Red Alert 1 Released As Freeware

Ciaran_H writes "Command & Conquer: Red Alert 1 was released as freeware on C&C's 13th anniversary. The Soviet and Allied CDs are available for download on EA's site. With the freeware release of the original Command & Conquer: Tiberium Dawn having taken place last year for the 12th anniversary, two of the most popular RTS games are now available completely free." EA is also offering a free download of Red Alert 2 with a pre-order of the upcoming Red Alert 3. The above link has a trailer for the new game, which includes appearances from George Takei, Tim Curry, Jenny McCarthy, and others.

Comments

C&C: Total Failure

[AKAImBatman]

Oh failure, let me count the ways:

1. The Tiberium Dawn link does not render correctly in Webkit. (Read: Google Chrome)

2. The Red Alert download link uses HTTP transfers rather than Bittorrent for 2x500MB files. And it was just posted on Slashdot.

3. I just purchased the C&C Collection Pack, you insensitive clods!

...

(Checks packaging)

Whew. Never mind. The C&C Collection Pack only has RA2. So thus I avoid the typical Slashdot failure!

Err... other than purchasing a "collection" that's missing the most defining games of the series that is. Hey! It was on sale! (pause) You know what? On second thought, let's just forget about the collection thing, shall we? It will be our little secret, Comrade. Da?

In all seriousness, I'm glad to see EA take this step. Old games are easily lost to the sands of time, the trials of moving, the march of operating systems, and the bateria that eats CDs. Embracing the "abandonware" mentality legally means that the game is preserved both physically and in the hearts and minds of the new generation of players. It also limits the ability of companies to continually repackage old works, thus forcing them to move forward with new titles rather than backward with the old. So kudos to EA!

Re:C&C: Total Failure

[Ostracus]

Point noted but collection packs are nice ways of legally getting all the old games and having a complete collection that doesn't take up a lot of space. Some even update the game to run on newer operating systems.

Re:C&C: Total Failure

[Anonymous Coward]

So kudos to EA!

My guess is this is the second least common statement on slashdot next to "I just got laid last night".

Re:C&C: Total Failure

[Anonymous Coward]

Releasing the game as freeware is also useful for those who bought the game when it was first released and lost the CDs.

It really would have been nice if they'd also released it via BitTorrent. I guess they dont want to do that because its easier to sue BT tracker websites if it doesn't have as many legal uses.

Re:C&C: Total Failure

[Awptimus Prime]

Some even update the game to run on newer operating systems.

Freeware doesn't necessarily mean you have access to the source code. Just try running some ancient Linux games released binary-only on a modern system. If I recall, Sim City 3k was one of these. Lost to the abyss.

To save a game for history, source needs to be out there. Dungeons of Daggorath is a fine example of this. Originally released in 1982, and still going strong in 2008. Well, "strong" being relative to it's sales back in the day compared to number of folks who don't have a problem compiling a game nowadays.

Re:C&C: Total Failure

[mobby_6kl]

>1. The Tiberium Dawn link does not render correctly in Webkit. (Read: Google Chrome)

Renders perfectly in Opera, so who cares. Maybe you'll think twice before using the fruity browser next time ;)

>2. The Red Alert download link uses HTTP transfers rather than Bittorrent for 2x500MB files. And it was just posted on Slashdot.

Thankfully. This way I don't have to double the traffic through my slow DSL+WiFi link.

>3. I just purchased the C&C Collection Pack, you insensitive clods!

The First Decade includes pretty much every C&C game ever, so I guess you could say that your purchase just lost some value. However, you still get the game so the difference is negligible.

I've played most of the the Tiberium C&C games soon after they were released, but somehow missed the first Red Alert game, only starting with RA2. I've gone back the to it with the First Decade, and aside from some frustrations with the controls, it was a fun experience. Giving old games away for free is a great idea, even if it was not started by EA. At the cost of perhaps some additional compatibility coding and hosting, they get lots of good publicity (see this story above) and talk about their games (these comments), while gamers get to play the old games they loved to play or wanted to pay but missed, from a safe source.

Re:C&C: Total Failure

[AKAImBatman]

I run Linux you insensitive clod.

Merry Christmas, you insensitive clod!

DOSBox is simply an incredible emulator. I never thought I'd see the day when DOS would be as well emulated as the classic computers of yore. :-)

Re:C&C: Total Failure

[Ash-Fox]

But DOSBox is tuned for video games. Which makes it superior for game applications. Of course, I have been known to be wrong. :-)

I have literally /always/ had better performance with dosemu for games, with out it taking much CPU usage. Hence why I use it.

Re:C&C: Total Failure

[TrekkieGod]

I have literally /always/ had better performance with dosemu for games, with out it taking much CPU usage. Hence why I use it.

YMMV, I guess. I like dosemu, but it emulates DOS so well that I always end up revisiting my days of trying to get enough conventional memory going before I can start a game. DOSBox takes care of that. It's not dosemu's fault, it's a result of them being a full emulator. You can replace the freedos they supply with MS-DOS and it'll work.

