Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (
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Jon Ripley wrote:
> Jimmy Maher wrote:
>
>>That said, if you are planning to extract your games from the original
>>disks in order to make them available to others on the net, that's
>>noble in its way, but it's not worth the effort. They are already
>>widely available from abandonware sites. Personally, I have no
>>problem with this. If Activision wants to maintain their copyright,
>>I feel they should have a concurrent obligation to keep the games in
>>print so that those who desire to play them can do so. Others
>>obviously have different opinions, however.
>
>
> I have seen a recent PC-CD release of the Zork trilogy + other Infocom games
> on sale in local game shops. So they definately have been commercially
> availablin th UK for PC (and similiar) in the last few years.
I could of course be wrong, but I suspect that these must be old titles
that have been bouncing around in the distribution pipeline. I don't
believe Activision has done anything with the Infocom titles
commercially since the Masterpieces of Infocom CD, circa 1996. There
are certainly no Infocom titles available from their online store.
> One problem I can see with releasing free copies of these games is that any
> commercial ventures involving these games by Activision in the future may be
> hampered by their availability on the internet of whatever versions people
> have seen fit to share. There are a few old games from the 80s which have
> again become commercial sucesses in the last few years, it is reported
> however, that the availability of pirated versions of many old games may
> prevent any future commercial success.
I don't think any of the old Infocom franchises, with the possible
exception of Zork, has any value in the modern commercial game world.
And even the last Zork game performed poorly commercially back in 1997.
If Activision *were* to try to resurrect something, they would most
assuredly not do it in the context of a text adventure, so I find it
hard to see how the old games could be seen as competition. At worst,
their availability would be a non-factor. At best, they might represent
some free advertising. Activision in fact used this very theory when
they released the original Zork games as freeware to promote their
graphical Zork adventures.
> Also, won't the free availability of Infocom titles devalue them?
Devalue them to who? Collectors? I don't think so. Those folks are
after the original packaging and goodies, not the actual bits on the
(now 20 years old and possibly non-readable) disk.
> My 2p.
Fair enough...
Jimmy
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