Can I legitimately do this?

[MotionMan]

There are two games that I use to play on my old Mac SE in the mid-to-late 80's that I would love to play again; Sub Battle Simulator and Deja Vu.

Is there a legit way for me to download these games now (25+/- years later), or would that still be piracy?

If it is legit, where is the best place to obtain these games? (I wonder if they will run on OSX?)

MotionMan

 

[Martimus]

Deja Vu was released on the Game Boy color, and may still be available that way (if you have a Game Boy or Game Boy Advanced.)

 

[AstroManLuca]

Some very old games like that are available from "abandonware" sites, but there are a few moral guardians who troll those sites telling everyone that downloading old games for free instead of sending money to their now-nonexistent publishers is stealing.

I think they're talking out of their ass but I don't know what the rules are here at AT with regards to abandonware.

 

[MotionMan]

Deja Vu was released on the Game Boy color, and may still be available that way (if you have a Game Boy or Game Boy Advanced.)

I am looking to run these on Mac OSX or in Parallels/Windows.

MotionMan

 

[rcpratt]

I would have a hard time calling downloading a game that is no longer available for purchase "piracy", but that's just me. It's certainly a gray area.

 

[KaOTiK]

I'm strongly against piracy but when it comes to old old games like these that are nearly impossible to find anymore I say go ahead and download it.

 

[Martimus]

I'm strongly against piracy but when it comes to old old games like these that are nearly impossible to find anymore I say go ahead and download it.

I googled the games to try to find a way to purchase them, and all I could find were abandonware sites. Although I wouldn't trust a download from any of those sites to not contain a trojan horse, or other sort of malware.

 

[veri745]

I've had good luck with Abandonia. No viruses or malware.

 

[rivan]

This guy's first comment talks a bit about getting it running, and has some video of the gameplay.

http://www.theconsoles.info/mac-games/matt-chat-22-deja-vu-uninvited-shadowgate-and-macventures/

 

[JTsyo]

There are two games that I use to play on my old Mac SE in the mid-to-late 80's that I would love to play again; Sub Battle Simulator and Deja Vu.

Is there a legit way for me to download these games now (25+/- years later), or would that still be piracy?

If it is legit, where is the best place to obtain these games? (I wonder if they will run on OSX?)

MotionMan

Hey, you're the lawyer, you tell us

With games that old there's no one to bring up a case against you. So it's like a tree falling in the forest.

 

[MotionMan]

Hey, you're the lawyer, you tell us

With games that old there's no one to bring up a case against you. So it's like a tree falling in the forest.

Not my field of law, but that is what I figured.

However, it looks like it is an incredible pain in the butt to do on the newer computers. I may need to pick up an old Mac just for my style of "gaming".

MotionMan

 

[Martimus]

All of the MacVenture games were ported to the NES, so you could just get a good NES emulator and play them from the ROM, which should be easy enough to find. The biggest difference will be that the NES versions will be a little more sanitized (less graphic)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacVenture

 

[WildW]

Even for stuff this old, there's still always ebay if you don't fancy abadonware.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sub-Battle-Si...113?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cabb3f409

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DEJA-VU-APPLE...pt=UK_VintageComputing_RL&hash=item2ea9159295

 

[aka1nas]

I would have a hard time calling downloading a game that is no longer available for purchase "piracy", but that's just me. It's certainly a gray area.

It's still outright copyright infringement, but as has been posted already, no one is likely to prosecute you for it.

 

[OCNewbie]

It'll just come down to you and your conscience (sinner...) :biggrin:

 

[MotionMan]

It'll just come down to you and your conscience (sinner...) :biggrin:

I'm a lawyer, so that's no problem

MotionMan

 

[nyker96]

I think it's fine if the company does not even exist to take your money anymore. but why don't you see if some company released them as freeware by now. I wonder if there's a law that says patten for games expire after X years or something. maybe they do.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

There are two games that I use to play on my old Mac SE in the mid-to-late 80's that I would love to play again; Sub Battle Simulator and Deja Vu.

Is there a legit way for me to download these games now (25+/- years later), or would that still be piracy?

If it is legit, where is the best place to obtain these games? (I wonder if they will run on OSX?)

MotionMan

<------------------IP Attorney

Looks like your question has been answered, but if you want my 2c as an IP attorney here it is.

Technically, it is probably still piracy. Per the copyright office's records, a registered copyright is still in place on Sub Battle Simulator. As best I can tell, a copyright was also registered for Deja Vu (there are thousands of "Deja Vu" copyrights). Since the term of many copyrights is "life of the author + 70 years), it is very likely that the copyrights over both works remain in force. Thus, copying the game would probably still be considered piracy.

Whether anyone would care is another issue. The copyrights might still exist, but the copyright owner(s) might have long sinced passed away or transferred the rights to someone who just doesn't care to maintain those rights.

 

[MotionMan]

If the copyright owners showed up, I would be happy to pay for copies (again) if they would work on something I own.

MotionMan