DOSBox has all the drivers you need (like sound blaster and mouse) already "loaded" without actually taking up any memory that the DOS applications can see. So 640k ends up actually being enough for anyone :)

Re:C&C: Total Failure

[risinganger]

Eh? The BitTorrent protocol specifies a completed message that is to be sent to the tracker once the torrent has been fully downloaded. What more do you need?

Re:C&C: Total Failure

[risinganger]

Freeware doesn't necessarily mean you have access to the source code.

I think if you re-read the post you'd see they were referring to the possibility of the original creators updating the games when they release a collection pack.

Re:C&C: Total Failure

[Anonymous Coward]

Freeware doesn't necessarily mean you have access to the source code. Just try running some ancient Linux games released binary-only on a modern system. If I recall, Sim City 3k was one of these. Lost to the abyss.

True that I'd rather have source, but binary-only doesn't mean gone forever. Most distros (I use Gentoo, which does this) have a Loki-compatibility package, much in the same way as you would have a Linux Standard Base package, which contains all the binary versions of libraries that you would need for the program to run. Then you write a shell script wrapper for the game (again, Gentoo does this for you) that sets LD_LIBRARY_PATH to where the compatibility libraries are, and everything runs smoothly.

I've been playing Descent 3 like this on my modern laptop for the past 2 years.

Re:C&C: Total Failure

[TheRaven64]

DOSBox is a full emulator. Dosemu is a thin virtualisation layer with DOS system call emulation. This means that dosemu is x86-only, while DOSBox allows me to run Worms nicely on a PowerPC Mac. Newer versions of DOSBox support x86 virtualisation when running on x86 (they only emulate interrupt instructions). Peripheral support in DOSBox is generally better - it emulates most things games want (joysticks and so on) and it lets you slow down the emulation easily so that you can run games written for the XT with fixed timing loops.

Re:C&C: Total Failure

[Awptimus Prime]

I've been playing Descent 3 like this on my modern laptop for the past 2 years.

Thanks for backing my point up. Yes, it helps when the source code is released:

The source code to the original Descent (minus the audio code, which was replaced with the Allegro project) was released in 1997. The source code to Descent II was subsequently released in 1999[2].

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descent_(computer_game)

The method you cite stops working the day Loki decides to close it's doors and the Linux kernel makes another step forward in it's evolution.

sweet

[spune]

now I resume wasting hours of my life where I left off nearly a decade ago

Re:two discs?

[Constantine XVI]

Red Alert used a fsckton of FMV, so they split the campaigns over two discs. Plus, it made an excuse for Westwood to pack two discs, so a friend could play RA when they came to your place for a LAN party or something.

Re:two discs?

[Anonymous Coward]

The real fun is the Rules.ini file. Google it and you will unlock an entirely new world in RA that was unimaginable!

For fun, change the soviet dog's attack type to the scud missile or tesla coil! It's hours of fun

Command and Conquer is free too

[WDot]

When EA releases C&C games as freeware, they really mean it. Back during the "12th anniversary" celebration, they released the Command and Conquer Gold. It's still free a year later.

http://www.gamershell.com/news_41337.html

C&C Gold and RA look about the same graphicswise, and they both require a little bit of configuration on modern machines to run smoothly (to run with sound and arrow keys working properly), but it's worth it.

Re:Command and Conquer is free too

[Tacvek]

My only issue is that they Don't Release the expansions. Tiberian Dawn had 1 expansion an RA had 2. But there is no longer any way to buy those without also buying a copy of these now free games.

It is the full dos / windows 95 disks get the 3.03

[Joe The Dragon]

get the 3.03 update http://planetcnc.gamespy.com/View.php?view=RedAlert.Detail&id=186

http://www.cncnz.com/files/redalert/patches.php

The rarest thread ever in 5...4...3...

[dfdashh]

I just got laid last night.

Re:The rarest thread ever in 5...4...3...

[eln]

It doesn't count as getting laid unless there was more than one person involved. And the people on your computer screen don't count as being "involved".

You can run it on linux...

[XnPlater]

Option A: wine

- use winecfg to set windows version to 98.
- before installation copy the contents of CD1 (allied) to a local directory
- use winecfg to configure a cdrom drive (F: for example) to point to it
- further, in winecfg set the corresponding cdrom label to 'CD1'
- run the installer;
$ wine F:/SETUP95/INSTALL.EXE
- copy the included PATCH.* from the XP_Patch subdir to the REDALERT installation folder
- run the inlcuded update patch;
$ wine C:/WESTWOOD/REDALERT/PATCH.EXE
- run the game;
$ wine C:/WESTWOOD/REDALERT/RA95.EXE

Option B: freera (haven't tried it though)

Happy world domination!

Re:At least it's free

[Cheapy]

I have the Win95 version from A Long Time Ago, and it ran fine under vista.