Put the wish list for porting projects HERE...

[Svartalf]

btw, when is jets n guns gonna be ready for retail??

If i wanted DRM and binary blobs, i'd use windows. It's a no-go for me.

Why bother asking for anything of the sort, or for the bulk of the things you've been asking for in this thread, xav1r? Most of them, even if they don't have DRM, will be binary only blobs- something that I, RobbieAB, and a few others will ever get a chance to look at the source with.

Keep in mind, I'm not trying to get you to shift from the DRM stance...just getting you to realize that your position isn't in line with the other remarks and thinking you claim to have espoused, and that it's not so humble as you think it is.

[xav1r]

Why bother asking for anything of the sort, or for the bulk of the things you've been asking for in this thread, xav1r? Most of them, even if they don't have DRM, will be binary only blobs- something that I, RobbieAB, and a few others will ever get a chance to look at the source with.

Keep in mind, I'm not trying to get you to shift from the DRM stance...just getting you to realize that your position isn't in line with the other remarks and thinking you claim to have espoused, and that it's not so humble as you think it is.

Well the games ive been investigating on for the most part do have their source code available, or are within grasp, it's only legal matters that usually get in the way. I didnt phrase it correctly, i meant to say DRM binary blobs. Im ok with DRM-less binary blobs, like in the case of native linux clients of commercial games, like ETQW, or UT3. I actually find a hassle having to compile each time i want to use something. I just dont like the idea of DRM migrating into every aspect of people's entertaintment.

[Svartalf]

Well the games ive been investigating on for the most part do have their source code available, or are within grasp, it's only legal matters that usually get in the way. I didnt phrase it correctly, i meant to say DRM binary blobs. Im ok with DRM-less binary blobs, like in the case of native linux clients of commercial games, like ETQW, or UT3. I actually find a hassle having to compile each time i want to use something. I just dont like the idea of DRM migrating into every aspect of people's entertaintment.

I figured that was the case...I had to point out that you contradicted yourself badly there.

Oh, as a side note for all, Bandits (Bandits...Bandits...NOT Ballistics... (I had just shown someone why I was getting access to a dev unit Pandora here at my Day Job which is why I put "Ballistics" there...sigh...)) is now officially about to be back on track and only 1-2 betas away from an RC (depends on how things pan out here in the next couple of days...) and we should see a bit more time on my hands as everything starts snapping together.

[xav1r]

I figured that was the case...I had to point out that you contradicted yourself badly there.

Oh, as a side note for all, Ballistics is now officially about to be back on track and only 1-2 betas away from an RC (depends on how things pan out here in the next couple of days...) and we should see a bit more time on my hands as everything starts snapping together.

Thats good news, Svartalf! BTW, i got this email from Paul Lange, another former employee of Lobotomy software.

The game was published by several different publishers on different platforms and in different territories, so it's kind of complicated reagrding rights for Powerslave 1. Playmates had the US territories and BMG had the rest of the world.

Lobotomy went through bankruptcy, and if I remember correctly, the rights to a sequel for Powerslave ended up with the courts after Crave Entertainment didn't use it. As far as I know it wasn't sold to anyone by the courts. Considering the case has now been closed, there really isn't anyone to buy it from anymore. One or two of the developers may have copies of the source code, but I doubt they would sell it or share it out of concern that they could be doing something they shouldn't do as it's not very clear what the actual limitations are.

I'm afraid I don't have any better information for you beyond that...

Dammit, so when the courts own the rights, then are those rights effectively obliterated from earth? There should be a way of buying them from them, shouldnt it?

[SlackerTD]

Oh, as a side note for all, Ballistics is now officially about to be back on track and only 1-2 betas away from an RC (depends on how things pan out here in the next couple of days...) and we should see a bit more time on my hands as everything starts snapping together.

You mean Bandits... I have Ballistics, & am patiently waiting for the next beta of Bandits.

[Svartalf]

Dammit, so when the courts own the rights, then are those rights effectively obliterated from earth? There should be a way of buying them from them, shouldnt it?

We need to dig a bit on it. I'm not a lawyer, but I've got an understanding of how I think it works right at the moment, based on the stuff I've done throughout my career and the Patent and Copyright type work (where I've had to do assignments...) I've done in the past.

My understanding is that the rights revert to the people who did the work in question, even if it was a work-for-hire, if there are no rights holders in standing with a company. In the case of no rights holders, the estate of the person who did the work owns the rights for 75 years after they pass from this good Earth.

PIE would be the US rights holder. BMG is the remainder rights holder. Playmates probably lost everything regarding the rights on their end. BMG would be the next party I'd try to find out more on for the original. I'm sure BMG remembers SOMETHING, not that you'd want to deal with a slimy RIAA member company...

