Daggerfall - Released for Free

Cool. I really wish I could play this but something about the perspective makes my motion sickness kick in--I once tried to play it for three days running taking aspirins for the headache, but it finally wore me down. Great game. :)
 
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Fun game but I never managed to play it more than 3-4 days. Anyway maybe I should give it another try soon?
 
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Great news! I gave away my copy of Daggerfall with the computer I played it on and always regretted it. And I've been too stubborn to go out and buy it again!

But I didn't get any of that motion sickness stuff back then. Now I do. Uh-oh...we'll just have to see, I guess.
 
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I stopped playing it when saving games broke. Probably related to a DosBox installation getting whacked.

I'll try to continue those saves sometime soon. Having enough fun with PoR right now.
 
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I'd put it onto the front news.
 
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It's been widely available for free for about 5-6 years now. I guess Bethesda just wanted to make it official. ;)


If they really wanted to do something for the fans, they should have taken the time to release a version playable on modern systems, like the games on GoG.com.
 
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Pretty awesome, considering the could've just modded it and dumped it to GOG or Steam for some quick bucks.

A tough game but a classic. Will be fun to play again.

It's been widely available for free for about 5-6 years now. I guess Bethesda just wanted to make it official. ;)

All games are widely available for free, but I don't think that's what you mean. It's not just Bethesda "making it official", if you downloaded Dagerfall before, that was piracy, since it's not vapourware.
 
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All games are widely available for free, but I don't think that's what you mean. It's not just Bethesda "making it official", if you downloaded Dagerfall before, that was piracy, since it's not vapourware.


I've never considered sites like HotU or Abandonia to be connected to piracy in any way. I think most here would agree.
 
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I think Brother None meant "since it's not abandonware".

Which is why it's not available on abandonia.com, for example. (But it will probably go up now, I imagine)

Edit: it's not available at the moment from HOTU either (I just checked - the entry has no files available), but this will probably change now that is has the same status as Arena.
 
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I disagree though, I believe it has been abandonware for some time now, and I specifically remember it being on HotU in the past. Perhaps at some point Bethesda decided to step in and declare it not abandonware.
 
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I don't really care if you disagree. The official line from Bethesda was that it was not abandonware, which is why I use to moderate posts at the 'codex that tried to link to copies of it. It's also why the more responsible abandonware sites (possibly including HOTU) removed it after their position was made clear.

The abandoned status of games changes all the time, and abandonia take it very seriously by enabling/disabling downloads of games as required.
For example, they disabled the download of the EoB games once they were made aware of their ESA-protected status.

Daggerfall was never abandonware/free until now.
 
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I disagree though, I believe it has been abandonware for some time now, and I specifically remember it being on HotU in the past. Perhaps at some point Bethesda decided to step in and declare it not abandonware.

Don't forget that "abandonware" is not an official status unless the game developer declares it so. There's a reason the concept is not legally upheld in many countries (like Germany), it works on the rather nebulous basis of "If no one claims intellectual rights, then it isn't there". Bit weird, guys. Regardless, Bethesda claimed them, so they were there.
 
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Well ... since it is now free, it is a moot point. But much of it is gray zone stuff anyway.
 
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I don't really care if you disagree. The official line from Bethesda was that it was not abandonware, which is why I use to moderate posts at the 'codex that tried to link to copies of it. It's also why the more responsible abandonware sites (possibly including HOTU) removed it after their position was made clear.

That's fine, what you do or don't care about means nothing to anyone here but yourself. I was simply pointing out that it definitely *was* at HotU and\or abandonia at one time, because I remember downloading it and trying to run it in one of those older versions of DosBox.
 
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That's fine, what you do or don't care about means nothing to anyone here but yourself. I was simply pointing out that it definitely *was* at HotU and\or abandonia at one time, because I remember downloading it and trying to run it in one of those older versions of DosBox.

I think that the point is that while the IP holder is in business and has not formally declared a piece of software as 'freely available', obtaining it without going through normal new/used avenues is piracy. I don't even begin to see that as debatable - the sites that had it made an assumption, as BN said, that 'if nobody complains it must be OK'. That argument has never held up in court.
 
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I think they really need to update these laws now that digital distribution is cheap and easy. Games' out of print for fifteen years and is impossible to get, why *shouldn't* it be abandonware? If the company wants to throw it up on Steam (like LucasArts just did! I'm buying all of their games next pay check :) ), then great, I'd like to support them with money for their great work; but if a company chooses for whatever reason not to make the product commercially available after a decent length of time (I'm talking a decade or so) I think it should be fair game until they decide to profit off of it again.

Not condoning piracy, just saying these laws should be looked at.
 
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I think that the point is that while the IP holder is in business and has not formally declared a piece of software as 'freely available', obtaining it without going through normal new/used avenues is piracy. I don't even begin to see that as debatable - the sites that had it made an assumption, as BN said, that 'if nobody complains it must be OK'. That argument has never held up in court.

Like you said, it's a gray area.

Abandonia, for instance, has a very strict policy of what it considers abandonware.
The software in question must pass 3 criteria.


First, the game has to be unavailable on the retail market and no longer distributed by its publishers nor by legitimate retailers in any form.

Second, official support for the game must have been dropped both by its publisher and developer.

Third, the game must not be under active protection of any anti-piracy agency, such as Entertainment Software Association, nor directly by the copyright holders themselves. If a legitimate copyright holder for any game requests its removal, any downloads of it (or links to thereof) present on the site and its forum will be subject to removal by site staff (although the review of the game would still remain onsite).
 
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Hopefully, between services like GoG.com and intelligent companies seeking goodwill from their fans like Bethseda we'll see a good many of the classics brought back to life without much trouble. I wonder who has the rights to Wizardry here in the US now that SirTech is gone? It's be nice if WizGold and Wiz8 ended up on GoG, while 1-6 were released as freeware.

While I am not a fan of TES in any way, and haven't touched any of Bethseda's other offerings, I still applaud this act, same as I did when Arena was released. Kinda would have liked it if that one actually worked though.
 
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That's fine, what you do or don't care about means nothing to anyone here but yourself. I was simply pointing out that it definitely *was* at HotU and\or abandonia at one time, because I remember downloading it and trying to run it in one of those older versions of DosBox.
No, you were not simply saying it was downloadable at some point, you were saying that you disagreed about it not being abandonware:
JDR13 said:
I disagree though, I believe it has been abandonware for some time now
See?
And you were wrong.
Those earlier periods when it was downloadable form certain abandonware sites, it was not abandonware.
 
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