Games of the past

[Comradebot]

You are never to old to brag about your awesome Clefairy.

 

Yeah you are, as everyone knows Jigglypuff evolves into Wigglytuff, which is far superior to Clefairy thanks to its massive HPs (and otherwise serves the same basic function).

 

Though any REAL Pokemon player just uses their favorites, and none of that min/maxxing crap. I still get giddy thinking about the field trip where I made my entire "encounters" (weird upper placement thing for "creative" people, they said) fear my Thunderbolt wielding Persian.

 

Particularly those who thought it'd be lulzy to have a team with all three legendary birds in it, ultimately making about 3 of his team weak to said Persian's crazy Thunderbolt skills. Lapras and my Charizard, happily named The Rock (and then, thanks to the bug in Pokemon Stadium, simply "The") finished off his Dragonites(as in two) and Mewtwo.

 

But everyone knows people like that suck, amirite?

 

Also, I'm about to totally buy X-Com off of Steam. Probably Two as well, as while it isn't as good of a game, it's the only of the REAL three X-Coms I haven't beaten yet.

[Hyde Hill]

You don't need to buy it off steam you can download it free as it is abandonware.

[Comradebot]

You don't need to buy it off steam you can download it free as it is abandonware.

 

Isn't abandonware just a fancy way of saying "I don't mind stealing it on account of it being old"?

 

And doesn't the fact that the company that owns the rights to X-Com is selling it mean that, by the very definition, it ISN'T abandonware? I mean, if it was truly meant to now be downloaded for free, wouldn't it be illegal for Valve to sell it on Steam, as they'd be attempting to profit off of something that is meant to be free?

[Self]

You are never to old to brag about your awesome Clefairy.

 

My Clefairy was AWESOME! My signature team was (thanks to some shifty repeated restarts and mass trading) a bunch of Squirtle/Wartortle/Blastoises, plus Clefairy as my Fire/Lightning/Grass magic hitter. Far from unbeatable, but I dug the theme.

 

I also enjoyed the Clefairy mini-game on Pokemon Stadium. He sang. He danced. I fell in love.

[Derek B]

Me and my sister played Pokemon Red and Blue... then traded the games to play the other one. I had Blue, so obviously I was more awesome.

 

Also, thanks to some copious shifty trading between the two of us I had a serious batch of awesome Pokemon. Must give thanks to Stadium for that too, playing at triple speed really helped me level up my Pokemon. My most powerful team would consist of any of Charizard, Blastoise, Venusaur, any of my Mewtwos (), Gengar (METRONOME! Thunder, Mega Drain), Magmar, Electabuzz, Gyarados, Lapras, Kabutops (Slash, Surf, Ice Beam!), Dugtrio, Rhydon, Victreebell, Golem, Moltres, Articuno, Zapdos, and of course.... Alakazam. My boxing Alakazam was one of my favourites, using Psychic, Fire Punch, Ice Punch and Thunder Punch to pretty much obliterate anyone. Fun times.

 

I've got a game of Ruby going just now on my GBA, have somehow managed to never do everything in that one yet cos I never enjoy Pokemon games as much when I don't have someone to beat up. Had a friend who thought he was awesome cos he had tons of Lvl100 pokemon... who I then obliterated because he'd just used rare candy to get them up there. That was awesome.

 

Only Pokemon from that generation I've never really raised as well as I'd want to from that generation is Starmie. Such flexibility and skills but I've somehow never used it.

[Hyde Hill]

Isn't abandonware just a fancy way of saying "I don't mind stealing it on account of it being old"?

 

And doesn't the fact that the company that owns the rights to X-Com is selling it mean that, by the very definition, it ISN'T abandonware? I mean, if it was truly meant to now be downloaded for free, wouldn't it be illegal for Valve to sell it on Steam, as they'd be attempting to profit off of something that is meant to be free?

 

Nah it should means that the copyright has expired making it free to offer, off course this has been abused in the past. It could be though that steam has decided to re-activate and take over the copyright at a minor cost in order to provide it for money making it no longer abandond.

[Remianen]

Nah it should means that the copyright has expired making it free to offer, off course this has been abused in the past. It could be though that steam has decided to re-activate and take over the copyright at a minor cost in order to provide it for money making it no longer abandond.

 

Uh, no. Comradebot is right.

 

Abandonware is computer software that is no longer sold or supported, or whose copyright ownership may be unclear for various reasons. While the term has been applied largely to older games, other classes of software are sometimes described as such.

 

Definitions of "abandoned" vary; generally, it refers to software no longer available for legal purchase, or of a certain age. Software companies may change their names, go bankrupt, enter into mergers, or cease to exist for a variety of reasons. When this happens, product rights are usually transferred to another company that may not sell or support the software acquired.

 

In most cases, software classed as abandonware is not in the public domain, as it has never had its original copyright revoked.

