[Spoon]

I apologize for that. But saying that you have a pirated version of the game is one of this forum's berserk buttons. The reason there hasn't been a FS3, or any similar space sim for several years now was partly due to the fact that FS2 didn't sell. Now that there is an opportunity for some wallet-voting, we (or at least, I) prefer that people do so.

"Pirated version" of a game that is 9 years old, open source and downloadable from this very site.
Anyway I some how doubt Voltion/(interplay?) will see much income from people buying a downloadable version of their old game for 6$ from some online shop? If any at all? I don't really understand on how it could considered wallet-voting this way. Are they going to decide "hey, we made 200 bucks because 100 people bought FS2 from www.gog.com. I think we should make FS3!" I somehow doubt that.
If I were to ever find a new copy of the game in a store somewhere (reasonably priced that is) i'd buy it that very instant. First most because i'd want the manual and the box and all that, secondary to support the creators.
But I think i'm 8 years too late for that. 

I feel some people here are slightely overreacting though. "Oshi-! People are downloading a 9 year old game by using that neat launcher we ourselves created! And not every one of them is willing to spend 70$ to buy the game! INCONCEIVABLE! I HOPE YOU DIE IN YOUR SLEEP!!!" Come on guys, surely you aren't all that naive? (I realise this seems a bit flamebaitish but i'm honestly suprised here.)

[The E]

But as has been explained, the open source part only refers to the engine (the executable). Nothing else has been released to the public domain. And Interplay does get at least some Money out of every gog sale, IIRC.

I feel some people here are slightely overreacting though. "Oshi-! People are downloading a 9 year old game by using that neat launcher we ourselves created! And not every one of them is willing to spend 70$ to buy the game! INCONCEIVABLE! I HOPE YOU DIE IN YOUR SLEEP!!!" Come on guys, surely you aren't all that naive? (I realise this seems a bit flamebaitish but i'm honestly suprised here.)

It is an overreaction. It was tolerated for a time because there was no way for someone interested in the game to get it cheaply. Doesn't make it legal. And as a somewhat public entity, HLP doesn't want all the hassle that DMCA takedown notices generate. And what we're reacting to is more the inconceivability of people unwilling to pay 5,99$ for this game.

[Spoon]

Aright, I see where you people are coming from.

And what we're reacting to is more the inconceivability of people unwilling to pay 5,99$ for this game.

The game is worth way more then a mere 6$. It's just for me personally, that I don't like the idea of buying a game just to get the game. I want the physical objects that usually come with a game purchase as well.

[captain-custard]

then go on ebay and pay up to 150$ for a copy , problem solved

[Spoon]

then go on ebay and pay up to 150$ for a copy , problem solved

 
I think you missed the part where I said reasonably priced. Also, buying something second hand isn't supporting the orginal creators at all.

[captain-custard]

as no one is producing this in a cd formayt then buy it from gog , (your giving money to interplay) then burn the cd's and print off all of the books that are within ,this way you have every thing

[colecampbell666]

Anyway I some how doubt Voltion/(interplay?) will see much income from people buying a downloadable version of their old game for 6$ from some online shop? If any at all? I don't really understand on how it could considered wallet-voting this way. Are they going to decide "hey, we made 200 bucks because 100 people bought FS2 from www.gog.com. I think we should make FS3!" I somehow doubt that.

It's not about quality, rather quantity. If IP sees that over 9000 people buy FS2/FS1 from GoG, they'll realize that there is a base of people who'd buy further releases. I wouldn't want to see FS3, I'm just clarifying the point.

[Mongoose]

Let's go easy on the proselytizing, everyone.

Spoon, the bottom line is that we heavily encourage everyone who doesn't have a legal copy of the game to purchase one from GoG, but we obviously can't force anyone to do so.  The reason that the full game was available for download from this site for a period of time was because, at the time, there was literally no way in the world to legally purchase it outside of the odd ridiculously marked-up eBay or Amazon copy.  The Powers That Be here decided that preventing the game from vanishing into obscurity was worth the technical copyright infringement.  Then along came Good Old Games, which offered the original retail game for a very cheap price and with no DRM strings attached.  Not only do we want people to support the original publishers of the game now that it's been made available again, but we'd also like to support GoG as a way of thanking them for the excellent product they're providing.  But like I said, it's all up to you in the end.

[deathfun]

I bought Freespace 1&silent threat in one package long long time ago but it absolutely refused to be played on all computers I tried it on.

That's odd...
Did it by chance have an error message saying that the current dll is unstable and should be shut down? (Something along those lines). I got the same message for two of my games, Freespace and Tachyon (for those who don't know... it is also another space simulator game). Ignore it and pursue to install it.

If that is not the case... what seems to be the issue? Or will it simply not prompt you?




Open source download? I never knew about this! I am not a big fan of buying online however... so most of these are out of the question.

[Spoon]

I bought Freespace 1&silent threat in one package long long time ago but it absolutely refused to be played on all computers I tried it on.

That's odd...
Did it by chance have an error message saying that the current dll is unstable and should be shut down? (Something along those lines). I got the same message for two of my games, Freespace and Tachyon (for those who don't know... it is also another space simulator game). Ignore it and pursue to install it.

If that is not the case... what seems to be the issue? Or will it simply not prompt you?

It simply didn't prompt me. Install went fine but I could click 'play' all I want, nothing would happen. Maybe there were ways around it but hell, I was like 14 year tops back then.

[Killer Whale]

Just curiously, how much would it cost voliton to make fs3? 3 guy with time on their hands? A few thousand? A few ten thousands? A few hundred thousand? A few million? Or what?

And, er, I'm Canadian *cough*colour*cough*

[colecampbell666]

Well how much does the average game cost? They'd have to buy the license from InterPlay, 250000 right there.

A typical modern video game can cost from USD$1,000,000 to over $20,000,000 to develop.

Siggified.

[Killer Whale]

So about... 1.8 million people would have to pay $5.99, on average. Sounds realistic.
Also take into account all the people with Freespace the Great War and Freespace 2 who don't know there's an update to the game (aka scp, mediavps, this website) and think it's an old, bad graphics 20th century game (speaking of a friend who I told about the scps better graphics, better quality, better everything and yet seems to of forgotten to simply download it).