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[adamsapple]

I don't even know where to begin with this one ...

Publishers are absolutely terrified "preserved video games would be used for recreational purposes," so the US copyright office has struck down a major effort for game preservation

"This fails the needs of citizens in favor of a weak sauce argument from the industry, and it's really disappointing"

www.gamesradar.com

"For the past three years, the Video Game History Foundation has been supporting with the Software Preservation Network (SPN) on a petition to allow libraries and archives to remotely share digital access to out-of-print video games in their collections," VGHF explains in its statement. "Under the current anti-circumvention rules in Section 1201 of the DMCA, libraries and archives are unable to break copy protection on games in order to make them remotely accessible to researchers."

Still, the US copyright office has said no. "The Register concludes that proponents did not show that removing the single-user limitation for preserved computer programs or permitting off-premises access to video games are likely to be noninfringing," according to the final ruling. "She also notes the greater risk of market harm with removing the video game exemption’s premises limitation, given the market for legacy video games."

That ruling cites the belief of the Entertainment Software Association and other industry lobby groups that "there would be a significant risk that preserved video games would be used for recreational purposes." We cannot, of course, entertain the notion that researchers enjoy their subjects for even a moment. More importantly, this also ignores the fact that libraries already lend out digital versions of more traditional media like books and movies to everyday people for what can only be described as recreational purposes.

Members of the VGHF are naturally unhappy with the decision. "Unfortunately, lobbying efforts by rightsholder groups continue to hold back progress," the group says in its statement, noting the ESA's absolutist position that it would not support a similar sort of copyright reform under any circumstances.

 

[Z O N E]

Name and shame the publishers who are against this.

 

[adamsapple]

Name and shame the publishers who are against this.

The ruling cites the ESA. These are all the members of ESA. Pretty much all major players.

 

[Clear]

Name and shame the publishers who are against this.

All of them, for obvious reasons!

 

[U n i o n 0015]

Clown show ruling.

 

[Moriarty1889]

All a bunch of wankers.

 

[Miles708]

Congrats to everyone responsible of this cappy decision

 

[Radical_3d]

Worry not. The EU will come to save everybody’s asses, as we always do. You’re welcome.

 

[Nok Su Kow]

What if I promise my use is purely medicinal?

 

[Robb]

 

[Silver Wattle]

Terrible judge and ruling.

 

[RagnarokIV]

the games business is a joke. Publishers would rather sit on various IP and let them rot than actually do anything like issue re-releases or bring games to modern platforms.

 

[mansoor1980]

 

[rabbity-thing]

"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."
- Princess Leia

Game preservation serves a legitimate social purpose. Eliminating a legal and limited avenue for preservation only works to further the expansion of the piracy the publishers fear even more.

Absolute morons.

 

[ReyBrujo]

These efforts are in vain unless you fix the system.

Game preservation serves a legitimate social purpose.

So, where does "preservation" starts and ends? Preservation, for me, is to archive the source code and the binaries in a media and store it under seven keys, never to be used again, pretty much like the Artic Code Vault. Preservation for others is to remove all protection, remove all multiplayer-forced elements and make it playable for anyone, at anytime. There's a HUGE difference there.

 

[yet_another_alt]

Videogames not being used for recreational purposes sounds like something that Druckmann would say.

 

[Hookshot]

"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."
- Princess Leia

Game preservation serves a legitimate social purpose. Eliminating a legal and limited avenue for preservation only works to further the expansion of the piracy the publishers fear even more.

Absolute morons.

It would be lovely to have every game ever preserved but if it's all in 1 place then it just takes 1 hack to access it all. Though that's not why these Companies are stopping it.

 

[FUBARx89]

EU will probably rule in gamers favour. Shame us UK homies wouldn't benefit from it.

Also. What the fuck else are games used for if not recreational purposes lol.

 

[Tertullian]

More importantly, this also ignores the fact that libraries already lend out digital versions of more traditional media like books and movies to everyday people for what can only be described as recreational purposes.

I'm not sure this argument from the article writer works.

I'm pretty sure that when libraries lend out digital books and movies, they do so under explicit license with the copyright holders. For example, ebooks on Libby/Overdrive? The libraries abide by terms negotiated with the big publishers, often paying $50+ for each "copy" of a book, which then expires after 2 years or 24 loans.

This game preservation effort, by contrast, wants libraries to be able to do something with video games without permission from the copyright holder.

 

[Lucifers Beard]

Fuck 'em, there are... Other ways of obtaining games that have been a abandoned.

 

[StereoVsn]

It would be lovely to have every game ever preserved but if it's all in 1 place then it just takes 1 hack to access it all. Though that's not why these Companies are stopping it.

For most old titles you can download them from many other sources anyways. It’s not like people are clamoring to pirate old games either.

Preservation would help legitimate interest vs if folks just wanted to grab a copy of a 20 -30 year old title that’s not on GoG.

 

[Sushi_Combo]

That judge must live a life of misery.

 

[Z O N E]

The ruling cites the ESA. These are all the members of ESA. Pretty much all major players.

All of them, for obvious reasons!