 

MicroProse was bought by Hasbro. Then Hasbro sold off their gaming division to Infogrammes (now using the Atari name). Then Atari sold the X-Com IP to Take-Two and Take-Two assigned it to 2K Games, which is who put it up on Steam. So no, X-Com is not abandonware and downloading it for free is piracy (stealing). Where you get that the copyright expired, I have no idea. That's like saying Command & Conquer is abandonware because you don't know Westwood was absorbed by EA (and thus, EA owns the IP) and you can't find the first in the series. X-Com's copyright is not unclear (even if you personally don't know its status).

 

Here's a hint: If a game is re-released to the public (in ANY form) via download distribution (whether it's Steam or Direct2Drive or anything else) or retail boxes, you can assume it's not abandoned. As a general rule, IP copyrights don't tend to just "expire". Development options and licenses can expire (see: The Matrix Online and Fallout MMO) but just because you don't make a title in a series for 10 years, doesn't automatically mean you give up the series.

[Hyde Hill]

Ok my bad for believeing even a part of the abandonware story was legit. It was just the way it was referenced too me when I found out about it.

[randomfreeze]

Well besides Mew I don't think you could of added any other knockout Pokemon derek. I ended up playing so many times I got sick of seeing the same Pokemon in my lineup. I remember finishing one game with a Raticate that I originally caught at the beginning at level 3 or so, Psyduck, Weepinbell, Goldbat, Mr. Mime, and a Rapidash. I always dumped my starter Pokemon in the bank ASAP and then the DayCare center when I get there. I'd lose to basically any human, but Giovanni could not handle my Psyduck.

 

Speaking of this Pokemon stuff, a Pokemon MMORPG would be amazing. Has anything like that ever come out?

[Synticha]

Speaking of this Pokemon stuff, a Pokemon MMORPG would be amazing. Has anything like that ever come out?

 

Well, there are some Pokemon MORPGs in BYOND!

[Remianen]

Ok my bad for believeing even a part of the abandonware story was legit. It was just the way it was referenced too me when I found out about it.

 

No sweat. Just had to clarify. I have a lot of friends who are independent developers or work/worked for smallish indy outfits (like Spectrum HoloByte) who still own the rights to their work. Calling something 'abandonware' when it isn't and then advocating pirating it, takes money out of their pockets. With services like Steam and Direct2Drive and X-Box Live and Playstation Network and iPhone apps, a lot of these programs (games or otherwise) have new distribution options that didn't exist when the games were first released, which makes it easier to pick up and support them again.

[Comradebot]

Well besides Mew I don't think you could of added any other knockout Pokemon derek. I ended up playing so many times I got sick of seeing the same Pokemon in my lineup. I remember finishing one game with a Raticate that I originally caught at the beginning at level 3 or so, Psyduck, Weepinbell, Goldbat, Mr. Mime, and a Rapidash. I always dumped my starter Pokemon in the bank ASAP and then the DayCare center when I get there. I'd lose to basically any human, but Giovanni could not handle my Psyduck.

 

Speaking of this Pokemon stuff, a Pokemon MMORPG would be amazing. Has anything like that ever come out?

 

No, and I honestly can't figure out why. I know I've personally spent several wasted hours thinking of how the game could/would operate, and spent several more hours discussing these ideas to GruntMark. We're both convinced we could be millionaires if there was the slightest chance Ninetendo would ever listen to us for five minutes about it.

 

I mean, it lends itself SO well to an MMO, doesn't it?

 

I think the neatest idea would be every player would be able to choose which region to start in (gut says the place with the original 150 would be SWARMED we people, likely myself included), though obviously you'd be able to travel to other continents by boat. But just the idea of, say, finishing a quest to take out a few Team Rockets members and then return to a city in time to watch some sorta player world (the pokemon world, that is) tournament in a stadium just makes me all giddy. Did I mention one of my ideas would be to be able to sit back and watch other badass players fight in stadiums and such?

 

Oh, and Legendary pokemon? Heavily, HEAVILY restricted in order to curb people away from min/maxing. Some things may be simply nigh impossible to obtain (though that likely wouldn't stop power guilds, which in turn would make people hate them more), or even outright impossible. I mean, really, a Pokemon MMO really shouldn't have half its players running around with Mewtwo on their team. Then again, it could be a turn off to not be able to actually "catch them all". And again, there should be some balance. You shouldn't feel "forced" into using Legendaries in order to stay competitive rather than use your favorites to the best of their abilities. Just because Dunsparce mostly sucks doesn't mean I haven't found a build for him that turns him into something... decentish.

 

Again, five minutes Nintendo. Five minutes is all I need to make the both of us (and I guess GM, since he came up with a lot of it), filthy, filthy rich. Okay, Nintendo already is, BUT they'd still stand to gain a LOT more cash.

 

No, seriously, someone get me in touch with Nintendo. I've got about 90% of how this could work, or what we could at least start with, in my head. My only regret is that they may never do it and this idea will die rather than being enjoyed by possibly millions.

