Has The 7th Guest entered the public domain?

Question

I know that Trilobyte, the creators of The 7th Guest, went out of business some time ago. Has their work entered the public domain in some way? If not, who owns the copyright for their works?

Asked by Beska

Answer

Trilobyte has re-released the 7th guest for the Ipad and the Iphone at the end of 2010. The second in the series "11th hour" will be released "summer 2011".

In November 2010 Trilobyte was resurrected, so that means they still have the copyright for the games.

Answered by Rudi

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Can I return a game if the vendor forces me to buy DLCs to play competitavely? [closed]

Question

This is more of a legal question regarding DLCs in games.

Here is why I ask:

Now with Street Fighter x Tekken coming out and providing a new Gem system with many DLCs to come I fear I cannot compete with other players buying expensive more powerful gems (DLC).

I mean I buy a game for 30-50 bucks so I can play online competitively. Until now most DLCs in fighting games are optional, as they don't make you stronger. You get different costumes or new characters. But as all characters are supposed be "balanced". I do not suffer from not buying the DLCs.

Now I heard that Capcom wants to create more powerful gems and sell them. There are AFAIK currently no game modes that allow to play without gems, so I will be forced to play with inferior gems.

Furthermore, especially for PC, many shops do not allow you to return a game once you have played it. I want to buy SFxT in about 2 months for PC once it is released.

I don't think this is fair. The vendor must provide a game mode that allows me to play on a same level with other players and make buying DLCs optional. I as a customer want to buy the game and play as long as I want with the status quo (Situation on release date). I cannot see into the future how the balancing will change with new expensive DLCs I do not want to buy.

Basically my question is: Do I have a legal chance to return the game if for example after 1 month of playing a certain expensive and very powerful DLC is realeased and I cannot compete with other gamers unless I buy it?

Sure you can argue its just another 5 bucks, but what if next month another similar DLC is released, and the following month too etc.?

Asked by ayckoster

Answer

I'm not a lawyer, this is not legal advice.

I'm going to compare your argument on DLCs to that of expansions for typical games (DLC's are after all, mini expansions). When a game creates an expansion, anyone who doesn't buy the expansion usually gets left behind. For example, when Starcraft: Brood Wars came out, anyone who didn't switch was left behind playing with a significantly reduced (if non-existent) player base. The same thing happens with World of Warcraft. If you don't buy the expansion "Wrath of the Lich King" or "Cataclysm", you will be playing with and against players who have significantly better gear such as "Heirlooms".

I can tell you for sure that you can not return any Blizzard game if you agree to the EULA and TOC. Once you open the box it can not be returned.

Does the order have to be in a certain condition for me to return it?

Games must be returned new and unopened in their original sealed box.

source

If you've already enjoyed the game to some extent, you're not going to have much luck returning it. I've felt the same way personally, when I played Halo: ODST I felt the 5 hours of gameplay I got out of it was a "ripoff" for $70, but I still played the game that the developers set out for me.

Your only option is to sell the game. Unfortunately, PC games are hard to sell because of the complicated licensing arrangements you unwittingly make with them, and console games are going that route as well (locking you out of multiplayer if you buy it second hand).

My best advice is to:

• Research games and companies before purchasing
• Don't support companies in the future that make decisions you don't agree with
• Contact companies with your concerns - you may be suprised
• Accept that you pay for what you get in the box and nothing more

Answered by Resorath

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Playing (or buying) Starcraft 2 in Korea - tips?

Question

I am currently in Korea and will stay here for a while. I have a problem though: My SC2 account is European. And I have no Alien Registration Card right now until March. So now I wonder:

Does the "Start Edition" include multiplayer-access? (I assume "SE players are also unable to use versus and co-op matchmaking" means that it practically doesn't?) And aside from the a 30-day subscription for ₩9900, is there any other option except paying the ₩69,000 for unlimited everything?

Because even though I already got an ARC-number, for whatever silly reason the gov deactivates its usage for registering online unless I'm on a proper visa again. (Right now I'm on a tourist visa / waiver program.) And I didn't create an iPin earlier... I guess the 30-day subscription also needs my ARC no? Because otherwise I might just bridge the time until I get my ARC reactivated with this silly 30-day subscription...

So with a lack of an iPin (or "gPin" now?) and a non-usable ARC, what are my options?