Disgusting.

The irony of Sony being there when they're #4THEPLAYERS.

Also, Microsoft being there with all their backwards compatibility talk to "preserve" old games.

 

[ResilientBanana]

Sure you have a hard copy, but you don’t own them

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

lol of course they did.... its the usual US anti consumer rights at work

 

[Guardian Monkey]

The idea of calling it game preservation to avoid copyright laws was always a stretch at the very least. Legally the companies have rights to the games and what they do or do not do with them while under copyright. Just because some are unable to be obtained by many doesn’t mean they open the door to being used for whatever purpose one wishes. Old games still have monetary and copyright value. If they didn’t then it wouldn’t be an issue. The true problem is copyright law. It’s enforceable way way way too long. 30-40 years should be max, it stifles creativity.

 

[near]

Well no shit. Legacy/archived games are still company/individual assets, so petitioning to make them available for ‘research’ purposes is stupid. There is a difference between preservation and accessibility.

 

[Topher]

lol of course they did.... its the usual US anti consumer rights at work

This isn't about consumers at all. No more than public libraries are about consumers.

 

[ReyBrujo]

Also, Microsoft being there with all their backwards compatibility talk to "preserve" old games.

As a NET programmer I must say Microsoft has done miracles to keep Visual Basic 6 compatibility. We have programs written in VB6 from before the 2000s which are still running without needing to be recompiled. So, they are backwards compatible, it's just that they aren't falling into "backwards compatibility == give games for free" fallacy.

it stifles creativity.

I agree that the copyright laws are actually the ones that are wrong, however I wouldn't say it stifles creativity. True, companies tend to milk reissuing the same game time and again but it's not as if that's all they are doing. Take Nintendo, they sell you the same ROM again and again but they also give you Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Wonder, Emio, etc. Now, if you take it as "others companies cannot copy that", well, that's not a "creativity" issue personally, it's just someone else trying to milk someone else's property.

"Legal" use cases for this effort would be pretty limited. In fact if you are doing research it would be much more useful to have access to the source code, for example if you are writing a thesis about how blood physics changed in games through the years. Or how automatic testing evolved within the same series. Or calculate the amount of code reuse per game within the same company.

 

[Bonfires Down]

Is that Reggie?

 

[mansoor1980]

Is that Reggie?

 

[nbcjr]

Lobby win

 

[hemo memo]

US copyright office has said no

And I say fuck you.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

 

[Ribi]

Fucking RIGHT WIN... ERRRR I mean right holders must be stopped!

 

[hemo memo]

Konami and Square Enix are an insult, as they can't even preserve the source code of their games.

 

[Moriarty1889]

Disgusting.

The irony of Sony being there when they're #4THEPLAYERS.

Also, Microsoft being there with all their backwards compatibility talk to "preserve" old games.

Exactly, they are both fucking hypocrites. Money and holding things over consumers heads is what these companies are truly all about.

 

[Moriarty1889]

That judge must live a life of misery.

There are many miserable cunts today and this judge is just one of them my friend. They want everyone else to be as miserable as they are.

 

[Bry0]

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

I don't even know where to begin with this one ...

Publishers are absolutely terrified "preserved video games would be used for recreational purposes," so the US copyright office has struck down a major effort for game preservation

"This fails the needs of citizens in favor of a weak sauce argument from the industry, and it's really disappointing"

www.gamesradar.com

Let them worry more about the abuse of fentanyl and the abuse of weapons with crazy people, they should dedicate themselves to that.

It's going to be a great day, the time when Warner Bros is bankrupt.

It's good that in Mexico we made the reform to remove corrupt and inept judges.

 

[grvg]

USA copyright law needs to die.

There are already a few preservation sites out there, though. Hopefully there are enough data hoarders out there with the appropriate hard drives, bandwidth and free time to back up the sites, because those sites will go down eventually too.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

Congrats to everyone responsible of this cappy decision

 

[MarkMe2525]

I mean, it sucks, but in the grand scheme of things, this rulling isn't going to stop "preservationists" from "preserving" these games. The casuals won't know where to look for them, but we will.

 

[ClanOfNone]

Shit, most people will just pirate old games they want anyways. Or buy one of those Amazon emulator consoles with 40k games from the early arcades up through ps1/2 era.

 

[marquimvfs]

Cannot wait for the corporate chills to come here and say that the publishers are right, that the only purpose of the preserving is to pirate.

 

[Barakov]

 

[LordCBH]

Copyright office is run by worthless cucks. Just
Like the rest of the government.

 

[Bojji]

Worry not. The EU will come to save everybody’s asses, as we always do. You’re welcome.

EU will probably rule in gamers favour. Shame us UK homies wouldn't benefit from it.

Also. What the fuck else are games used for if not recreational purposes lol.

Let's hope so.

 

[Setsuna Mudou]

Fuck this ruling...

 

[Radical_3d]

EU will probably rule in gamers favour. Shame us UK homies wouldn't benefit from it.

Also. What the fuck else are games used for if not recreational purposes lol.

*Enters Brexit room:
“Are you winning, son?”