Software Library: MS-DOS Games (2500 of em)

[Ghambit]

Behold!!!
https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos_games/v2

Forgive if this is old news but, I'm not really sure how they're getting away with this, and really... I doubt it'll be up long, but enjoy?  They've even got most of the old Sierra games on there.  Note: I have not tested the in-browser EMU ever (it's still in beta btw), so dont flame if it doesn't actually work.  It's free.  I've paid $20 on gog for Starflight before and that barely works.

My recommendations for must-plays:
-All of the King's Quests
-All of the Space Quests
-All of the Police Quests
-Starflight
-F19 Stealth Fighter
-Dune
-Silent Service
-MoM (of course)

[Falconeer]

It was posted in another thread but I definitely believe this deserves its own. With many, many reports from whatever you are all playing with it.

[Ghambit]

Has the statute of limitations run out on most of these?  I'm gonna assume 20yrs was the max and most of these titles are pre-1995.

[Samwise]

Remember, copyright in the US always lasts just long enough to make sure Mickey is still covered by it.

[Kail]

Has the statute of limitations run out on most of these?  I'm gonna assume 20yrs was the max and most of these titles are pre-1995.

No.  This is definitely illegal.  Lots of these programs are still for sale on other stores (Gog, for example).

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/302

In the case of an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work, or a work made for hire, the copyright endures for a term of 95 years from the year of its first publication, or a term of 120 years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first.

[Ingmar]

Nothing I've tried plays very well in the browser. The mouse sync is pretty bad too.

[WayAbvPar]

I would recommend Darklands as well. I played it not a couple of years ago. It was a bit glitchy, but not terrible. I would LOVE to see that get remade with a modern UI/graphics. It was a fantastic game.

Not sure if it was on the list, but I still go back and play Wizard's Crown from the mid-80s. Basically just turn-based combat and loot, but it is fun.

[Ghambit]

Nothing I've tried plays very well in the browser. The mouse sync is pretty bad too.

How the hell does the savegame function? Does it work? It's enough of a pita even under normal emulation.

[Yegolev]

This is basically a tech demo that will go on someone's resume, right?

[Torinak]

This is basically a tech demo that will go on someone's resume, right?

Convert the Dosbox source to JavaScript (like they did with MAME), throw it into a browser, and enable ginormous amounts of copyright infringement? I'm sure that'll end well.

Downloading an archive of 2500 games would only make one liable for up to $375 MILLION in penalties. And since some of these are still being sold, it seems pretty likely that the copyrights owners are still active...

[Torinak]

Has the statute of limitations run out on most of these?  I'm gonna assume 20yrs was the max and most of these titles are pre-1995.

No.  This is definitely illegal.  Lots of these programs are still for sale on other stores (Gog, for example).

And they're really pretty cheap on Gog, too. Heck, I gladly paid full price ($30-50) for pretty much every game on the "must-play" list back in the day, and got my money's worth. Many still play fairly well in their Dosbox forms as purchased from Gog, or as re-installed from one's original disks (after borrowing a floppy drive from a museum )

[Lucas]

Gawd, now this is some serious roleplaying game  

https://archive.org/details/msdos_Girlfriend_Construction_Set_1989

Yep, Radicalthon material 

[koro]

Gawd, now this is some serious roleplaying game  

https://archive.org/details/msdos_Girlfriend_Construction_Set_1989

Yep, Radicalthon material 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg-uHacWQgc

[bhodi]

No.  This is definitely illegal.  Lots of these programs are still for sale on other stores (Gog, for example).

You're wrong, they claim a DCMA exception, it's totally legal.

[Sky]

I still have my original disks for many of them, so I'd feel fine playing them.

I tried MoM and the mouse pointer ingame was about 2" north of the system mouse pointer, unplayable (couldn't access the bottom of the screen with the offset).

[Trippy]

No.  This is definitely illegal.  Lots of these programs are still for sale on other stores (Gog, for example).

You're wrong, they claim a DCMA exception, it's totally legal.

That part only applies to the copy protection circumvention part, which they are allowed to do by that exemption. They (the Internet Archive) are claiming fair use for the actual game playing part: "Access to the Archive’s Collections is provided at no cost to you and is granted for scholarship and research purposes only".

[bhodi]

I guess we'll see! If it's up by this time next week, there wasn't a lawyer who'd take the case and get a temporary injunction.

[Ghambit]

I think a lot of the stuff is already being taken down (or maybe tweaked as they find bugs).  Cant find MoM nor a lot of the Sierra titles anymore.

[Margalis]

It's illegal.

Archiving a work while circumventing the copy protection for archival purposes is not the same as throwing it up on a public website for anyone in the world to experience for free.

Note that the IA says they submitted a comment. They didn't get a response to the comment! Nobody wrote them a letter telling them what they were doing was ok.

The IA does this shit all the time, banking on the assumption that most of the IP holders won't put up a fight because it isn't worth their time. One of the guys who signed one of those DMCA comments is Simon Carless, who is the guy in charge of Gamasutra / GDC. So you have the guy in charge of a website for developers spearheading an effort to pirate mass quantities of games - lol.