Lucas Confuses ScummVM With Abandonware

Anonymous Coward writes: "Seems LucasArts finally noticed ScummVm although they seem to be confused about what it is. ScummVM is a 'virtual machine'(yes like Java) that allows you to play scumm games (Monkey Island, for example) in modern OS (Linux, BSD, err Windows XP) and weird machines like PDAs and the Dreamcast, but Lucas have confused them with an abandonware site."

Comments

Confused? So what?

[Rayonic]

Since when, in America or any other part of the world, has ignorance on an issue prevented someone from filing a lawsuit? Heck, I'd say that the odds of Lucasarts pressing ahead with litigation are about 50/50, if they can't bully them into submission.

I like Lucasarts (though I used to like it more), but you've got to realize that this issue with ScummVM probably won't make it past their lawyer department, who probably have all the technical aptitude of a pack of (three-headed) monkeys.

Call off the dogs AND the trip to the Movies

[FreeUser]

I believe this situation will soon be resolved calmly, but a hundred "You SUCK!" e-mail cannot help.

You are absolutely right.

But a mental note to self that "Lucas sucks (even worse than his last two films)" when Slashdot starts promoting the low-rez sorinsen quicktime tailers for Episode III might be appropriate (in the next story, if /. remains true to form) and a personal boycott of his products (past, present, and future) even more so.

As an aside, one has to wonder what sorts of payola scams exist here, for a site the promotes free software and open source as this one does to constantly be promoting the wares of the one industry that has launched successful attacks against free software and its developers (unlike Microsoft).

My ScummVM experience

[Anonymous Coward]

Unlike a lot of emulators I could mention, ScummVM actually seems to work well. I've played my old dusty copy of Day of the Tentacle all the way through on Linux. It looks better than in the original DOS environment (thanks to built-in anti-aliasing), and there's no speed issues. Furthermore, my USB mouse and "what's DOS?" sound card work great, where they would have failed in the original environment.

So not only can I play a game on the platform of my choice, but even if I played it under DOS, it wouldn't work due to modern hardware.

Not that there aren't problems. My only issue with it is sound synchronization. Sounds play a little too long, pushing everything more and more out of sync with every sound. It looks a bit like a badly dubbed film, actually. Which is actually kind of amusing in its own way, but still, it's not what I'd prefer.

I bought these games because of SCUMMVM

[raygundan]

I heard about SCUMMVM (and PocketScumm!) a month or so ago, and used it to play my old copy of Monkey Island. I had so much fun with it, that I bought Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, and Sam & Max Hit the Road from LucasArts. I'm playing through IJFOA on my PocketPC at the moment. I will be buying The Dig and Full Throttle as soon as they're supported fully by SCUMMVM.

I hope that LucasArts takes a step back and realizes the three most important things here:

1. You need the original games to play scummvm.
2. Scummvm lets people play lucasarts games on platforms that aren't supported by the original SCUMM .exes, which means that people like me will buy games from lucasarts to use with scummvm!
3. Scummvm was reverse engineered, and does not infringe on the original SCUMM engine.

You would think LucasArts would *like* more sales, freely implemented support for new platforms and happy customers. I really hope this is a genuine mistake.

Re:LucasArts just missed a great opportunity...

[Anonymous Coward]

I bought my wife the same set of games. She had tried the last two in the Monkey series and loved them so I bought the others too. We run WinXP pro at home and haven't had any problems that I can think of with the games. I also have the original version of Sam and Max and X-Wing (the same one that I used to play on a 386) and they seem to work fine. There were some sound setup issues with Sam and Max. The one game I am having problems with in XP are the sierra HOF/Malcom games. Malcoms revenge doesn't get through the setup - too bad.
These older games offer so much playability, I've always liked the fact that Lucas didn't ditch products just because they weren't shiny and new. I wished that alot of other companies followed suit and continued to market their older games that I grew up playing. I think Lucas would do well to please their previous customers by at least mentioning SCUMMVM as a viable option for those people who would like to fire up their old games once again. Possibly by pleasing some former customers they can get a few more purchases.

The current issue just appears to be a mistake about what SCUMMVM. Hopefully the company will be educated (politely) and we'll move on past the issue instead of trying to create another "BIG BAD COMPANY" to complain about when we already have so many to get on.

Re:Here's The Lawyer's Response

[meringuoid]

Yes, it is possible. The sources for all id Software engines up to and including Quake II have been released as GPL, but id still sell Quake and Doom - the levels aren't free, even if the engine is.

If LucasArts put scummvm.exe and sdl.dll on a CD, and have a source directory somewhere, they can fill the rest of that disk with whatever they like.

Actually manufacturing GBA carts might involve a royalty payment to Nintendo, but the GPL wouldn't be a problem.