Classics: Panzer General

[Rommel2D]

I just figured out how to run this under XP and noticed that the PBEM programming is apparently functional. Anyone interested in a game?

[DrSpike]

PM LotM.

[Rommel2D]

Done, your Excelency...

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by DrSpike
PM LotM.

I only got PG2, doc. And currently gaming time is limited, or Id be busy finishing Starcraft.

[DrSpike]

My bad, just trying to play matchmaker.

[Rommel2D]

I found it listed as abandonware at a website (had trouble finding my CD in stores years ago.), if anyone is looking for a copy...

I'd eventually like to find/make a civ-like builder game around a tactically deep, mechanically sound combat system like this one.

[DrSpike]

LotM might be more interested if he knows it is free.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by DrSpike
LotM might be more interested if he knows it is free.

Now, now, im not That stingy

This gets to that CLASSIC question, what constrains your gaming - right now for me its time. Im not done even done with the human campaign in starcraft. I havent gone out and bought a new adventure game, despite my desire to be explore that genre, and the many suggestions people gave me. I have a craving to go back and fill out my historical TBS collection with Colonization, etc. Ive still got plenty of old games with gameplay left - in particular, since we're talking war games, i never got to the mid point of SM's Gettysburg, or started on SM's Antietam. Heck, I never finished all the campaigns on PG2.

And of course there are plenty of (legit) free games out there - the ones at the top of my list are the adventure games somebody suggested.

So I must say, getting PG, even for free, is not a priority

[lord of the mark]

As to abandonware, im rethinking my position on that - largely cause I read somewhere that for a game company that WANTS to put a game into the public domain, but do so without endangering there other IP, the act of doing so is a non-trivial task, requiring significant lawyer time. Given that, I can see a stronger argument for the assumption that, in the case of a site (not to be named) where the siteowners will take down a game if the publisher complains, the games are truely abandoned, and not games where the publisher simply found it too much trouble to notify the siteowners(whew! what a sentence) more succinctly, abandonware, while a grey area, aint in the same category as piracy. So I might someday consider using a site like that - though a wargame is probably the last game i would get there, since its a genre that badly needs support, even the limited and indirect support that buying used games gives.

[Rommel2D]

I was wondering about the abandonware legality too. I tried to track down the status of the PG francise. SSI no longer has a distinct website, apparently having been bought by UBI. The UBI website shows nothing having to do with Panzer General. There are a couple websites for the later PG games, but they still fly the SSI banner and have links that go to odd places (including a 'buy online' link to the ubi store that does not have any Panzer General games).

If the only way to get a copy of the game is through a reseller like ebay, is the publisher going to care one way or the other?

I definitely prefer to pay for a program if it looks at all possible the developer is going to get any sort of positive feedback from it. I also bought SMGettysburg a couple years ago, sent in a check for the full manual as offered on the back of the installation guide, and had to follow up with Firaxis on it a couple times before they sent me a photo copy of the original in a generic office binder...

[Harovan]

I have the original PG and loved to play it at its time, however I doubt, that I can get it to play at XP.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Rommel2D

I definitely prefer to pay for a program if it looks at all possible the developer is going to get any sort of positive feedback from it. I also bought SMGettysburg a couple years ago, sent in a check for the full manual as offered on the back of the installation guide, and had to follow up with Firaxis on it a couple times before they sent me a photo copy of the original in a generic office binder...

Well there ARE arguments that buying a used game contributes to the hobby. By keeping up a market for used games, it puts hands in the money of people who had bought the game new. They may well turn around and use that money to buy todays new games - even if they dont, the existence of a second hand market reduces the risk of buying new games, and removes a deterrent to doing so. However its a pretty indirect and limited effect, and i can see some people deciding to dismiss it.

As to legality, thats a pretty involved thing - gets to whether the abandonware sight has the obligation to get a statement the game is public domain, or, as they claim, simply offering to pull the game if the publisher objects is enough - theres also the issue of games owned by dead publishers, which conceivably COULD be claimed by a creditor. The industry disapproves of abandonware, and so a site supported by ads from the industry has to take a zero tolerance policy, but I can see that its a grey area, with some legal issues in dispute (here in the USA - law will differ elsewhere)

[Rommel2D]

[To play Panzer General under XP:]
For the Windows version, right click on the executable; click Properties -> Compatability tab -> tick 'Run in 256 colors' in the 'Display settings' box.

[DrSpike]

I think we should all bear in mind that Abandonware is good, m'kay.

[conmcb25]

I thought we were going to talk about the board game when I saw this thread.