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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."
An unfortunately oversight on the part of the ScummVM representative, was the failure to mention that to use ScummVM you still require the original (LucasArts) software!
Had this be pointed out, along with the fact that ScummVM extends the accessibility of the original software beyond its original platform, it may make it less likely that the lawyers will respond with tougher measures.
i-name =twylite [http://public.xdi.org/=twylite], see idcommons.net
(sorry, it had to be said)
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
Although I'm glad that more people are noticing this, the natural tendency at Slashdot is to fire off an e-mail campaign, which is exactly what is not needed in this case.
Lucasarts has made a mistake. As was mentioned on the mailing list, they have to deal with hundreds of Abandonware sites weekly.
From their quotes, Lucas thought that ScummVM was re-distributing the original engine, and saying it was under the GPL.
I believe this situation will soon be resolved calmly, but a hundred "You SUCK!" e-mail cannot help.
Colin Davis
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.
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
LeChuck is a pirate. I seriously doubt he would be involved in anti-warez activity of any kind.
Duh.
I believe this situation will soon be resolved calmly, but a hundred "You SUCK!" e-mail cannot help.
/. remains true to form) and a personal boycott of his products (past, present, and future) even more so.
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
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).
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
INSERT IANAL DISCLAIMER.
This is a boiler plate letter. They had a legal assitant (billing rate: usually under $100. Pay rate: $15? plus overtime.) do the research on the web. Criteria: does this allow someone to play LEC games? If yes, fill in the blanks and send the letter. Charge the client. Go home happy.
Given the response, this may get boiled up to a summer associate (hasn't passed the bar but has somewhat of a clue regarding the law) (bill rate: $125) or (egads!) and associate (a *real* lawyer) (bill rate $150 min.) who will weigh the ScummVM developers claims and decide wether to persue.
If they investigate the research on the "applicable state laws" will be given to a Legal assistant or a summer associate and that will determine the amount of work necessary to determine if ScummVM is an actual infringement.
I'm not saying LEC is poor, but I doubt they will waste their money past here.
Any IP lawyers who would like to clarify?
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
Once upon a time, there was a company that had a bunch of games that ran under a virtual machine. Eventually, people who loved those games reverse-engineered the virtual machine and wrote interpreters for the VM that ran on everything and anything, from Palms to BeOS to OS/2. And the company decided that that was okay.
The company was Activision, which bought up Infocom in the late 1980s. Remember all those Infocom text adventures? People reverse-engineered the virtual machine, known as the z-machine, and wrote plenty of z-machine interpreters, all of which are freely available. Activision apparently decided that this was fine with them, as long as the games themselves weren't being distributed.
Now LucasArts is in a similar situation. Will they be as calm about a new VM interpreter as Activision was? Sadly, I'm not so sure.
The reply to lucas arts states:
We mean no ill harm to LucasArts, and it is well known that many people (at least 50 to my knowledge, although I am sure there are many more) have brought classic LEC games simply to play them using our software.
which clearly mentions that people purchase the original software to play using ScummVM. And...
ScummVM is a valid clone of the SPU engine, designed to facitiate the playing of LucasArts adventures on modern machines and operating systems.
Which I think also clearly states that ScummVM is a clone of SPU, and not the original engine, or any original game content.
Also their FAQ clearly states in section 2:
1. Do I need original CD or Floppy disks?Most definitely. ScummVM won't work without them. If you would like to buy these games, we suggest you browse Ebay. Do not ask the ScummVM team where you can download the full versions of Lucas Arts games. These requests will be ignored.
What else should they have done? A little "research" into the site would quickly have shown that this is not an abandonware site.
If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let'em go, because, man, they're gone.
Credo quia impossibilis -- Tertullian
Sorry, Offtopic, but anyone else remember when Lucasarts games were this funny? Heck, I don't think you can even put that third line of text in a game nowadays.
(IIRC, what Elaine had asked Guybrush in that screenshot was something like "What have we learned from all of this?" at the end of the game.)
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
Paraphrased:
While this would be true, it could still be argued (successfully) that the emulator would have a negative impact on potential future revenue of LucasArts products, such as a LucasArts Classics package for BSD.
There are 2 arguments that the scummVM ppl need to make. However, they only made one of these arguments.
1. ScummVM is an emulator, and was created using legally valid and sound reverse engineering techniques. (this agument they made)
2. ScummVM was created as an academic exercise in software and reverse engineering techniques. As such, ScummVM is not bound to the DMCA, or any other such laws, as it is considered a form of free speech, and is protected under First Amendment Rights.
-Dennis
They already have :)
:)
Roblimo himself sent a nice e-mail to me with suggestions (plus the warning that the site would vanish if I didn't reply to him in 72 hours).
I've asked SF not to remove it, as what the letter cites is on our site.. obviously isn't. We arn't distributing any software by LucasArts themselves on there.
- James 'Ender' Brown
Lead ScummVM Developer
Slashdot Troll of the Hour
... I've bought the DotT / Sam & Max 2 in 1 pack; it doesn't work, because the .exe files are so old and can't cope with modern hardware. LucasArts provide patches, which work, sort of...
I've also bought the Monkey Island 1, 2 and 3 pack, and the result with 1 and 2 is the same. Doesn't work out of the box, works, sort of, once you get the patch. The patch at least gets the game running, but the sound is decidedly dodgy. I don't even want to think about what happens to WinXP users...
But now there is ScummVM. All these games run better than they did in the first place, they run on machines and OSes that LucasArts never bothered with, and they run perfectly.
What LucasArts should do with ScummVM is write the authors a great big thank-you letter and start bundling it with all their old games. There's no reason why they shouldn't. Trying to shut down a project that's doing for free what you should have done a long time ago is just plain silly.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
All of which is very cool of them. But not sueing people for writing virtual machines isn't coolness, it's just basic law. Infocom never claimed the exclusive right to implement the Z-machine specification, and probably couldn't have made that claim even if they tried.
Now, what I'd really like is to play is the original Zork. The one that the founders wrote for ITS while students at MIT. No, not "Dungeon," that's an unauthorized port, with an incomplete game and flawed parser.
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.
.exes, which means that people like me will buy games from lucasarts to use with 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
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.
Copyrights are automatic and do not need to be protected, Trademarks have to be applied for and do need to be protected.
Bleh!