Jump to content

Dune II is free game or not


pcman

Recommended Posts

Dune II appears to be the case of "true" abandonware where all possible copyright holders have lost any explicit interest in the product. It's probably at least in part due to copyright issues that arise because it's a licensed game that uses trademarks used by third-party entities.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

...which doesn't mean it's actually free, just that nobody on earth cares enough to sue anyone who downloads it illegally.

Exactly. Or, to be more precise, it is actually (de facto) free ('cause you can just Google a download of it), but not legally (de jure) freely distributable :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
  • 3 months later...

Well, I've always kind of preferred to have direct control over all the components that get installed on a machine, so the "one installer fits all" scheme is generally not my cup of tea :)

Anyway, there are only a few "abandonware" sites that are reliable and trustworthy, and Abandonia is perhaps number one in this respect. The staff there really makes sure they do not host obviously pirated stuff that is still sold, and their oldwarez list is mostly reliable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

Thanks. Would be nice to have an installer that also includes OpenDune

Done: [link removed]

BTW, turns out Nahoo doesn't require payment, you just have to be patient for 10 seconds or so. :p

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If that's not allowed, what about the abandonia and nahoo links?
Yes, Andrew, what about those? ;)
Do you really qualify downloading Dune 2 as pirating?
Well, the game had never been officially released as freeware, therefore its free distribution by anyone is unlicensed and unauthorized.
BTW, links in your signature appear to be broken.
Thanks I'll fix that ASAP.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

While technically 'pirating', dune2k.com does/did link to nahoo somewhere (has since 2001 at least) as it was once a good place for dune2k files and info. I usually just tell people to google nahoo and hope they find the link themselves (blame google! ;)).

 

Directly linking probably a bad idea. Worst case just PM the person asking.

 

Hmm, sadly gog.com doesn't have dune games, so difficult to legitimately purchase the game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While technically 'pirating', dune2k.com does/did link to nahoo somewhere (has since 2001 at least) as it was once a good place for dune2k files and info. I usually just tell people to google nahoo and hope they find the link themselves (blame google! ;)).
Nahoo's site is one of the more dubious stuff you can find on the 'net, first there was the paid "premium" connection for downloads which was faster, and then the site changed to outright charging for downloads (it doesn't matter that people have found workarounds to this) - and the downloads in question are either illegal, pirated full versions (I don't think that the owner has licenses for selling those games, now does he?), or demo versions (e.g. the Age of Empires demo) that no one should pay for to download in the first place.

All this qualifies as outrageous in my book.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, you can click here, and have fun waiting for your Age of Empires demo while reading a message urging you to

Donate! If you want to see your downloads to appear faster, click here and donate for full, unlimited access without the wait. You can help by supporting some excellent downloads at fantastic connection speeds.
Or, you can click here and get the same file right away, from the publisher's website.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does Dune II have some kind of DRM or something because when I beat the first mission the narrator asks me a bunch of questions about units and I kept getting them wrong which then make the game close. I guess they assume you have the manual if you are playing it, and this game was released before the Internet was useful so you could not just search for a copy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...