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Retrogaming - Preserving the past or eating companies' profits?
April 8th 2002, 04:09 CEST by DougS Two weeks ago MAME.DK got the hammer dropped on it by an "unidentified developer" ordering the Archivers to pull their ROMs from the site. MAME.DK not only pulled that company's ROMs but all ROMs on the site, leaving the once great site as now strictly a reference site for old games. While there were other sites on the web for getting ROMs (not to mention the newsgroups where ROM trading was constantly happening), MAME.DK stood head and shoulders above the rest. It was well researched, well organized, had the bandwidth to handle the flood of users that would descend upon it every time a new version of the MAME emulator was released, and clearly was a work of love by the site's owners. So of course if you're going to try and make some inroads on stomping out Retrogaming, it was the logical place to start. Retrogaming had been once a fringe scene made up of a loosely knit group of obsessed fans who wanted to bring hard to find old coin operated video games back to life on the PC. But now it's being legitimized by companies like Microsoft and others coming out with PC versions of certain classic games like Batllezone and others. Even companies like Lucas Arts came out with "retro packs" of their old graphic adventure games. But these newer (non-Lucas Arts) versions are not straight ports of the original code as is the case of "emulated" ROMs, where the code is copied off the chips of coin-op games and then emulated to work on the PC. You play Microsoft's Battlezone and any old timer can instantly see that it's not the same as playing the Coin-Op version, though it is close. From a legal point of view the ROM dumpers are breaking the law, despite their claims of "fair use". MAME.DK tried to make it look official by saying "You have to own a version of the coin op machine and by clicking Agree you admit that you won't sell the ROM and it is for educational purposes only..yadda, yadda, yadda..." Sound a lot like the B.S. you find on Warez boards doesn't it? From a copyright point of view, the ROM dumpers are (mostly) doing this without the original author's or companies' blessing. In some limited cases permission was given by the rights holder as long as nobody tried to make money off the ROMs. Further complicating matters is some of the oldest games (pre 1984) came from companies that no longer exist so it's not exactly known who owns the rights. But from a gamer's point of view a lot of these ROMs come from games you just can't find anymore and in the day and age of FPS and coin-op karate games, who thinks they'll make money off of re-releasing an old black and white 320x240 version of Boot Hill? Or Sea-Wolf? Even "newer" games like Major Havok or Cyberball would have a limited market for profits due to their low graphics. I myself am a child of the old coin-op era. I stopped playing coin-op around 1989 because the scene was stagnant with Mortal Kombat clones. Even in this day and age most of the coin op games I see have nicer graphics but have no originality whatsoever. Sounds a lot like the state of FPS these days, lots of graphic/performance improvements but no creativity or imagination taking the scene in new directions. So when I found out about MAME.DK I was estatic because I could play games that I haven't played or seen in over 17 years. Who cares about a game made in 1980 these days anyways when we've got EverCrap and AnarchyOnline and Ultima whatever? Apparently some bean counter does otherwise MAME.DK would still be up and running. Some argued that MAME.DKs downfall was all but sealed when emulation started occuring for games made after 1990. Worse, games that never got past the dev/tryout stage started appearing emulated. There was a huge fight over the fact that some guy had assembled from spare parts a version of Atari's unreleased Marble Madness 2 and wouldn't let anyone emulate it. Who's right? Who's wrong? Do you care? |
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Topic: Retrogaming - Preserving the past or eating companies' profits?
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It's the player icon from Ultima 4. WoT?
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Thanks. I knew I've seen it somewhere. -- Martin
"It wasn't long before we were known by our more common name - the Strontium Dogs!" |
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Oh yes everything about that was totally fake. It's all in my friggin imagination. I Am not who I said I am. Nope I Am a girl. Ok I find Warren sexually attractive and this was my way of showing it. And I Don't live in florida. I Am from montreal,CAnada. I Am 35 years old. And I Am tired of living out a lie online. Sorry but I love you Warren. |
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Why can't you leave it alone? I don't want to take part in this shit, and you claim that it's all in fun. So it should be possible to shut the fuck up, right? If both parties aren't having fun, it's no longer "fun" ... it's "harassment". Show me that you aren't the troll I think you are. WoT?
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Its called Sarcasm Warren, Look it up. I was mainly responding to "of course, we all know EvilAsh is totally telling the truth, too. remember the last time a troll poured out his life story? i do. Dinglehoffen. and gee, surprise surprise, the heart-rending story of pain and sacrifice was 100% bullshit. pardon me for being wary." And of course your evilass comment didn't help much. Takes 2 to tango,Warren. |
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#233, Warren Marshall: I don't want to take part in this shit I announced a cessation to the feeding, then Martin and None-1a broke the embargo, and here we are today. Uhm... enjoy? You just don't like being told what to do. Admit it.
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I however blame crash for this one. |
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I blame anyone who actually reads a word this guy writes. The mind's time is a terrible thing to piss away. You just don't like being told what to do. Admit it.
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the point is, EvilAsh, i don't care who you are. telling me a big ol' long story--whether it's true or not--doesn't change that. if i care about anything, it's what you are, and i sure don't need a Tale Of Woe to have that demonstrated. you've been showing me what you are from day one. and what you are, frankly, is left as an exercise for the reader. i've got my own opinion, as i'm sure everyone else does, and if you want to change my opinion (as if you cared too much about it, but let's pretend), you'll need to change what you are. like that's gonna happen, right? right. ok, then. moving on, now... None-1a: knock yourself out. do what you gotta do. - if you can laugh at it, you can live with it.
