[Infocom] Downloading games legally

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Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

I just stumbled onto a website that claims to have been given the right
(by Activision) to offer Infocom games for legal download. The site is
www.back2roots.org, and the list of Infocom games they offer is at

http://www.back2roots.org/Games/Find/Infocom%2C1/

They don't have everything (they're currently missing AMFV, Beyond Zork,
Sorcerer, Starcross, Stationfall and Suspect) but notices elsewhere on
the site indicate that this may be because of their current diskspace
crisis.

The games are all Amiga versions, offered as .ADF files, but free
utilities such as ADF Opus and unADF allow the story file to be
extracted (it's usually "Story.Data") and played on any standard
interpreter. (I've tried it, and they work fine in Windows Frotz 2002
and Gargoyle at any rate.)

Is this really all above board? If so, why hasn't Activision released
the games more freely?

Cheers,

Peter
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Peter Mattsson <peter@XYZZYmattssons.e7even.com> writes:

> I just stumbled onto a website that claims to have been given the right
> (by Activision) to offer Infocom games for legal download. The site is
> www.back2roots.org, and the list of Infocom games they offer is at

My gut instinct is to think its not on the level; more to point
is Hitchhikers is listed there, and it wasn't included in Activision
compilations since they didn't have license to it without Douglas Adams (rip)
estate's permission which they evidently didn't have... so I would doubt
the website is cleared to release it as well. However, it is possible (?)
that the Amiga distribution was through some company which in turn did
have the license to okay such a thing.. *shrug*

jeff

--
--
"Have you played Atari today?"
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Peter Mattsson wrote:
> I just stumbled onto a website that claims to have been given the right
> (by Activision) to offer Infocom games for legal download. The site is
> www.back2roots.org, and the list of Infocom games they offer is at
>
> http://www.back2roots.org/Games/Find/Infocom%2C1/
>
> Is this really all above board? If so, why hasn't Activision released
> the games more freely?

I was an Amiga fanatic back in the day, and still dabble in the
emulation scene occasionally for nostalgia's sake, so I'm quite familiar
with the site. I have every reason to believe that they are indeed on
the level, and have secured permission to offer all of the games on the
site. The publishers most likely think that, since these are dead games
for a dead platform, why not? (If only they were so enlightened about
PC abandonware... *SIGH*).

I think that probably few if any at Activision realize that the Infocom
games used such a portable format, or how easy it is to extract the game
files from an ADF file for play on any non-Amiga. I have absolutely no
idea what the legality of doing so is.

Jimmy
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Jeff Mitchell wrote:
> My gut instinct is to think its not on the level; more to point
> is Hitchhikers is listed there, and it wasn't included in Activision
> compilations since they didn't have license to it without Douglas Adams (rip)
> estate's permission which they evidently didn't have... so I would doubt
> the website is cleared to release it as well. However, it is possible (?)

It was definitely on the The Sci-Fi Collection (because I've got a copy
of that) and I'm pretty sure Hitchhiker's was also on The Lost Treasures
of Infocom, Volume I. That said, I can imagine there were some licensing
problems, given that it wasn't included on the The Masterpieces of
Infocom and the Infocom Documentation Project hasn't cleared the rights
to the manual. It would be interesting to know what Activision's
licensing position really is...

(Could it be that back2roots.com cleared it with Activision before these
problems came up?)

Cheers,

Peter
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Here, Peter Mattsson <peter@xyzzymattssons.e7even.com> wrote:
> Jeff Mitchell wrote:
> > My gut instinct is to think its not on the level; more to point
> > is Hitchhikers is listed there, and it wasn't included in Activision
> > compilations since they didn't have license to it without Douglas Adams (rip)
> > estate's permission which they evidently didn't have... so I would doubt
> > the website is cleared to release it as well. However, it is possible (?)
>
> It was definitely on the The Sci-Fi Collection (because I've got a copy
> of that) and I'm pretty sure Hitchhiker's was also on The Lost Treasures
> of Infocom, Volume I.

It was on both, yes. Those were both earlier than the Masterpieces
collection, which lacks both HHGG and Shogun.

My assumption has always been that Infocom signed a limited-term
publishing agreement with its "external" authors (ten years?) and
those lapsed before Masterpieces came out.

--Z

"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the borogoves..."
*
I'm still thinking about what to put in this space.
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Jimmy Maher wrote:
> [...]
> I think that probably few if any at Activision realize that the Infocom
> games used such a portable format, or how easy it is to extract the game
> files from an ADF file for play on any non-Amiga. I have absolutely no
> idea what the legality of doing so is.

If no one knows that you did it, then did you really do it?
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

I forwarded this URL to Laird Malamed at Activision. He thinks it is
not legit and is forwarding it to their legal department.

David C.
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

Peter Mattsson <peter@XYZZYmattssons.e7even.com> writes:
>I just stumbled onto a website that claims to have been given the right
>(by Activision) to offer Infocom games for legal download. The site is
>www.back2roots.org, and the list of Infocom games they offer is at
>
>http://www.back2roots.org/Games/Find/Infocom%2C1/

FWIW, this site has been discussed here before, several times,
including correspondence with Activision and the site owners. I can't
find any evidence that Activision ever replied.

<http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?selm=20000509.18235400%40linux.local>
et seq

<http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?selm=3a3a6b2f.3556603%40news.xs4all.nl>
et seq
 
Archived from groups: rec.games.int-fiction (More info?)

On 29-Mar-05 at 12:03pm -0800, <david.cornelson@gmail.com> wrote:

> I forwarded this URL to Laird Malamed at Activision. He thinks
> it is not legit and is forwarding it to their legal department.

Ooops -- there! NOW you've done it! You've done gone and SPOILED
EVERYTHING, their site'll be taken down now. Hope yer satisfied! :/

-- %%%%%%%%%%%% "Glenn P.," <C128UserDELETE-THIS@FVI.Net> %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
===========================================================================
What went "Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, whimper-fizzle-pphhfffttt!" ???
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% --= The Y2K Bug... What Else? =-- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
===========================================================================

:: Take Note Of The Spam Block On My E-Mail Address! ::
 
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