[Yes, it's one of my trademarked rambles]

So, today I noticed "IGI 2: Covert Strike" was on sale on GOG. It's a
fairly mediocre and often overlooked FPS from the early 200s, so of
course I bought it. Or re-bought it, as I owned it already on CD-ROM
(I wanted a digital-download version because I enjoy how much easier
it is to play games without worrying about optical disks). But while
adding this latest purchase to my spreadsheet*, it made me wonder how
many games for which I still have to find digital versions.
Unsurprisingly, there's a lot of 'em. But while it's possible that
some -even many!- of them may one day make it to Steam or GOG, there's
also an incredible number that I think will never make that
transition.

Some of these, of course, are because the ownership is just so muddied
("No One Lives Forever" being the prime example) that figuring out the
rights is almost impossible. And others seem to have been
intentionally buried by their owners ("Freelancer", for instance, or
"Prince of Persia 3D", or "Unreal Tournament 2003"). But even these
may, with enough effort, one day get a revival.

But there's so many other games that just don't have a chance, almost
entirely because they are licensed properties based on other IPs.
Developers are only granted a limited time period to make use of that
license, and once the allotted time is spent, the game has to be
pulled from the store shelves. And that's a shame, because we're
losing a lot of really great games because of this.

Games like "X-Men Origins: Wolverine". Despite its unfortunate
connection to a rather awful movie, the game itself was an awesome
over-the-shoulder brawler that really took advantage of the eponymous
hero's regeneration abilities.

"Blair Witch Vol. 1: Rustin Parr" is gone too. Again, the movie its
based on is awful, but the game --which was really more of a stealth
sequel to the awesome horror/survival game "Nocturne"-- was quite
good. Not that anyone would know today; the game hasn't been available
for sale for twenty years.

"Star Trek DS9: The Fallen" was a bit rough around the edges with its
controls and gunplay, but had some great level design, was incredibly
atmospheric, and captured the characters and mood of the television
show quite well. So too "Star Trek Legacy", which let you fly all the
best ships from the franchise like you were Captain Kirk (or Picard,
if you preferred).

Remember "Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth"? It's one of
those great RTS games we were talking about in that other thread. But
unless you own the game on CD, don't expect to ever be able to play
it. Same too with the cinematic brawlers, "The Two Towers" or "Return
of the King". The rights holders are extremely stingy with their
license.

Tabletop games got numerous conversions, but good luck playing a lot
of them these days. "MechCommander"? No chance. "Crimson Skies"? You
wish. "Heavy Gear"? Ain't gonna happen.

Even lesser games, like "Terminator: Salvation", "Beavis & Butthead:
Virtual Stupidity" and "Heavy Metal: FAKK 2" are never going to see
the light of day again. They weren't critical successes (even if none
of them were bad games) and there just isn't enough demand for any
publisher to try and expensively navigate the licensing issues.

And it's a real shame, because a lot of these games were -and are!-
still worth revisiting. I think a lot of these games would sell too,
even if only because of nostalgia, and were the unencumbered with
these excessive licenses, many of them might already have made their
way back to digital storefronts. But because copyright law makes
things so difficult, huge swathes of gaming history have all but been
deleted.

Unless you still own the CD-ROMs, of course. Which, for all the games
I've mentioned, I fortunately do. But I pity those who missed out on
these games. They were pretty good, most of 'em.

* have I ever mentioned I have a spreadsheet where I log all my games?
I'm sure it must have come up before ;-)

On 1/25/2025 8:59 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>
> * have I ever mentioned I have a spreadsheet where I log all my games?
> I'm sure it must have come up before ;-)
>
https://clz.com/games

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On Sun, 26 Jan 2025 10:21:52 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

>On 1/25/2025 8:59 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>
>> * have I ever mentioned I have a spreadsheet where I log all my games?
>> I'm sure it must have come up before ;-)
>>
>https://clz.com/games

I prefer a spreadsheet just because its more platform neutral and
doesn't require an online connection to use. Just drop the file
wherever and I have the data. Plus, it has all the fields I want and
is easy to modify.

I actually had a database for it (not a real one; I used Access ;-)
but it didn't really add all that much in needed features and wasn't
as portable, so I went back to the spreadsheet.

