I want to talk about a taboo, and hopefully get some clarity on the lawful ownership and procurement of Wing Commander titles.
Here's how I understand the legalities, I'm not saying these are correct, and if they're not, I hope to be corrected for the sake of the community.
Buying used online
Obviously from most outlets, this is legal - basically all Wing Commander games are available used on sites such as Amazon, eBay and other secondhand auction websites. This is usually the safest way to legally buy a Wing Commander title. Some other sources offer legal downloads of Wing Commander material - such as the WC4 PSP download from EA, and of course Arena for Xbox Live.
"Abandonware" sites
These sites tend to offer games classified as 'abandonware' based seemingly upon their age and as I've read before they do so on the (often shoddy) justification that copyright or ownership rights have expired, and the games can't be obtained through purchase elsewhere. I understand that downloading Wing Commander games from such sites is illegal due to EA's continued rights ownership of the entire series. Therefore, Wing Commander games should never be obtained in such a way.
If you have to pay for your Abandonware, it doesn't necessarily make it legal. I note that MOSW offers Wing Commander Privateer, and KS for download, but you have to pay to use that Abandonware site - I don't want to write libelous material by accusing this of being illegal, but I would avoid downloading from this source...and if it IS an illegal copy, how outrageous that they're redistributing it at profit!
Peer-to-Peer file sharing and Torrent downloads
I believe are simply just illegal. Such flagrant piracy is frowned upon in the community, and I'm pleased to see that wingnuts who admit to downloading pirate copies of WC games find little or no assistance or sympathy here at the CIC.
Making backup copies of your own legally-bought WC material for your own personal use
Here I'm totally unfamiliar with the legalities, it possibly varies by region, but I'm of the understanding that this is in some cases legal - can anybody clarify this? I seem to recall certain circumstances (whereby you dont share the copied material with anybody else) that making backup copies for personal use is acceptable.
Free Wing Commander releases
If you're broke, and like me you hate piracy and abandonware - you can get hold of plenty of Wing Commander gaming experience absolutely free and legal. Below is a list of links to Wing Commander games avaialble online at no cost, most of such titles are fanmade - but hey, how how cool that the CIC hosts original Wing Commander!
- Wing Commander 1
- Wing Commander 1 Secret Missions
- Wing Commander Unknown Enemy (Fan made)
- Wing Commander Standoff (Fan made)
- Wing Commander Secret Ops Originally released by Origin as a free download, now hosted on the Standoff site.
EDIT: Never noticed that SO1 and SO2 for Wing Commander 2 are hosted at the CIC as well. Can't deny, we're very very lucky that our favourite game has a community and source such as this one.
Here's how I understand the legalities, I'm not saying these are correct, and if they're not, I hope to be corrected for the sake of the community.
Buying used online
Obviously from most outlets, this is legal - basically all Wing Commander games are available used on sites such as Amazon, eBay and other secondhand auction websites. This is usually the safest way to legally buy a Wing Commander title. Some other sources offer legal downloads of Wing Commander material - such as the WC4 PSP download from EA, and of course Arena for Xbox Live.
"Abandonware" sites
These sites tend to offer games classified as 'abandonware' based seemingly upon their age and as I've read before they do so on the (often shoddy) justification that copyright or ownership rights have expired, and the games can't be obtained through purchase elsewhere. I understand that downloading Wing Commander games from such sites is illegal due to EA's continued rights ownership of the entire series. Therefore, Wing Commander games should never be obtained in such a way.
If you have to pay for your Abandonware, it doesn't necessarily make it legal. I note that MOSW offers Wing Commander Privateer, and KS for download, but you have to pay to use that Abandonware site - I don't want to write libelous material by accusing this of being illegal, but I would avoid downloading from this source...and if it IS an illegal copy, how outrageous that they're redistributing it at profit!
Peer-to-Peer file sharing and Torrent downloads
I believe are simply just illegal. Such flagrant piracy is frowned upon in the community, and I'm pleased to see that wingnuts who admit to downloading pirate copies of WC games find little or no assistance or sympathy here at the CIC.
Making backup copies of your own legally-bought WC material for your own personal use
Here I'm totally unfamiliar with the legalities, it possibly varies by region, but I'm of the understanding that this is in some cases legal - can anybody clarify this? I seem to recall certain circumstances (whereby you dont share the copied material with anybody else) that making backup copies for personal use is acceptable.
Free Wing Commander releases
If you're broke, and like me you hate piracy and abandonware - you can get hold of plenty of Wing Commander gaming experience absolutely free and legal. Below is a list of links to Wing Commander games avaialble online at no cost, most of such titles are fanmade - but hey, how how cool that the CIC hosts original Wing Commander!
- Wing Commander 1
- Wing Commander 1 Secret Missions
- Wing Commander Unknown Enemy (Fan made)
- Wing Commander Standoff (Fan made)
- Wing Commander Secret Ops Originally released by Origin as a free download, now hosted on the Standoff site.
EDIT: Never noticed that SO1 and SO2 for Wing Commander 2 are hosted at the CIC as well. Can't deny, we're very very lucky that our favourite game has a community and source such as this one.
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