16 replies to this topic

[Tithis]

Now I'm not condoning piracy, although I do it myself. But I think the site is a bit unrealistic,
http://www.xcomufo.com/x1dl.html
X-com on Ebay 10-15$: Actuall price 90-105$!
and both of the links to buy the game are dead. Now I'm not suggesting saying "Go pirate it." But if you are going to tell people on the site that they must buy the game at least provide them with realistic estimates and possibly a site to buy it.

[The Master Maniac]

It's really a shame to see how tough it is for potential X-Com fans to get their hands on a "legit" copy of the original. Though I've heard that some X-Com diehards have expressed some sort of disdain over the PS1 version (you know, the PS1, that blocky gray console that liked to cause house fires? ), it's seemingly a bit easier to get your hands on that version than it is a straight-up DOS or even Gold PC edition. I've seen PS1 copies on e-bay starting at pennies on the dollar (like everything else there usually), but for some reason, most are going relatively ignored. I wonder if the PS1 version really IS that bad, or if people have just forgotten about it...

[Tithis]

Its not that I think its hard to find it. Its incredibly easy, I just dont think its proper for the site to try to provide a legal solution and fail at it so horribly. I would personaly just put "Find it by your own means"

But I never understood the problem with downloading such old games. I really just see it being stobborn. Its not in production and all sales of the game have finished ages ago. Even if people are still selling the game the publishers got their money long long ago. The only people who suffer from people downloading old games are those who collect old games with the sole intention of eventually selling them for a higher price.

But thats kinda off topic -_-, so whatever. I dont even know why I brought the subject up. Just bothered me, thats all.

Edit: who knows though, after I get my summer job and get some money I might actually try to get a legit copy of the game. If just for the simple pleasure of actually holding it in my hands

Edited by Tithis, 31 May 2006 - 08:08 PM.

[stewart]

Send a PM to Micah; go directly to the source.

[Slaughter]

Expensive at eBay? I bought the games shrink wrapped there for about £10 each. Some were even cheaper.

As for downloading, the creator of X-COM posts links to sites where you can download it. Not saying that this makes it legal, but it's interesting to see. I think it's fine to download the games as long as it's from a non shady site, but I'll not post a link to it since it's against the policy here.

[Tithis]

I was refering to the ebay link that the site provided. For the XCOM collectors addition.

You are right, the dos version of the game is much cheaper.

Edit:Could you send a private message with the link. I would like to see what he says about it.

Edited by Tithis, 01 June 2006 - 03:26 PM.

[The Master Maniac]

It's interesting - I've had the DOS version for quite some time, but I got the Collector's Edition (or Gold, or whatever) from some PC games magazine. I guess I can't see a problem with downloading it, either. It was already given away free after all!

[stewart]

I was refering to the ebay link that the site provided. For the XCOM collectors addition.

You are right, the dos version of the game is much cheaper.

Edit:Could you send a private message with the link. I would like to see what he says about it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just look up Micah in the site members list (I think he's within the top 20 posters) and click on the send PM link. Or quick lookup ANY user then change the used ID to 1 and refresh the page, look for send PM.

[Zombie]

Or you could just Click Here. Can't get any easier than that.

- Zombie

[NKF]

The Master Maniac: I don't really want to even touch this can of worms on the legality of acquiring the game through dubious means, but I need to clarify this one point:

I've got that copy as well. It's off the PCGamer from June 2000. In fact, it's the only Collectors Edition game that I own.

The games on the accompanying PCGamer CD weren't being given away for free - you did have to pay for the magazine, and the publishers will have made some sort of agreement with the then owners of said games to publish them. If anything, there were only two free to distribute games on it, Red Baron and Betrayal at Krondor (not the book - the game that spawned the book).

I'd really like to see the owners release the game into the public domain, preferably with the source code. But I'm no longer optimistic about that ever happening.

- NKF

[The Master Maniac]

Yeah, I think you're right about that, NKF. But it is obvious we'd all just buy the game if it were readily available. I wish they'd just release an official sequel already - it's not like nobody would buy it, either...

[fux0r666]

Heh. There are no dubious means for aquiring abandonware.

[GuitarCrazyo]

Everyone has to start selling/buying on ebay, so dont immediately think that someone with no feedback must be bad.

If you have a good feeling about it and youre willing to work within eBays recommended payment methods, then youll have a certain amount of protection.

[Warface]

All of these options for acquiring working X-com just make Take Two look terrible. It's as if three guys in a garage pawned off all their old Nirvana CDs or something to buy the rights to this great game and just sit on it. Apparently they can't get their minds around the fact that this incredibly popular game would continue to sell for decades IF THEY WOULD ONLY SELL IT. By "sell it" I don't mean a few dead links and limiting availability to TFtD on Steam. Or any other convoluted scenario of "oh but you CAN get it-- well not the version you want; it's actually a community-modded seventeen-year-old copy we uploaded to some game nostalgia site-- but tough terabytes to you and your modern machines. Work with it or don't play it."

If no one else has stated it, I'll be the first. Take Two does not DESERVE the rights to this game. It's like giving some local chief in Uganda the Rosetta Stone or Hammurabi's Laws -- they just don't know what to do with it, and the world misses out thanks to their ...well what is it? Greed? Stubbornness? Whatever it is, it directly translates to an inability to respond to customer desires, a fundamental principle of marketing.

I'm glad that not one of the versions of X-Com I own has put one single cent into the pockets of Take Two.

[Sorrow]

IMHO, selling old games that they didn't even make, without a real re-edition - one with a box and a printed manual is a bit silly.