Copyright Getting In The Way Of Preserving Video Game History
from the and-again-and-again-and-again dept
We keep hearing stories of how copyright is getting in the way of preserving or archiving cultural works. The latest is video games, which face a double whammy of obsolete proprietary hardware and restrictive copyright laws, making it quite difficult to legally preserve those games:Even if preservationists had the resources to develop the kind of emulators that can stand the test of time, their task would be made all the more difficult by the tendency of game companies to worry more about piracy than preservation. This means that documentation on how their machines work is either non-existent (if the company goes out of business or fails to preserve it) or secret, so makers of emulators must laboriously reverse-engineer existing hardware.The article also notes that there probably needs to be a legal change, such as exempting such archival activity in the DMCA rulemaking process that just concluded -- but so far it doesn't seem like such changes are likely.
Finally, there's the copyright issue. Getting permission to preserve a game requires signoff by everyone with a stake in it--its creator, publisher, etc.Given the current legal situation concerning emulation, it is not possible to preserve video games digitally using emulators and copy media to different physical layers without the manufacturer's agreement. Establishing responsibility for the preservation of digital data must be seen as a priority. Awareness has to be raised among the manufacturers of console video game systems and console video games to reach agreements about how to preserve their work.
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Filed Under: archiving, copyright, video games
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tHIS IS VERY ENTERTAINING.
AGREED.
There are emulators that work hard to render games properly. But there are games that FIGHT not to be played, in ANYTHING, except the original machines. Some ODDBALL code hidden inside to protect it, or proprietary formula(hardware/software).
Go ask ATARI..they STILL have copyrights from the Atari game console, they reinvent the games for Many machines. NO ONE can touch them.
Many of the older Software CREATORS have gone into PURCHASE and distribution. They would rather BUY it out, and OWN the channels, then let someone ELSE learn the trade.
Very little in the last 30 years has been released to the pubic domain.
They are at the point, that Copyrighting CODE, is a specialized business ALSO. Its the Copyright.GOV thats having the problems NOW..to much to remember. A few companies have Banned Software copyrights.
Another point of Strangeness,
Comes with computer history and Gaming history.
If you ever read or see a time line..Figure out where the Amiga goes. 15 years of advanced 8/16 bit computing/graphics out the window.
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not a bit.
to 99% of them its piracy and theft.
But I would love to see someone take Galaga/tempest/Tetris/pong/Frogger/space invaders/.. into court.
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Re: tHIS IS VERY ENTERTAINING.
Advanced by 15yrs old standard you mean. Please keep your facts straight.
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Incidentally, including a number of BlockOut clones (which is the 3d top-down block stacking game) (par example: Blockx3D), that in my humble opinion should not have fallen victim to that particular DMCA take-down notice as it didn't infringe on Tetris' trademarks or copyright.
And Google should allow the counter notice section of the DMCA too, for those game-authors.
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What to preserve exactly?
Artwork can be used under fare-usage provisions, machinery better be authentic to be worth put in museum, and source code is available in every programming text book.
The point of emulator is to "run program for platform X on platform Y". Most of them are created purely for "because I can" reason or as programming exercise. While former is not really needed, latter is definitely allowed as serve a part of any CS degree.
In short - nothing to see here, move on.
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That or the folks who wrote it are Tesla-esque geniuses and deserve our respect and adoration, which means ponying up the money for an original.
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The consensus is that if a game is no longer for sale then it is Ok to pirate it!
The emulation of these machines has reached staggering accuracy as well - thanks to the work of the Amiga community, which is still thriving.
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adding to the problem: how do you get code from the magnafox onto your pc.
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Nobody cares about the amiga scene because they've figured out they're not going to make money on it.
They have figured out however that they can repackage a dozen or so old Atari 2600 games to folks my age into a retro looking joystick that plugs into your TV and make a sh!t ton because it brings back memories of our good old days.
20 years from now, it'll be your kids buying a "retro" PS3 or XBox joystick streaming wirelessly to their TV to bring back the good old days.
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to their TV? I think straight to their brain would be much better.
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It's all about the culture...
get reall, your just too damn lazy to create anything of value, your entire site is based on a business model of making copies of other peoples work, then crying about how it's all about the culture and fair use and wtf ever to con fools into putting ads on your site so you can then bash the patents and copyrights and trademarks that those fools pay to advertise and pay big money to protect yet if you had your way they would have nothing because everyone could just take their products.
Do these fools advertising on here even realize what your all about?
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I'm thinking it will be more like Ghost in the Shell where it plug directly in the back of the neck. But you're right. The only reason these games are so hard to emulate is because the copyright owners think they are "being robbed of profits" by it. Emulating would break their ability to re-re-re-re-release old games on whatever the current system is and charge $20 for a retro classic.
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Re: It's all about the culture...
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Re: It's all about the culture...
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Re: It's all about the culture...
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Re: It's all about the culture...
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Re: What to preserve exactly?
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Re: What to preserve exactly?
The source code to every interesting video game ever made is in every programming text book?
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My First Job Out Of College: Embargo
http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=embargo&page=detail&id=751
Peace, Love, Laughter,
Rob:-]
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Re: Re: What to preserve exactly?
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Re: Re: Re: What to preserve exactly?
Now perhaps Ifroen meant something else, but it seems like he's saying there's no need to try to preserve video games, because the source code for all the video games is in CS textbooks.
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It PUSHED MS to goto a graphic environment, then to windows.
For all the movies created on it/with it.
iT USED your tv, rather then a $200 12" monitor.
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I will give you ALL a point of interest..
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Re: It's all about the culture...
That doesn't seem to fit.
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what to do
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Regardless of legality, they have to expose themselves to the possibility of court action to justify what they're doing.
Software patents are a lawyer's toolset, not a programmer's.
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The other point was that Tetris != BlockOut. Sure both are block-stacking games, but Tetris is front view 2D, and Blockout uses different shaped blocks and has a top-down 3D view.
And in an ideal world, Google would allow the creators of the games to respond to the DMCA takedown notice.
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Abandonware
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