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The abandonware is an Anglo-Saxon word (formed deserted Y software), which defines all digital software that although it is under the copyright umbrella, its authors have stopped using
The abandonware is an Anglo-Saxon word (formed deserted Y software), which defines all digital software that although it is under the copyright umbrella, its authors have stopped using it.
Any type of app can be included in this group, although it mostly applies to games, and that’s what we’re going to focus on in this special so you can enjoy those great classic titles (or relive them if you had the chance to play them back in the day ). , with a level of graphics and sound that shows the passage of time, but with the gameplay and fun that many of today would wish for.
In this section, state that abandonware is in a bit of legal limbo, halfway between shareware and free software, because on the one hand they are still subject to copyright, but on the other hand they are not applied in practice. Therefore, it is not recognized as a method of software distribution, nor does it have any type of legal support.
And you might be wondering, if a studio has discontinued a game and shouldn’t be doing business with it, why can’t it be freely used? The question is answered in disputed copyright regulations which allow copyright to be maintained forever and ever, even if no one uses it. In the case of this group of software, they can be in several legal situations:
In practice, most manufacturers do not bother and this group of software is tacitly allowed, because it is simply not worth it for the manufacturer to take legal action against sites that offer to download it, as we will see later. Of course, until the games enter the public domain or the owners open them as open source or freeware, they can claim the rights and in some cases, when it is interesting for commercial reasons, they will do so, as happened in the -incomprehensible- battle of Nintendo against ROM portals.
That means and at your discretion while you can enjoy these great games to the fullest. Personally, my PC doesn’t lack an emulator and some classic fairy tales that I relive from time to time and enjoy them almost as much as when I played them 25 years ago. Of course, don’t expect visual effects like ray tracing :D. The inexorable march of technological time affects but You will definitely have fun.
Fortunately, there are websites that keep them alive. Not all of them are equally updated, but there are hundreds of them that can be downloaded. We’ll leave you with the main ones:
A portal dedicated mainly to DOS games, although it also has a section on Windows games. Each title has its rating, legal status, release date, screenshots and most of all a video of the game itself as a trailer, which is a joy in itself. It has a search engine to find a game by title, genre or release date, and links to deals on classic games from the GOG.com digital store, which, if you really like them, you can buy at low prices to have them legally. and as a thank you to the developers. Very complete and perfectly updated site.
Perhaps one of the first portals dedicated to this group of games since its inception in 1999. After a period of inactivity, it came back to life in line with the increase in interest in retro games. Offers a directory of “abandonware” titles dedicated to classic games that were released for the MS-DOS operating system. Some are no longer supported by the publisher and some less so, the copyright has expired. It contains about 1200 downloadable games, most of them reviewed, with screenshots and ratings from the publisher and users.
A site completely dedicated to retrogaming, abandonware and old classic games from the past. You can browse by genre, year, platform or developer to download them for free. Mostly DOS or Amiga games, but they also have Windows, Commodore 64, Atari ST and other systems. Note that admins test, configure and package all games with the respective emulator. Well updated, they add games often.
The portal offers a wide catalog of classic DOS games, unreleased titles and even some “modern” DOS titles. the whole site is “dedicated to preserving classic games from defunct computer operating systems”such as DOS, CP/M-86, OS/2, Win16 and Windows 9x, as well as to facilitate its execution on modern systems.
We haven’t counted them, but they say they have about 14,000 games. Most of them are classics from the 80s and 90s and cover a lot of platforms, from DOS to Sega, Genesis, Commodore or Atari. Like the previous one, it allows you to select them by title, genre or year of release.
Another site that offers a good collection of games for DOS, Windows and others, but with a focus on commercial games that were deliberately released as freeware. It does not have the best interface on the planet, but it has good games like other portals, search engine, top-10 and top-250 with those considered the best. The site hasn’t been updated in years, but they have a good collection.
The non-profit digital library dedicated to preserving files and content is a must, as it also has a good collection of MS-DOS titles. They cannot be downloaded, but they can be played directly on the web thanks to the built-in emulator.
The vast majority of these games were released for DOS systems and there is a perfect application for them: DOSBox. It is a complete CPU emulator that recreates a DOS-like environment on modern computers. It is open source, free and cross-platform softwarewith support for Windows, Linux, OS X, FreeBSD and other alternatives.
Of course, there are others capable of running this type of game on all platforms, such as FreeDOS, and others that can be played without installing anything from a web browser, such as The Internet Archive, which has its own built-in emulator.
Another option is to use virtual machines with applications such as Oracle VirtualBox, VMware or Windows Virtual PC. There you can install, for example, MS-DOS or a copy of Windows XP. Professional versions of Windows 7 also included a special feature called “Windows XP Mode” that acted as a virtual operating system and a means of opening older programs within Windows 7.
In all cases, and considering the legal issues that unfortunately continue to plague many of them, we can only tell you Enjoy the games!
Source: Muy Computer
Donald Salinas is an experienced automobile journalist and writer for Div Bracket. He brings his readers the latest news and developments from the world of automobiles, offering a unique and knowledgeable perspective on the latest trends and innovations in the automotive industry.