- "Hey, how 'bout this: fuck you." -LPMiller |
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I made my Point Crash. End of story. |
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EvilAss And of course your evilass comment didn't help much. Takes 2 to tango,Warren. So you decided to mention my name, twice, in a reply to someone else? Get a grip. It takes 2 to tango, but one of us DOESN'T HEAR ANY MUSIC. jafd I announced a cessation to the feeding, then Martin and None-1a broke the embargo, and here we are today. Uhm... enjoy? Apparently, you do, yes. WoT?
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I made my Point Crash. End of story. The one atop your head, yes. KTHX TROLL, EOD, BYE. My heart was filled with joy. I felt like a monster reincarnation of Horatio Alger... a man on the move... and just sick enough to be totally confident.
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Not hardly. I haven't read a post of his for days. You just don't like being told what to do. Admit it.
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One time, I saved a kitten. But only once. |
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#235 by jafd I announced a cessation to the feeding, then Martin and None-1a broke the embargo, and here we are today. You have to be more precise as I don't remember if I did what you're accusing me of or if it's Davies you're talking about. -- Martin
"It wasn't long before we were known by our more common name - the Strontium Dogs!" |
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one of you has to change their fucking names. I think you should give Monty a try. Will warez for food.
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LPMiller: well, as I've said before; I was Martin before Martin Davies was. I know it might sound like much ado about nothing but my meory is horribly broken and I hate to scroll back through hundreds of posts just to try and figure out if it's me or Davies you're talking about. -- Martin
"It wasn't long before we were known by our more common name - the Strontium Dogs!" |
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Oh don't go into a hullabaloo about Martins, please. You're the new nazis.
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Well, I'll just change my name to Dua1ity then... -- Martin
"It wasn't long before we were known by our more common name - the Strontium Dogs!" |
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You've only got one more week of me anyway. I'm sure you can survive. :D I don't remember any troll embargo though and/or breakage of said embargo... so it must be you. -- ex Spatula Man --
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Martin Davies has a cute kitten as his avatar. He wins. WoT?
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Hooray for kittens! -- ex Spatula Man --
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Martin, what is your avatar anyway? I don't recognize whoever that grim fellow is. |
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Spring is in the air and people are flamed/leaving in droves. Coincidence? Discuss! Acknowledge me! Acknowledge me! Please...?
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Games ... Buy ... Games ... Buy ... Games ... Buy ... I don't get it. WoT?
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Warren I explained very clearly that I Was responding to 2 people. You and Crash. Duh. |
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Hugin - Martin's avatar is a Strontium Dog. A cartoon character from 2000AD existing in the Judge Dredd universe. -- ex Spatula Man --
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Davies free flavor Martin: I've gone my entire existence as the only Duality ... I will personally make you cry if you do. Be W4rr3n or something. You're the new nazis.
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EvilAss Let's take a look at what you said ... Oh yes everything about that was totally fake. It's all in my friggin imagination. I Am not who I said I am. Nope I Am a girl. Ok I find Warren sexually attractive and this was my way of showing it. And I Don't live in florida. I Am from montreal,CAnada. I Am 35 years old. And I Am tired of living out a lie online. Sorry but I love you Warren. Can you point to the text that specifies you're responding to 2 people? This is clearly a direct response to crash's post. Yet, I was mentioned twice, and for no good reason that I can see. This is called, "trolling". So "duh" right back at ya. WoT?
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And of course your evilass comment didn't help much. Takes 2 to tango,Warren. |
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I hate reruns. Will warez for food.
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It's a glitch in the Matrix. -- ex Spatula Man --
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Irony. I used that joke before, too. -- ex Spatula Man --
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EvilAss So after all the shit you've given me, you've decided to take a stand on my calling you "EvilAss". Moron. Hey, if you're in the mood to eat another windshield in the near future, let me know ... I'd like to volunteer mine. I have an 8 cylinder Mustang, so I'm sure I could get up enough speed that we could easily break your old record for distance. WoT?
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When Warren crosses the line, he don't do it in no half assed way. Will warez for food.
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jesus, that was evil. and that's comin from me. dunno whether to be shocked or giggle with glee. hm. anyone wanna flip a coin for me? - if you can laugh at it, you can live with it.
- "Hey, how 'bout this: fuck you." -LPMiller |
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Hrm. Might be indicative of my moral value system, but I didn't register Warren's comment as out of line. I call shotgun. My heart was filled with joy. I felt like a monster reincarnation of Horatio Alger... a man on the move... and just sick enough to be totally confident.
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Romero might want to get involved in the filming of this landmark event, especially if we can get home-made rockets involved somehow. |
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Carmack is the one with the rockets ... WoT?
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I thought that was Carmack? My heart was filled with joy. I felt like a monster reincarnation of Horatio Alger... a man on the move... and just sick enough to be totally confident.
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Goddammit Redundancy-Man, where were you 16 seconds ago?! My heart was filled with joy. I felt like a monster reincarnation of Horatio Alger... a man on the move... and just sick enough to be totally confident.
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Was it Carmack? Oh, it must have been Carmack. |
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BTW, it was Carmack. |
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How much data can Carmack hold? |
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That would be great actually. With one of Carmacks rockets on the back of my car, we'd get a lot more distance AND height out of the impact. I say we contact him. WoT?
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1.5 gigs of Don't Start that Shit Again-type data. My heart was filled with joy. I felt like a monster reincarnation of Horatio Alger... a man on the move... and just sick enough to be totally confident.
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We need hot-swappable redundant Carmack arrays. |
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The word on the streets is that Carmack makes rockets for the Space Bears. Funk. |
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1.5 gigabyte rockets, even Witty Quote
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Neuter rockets, that is. With space bears attached. Can contain 1.5 gigs of data. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.
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