ScummVM 0.5.0 Out, With Some Official Game Support

Ndr_Amigo writes "ScummVM (an interpreter for several different adventure game engines, like Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2, the LucasArts' SCUMM adventures and Beneath a Steel Sky, earlier Slashdot story) just released version 0.5.0. Among the usual bugfixes, new game support, etc, the interesting thing about this version is that the developers of one of our target games (Beneath a Steel Sky, by Revolution Software) actually supported us. To the extent of not only supplying us with the original assembly source code, but later deciding to release the game as Freeware to coincide with our reimplementation of their engine. This is a complete turnaround from our prior experiences, and shows that there are still a few smaller active game developers out there that are willing to help keep the classics alive for their fans... And of course you can download ScummVM and the freeware release of Beneath a Steel Sky from the ScummVM homepage :)"

Comments

I love it :)

[IIRCAFAIKIANAL]

I feel that if a game is old you (as a developer/publisher) should either:

1) Re-release it periodically. If it's worth buying they'll make money.
2) Give it away.

Companies like Nintendo are doing the former and others are doing the latter (didn't looking glass studios give away system shock?).

It's too bad that a lot of companies choose to keep an iron grip on their intellectual property instead of using it to increase their reputation, especially since fans are downloading these classics anyways - why not make it legitimate?

Re:I love it :)

[moosesocks]

Indeed. Companies could make humungous profits by re-releasing old games. Many games are often pulled from shelves before they become popular.

Examples which come to mind are the SNES game 'Chrono Trigger' (has sold on Ebay for up to $150), and the 'Freespace' series of PC games which cost about $10 in retail at the end of their shelf life, but now sell for over $60 on ebay.

Open letter to Lucas Arts

[WeeBull]

Dear LucasArts,

Six minutes ago, I learned of ScummVM's 0.5.0 release. I downloaded and installed it, and pulled my Day of the Tentacle CD from my shelf.

As I am typing this, I'm watching the full talkie introduction playing in a window on my desktop, and I am looking forward to spending some quality time with Hoage, Laverne and Bernard.

I you at Lucas Arts were to support the ScummVM project, I am convinced you would be able to sell your entire back-catalog of SCUMM games to a wide audience - Macintosh users, Linux users and Windows users alike, especially considering the ease at which I got ScummVM to work, compared to the struggle I faced trying to get DOTT to run in a DOS window under Windows XP.

In the meanwhile, I'm of rooting through my two shoeboxes of old 3.5" floppies looking for Monkey Island I and II. Ah, the memories!

(Speaking of Monkey Island - that "monkey wrench" stunt you pulled in II was entirely uncalled for, btw...)

Sincerely,

et cetera, et cetera

(PS - to the ScummVM team: Top job! Props!)

PocketPC version

[Cothol]

I use the pocketpc version to play Day of the tentacle. while I'm on the train.
Works wonderfull on my Axim, I got a cheap 512MB CF-card so now I can play the full cd vesion I got and get all the voices.

Re:Any way to extend this to modern games?

[Hatta]

As I understand it ScummVM, FreeSCI, etc. are not really virtual machines, but command interpreters. Kind of like the 3d engine/front end game model we see today, except these are adventure game engines. The reason that these things are getting ported is that no one is making adventure games anymore. This very sad fact forces fans to reverse engineer, document, and implement the engines to preserve these games for posterity. This is encouraged by the separateness of the engine and the game. You don't have to port every game individually, though slight modifications of the interpreter were common. I think if you want to play the original game you're gonna have to download a pc emulator like plex86 or bochs, install MSDOS and play from there.