Sunday, February 24, 2002

Via Slashdot, I found an article on Gamespot titled "The Skinny on Abandonware". The article is a cogent and lucid discussion of the abandonware issue, and is well worth a read.

Abandonware, for those unfamiliar with the term, refers to software that is old--usually older than five years--and no longer distributed or supported by its manufacturer. For instance, Electronic Arts' Sentinel Worlds, another of my favorite games, is abandonware. So is Starflight, which I talked about a number of entries ago. If you wanted to purchase these games today, you would be unable to do so. If you pulled out a copy that you bought years ago and tried to get a set of replacement disks from the manufacturer, or technical support from the manufacturer, you would be unable to do so.

That, really, is the crux of the abandonware issue. If I want to acquire "Destructo-Blast Doom Pit," which was released in 1985, I can't buy it. However, I still want it. Because I can't buy it, I'll download it. If the copyright holder chooses not to make it available, then my only way of acquiring it is by downloading it.

This opens up another can of worms--to what extent should the copyright holder be allowed to control distribution of his or her work? Obviously, the law specifies that the copyright holder is indeed allowed to control distribution and availability.

At the risk of offending copyright holders worldwide, I don't care. I really don't. I want to play an older game that you're not selling anymore. You tell me I can't because you don't want to sell the game, for any one of a hundred reasons. This doesn't do me any good--my want for the game is still unsatisfied. So, I will download the game.

Selfish? Yes. Illegal? Yes. But keep in mind that with very few exceptions, the game designers--the men and women who poured their souls out into the creations of light and sound we indulge in--do not hold the copyright for their works. I'll end this entry with a quote from the Gamespot article.

"Personally, I'd rather my old games were stolen and played for free than forgotten about."
-Tim Schafer, Double Fine Productions

Posted by Keeper @ 04:07 PM CST [Link]

Thursday, February 21, 2002

I received this e-mail today from an ex-coworker at the George job:

where you been? I read your damn blog everyday and now it sounds like youve been sick for weeks.

Got Anthrax?

No, I don't have anthrax! Though I suppose I should post something here. All right, let me see. I'm sure I can find something to babble about.

The Chronicles was featured as the Site of the Nite on The Screen Savers last week. This resulted in like ten hillion jillion e-mails, which was nice. It bothers me that when this kind of thing happens, only like two people ever actually tell me, and none of those people are actually involved with the award/feature. I wonder if it's like this for other successful webmasters...

Traffic in the forums is also picking up really well. Long-time forum denizen Signal9 has been promoted to Moderator to handle the extra load of people. Really, if you've not been to the forums, you should make it a point to stop by. It's where the REAL action is, if you know what I mean. Oh yeah, you do.

There, I've updated. If you're good, I'll update tomorrow, too.

Posted by Keeper @ 01:59 PM CST [Link]

Saturday, February 16, 2002

Not dead. Don't worry. Busy. Write more later.

Posted by Keeper @ 02:40 PM CST [Link]

Friday, February 8, 2002

According to Slashdot, Gamespot, and AdventureGamers, there's the possibility that a new Space Quest game is under development! This makes me terribly, terribly happy. The original Space Quest was one of the very first "real" computer games I ever purchased, and was the source of much frustration and many happy memories. I still think that Space Quest III is one of the finest games ever released for any system, anywhere. SQ5 was sorely lacking, and SQ6 really killed the series for me. Still, SQ7 holds promise, and I will await the arrival of more news with bated breath!

For more info about the Space Quest series than you can shake an Orat-on-a-stick at, check our Roger Wilco's Virtual Broomcloset.

Posted by Keeper @ 09:24 AM CST [Link]

Thursday, February 7, 2002

It's gross, but I'm sick. I'm hacking up phlegm that's yellow and--I kid you not--orange.

Orange.

Must close more help desk calls.

Posted by Keeper @ 01:47 PM CST [Link]

Wednesday, February 6, 2002

I'm back at my building today, covering for my sick cow-orker. It's given me a chance to clean up the help desk queue over here and feel productive on top of feeling sick.

One of the cool things about being back at my desk is that I've finally been able to wipe my box clean and load onto it our company-standard Win2k load instead of the bastardized home-brew Win2k image that I've had since September when I started. So, it's been a day of closing helpdesk tickets and setting up my computer.

I also am now peering at the Internet thorough my very nice Sony SDM-M81. And no, it's not just me--we're leasing these things up by the truckload and deploying them to all our users as the old monitor leases expire. I must say that I never thought the day would come when I'd have an 18" LCD on my desk.

So, a good day. I had sushi for lunch (spider hand roll, two pieces of unagi, two pieces of sake, two pieces of hamachi, and a spicy tuna roll), and this wonderful green tea ice cream for desert. Food is great. Food is one of the coolest reasons to be alive. Isn't eating awesome? I pity people who are picky eaters.

Posted by Keeper @ 03:05 PM CST [Link]

Tuesday, February 5, 2002

LANCon3 was a smashing success, with approximately 24 hours of hard-core gaming spread out across two days. Well, all right--we slept and ate and stuff, so I guess it wasn't HARD CORE GAMING, but we had a butt-load of fun.

Now it's back to work for the mind-numbing drudgery of swapping monitors. At least when we were replacing computers there was some mental activity involved; now we're reduced to pure labor-monkey status. Unplug. Pick up old monitor. Put on cart. Pick up new monitor. Put on desk. Plug. Scribble paperwork. Repeat ONE BILLION TIMES.

Posted by Keeper @ 08:13 AM CST [Link]

Sunday, February 3, 2002

It has come to my attention that this blog looks like eight different kinds of ass when viewed under Opera.

Sorry.

Posted by Keeper @ 12:14 PM CST [Link]

Saturday, February 2, 2002

Today is the beginning of LANCon3--the informal name of the third LAN party my friends and I have thrown. Roommate and I have been up since about 9:30 rearranging furniture, stringing cables, and running power strips. Our living room is in full Gaming Configuration, and we are ready for our homies to arrive!

It will be a weekend of Ghost Recon, Medal of Honor, RtCW, Soldier of Fortune, and maybe even a bit of Need for Speed: High Stakes. Plus, Roommate has SEVEN HUNDRED arcade roms for MAME, and my new MSI motherboard has six USB ports. Can you say four player Ninja Turtles action? Oh yeah, baby!

People will be here soon. It's gonna kick ASS.

Posted by Keeper @ 11:19 AM CST [Link]

Friday, February 1, 2002

I'm home sick from work today. My roommate is infected with the Creeping Crud, and he's finally managed to pass it on to me. I'm going to pass the time by copiously expectorating into Kleenex and playing Ghost Recon. I'm going to play so much Ghost Recon that when someone knocks on the door, my first instinct will be to pop 'em in the head with my OICW.

Posted by Keeper @ 10:30 AM CST [Link]