bringing microcomputer games on modern platforms

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holycross
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bringing microcomputer games on modern platforms

Post by holycross »

Hello, I am posting here even though I was an Amstrad CPC user, because I have been dreaming for a while aboyt the possibility that developers would be interested in porting old games to Steam or consoles.

This has happened a lot to megadrive games for example, so I thoughtt his would be great if same happened for microcomputers. First I want to state I am not intending to irritate anyone, I sugested the same idea on another forum and people were angry or said I wanted to block games behind a paywall or drms.

I know how to use emulators and all, but I feel bringing those games to Steam or Gog, and on consoles, wsould be an opportunity to give them exposure to everyone, including yoyng generations.

I have started contacting old developers and Iactively research infoirmation about who owns what, copyright wise, to suggest them to ring back those games.
The release of Saboteur 1 and 2 remakes on Steam gave me some hope;my favourite games are sorcery, robocop,deliverance, exolon,cybernoid,cauldron 1 and 2green beret, renegade, target renegade,textgames like Sram, RAMBO III(I owned Rambo II but did not like it much)and many many other games

I feel very enthusiastic about the idea and it could help to preservation of games.
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patters
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Re: bringing microcomputer games on modern platforms

Post by patters »

Isn't this the sort of thing you're after: http://antstream.com ?
holycross
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Re: bringing microcomputer games on modern platforms

Post by holycross »

Wow I did not know aboutit, I wonder how they cponvinced so many developers, knowing how itis hard to contact old developers and fogure who owns what.
Ralf
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Re: bringing microcomputer games on modern platforms

Post by Ralf »

I can understand why people got angry.

You know, many of us feel that these old games should be free so anybody could download them
from the web and enjoy them.

Companies that created them already made their money, they
aren't going to earn any more real cash from them. Not to say that most of these companies
don't exist anymore so determining who's got the copyright is extremely tough in many cases.

In most cases copyright holders don't care about their games at all. It's retro fans who preserve
this software, host it, scan inlays and instructions etc. We do all the job, not them.

Bringing these old games on Steam as people say would just mean trouble. Some angry, threatening letters from
the lawyers to retro sites demanding the soft removal.

We all know how to get and play these games. Any serious retro fan wouldn't benefit from placing them on Steam.

And one big NO, 15 years old kids aren't going to get excited today by Manic Miner if someone shows it to them. Forget it.

Sorry man, but you are doing harm to retro community.
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R-Tape
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Re: bringing microcomputer games on modern platforms

Post by R-Tape »

So many typos. It's almost as if it was intentional.
holycross
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Re: bringing microcomputer games on modern platforms

Post by holycross »

Ralf wrote: Sat Aug 17, 2019 9:17 pm I can understand why people got angry.

You know, many of us feel that these old games should be free so anybody could download them
from the web and enjoy them.

Companies that created them already made their money, they
aren't going to earn any more real cash from them. Not to say that most of these companies
don't exist anymore so determining who's got the copyright is extremely tough in many cases.

In most cases copyright holders don't care about their games at all. It's retro fans who preserve
this software, host it, scan inlays and instructions etc. We do all the job, not them.

Bringing these old games on Steam as people say would just mean trouble. Some angry, threatening letters from
the lawyers to retro sites demanding the soft removal.

We all know how to get and play these games. Any serious retro fan wouldn't benefit from placing them on Steam.

And one big NO, 15 years old kids aren't going to get excited today by Manic Miner if someone shows it to them. Forget it.

Sorry man, but you are doing harm to retro community.
I agree, but some games happen to be free and available on steam as well.As you said many copyright holders don't, so chances are most of them would nit send lawyers.
XWhile games are preserved, they remain obscure or invisible t many people, while aconsoe games still retain a form of visibility through digital stores. I agree, not everyone will play them.But I believe it could happen without hurting retro community.
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Ast A. Moore
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Re: bringing microcomputer games on modern platforms

Post by Ast A. Moore »

R-Tape wrote: Sat Aug 17, 2019 9:36 pm So many typos. It's almost as if it was intentional.
Yup.
Every man should plant a tree, build a house, and write a ZX Spectrum game.

Author of A Yankee in Iraq, a 50 fps shoot-’em-up—the first game to utilize the floating bus on the +2A/+3,
and zasm Z80 Assembler syntax highlighter.
holycross
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Re: bringing microcomputer games on modern platforms

Post by holycross »

It was not. I won't givde details about why but I lost ability of curbing some fingers and I apologize for the typos.

And if you have doubts about my sincerity, while I never owned a spectrum I started playing CPC 464 when I was 4. My first games were batman(ocean),Sorcery,Cauldron 1 and 2, Silent Service, Tiger Road, Spy Hunter and many other. Then, when the screen died when I was 8, my parents found a second hand CPC 6128 with many games.
While googling about old games I found this website and WOS, which has some technical issues.

First came on WOS because I readithad ofofical approval of Amstrad and for the database,as I often try to contact old devs, figure who owns what, and tell them people would be happy to play their games again on modern stores and platforms.

Microcomputergames were awesome and a lot of them were eqaul in terms of creativity nes games, but nowdays people mostly remember NES games because NES was more spread worldwide.

I don't know if you remmber but years ago Wiishop had a digital section dedicated to Commodore 64, that got pulled off because the company owning c64 decided so apparently(it would be nice to have someone confirm it was the true reason)
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Einar Saukas
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Re: bringing microcomputer games on modern platforms

Post by Einar Saukas »

Personally I see no benefit from someone selling exactly the same old games on modern platforms (Steam, consoles, etc).

They won't sell a lot, because it's a niche market and most people interested in "retro" already know how to easily obtain all games for free anyway. They won't reach new younger audiences, because their real appeal is nostalgia. They won't reward original authors significantly, because profit per individual game should be quite low. And it's likely to hurt legit preservation efforts, because someone may request these games to be removed from free distribution hoping to increase sales (although it won't help since illegal sources will remain available anyway). Only the new publisher have any chance of making any money from having a share on a large quantity of titles, but it shouldn't be much, and they are not really adding value to them...

However I'm very enthusiastic about modern remakes. I recently bought SABOTEUR 1 on Steam and it's awesome, I highly recommend it!!! The new levels (in the same style of the original) are very much worth it. If you didn't buy it yet, what are you waiting for?
holycross
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Re: bringing microcomputer games on modern platforms

Post by holycross »

Yes I finished Saboteur 1 and 2 remakes(difficulty set to 9 for the first, and collected 14 papers in the last mission of 2).

I was assuming it could get more young people interested as wel, as the creator of Space onvaders said during an event that many young people were interested in old games). And in France a magazine has dedicated a monthly category to old games(paper magazines are struggling so they have to be creative).

If that was possible I would say it would be better if laws made it possible for old games to fall in public domain faster. but 50+ years(not sure about the number in my country) is a long time.
Ralf
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Re: bringing microcomputer games on modern platforms

Post by Ralf »

I'd like to add that I also like to see modern remakes of Spectrum games. They actaully have chance to sell some numbers and definitely shouldn't be put for download on any site if the author is trying to sell them for money.
but 50+ years(not sure about the number in my country) is a long time.
It's even worse. It's 70 years since the author's death. You know, the case of Walt Disney... ;)
Assuming that most of the authors are currently alive and in their 40-50s, these games will become legally available somewhere around 2120 ;)
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