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Domain: eliteclub.co.uk

Stories and comments across the archive that link to eliteclub.co.uk.

Comments · 10

  1. Re:A few more... by Plekto · · Score: 1 · on Great Games To Put On a Free PC?

    Just because there's no one to press charges doesn't mean it's legal or OK, and the OP obviously wants stuff that's undeniably redistributable.

    Obviously if the OP is uncomfortable with any of this advice, he'll not do it. But emulators are perfectly fine by themselves. He could just as easily load the emulators on the machines and let the end user figure it out. If you look online, it's actually quite difficult to find MAME ROMs, though a few free ones are available(the major ROM sites were taken down years ago). That may be 15 or so free ROMs, but it is a viable option.

    http://mamedev.org/roms/
    Free ROMS. Toss a few on the machines and the kids will be happy.

    As for copyright, the interesting thing about it is that it's not like patents, which are jealously guarded and bought after a company dies. In the case of abandoned software by decades dead companies, there have been no major cases about this. At worst a few nastygrams have been sent out, but always to the projects/distribution sites(which stop making those files available) and not the end users. Those that were taken down but really popular almost always have sourceforge or similar groups that have made clones as well.

    99.9% of the time the places in question that have such files take them down if there's a question.

    http://www.the-underdogs.info/faq.php
    This site is a good place for exact info and they keep their data current. (note - TONS aren't available or are blocked) Some games are shareware, some are abandoned, and some are still available, and usually dirt cheap at that.

    It's pretty easy as well to find who owns the rights as well(sites like the above are full of info on each program's status), if you really care. Many of the original authors have explicitly given their okay to use it OR they have outright gifted it to the community/made it open source/etc. There are hundreds of pieces of old abandoned software out there like this. Use those titles and he's fine.

    Or just go to Ebay and buy a few copies of the original floppies. I have a box of old programs like this in storage, and I get old stuff like this at garage sales just for this reason. The last I checked, a copy of Elite for PC was nearly free. The floppy need not even work - all you need is the physical disk.

    Oh, but wait - the actual sequels are available online as shareware!
    http://www.eliteclub.co.uk/download/

  2. Frontier: Elite II by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1 · on Name Your Favorite Bloat-Free Software

    Frontier: Elite II, it's so tiny, but such a old, full featured DOS 3d game.

  3. Re:Theme Park and Frontier Elite 2 by DCBoland · · Score: 1 · on Top 10 'Most Influential' Amiga Games

    Yes! Im sick of asking everyone if they played Frontier Elite 2 and getting nothing but blank faces. It amazed as a young gamer and amazes me more now as a programmer; written in assembler and giving the player a procedurally generated universe to explore, all on one floppy disk. For those who missed it on the Amiga, a shareware PC version is available here: http://www.eliteclub.co.uk/download/

  4. Re:Were games better with worse graphics? by glas_gow · · Score: 1 · on Gaming Now and 20 Years Ago
    Now you mention ELITE, I think Frontier, Elite II, was far superior.

    http://www.eliteclub.co.uk/download/

  5. I won't even RTFA by game+kid · · Score: 2 · on A New Golden Age of Gaming?

    Braben prefers to keep monetizing works like Elite. I'm more of an Ian Bell fan, if only because he has the balls to make the original Elite free.

  6. Finally, the next version of Elite! by mark0 · · Score: 1 · on Simulating the Whole Universe

    Perhaps now David Braben and Frontier Developments will be able to write the long-awaited next version of Elite!

  7. Now: Shareware by neglige · · Score: 2, Interesting · on Creation Of Elite Charted

    Frontier (Elite 2) is available for download and can be registered for just 5 UK-Pounds... I don't know the exact number of galaxies included, but there were more than 256...

  8. Re: Reverse Engineered Games by Chris+Feddern · · Score: 2, Informative · on Old Sierra Games Breathe Anew
    A reverse engineered version (binaries, sources) of the original space combat/trade game Elite can be found here.

    The source for a replacement binary for Frontier: First Encounters (Unix/Linux, DOS/Windows 98/2000/XP) can is here, and you can get the complete data files here(shareware, meaning you should send 5 British Pounds to Frontier Developments if you continue to use it after 30 days).

  9. Re:Classic games really this important? by Alioth · · Score: 3 · on IDSA Goes After Abandonware
    Yes. The entire Elite series - Elite, Frontier Elite 2 and Frontier: First Encounters.

    They have a big fanfiction following, and the Elite Club will soon be offering the source code for FE:2 and FFE. See Frontier Developments website for more info on these games, or see alioth.net for a website set in the fictional Frontier Elite Universe.

  10. Elite: Retro-Gaming by Alioth · · Score: 2 · on Slashback: Injunction, Waivers, Black Hole
    Of those games that are made available, my favorite, Elite is available from one of the original authors! Ian Bell's website has virtually every version of 8-bit Elite ever made. David Braben, the other half of the Elite team and author of FE:2 and FFE (the two Elite followups) says that he won't be going around shutting down people who offer the games for download (although these games are PC games). In fact, Frontier Developments is starting The Elite Club soon, and members will be able to get their mitts on the source code for FE:2 and Frontier First Encounters. And of course there's other Elite efforts, such as Christian Pinder's excellent Elite: The New Kind which comes with full sources (and can be compiled and run on Linux).

    As for emulation, the old Sinclair Spectrum is perfectly legally emulable: Amstrad (holder of they copyright of the ROM) said basically "go ahead and use it, so long as you don't do it commercially". There is hope out there for retro games.