Lets start a pettion...
Moderator: ScummVM Team
- pinkfloyd789
- Posts: 63
- Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2007 10:35 pm
Lets start a pettion...
...to get Lucasarts Scumm games on Steam. How do we do it?
- pinkfloyd789
- Posts: 63
- Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2007 10:35 pm
Sorry but petitions are a pathetic waste of time.
Whilst it would certainly be good to have a legitimate outlet for the games I can't really get excited about Lucasarts making money off the back of an excellent project such as ScummVM! It'd be like id who make money from old titles that simply wouldn't run without DOSBox which they 'glossed over' somewhat
If Lucasarts had supported ScummVM (finance, specs, games, actively encouraged the team to do what they've achieved, etc.) then I'd feel vastly different! As it is you'd simply be adding to the 'Star Wars game development fund' so I'd go looking on eBay/similar - after all, most are pretty easy to obtain.
I do somehow suspect you may be a bit of a Steam advocate who'd prefer to buy all games via its digital delivery system. However, I see no reason why Steam should be used in preference to any other service. Let's be honest, an online shop followed by a download link is just as effective for the end user. I'll wager that I'm likely to attract a response of "being able to re-download said titles anywhere any time [with Steam]" with that statement! I like the total package so digital delivery doesn't float my boat but can understand people want different things!
Whilst it would certainly be good to have a legitimate outlet for the games I can't really get excited about Lucasarts making money off the back of an excellent project such as ScummVM! It'd be like id who make money from old titles that simply wouldn't run without DOSBox which they 'glossed over' somewhat
If Lucasarts had supported ScummVM (finance, specs, games, actively encouraged the team to do what they've achieved, etc.) then I'd feel vastly different! As it is you'd simply be adding to the 'Star Wars game development fund' so I'd go looking on eBay/similar - after all, most are pretty easy to obtain.
I do somehow suspect you may be a bit of a Steam advocate who'd prefer to buy all games via its digital delivery system. However, I see no reason why Steam should be used in preference to any other service. Let's be honest, an online shop followed by a download link is just as effective for the end user. I'll wager that I'm likely to attract a response of "being able to re-download said titles anywhere any time [with Steam]" with that statement! I like the total package so digital delivery doesn't float my boat but can understand people want different things!
I'm not a huge Steam fan, but it's a system that works. I think the point here, then, is to point to such a system and say "see? why don't they do this?" All the LucasArts adventure games would be great material for digital distribution, and it'd be so easy* for LA to implement that it's just sad that they haven't. Steam, specifically, isn't really the issue.Reckless wrote:I do somehow suspect you may be a bit of a Steam advocate who'd prefer to buy all games via its digital delivery system. However, I see no reason why Steam should be used in preference to any other service. Let's be honest, an online shop followed by a download link is just as effective for the end user. I'll wager that I'm likely to attract a response of "being able to re-download said titles anywhere any time [with Steam]" with that statement! I like the total package so digital delivery doesn't float my boat but can understand people want different things!
*Easier than packaging and distributing them for stores, anyway. There may be various other issues to deal with that make it complicated, but still.
The problem you might get is exactly the one with id and Steam - yes, DosBox was bundled with it, but it was a patched version of DosBox which had the Steam loader attached to it.
The only way I could possibly see LucasArts allowing Steam - or something like it - is by building a custom build of ScummVM with the Steam library (or equivalent) embedded in it, which puts it in a very dubious position, because unless the Steam library code is released, they can't just wrap ScummVM up and provide it. The GPL requires the modified source to be released - which would include Steam's code.
Besides, Amazon and HMV are carrying some of the titles right now, so "obviously" that's enough for 15+ year old games.
Me, I'd love to see the full Lucas back-catalogue available somewhere.
The only way I could possibly see LucasArts allowing Steam - or something like it - is by building a custom build of ScummVM with the Steam library (or equivalent) embedded in it, which puts it in a very dubious position, because unless the Steam library code is released, they can't just wrap ScummVM up and provide it. The GPL requires the modified source to be released - which would include Steam's code.
Besides, Amazon and HMV are carrying some of the titles right now, so "obviously" that's enough for 15+ year old games.
Me, I'd love to see the full Lucas back-catalogue available somewhere.
Yep, DosBox is GPL licensed - and when the news broke that id had bundled up Steam with DosBox, and not released the source, there was a frenzy of activity and mudslinging-about-to-happen on the DosBox (VOGONS) forums.
Several posts and emails were sent to id, and a few days later the DosBox source turned up on Steam, although whether that includes the modifications that linked Steam to DosBox, I don't know.
As I say, if LucasArts were to use Steam, they'd either have to re-engineer their applications (the Windows versions of the later games shouldn't be too much of a problem though), or use ScummVM. Doing so not only raises the issue mentioned, but also would suggest that they've backed down - they have previously tried to shut ScummVM down.
It's a tricky one, but in all honesty I can't see them doing anything about it; they're too busy making Star Wars and Indy games, with or without Lego...
Several posts and emails were sent to id, and a few days later the DosBox source turned up on Steam, although whether that includes the modifications that linked Steam to DosBox, I don't know.
As I say, if LucasArts were to use Steam, they'd either have to re-engineer their applications (the Windows versions of the later games shouldn't be too much of a problem though), or use ScummVM. Doing so not only raises the issue mentioned, but also would suggest that they've backed down - they have previously tried to shut ScummVM down.
It's a tricky one, but in all honesty I can't see them doing anything about it; they're too busy making Star Wars and Indy games, with or without Lego...
- doc labyrinth
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