As for the sequel, etc... Rights typically fall to the developers of the work, even if it's a work-for-hire (You have copyright when you make the work, even as a work-for-hire, you just immedately assign rights to the employer...) when there's no buyers in a bankruptcy. The assignment (which is how the company holds the rights in question...) is not retained by the Trustee and the Court (They can't hold those rights by law...only sell them or not sell them...) and it goes poof when the company does at the end of a Chapter 7 proceeding, which then causes the rights to fall to the people that MADE the work.

That's why I think it's probably okay for Les Bird to release the stuff he has and in the case of everything other than TekWar (which would require more signoffs than the devs...) if you got a signoff from the people responsible for making the code, assets, etc. you could re-release those titles as "liberated" ones.

Now, I'm most definitely NOT an attorney, don't pretend to be one, nor am I pretending to give legal advice here. We need to see what the precedent is for this thing (which is leaning towards my understanding of things- hence my understanding...) and to see what BMG has to say on their part of the rights assignment Lobotomy gave 'em.

[Svartalf]

You mean Bandits... I have Ballistics, & am patiently waiting for the next beta of Bandits.

Ouch... Need to post when I'm not trying to do SEVERAL things at once...

And you should be seeing it shortly. I'm about to do a moderately large check-in here shortly and should be back grinding again on it. Should only need a few things sorted out after this, if I've caught all of it like I thought I have. Many of the bugs were actually related to not gracefully handling assets being "missing" (Hence the need for at least one more Beta pass... ) and not handling part of the dynamic geometry code in the right way because of how OpenGL buffers mapping requests.

[marakaid]

I bought "Sacred 2" a week ago and each day I play I'm more satisfied by it. Very large map, lots of side quests and items, complex skill system, characters very customizable due to many things like rings, amulets, stones, runes, etc...

[xav1r]

We need to dig a bit on it. I'm not a lawyer, but I've got an understanding of how I think it works right at the moment, based on the stuff I've done throughout my career and the Patent and Copyright type work (where I've had to do assignments...) I've done in the past.

My understanding is that the rights revert to the people who did the work in question, even if it was a work-for-hire, if there are no rights holders in standing with a company. In the case of no rights holders, the estate of the person who did the work owns the rights for 75 years after they pass from this good Earth.

PIE would be the US rights holder. BMG is the remainder rights holder. Playmates probably lost everything regarding the rights on their end. BMG would be the next party I'd try to find out more on for the original. I'm sure BMG remembers SOMETHING, not that you'd want to deal with a slimy RIAA member company...

As for the sequel, etc... Rights typically fall to the developers of the work, even if it's a work-for-hire (You have copyright when you make the work, even as a work-for-hire, you just immedately assign rights to the employer...) when there's no buyers in a bankruptcy. The assignment (which is how the company holds the rights in question...) is not retained by the Trustee and the Court (They can't hold those rights by law...only sell them or not sell them...) and it goes poof when the company does at the end of a Chapter 7 proceeding, which then causes the rights to fall to the people that MADE the work.

That's why I think it's probably okay for Les Bird to release the stuff he has and in the case of everything other than TekWar (which would require more signoffs than the devs...) if you got a signoff from the people responsible for making the code, assets, etc. you could re-release those titles as "liberated" ones.

Now, I'm most definitely NOT an attorney, don't pretend to be one, nor am I pretending to give legal advice here. We need to see what the precedent is for this thing (which is leaning towards my understanding of things- hence my understanding...) and to see what BMG has to say on their part of the rights assignment Lobotomy gave 'em.

Ah, i think Erza Dreisbach mentioned something like that regarding powerslave, meaning that he and snowblind acquired the rights to the lobotomy games. Maybe he meant just what you explained about the rights reverting the original developers. And Erza also told me that he was ok with the game being used for any purpose free of charge, so i believe the search for this one is over. Well, aside from asking the slimeballs at BMG. I bet they dont know anything either, like playmates, and i doubt theres even a way to reach them directly, theyre too big. Its like trying to speak with the president of nvidia or ati directly. So maybe then Les Bird is in the position of re-releasing the capstone games' code as GPL or whatever he wants. I contacted a game lawyer regarding them, and i sorta stopped researching into the capstone games, because i ran into this guy's name that owned intracorp, some guy named Leigh Rothschild. Apparently he's very involved in politics, was(is?) an advisor to gov. little bush, and belongs of course, to the mighty famous banker Rothschild family. Theyre not to be trusted, IMHO.

[xav1r]

BTW, intestesting thing you mention about Tekwar, probably it's ok too, since i dont think that shatner guy owns any rights to that game. And BTW, Tekwar seems to be a pretty good game, probably better than witchaven. It had NPCs you could talk to, that wandered around. If you pointed your weapon at them they would go, dont shoot me, and if there were any cop NPCs around they'd draw their weapons and tell you to drop yours, GTA-style.