>https://clz.com/games

neat! thanks

rms

On 1/27/2025 7:23 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> On Sun, 26 Jan 2025 10:21:52 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
> <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
>
>> On 1/25/2025 8:59 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>>
>>> * have I ever mentioned I have a spreadsheet where I log all my games?
>>> I'm sure it must have come up before ;-)
>>>
>> https://clz.com/games
>
> I prefer a spreadsheet just because its more platform neutral and
> doesn't require an online connection to use. Just drop the file
> wherever and I have the data. Plus, it has all the fields I want and
> is easy to modify.
>
> I actually had a database for it (not a real one; I used Access ;-)
> but it didn't really add all that much in needed features and wasn't
> as portable, so I went back to the spreadsheet.
>
*shrug* They have a half-dozen or so software packages for different
things. I have the ones for Books and Movies (home media basically,
VHS, disc). I find them useful as I have several thousand of the first
and over 600 of the second. I'm also still on version 18 of both,
haven't paid for the upgrades/updates, and they work just fine.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On Mon, 27 Jan 2025 17:40:26 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

>On 1/27/2025 7:23 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>> On Sun, 26 Jan 2025 10:21:52 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
>> <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
>>
>>> On 1/25/2025 8:59 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>>>
>>>> * have I ever mentioned I have a spreadsheet where I log all my games?
>>>> I'm sure it must have come up before ;-)
>>>>
>>> https://clz.com/games
>>
>> I prefer a spreadsheet just because its more platform neutral and
>> doesn't require an online connection to use. Just drop the file
>> wherever and I have the data. Plus, it has all the fields I want and
>> is easy to modify.
>>
>> I actually had a database for it (not a real one; I used Access ;-)
>> but it didn't really add all that much in needed features and wasn't
>> as portable, so I went back to the spreadsheet.
>>
>*shrug* They have a half-dozen or so software packages for different
>things. I have the ones for Books and Movies (home media basically,
>VHS, disc). I find them useful as I have several thousand of the first
>and over 600 of the second. I'm also still on version 18 of both,
>haven't paid for the upgrades/updates, and they work just fine.

Come to think of it, in some ways I use "Playnite"
(https://playnite.link/) as a database of my video-game library. It's
designed mainly as a launcher that allows you to combine all your
various libraries (Steam, GOG, EA, UPlay, etc.) into one app, but you
can also add "empty" games to it (e.g., no way to play the games, just
in the list as placeholders), and in fact I do that for my newer
Playstation/XBox games.

Often when I need to refer to games released in a specific year (or
just get information about a specific game, like publisher or when it
came out) I use Playnite for that purpose.

It does lack several significant fields that I'd find useful
(including date and price of purchase, how I got the game, and where
I've stashed the media, if it's on disk), and it lacks portability. If
I'm not in front of my main PC, I've no access to the info. So in this
regard, my spreadsheet still serves a useful purpose.

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
> On 1/25/2025 8:59 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> >
> > * have I ever mentioned I have a spreadsheet where I log all my games?
> > I'm sure it must have come up before ;-)
> >
> https://clz.com/games

But not free.
--
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Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 26 Jan 2025 10:21:52 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
> <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

> >On 1/25/2025 8:59 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> >>
> >> * have I ever mentioned I have a spreadsheet where I log all my games?
> >> I'm sure it must have come up before ;-)
> >>
> >https://clz.com/games

> I prefer a spreadsheet just because its more platform neutral and
> doesn't require an online connection to use. Just drop the file
> wherever and I have the data. Plus, it has all the fields I want and
> is easy to modify.

> I actually had a database for it (not a real one; I used Access ;-)
> but it didn't really add all that much in needed features and wasn't
> as portable, so I went back to the spreadsheet.

Ditto. Which spreadsheet? Excel? :)

--
"They cried 2 U & were saved; in yo they trusted & weren't disappointed." --Psalm 22:5. Quiet (L/C)NY's snek hump day after da last 2 slammy days from da old colony, etc.?
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
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On 1/29/2025 10:28 AM, Ant wrote:
> Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
>> On 1/25/2025 8:59 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>>>
>>> * have I ever mentioned I have a spreadsheet where I log all my games?
>>> I'm sure it must have come up before ;-)
>>>
>> https://clz.com/games
>
> But not free.

Ah, I missed that they've gone to a "subscription model" for the
software. I'm using an older version from before they did that.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
> On 1/29/2025 10:28 AM, Ant wrote:
> > Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
> >> On 1/25/2025 8:59 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> >>>
> >>> * have I ever mentioned I have a spreadsheet where I log all my games?
> >>> I'm sure it must have come up before ;-)
> >>>
> >> https://clz.com/games
> >
> > But not free.

> Ah, I missed that they've gone to a "subscription model" for the
> software. I'm using an older version from before they did that.

Is that old version still around to get?
--
"Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." --Proverbs 19:21. (L/C)NY's wood snek hump day was still da same like da last several days.
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
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