Lone Wolf - The Mirror of Death as an abandonware?

[NightHunter]

That's right! I found this yesterday while searching some info for the upcoming PC game. I wonder if it's really been put as an abandonware now or it's still on copyright.

Here the link: www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=3208

[Black Cat]

People from PA would know if they are able to put this on their website. You should post this on their boards just to know what they think of it.

[Agrarvyn]

Copyright for anything is going to last for 20 - 70 years, depending on the media on which it was published. "Abandonware" may be a popular term for ancient computer games that no one could care less about today, but it is probably still under legal copyright protection.

[NightHunter]

Just wrote a post at PA site about this.

The developer-publisher, Audiogenic, still exist and base in the UK. So yeah, Joe and Audiogenic must still have some copyright on this, unless they want to put it as an abondonware because they won't get anymore money from this one.

[Al]

"Abandonware" has always operated in a legal gray area - especially when the companies that own copywrite do not exist anymore.

[Doomy]

If not renewed, copyright on this game will expire in 2040. So if anyone's that keen to play this, you can wait another 32 years and play with a clear conscience.
By the way, and mods take note - linking to sites containing "teh romz" is frowned upon even by sites like www.retrogamer.net/forum because technically it leaves your site liable for prosecution. That's why it's not hosted on Project Aon. Joe Dever can't give permission to host it, because he's not the copyright holder for this derivative work, and Audiogenic is a silent legal entity which was taken over by Codemasters and only exists for copyright purposes (licensing and so on). I think the last game ever released under the Audiogenic label came out in 1998.

Of course, the myth of "abandonware" arises from the fact nobody has so far actually bothered to prosecute these cases, because the potential loss of revenue involved when dealing with a computer game that hasn't seen a shop shelf for well over a decade is insignficant in almost all cases. There are a few debatable exceptions, in which the operators of rom and warez sites have been instructed to de-list the games to avoid prosecution. Read the legal stuff on Underdogs for more on that.

And, that, pretty much, is justification for retro-gaming's existence as a hobby and its apparent toleration by publishers. Note that much of this doesn't apply to piracy of currently available works, which is more likely to result in prosecution, such as the high-profile, ongoing case against The Pirate Bay.

[Black Cat]

A little update on that story by outspaced:

In July 2006 we contacted Peter Calver, former head honcho of Audiogenic, the company who published Lone Wolf: The Mirror of Death. He was quite enthusiastic about Project Aon (and the fact that we'd bothered to track him down and contact him. He said, in part:

Therefore, provided that Joe Dever gives his permission in writing I'd have no objection to making the game available for free online download AFTER I have been able to dispose of the remaining stocks.

These stocks appear to be >1,000 copies of the Red Fox edition of The Plague Lords of Ruel, and some copies of the game, still held by Audiogenic.

At that point I'd also conduct a search of our archives for unreleased versions of the game, and make these available to Project Aon. . . . I would need to recover a modest sum towards the cost of producing and storing the books and games for the past 15 years . . .

So the answer is no, the game is currently not Abandonware, and copies of it might still available from Audiogenic. Thus, we cannot, at this time, put it on our site for official download. Sorry. We do have the Rules for the game on our site to download as a PDF, along with pictures of the packaging.

I don't know how Audiogenic are getting on with their copies of the books, how many they have left, and what sort of "modest sum" they would be looking for, either. Hmm.

[Agrarvyn]

Well, that's a significant improvement on what we were aware of at the beginning of the thread. Well done!

[Al]

May 20, 2008 12:17:05 GMT -5 Black Cat said:

A little update on that story by outspaced:

I don't know how Audiogenic are getting on with their copies of the books, how many they have left, and what sort of "modest sum" they would be looking for, either. Hmm.

Seems to me they miss the point of a .org

[Agrarvyn]

And what is the point of a .org then, Al?

[Al]

May 21, 2008 18:51:51 GMT -5 Agrarvyn said:

And what is the point of a .org then, Al?

Only non profit organizations get to use .org - they cannot be in the money making business, that is how PA got to be a .org and not a .com

Unless I am very mistaken, that is

[Black Cat]

That's why it's www.audiogenic.com, not .org

More info from outspaced:

I don't think it would be appreciated if we set up a direct link on the site to buy these books, since Mongoose might eventually get round to releasing The Plague Lords of Ruel in a couple of years' time. However, if anyone feels like buying some copies of the original Red Fox edition featuring Peter Andrew Jones's cover, you should probably contact <[e-mail]> to ask for a price. You might also want to name-check us (Project Aon) as the ones who put you on to them.

So, if you want unabridged, never used before book 13, write a line to Audiogenic and ask them how much will they charge you for the it.

[zipp]

I'm all for freedom of information and products. I get it if a company that's still making things available wants to have profit off of them, but once they stop giving me access to their products, my feelings are that I'm allowed to get that product wherever I can find it.

so Abandonware gets the nod of approval in my book.