Or is there a way to change my existing licence and account from EU to KOR? Even if I only can change it that once, I'd do it! I won't be in Europe for a while... Yet I assume even when there is, I can't circumvent the "citizen ID" requirement? (Which I can fulfill but is blocked right now. -.-)

Finally: I indeed want to play fair and don't want to (have to) borrow a Korean ID or crap like that! I know (saw it with my own eyes) that people give out their ID's or account data / CD-Key online, Koreans are very kind. But I don't want to be (a) go this way and (b) be reliant upon such a system which is mostly in Korean (/ for Koreans) anyways.

For me the whole thing is highly confusing and frustrating. The citizen ID registration requirement together with my inability to use my existing (and never changing!) ID is extremly annoying!

Thank you for your help in advance

Asked by grunwald2.0

Answer

A couple other people have linked the guide on teamliquid so I'm going to instead shared my experience using it.

I did this right before the TW and KR servers merged last year so some of the info I provide might be out of date.

First, I went to OffGamers and purchased a TW version of Starcraft 2. This required me to add a phone number. It turns out the reason they want your phone number is that they are going to call you on it (as in long distance from Taiwan) to make sure you're really buying this and your credit card wasn't stolen. At the end of the process they gave me a game code (an alphanumeric code).

This next part was tricky. You have to log into the Taiwanese battlenet with your American battlenet account. That last part was confusing for me as I spent a good deal trying how to figure out how to create a Taiwanese account only to find out I couldn't (and didn't need to). At these point you want to redeem your code. Well you can't do that (this was also confusing). What you can do is now go to buy a digital game and set your region to Taiwan and select Starcraft Wings of Liberty. It was only at that time it let me enter in my code as payment. After which I was able to download the Taiwanese client. To install I had to "relocate" my American client and install the Taiwanese normally (Starcraft 2 isn't picky where you run it from).

It's worth noting that my American Battlenet account now shows me owning both the Taiwanese and American versions of Starcraft 2. This is strong evidence that Blizzard is ok with my having multiple accounts on multiple servers.

PS. KR/TW server is much much harder. On day 1 I barely placed into Gold (I normally enjoy Masters on US) and I had to fight my way up. Over time you get better, but be prepared to lose a lot initially.

Answered by tzenes

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Where / How can I check if my minecraft key is an alpha-version?

Question

I bought a minecraft key from another person, which claimed that it was an alpha-version.

How can I check if my key is from the time of the alpha-version?

Answer

It seems that there is no way to determine the version of your key for yourself (1, 2).

You might be able to find out by contacting Mojang directly. Twitter accounts are listed here. You could also try contacting notch@mojang.com or payment@mojang.com.

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Starcraft 2 license problem on the website

Question

I have problem my license SC2 license does not show up when I log into my account on battle.net. The strange thing is that I have it only at website - when I log into my SC2 account in the game everything is fine. What's going on?

Here is a screenshot from the website.

Answer

as far as i can see from other people on the internet this mostly happens when they go to the wrong region(such as going to US instead of EU), have you made sure that the battle.net page is the one for your region?

This can also happen if you have multiple starcraft 2 accounts on same email, then you need to migrate one or contact blizzard support.

If non of this things are your problem you can try this

When I login, I receive the message, "NO STARCRAFT II LICENSE FOUND", and I cannot post.

Simply try logging in and logging back out. If that does not work, you'll need to flush your account cache. To do this, change something on your account: your password, e-mail, address, etc. Changing anything will reset your account cache.

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Is playing MW2 via AlterIW legal?

Question

Long ago, I bought a copy of MW2. As I run it, it requests me to make a Steam account and assign the game to it — otherwise, it doesn't let me do anything at all. Not even single player. :(

On Google, I searched for "MW2 no Steam". Google came up with 2 things: Some illegal "no Steam" crack and "AlterIW".

I'm almost sure that applying that crack is illegal, but what about playing through AlterIW?

Here is AlterIW.net.

I read some article about it, and what it said was: "AlterIW net is an alternative to steam which also has much servers..."

What do you think about it? Legal/illegal?

What makes things even more complicated is that I'm playing this on a Mac - with Wine.

Answer

This is what the lead developer has to say on the subject:

None of the basic game files are modified, most of them are replaced with custom versions or specific versions shipped by IW in patches. Also, reverse-engineering claims are invalid in Europe to my knowledge, which is where I am located.

I'm afraid replacing files does counts as modifying, and thus breaks the EULA you agreed to when you ran the installer. Then again I cannot be sure, because I couldn't locate a copy of the EULA anywhere online.

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