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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 :)"
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?
Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
<whispers>
Huh? Oh.
I bought Beneath a Steel Sky for the Amiga many moons ago... but it kept crashing in the garden .. now i might actually be able to finish it! (Don't tell me how it ends!)
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
If you have the UAE Amiga Emulator, you can find hundreds of legitimately-released games at Back 2 The Roots, enough to keep you entertained for years!
Previously I tried to play them under Win98s DOS, but audio and especially speech support was flaky because I have SB Live 1024. Now with ScummVM, no problems at all. Props to the development team!
I used a previous version of ScummVM to play one of my favorite childhood games: Sam and Max (talkie version). ScummVM worked perfectly. I highly recommend it to anyone trying to enjoy an oldie but goodie. I haven't tried this latest version yet, but I am sure it is at least as good as the version I used for Sam and Max.
Not only has beneath a steel sky been released but Revolution are also helping the scummvm team to add support for broken sword 1 & 2.
IMO this is a great move as it makes some of the coasters sitting on the shelves of linux converts into much more useful items again.
Go Revolution
XP is basicly 98 with a lot more extra features to hunt down and disable. --Dram
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!)
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.
The ScummLinux project allows you to play your favorite ScummVM-supported games anywhere; just boot the CD, choose a game, and enjoy. It supports all the soundcards supported by the Linux kernel and TV-Out for some graphics cards, so you can even play on a television set.
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.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I think Revolution Software is only doing this right thing by releasing it as freeware. I mean, does those old Sierra games even *work* on a modern Windows installation to 100%? They aren't sold and build on ancient technology, so why should they not just upload it all to their FTP and say "here you go, if anyone want it"?
I just find what many game companies do with those ancient games no one will ever care about again being so incredibly silly...
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
VMWare will still cost you a pretty penny and it's not open source like ScummVM.
And it's probably faster to use ScummVM too because once you set up your shortcut or whatever the equivalent is on your platform then you just click it and it starts instantly instead of having to wait for the whole VM to boot up.
I mean, did anybody write a completely new game for ScummVM? Or, are there any tools for making them at least?