Announcement: http://www.gog.com/news/free_release_fl ... azon_queen
'Buy for free' Link: http://www.gog.com/game/flight_of_the_amazon_queen
Another free release this quickly? Cool!
Flight of the Amazon Queen adventure free at GOG.com
Is it the original DOS version? I remember trying to get the full DOS version some time ago but the only legal download I found was the data pack to be used with ScummVM. As much as I appreciate the effort of all port/game engine recreation developers who help bring old games to new systems, I also like to play the original thing whenever possible, especially if it's a DOS game that runs in DOSBox without any issues.
MobyGames says there's a dos and a newer windows version; not sure if the content is the same between them.
This one ships with ScummVM rather than DosBox, so it's hard to tell "version".
But maybe that just means it's the same one you've seen before in a convenient ScummVM launch package.
This one ships with ScummVM rather than DosBox, so it's hard to tell "version".
But maybe that just means it's the same one you've seen before in a convenient ScummVM launch package.
Directory Listing wrote:<DIR> ScummVM
57,794 EULA.txt
96,264 GameuxInstallHelper.dll
146,823 gfw_high.ico
69,248 gog.ico
317,760 goggame.dll
2,030 Launch Flight of the Amazon Queen.lnk
4,624,880 Manual.pdf
190,787,021 queen.1
629 queen.ini
62,895 Support.ico
231,048 unins000.dat
1,242,944 unins000.exe
106 unins000.ini
23,077 unins000.msg
Actually I have no idea if there has ever been a "native" Windows port of the game, so by the "original DOS version" I just meant the DOS version -not regarding some content changes (I only know the floppy version does not have voice-overs), but the simple ability to run it in DOSBox.
But it seems that GOG.com just took the ScummVM version and packaged it with some extras.
I'm a bit disappointed that in spite of the game being freeware, there is no legal way to obtain the release for the original platform it was intended for, and instead you have to play it through a third-party emulator that also is designed to run various games by different developers that originally had different engines. (I don't know, maybe ScummVM ensures a 100% faithful recreation of the DOS version, but it's still not the same as the original thing.)
But it seems that GOG.com just took the ScummVM version and packaged it with some extras.
I'm a bit disappointed that in spite of the game being freeware, there is no legal way to obtain the release for the original platform it was intended for, and instead you have to play it through a third-party emulator that also is designed to run various games by different developers that originally had different engines. (I don't know, maybe ScummVM ensures a 100% faithful recreation of the DOS version, but it's still not the same as the original thing.)
I hear you. My brain is torn between two conflicting ideas: 1) original dos version is a good thing, running in the original official scumm interpreter of the day, even if played in a dosbox emulator, and 2) An Amiga version probably means that version was the 'designer intent' and dos was a co-develop or port, and the scumm based games always run in a scumm interpreter, so whether it's the original dos interpreter, the amiga interpreter, or a modern ScummVM interpreter - it's not quite the same in my mind as emulation, somehow. To me, interpreter is different than an emulator. Same for the Infocom z games, and Sierra's AGA(right name?) games.
To you they are the same, I guess? But I also agree the presentation is often required to be fine tuned "just right" if we are trying to trigger the joy of nostalgia.
I'm also confused a bit by "no legal method" to obtain freeware - if you have a license/right to a work like an album or arcade cabinet w/ roms or, I assume, a freeware release of Amazon Queen, it's legal to download or get from friend a digital copy of the work, you don't have to digitize your version. That's why rom downloading isn't illegal, just having roms you don't own. If you want to be 100% letter and spirit of the law legal, you absolutely can acquire a copy of work from any source. But again, IANAL.
(That's the primary reason why I have boxes of old CDs and records still, and shelves of dos game boxes and disks, even though I pretty much just play all digital. Plus I do like the original artwork and artifacts for special games and albums!)
To you they are the same, I guess? But I also agree the presentation is often required to be fine tuned "just right" if we are trying to trigger the joy of nostalgia.
I'm also confused a bit by "no legal method" to obtain freeware - if you have a license/right to a work like an album or arcade cabinet w/ roms or, I assume, a freeware release of Amazon Queen, it's legal to download or get from friend a digital copy of the work, you don't have to digitize your version. That's why rom downloading isn't illegal, just having roms you don't own. If you want to be 100% letter and spirit of the law legal, you absolutely can acquire a copy of work from any source. But again, IANAL.
(That's the primary reason why I have boxes of old CDs and records still, and shelves of dos game boxes and disks, even though I pretty much just play all digital. Plus I do like the original artwork and artifacts for special games and albums!)
I'll be blunt: I have very little knowledge of point-and-click games in general, so I really have no idea how accurate playing FotAQ through ScummVM could be. But, I prefer to play the DOS version whenever possible, and since the DOS version clearly predates the ScummVM version, I called it "the original" DOS version.
As for my statement to "no legal way to obtain", again I'm not an expert in copyright legislation, but it doesn't seem legal to me to download a digital copy of the game from whatever website if said copy (the DOS version in our case) had not been released as freeware (accompanied with the text of the freeware license and such). I guess there's a reason why most if not all digitally downloadable software packages (shareware or freeware) state in the license that free distribution is only allowed if the contents of the distribution are not modified in any way (including such things as the removal of the license file), otherwise the license is terminated.
If there exists a copy of the DOS version that was released from an official source and contains a license that grants a right to free distribution, then it should count as a legal download. Alternatively, if the freeware license states something like "download it from wherever you like" (some licenses are indeed like that, but I think it's pretty rare), then a download from an "abandonware" site would count. Otherwise an unlicensed download is still a pirated copy even though the full game is officially freeware.
As for my statement to "no legal way to obtain", again I'm not an expert in copyright legislation, but it doesn't seem legal to me to download a digital copy of the game from whatever website if said copy (the DOS version in our case) had not been released as freeware (accompanied with the text of the freeware license and such). I guess there's a reason why most if not all digitally downloadable software packages (shareware or freeware) state in the license that free distribution is only allowed if the contents of the distribution are not modified in any way (including such things as the removal of the license file), otherwise the license is terminated.
If there exists a copy of the DOS version that was released from an official source and contains a license that grants a right to free distribution, then it should count as a legal download. Alternatively, if the freeware license states something like "download it from wherever you like" (some licenses are indeed like that, but I think it's pretty rare), then a download from an "abandonware" site would count. Otherwise an unlicensed download is still a pirated copy even though the full game is officially freeware.