP (which includes their right to sue your ass if you try to profit from their IP).

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Thanks for answer, I think this legal-illegal grey shaded field is interesting, and a jungle to move around in. I think this can be talked about.

I just got excited, and hyped when I saw a picture of one of my favorite games in a expo (?) cart, or just blank carts with the word Gauntlet on it, I don't know:
https://www.facebook.com/reboot64
and that it worked with the team tap as said in the ST topic. Wow! Thought maybe it was coming on cart in AA store, but had my wondering... about abandonware and open systems and what not.

Since it was mentioned that some ST ports would come to AA store at some point in the future, and now know that it was the by Minter blessed games (wow! again for all atarians) and not Gauntlet, it's clear to me now that you need permission to do physical media and sell it - there's no other way - and roms circling around in the digital world may be something else. (~ roms ok; selling physical media/piracy not ok. It's a learning curve to these things.)

Yeah, Gauntlet is a live IP. Including old Gauntlet II. Too bad. Have to live with it not spinning in my JagCD or on cart. And I didn't have the words for it, in English, sorry for confusion spread.

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For the record "Abandonware" is simply a bullshit term thrown around by parties looking to use software that does not belong to them for free.

All the definitions / details regarding Abandoneware that you may have seen or heard of were made up and have absolutely no actual legal support. ;)

Edited by OldSchoolRetroGamer
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For the record "Abandonware" is simply a bullshit term thrown around by parties looking to use software that does not belong to them for free.

All the definitions / details regarding Abandoneware that you may have seen or heard of were made up and have absolutely no actual legal support. ;)

 

Heh, "for the record," OK your honor. Would you prefer it if they were called "orphan works?" It's not nearly as catchy.

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Heh, "for the record," OK your honor. Would you prefer it if they were called "orphan works?" It's not nearly as catchy.

 

"For the record" is quite a common expression used outside the judicial system as well thank you very much :P . Personally, I couldn't give a shit what they call it I was merely clarifying something many seem to have the wrong impression about. I encountered the "abandonware" term many times over the years on sites distributing software, games etc, most always have this description or bogus definition etc that all pretty much add up to the same excuse to download and freely use the hosted software(s) but the fact of the matter is none of it adheres to any real laws or regulations, thought some people might like to know instead of kidding themselves. Ignorance is bliss though I guess :lolblue:

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I guess you're talking about made-up things like "you can try this rom for 24 hours" or "if you have a cartridge or cd of this game, you can download this file?"

 

Because abandoned software is most definitely a thing, and legal or not, I think it's fair game to exploit software for which the owner can't be found or otherwise refuses to enforce their trademark or copyright.

 

Oh, if only software copyright were shorter. I think 25 years is about right. Set those old games free!

 

Thank goodness it's all moot because emulation and "piracy" are everywhere, preserving these things forever whether or not the rights holders approve.

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