Anyone know any good freeware sites.

[zjl56]

I am just wonderin where I could fine some good old games. No piracy.

 

[downtown]

how about *new* old games?
www.agsforums.com
old skool point and click adventures, being written today
a few of my games are on there

 

[Sarevok]

what tells me this thread will be closed?

 

[zjl56]

I don't it to be closed that's why I put no piracy on my first post.

 

[Pointlessness]

Wolfenstein 3D

This game is banned in Germany, by the way, so if you are German... better not get caught!

This should be in the All Other Games forum.

 

[col]

Moved to Computer Forum

Emphasis is on FREEWARE. Any warez and this thread gets binned.

 

[shadowdude]

There is no such thing as good freeware because it is most likely filled with spyware.
To answer your question try www.shareware.com

Wolfenstein 3D rocks(its banned in Germany though)awesome game(considering when it was made)

 

[Padma]

Just as a reminder, from a legal standpoint, there is no such thing as "abandonware". It is either copyrighted, or it is in the public domain.

If a copyright holder (i.e. game publisher) declares the game to be abandonware, it is simply putting the game into the public domain. Also, if the copyright holder does not take action against those violating the copyright, the courts generally make an assumption that the game is now public domain - after all, copyright just gives the holder the legal means to prosecute those who violate it. If they don't do so, they are giving up their copyright.

I admit, I do not know if Wolf3D is public domain or not. The site seems legitimate, so I will assume it is.

 

[ainwood]

@Pointlessness: Wolf 3D is abandonware.<snip>.

Abandonware is still illegal. Note from the FAQ of that website:

But isn't abandonware illegal?

Unfortunately, yes. Despite the fact that publishers no longer derive revenues from these games since they have stopped selling them (and any revenues from retailers that still sell them were gained a long time ago, at the time of sales), it is illegal to distribute them so long as copyright holders have not released them into the public domain, and 95 years after the games' release have not elapsed.

In fact, that website is a piracy site, so I'll remove the links.

 

[ainwood]

I admit, I do not know if Wolf3D is public domain or not. The site seems legitimate, so I will assume it is.

X-Post!

No, that site is professional, but illegal. Their FAQs lay it all out, and they try to justify why their piracy is OK.

Wolf3D is still being sold in NZ, and the link a few posts up has a 'buy' button (linking to yahoo sales site).

 

[Padma]

I didn't read very far into the site.

Okay! If Wolf3D is still being sold, then it is NOT "abandonware"! And therefore is illegal to download for free!

 

[ainwood]

Well, I'm calling them a "pirate-site" because they stock abandonware. They claim that they will ONLY make games that are out-of-print and out-of-distribution available, and that if it is bought to their attention that a game they link to is still 'commerical', then they will remove it. Its a grey area I guess, but I think that seeing as abondonware is still technically illegal, we shouldn't allow links to such a site.

Besides, there are 10,000s of perfectly-good shareware / freeware games.

Mind you, that site does have some handy hints for getting old DOS games to work on modern OSs

 

[MarineCorps]

You know you can also get programs to use on your computer that are not games. This site has freeware and shareware don't know if it has any games. Lot of cool porgrams on it. http://www.snapfiles.com/

 

[Plexus]

Best abandonware site ever:

Moderator Action: Please do NOT link to abandonware! Abandonware is illegal!
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[bobgote]

I really wish I could tell what sites people had already put up and had removed by mods, as i reckon the one i'd link is fairly popular.

Also, i'd reckon wolfenstein is legal by now, cos duke3d is now open source and available, so i don't see why wolfenstein wouldn't be...

or is the piracy issue different to a GPL issue?

 

[ainwood]

I really wish I could tell what sites people had already put up and had removed by mods, as i reckon the one i'd link is fairly popular.

Also, i'd reckon wolfenstein is legal by now, cos duke3d is now open source and available, so i don't see why wolfenstein wouldn't be...

or is the piracy issue different to a GPL issue?

Wolfenstein is still being sold. You can buy it as a budget game, and you can also buy it in the Return To Castle Wolfenstein Game Of The Year edition.

If you have a link you are unsure about, PM one of the Computer Talk mods and they will check it out.

 

[Gogf]

What is abandonware, exactly?

 

[Comraddict]

abandonware = software with expired copyright or copyright rights abandoned by developer . That is claim of these sites anyway- since nobody will go and say their 80s game is free now.

 

[Dease]

Well, here is a site I found years back when I still had dial-up (how I have no clue whatsoever), I liked it mainly because it had a simple layout, no spyware crap, and most files are fairly small (and FREE!). www.free-games.to

 

[Thrawn]

Gaming World.

I dunno how many sites like that are out there, but thats just one I found. Plan on writing my own game with Game Maker sometime too.