Microsoft Clears MechWarrior4 Free Launch 131
Vamman writes "If you've been following the drama surrounding the free release of MechWarrior4, then you're probably aware that the initial announcement, made last summer, was a bit premature. Now, nearly a year since that announcement was made, MekTek Studios has announced that Microsoft Legal has given clearance for the free release of Mechwarrior4. This move by Microsoft Games couldn't come at a better time for the community, as the owners of MechWarrior are attempting a reboot of the franchise."
Re:Microsoft !=evil? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Microsoft !=evil? (Score:3, Insightful)
Not many publishers do so, and Sierra and LucasArts still after ~20 years send cease & desist letters to abandonware sites if they distribute their old games.
I think Microsoft Games was the most sensible part of the company anyway. Age of Empires, Midtown Madness, Motocross Madness, Flight Simulator.. I have great memories of those. It's a shame that division isn't what it used to be, but are only working 360 and such now.
(posting as anon as someone used their 15 modpoints to burn my karma and posting ability for the day. when will slashdot fix that?)
Re:Possible Future of Marketing Franchises? (Score:1, Insightful)
No thanks to payware.
All in all your payware aspect of the free release of older games seems pretty irrelevant to me, and it isn't even new. You've gotten old Command&Conquer free with the new ones for who knows how long.
The only thing new is paying for demos which makes absolutely no sense to anyone. If it's advertisement, you want it to reach to widest audience possible. If it's the product, why would I pay to see that the pig in your sack is actually a pig?
Re:Possible Future of Marketing Franchises? (Score:1, Insightful)
Developers are starting to talk about not wanting to release demos, and instead going with payware.
Ugh, really? I hadn't heard about this - it's like they want to encourage piracy. It's already hard enough to choose the good games from the masses that get released every month, and I don't have time to waste on rubbish games, I have so little gaming time now I want it to be quality time. Demos are the best way to judge this (too many reviewers have seemingly ulterior motives for awarding unduly high scores, even if I could find a reviewer who had exactly my tastes) and now they want to charge people for the privilege of finding out if the game's worth buying? The only reasoning I can see behind this is that so many games are not worth buying and they want to claw back money any way they can, now they'll force legitimate customers down the piracy route just to see if a game's any good, and I'd imagine even if those customers would have bought the original, a fair number will end up not bothering once they've gone to the trouble of downloading it (the convenience of just buying a game that works is one of the few reasons people still buy games).
Re:Microsoft !=evil? (Score:5, Insightful)
It makes little sense to classify a company as evil or !evil over an extended period of time. They are a company, run by an often-changing group of people. They have no sentimental ties to their previous behaviour, and as such, they can turn on a dime. Microsoft releasing mw4 today doesn't mean they won't sue Linux contributors for patent infringement the next (I know, bad example).
Re:Microsoft !=evil? (Score:1, Insightful)
Time to walk around with a sign saying "Free Sex."
Re:Microsoft !=evil? (Score:3, Insightful)
And they're both members of that very rare and elite group, 'companies that have been around that long.'
Why this is a good idea (Score:3, Insightful)