DOTT and Maniac Mansion for free ?

GUN · Post by **GUN** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 10:33 pm

by surfing i found a german pc magazine offers DOTT with Maniac Mansion for free to download.

(Link removed by moderator because of forum rule #0)

and it is rated as FREEWARE.

maybe it is interessting for some of you ? Or know more about this ?

Freddo · Post by **Freddo** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 1:51 am

Somewhere a mistake been made, cause the games are not freeware.

dreammaster · Post by **dreammaster** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 2:23 am

Freddo wrote:Somewhere a mistake been made, cause the games are not freeware.

I see from the screenshot that it's the German version only. So it's always possible that the German distributors gave permission for a free release of just that language. Of course, even, then it doesn't mean that the game would be completely free; as with other 'freeing' in the past, such as Zork or Betrayal at Krondor, it may be only be allowed to be downloadable from that website and nowhere else. Also, Back to the Roots is an example of Amiga distributors releasing many commercial Amiga ports as legitimate freeware.

Stranger things have happened. I remember many years ago that PC Magazine (I think it was) distributed the full game of Companions of Xanth on one of their cover-discs. I was always mildly curious as to whether that was intentional, or whether it was an accident and only a demo was meant to be included.

chrisis · Post by **chrisis** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 8:28 am

I just checked the site and downloaded the file just to inspect what the download consists of, it's indeed the German floppy version in a .zip file, however I'm pretty sure they don't have the rights to distribute this file. Actually in the zip file is a .lnk file to a German "Abandonware" site (I won't link it) that, among many other things, offers various Lucasarts adventure games, Age Of Empires, even Windows 3.11... for download; and yes you get the idea. Anyway,lots of other stuff that's definitely NOT allowed to distribute.

Now, I have no idea how that file ended up on the Chip server labelled as Freeware, as Chip is a respected PC magazine in Germany, I sent them an e-Mail asking if they're allowed to distribute this file or otherwise have it removed (pretty sure not having copyrighted stuff for download is in their own interest).

Bobbin · Post by **Bobbin** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 2:39 pm

This download has been online for months now, so far Chip hasn't reacted to any mails.

DrMcCoy · Post by **DrMcCoy** » Sat Jan 19, 2013 10:13 am

chrisis wrote:Chip is a respected PC magazine in Germany

Only for certain values of respected.
Granted, it's not quite as brain-dead as Computer Bild, but that's about it.

chrisis · Post by **chrisis** » Sat Jan 19, 2013 12:54 pm

DrMcCoy wrote:
chrisis wrote:Chip is a respected PC magazine in Germany
Only for certain values of respected.
Granted, it's not quite as brain-dead as Computer Bild, but that's about it.

I haven't read the magazine in at least 10 years and even before I never was really a big fan of it (if anything I've read c't in the past) still, it's a huge magazine and I don't think they should (and want, I guess?) distribute things they're not allowed to..

Freddo · Post by **Freddo** » Sat Jan 19, 2013 2:05 pm

Back in 2004 or 2005 there was an article in the largest swedish PC gaming magazine about abandonware like it was a perfectly legal and ok thing to download.

And that's just from 1 of 10 random magazines I've bought from them in their ~17 years of existance, so it's quite possible they written about it a lot more. They don't offer any stuff on their own website though.

roglon · Post by **roglon** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:52 pm

Hinweis: Der Download ist nur dann rechtlich unbedenklich, wenn Sie den Originaldatenträger erworben haben, dieser aber defekt ist ...

Summary of the above quote from Chip webpage translates like "the download is only legal, if you own the original game (media) ...".

Bobbin · Post by **Bobbin** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 10:16 am

That doesn't make it any more legal to offer the download. That sentence basically confirms that they are not allowed to offer the game as freeware. One of their editors obviously still thinks there is something like a legal abandonware term.

Buddha · Post by **Buddha** » Mon Jan 28, 2013 8:05 pm

roglon wrote:
Hinweis: Der Download ist nur dann rechtlich unbedenklich, wenn Sie den Originaldatenträger erworben haben, dieser aber defekt ist ...
Summary of the above quote from Chip webpage translates like "the download is only legal, if you own the original game (media) ...".

I removed the link to the Chip webpage from this forum thread because the quote above indicates that they don't know their stuff and thus most likely don't have the rights to distribute DOTT's german version at all (And using the link here thus breaks the forum rule #0).

Kari Salminen / Buddha^
http://buddhahacks.wordpress.com/