[Astil]

[/b]

 

No, and I honestly can't figure out why. I know I've personally spent several wasted hours thinking of how the game could/would operate, and spent several more hours discussing these ideas to GruntMark. We're both convinced we could be millionaires if there was the slightest chance Ninetendo would ever listen to us for five minutes about it.

 

I mean, it lends itself SO well to an MMO, doesn't it?

 

I think the neatest idea would be every player would be able to choose which region to start in (gut says the place with the original 150 would be SWARMED we people, likely myself included), though obviously you'd be able to travel to other continents by boat. But just the idea of, say, finishing a quest to take out a few Team Rockets members and then return to a city in time to watch some sorta player world (the pokemon world, that is) tournament in a stadium just makes me all giddy. Did I mention one of my ideas would be to be able to sit back and watch other badass players fight in stadiums and such?

 

Oh, and Legendary pokemon? Heavily, HEAVILY restricted in order to curb people away from min/maxing. Some things may be simply nigh impossible to obtain (though that likely wouldn't stop power guilds, which in turn would make people hate them more), or even outright impossible. I mean, really, a Pokemon MMO really shouldn't have half its players running around with Mewtwo on their team. Then again, it could be a turn off to not be able to actually "catch them all". And again, there should be some balance. You shouldn't feel "forced" into using Legendaries in order to stay competitive rather than use your favorites to the best of their abilities. Just because Dunsparce mostly sucks doesn't mean I haven't found a build for him that turns him into something... decentish.

 

Again, five minutes Nintendo. Five minutes is all I need to make the both of us (and I guess GM, since he came up with a lot of it), filthy, filthy rich. Okay, Nintendo already is, BUT they'd still stand to gain a LOT more cash.

 

No, seriously, someone get me in touch with Nintendo. I've got about 90% of how this could work, or what we could at least start with, in my head. My only regret is that they may never do it and this idea will die rather than being enjoyed by possibly millions.

 

It wouldn't be that hard to code, Pkmn at it's core is nothing but a number crunching RPG with minimal stats.

 

This is actually one of the first projects I want to tackle when I start my game business. Make the game first, then walk to NoA and say "lookie what we made".

[Comradebot]

It wouldn't be that hard to code, Pkmn at it's core is nothing but a number crunching RPG with minimal stats.

 

This is actually one of the first projects I want to tackle when I start my game business. Make the game first, then walk to NoA and say "lookie what we made".

 

Just hire me for the creative.

 

Seriously.

 

I have soooo much worked out it's not even funny. But no, when you have no actual programming skill of your own you get ignored, your ideas treated as garbage simply because you can't put them into a game yourself... curses, I say.

 

Guess I could go learn about creating games... then wait for my chance to be high enough up the ladder to be listened to.

 

Sigh... why can't having ideas be qualification enough for things?

[Hyde Hill]

I get that same feeling bot. I am more of creative then grunt work myself too.

[cappyboy]

Guys, you're scaring me with all this Pokemon talk. And not in the "Oh man, I thought these guys were cooler than that" way. No. Not at all. I'm talking more the "Man, for the first time in my life I actually want to double back and finally play this" vein. Pokemon legitimately sounding fun? I would never have thunk it.

[Comradebot]

Guys, you're scaring me with all this Pokemon talk. And not in the "Oh man, I thought these guys were cooler than that" way. No. Not at all. I'm talking more the "Man, for the first time in my life I actually want to double back and finally play this" vein. Pokemon legitimately sounding fun? I would never have thunk it.

 

To think... I don't have my DS on me right now! CURSES!!!

[Astil]

I think our upstart companies full on employees, but we'll keep you in mind when we need a whale punching minigame

[Comradebot]

I think our upstart companies full on employees, but we'll keep you in mind when we need a whale punching minigame

 

Low blow Astil, low blow.

[BurningHamster]

Guys, you're scaring me with all this Pokemon talk. And not in the "Oh man, I thought these guys were cooler than that" way. No. Not at all. I'm talking more the "Man, for the first time in my life I actually want to double back and finally play this" vein. Pokemon legitimately sounding fun? I would never have thunk it.

 

The Pokemon games are kind of fun to be honest. I never got heavily into them because I have a short attention span for most games but they were far more entertaining than I expected.

[Remianen]

This is actually one of the first projects I want to tackle when I start my game business. Make the game first, then walk to NoA and say "lookie what we made".

 

Then Nintendo of America would kindly serve you with a cease & desist letter, if not "pulling a Marvel" and outright suing you.

 

WTF is Remi talking about?

 

 

http://www.pokemonworldonline.net/

[jonlawson]

some dos game where you performed surgery...I remember playing that game in my Accounting II class in HS. Can't, for the love of God, remember the name, though...

[BurningHamster]

some dos game where you performed surgery...I remember playing that game in my Accounting II class in HS. Can't, for the love of God, remember the name, though...

 

Was it .... The Surgeon? That was about performing Heart Surgery. I know there were a couple of others around but I never played them.