OldWarez by ARGW luego de 2 años.... los estoy compartiendo en
www.underground-gamer.comhttp://www.underground-gamer.com/details.php?id=22111Oldwarez Archive - What is this?
Welcome, dear reader, to the Oldwarez archive! But what do you mean, "Oldwarez archive?!" Well, why don't you pull up a
chair, grab a cookie, and turn up your hearing aid 'cause I'm 'bout to explain!
First we'll go over some definitions. Oh, please try and keep awake.
"Old"
* "Having lived or existed for a relatively long time"
* geriatric
* "over the hill"
"Warez"
* "w4r3z izz 133t, biyAtChezzz"
* "A term used by software pirates use to describe a cracked game or application that is made available to the
Internet, usually via FTP or telnet, often the pirate will make use of a site with lax security."
But isn't that illegal?! Some believe that software piracy is bad.
"Software piracy is illegal and should be reported to the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST)."
Others believe that it is not that bad.
"An alternate means of software distribution. Was completely legal at one time, but was outlawed by corrupt
legislators due to the influence of software companies and their money" (everything.blockstackers.com).
[Note: Don't combine these two sets of people in mixed groups. Chaos will surely ensue.]
Here at ARGW, we believe neither of these. Instead, we have a sort of theological belief based around copying
copy protected software. This, coupled with the religious freedom rampant here in the US gives us immunization from those
pesky pirating statutes. I think.
"Archive"
"History's strongest ally is also its greatest foe. In the quest to remember just what happened, an archive provides
a repository for materials relating to a specific construct. By maintaining these archives, we keep a record of our past;
however, as these archives accumulate, we make it more difficult to really know what it was we wanted to remember in the
first place" (everything.blockstackers.com). Yes, we proudly save the future by archiving the past with our old warez.
Put it all together and you've got "over the hill pirated repository." Sounds kinky.
Table of Contents
Here is a list of what is contained in each of the main directories of this archive.
\INSTALL\
This directory is included on each CD. The installation programs are located here.
\HTM\
This directory is included on each CD. The HTML formated documentation is located here.
Disc 1
\ADVNTR\UNSORTED\
Adventure games - mainly non-action oriented quest games. The following elements characterize an adventure game: -
Story, usually revealed as the game progresses - Environment, a world to explore with objects to manipulate - Characters to
interact with - Problem solving, including puzzles, riddles, object manipulation and information manipulation.
\ADVNTR\ACCESS\
Access software - known for pioneering interactive movie game genre.
\ADVNTR\ACCOLADE\
Accolade adventure games.
\ADVNTR\ANGELSFT\
Angelsoft Interactive Fiction - Undoubtedly one of the oldest interactive fiction companies in existence published a
handful of quality text adventures in mid-1980s that, although pale beneath Infocom's limelight, feature excellent writing
and robust parser despite simplistic puzzles. Two of Angelsoft games' most memorable quirks are that you must end all NPC
interaction with a ?, e.g. "Mollie, give me the key?" and the outcome of many puzzles are random (meaning you have to restore
the game in case of negative outcome). Still, excellent writing in all these games more than make up for the weaknesses, and
plots are typically interesting enough to warrant playing to the end. - Underdogs
\ADVNTR\COKTEL\
Coktel Vision - made quirky adventure/puzzle games like Gobliiins.
\ADVNTR\INFOCOM\
Infocom - popularized the interactive fiction genre. In the bygone era of interactive fiction in mid 80's, Infocom
needs no introduction. From the slick and atmospheric packaging outside to the amazing virtual reality within, Infocom games
are synonymous with interactive fiction par excellence. - Underdogs
\ADVNTR\INFOGRMS\
Infogrames - created the 3rd person 3d graphic adventure.
\ADVNTR\INTERPLY\
Interplay adventure games.
\ADVNTR\L9\
Level 9 - Level 9 was a British company founded by the brothers Mike, Nick, and Pete Austin that produced over a
dozen quality text-parser-with-graphics adventure games for various computer systems. Their early games (1983 - 1986) were
revolutionary in that they contain a lot of information in a very small amount (32KB) of memory-- no mean feat of
programming. These games include The Jewels of Darkness Trilogy, Silicon Dreams Trilogy, and Time and Magik Trilogy. Later
games feature a more powerful engine called "KAOS" that unfortunately reduces the length of the games. Level 9 parser was
never really on par with what Infocom accomplished: although it is robust and contains a huge vocabulary, NPC interaction has
never been its strong point (i.e. you cannot "ask [someone] about [something]" as in Infocom games). Although the KAOS engine
was touted for "intelligent characters," the interaction is still lacking. Nevertheless, Level 9 games are memorable for
their quality of writing, ingenious plots, and immersive atmosphere. - Underdogs
\ADVNTR\LEGEND\
Legend - Legend Entertainment is well-known in the adventure gaming community as the last bastion of intelligent,
thought-provoking "traditional" (i.e. inventory-based) games. Founded by ex-Implementor (i.e. Infocom designer) Bob Bates in
1990, Legend is today one of the very few adventure game companies that refuses to compromise its puzzle-based gameplay for
3D pizzazz and action sequences. Even tools that are often used in other games to increase the playing time, such as the
dreaded maze, are rarely seen in a Legend game. When these tools are used, it is always within reason (for instance, you can
navigate the mazes in Gateway and Spellcasting 301 easily once you figure out the logic behind them). Legend developed 15
adventure games during the past decade, all of which are heads and shoulders above most other adventure games on the market.
This success is owing to the expert matching between the talents of Legend's veteran team of designers (which includes the
likes of Steve Meretzsky, Mike Verdu, Corey & Lori Cole, and Josh Mandel) with modern graphics and interface. While Legend
games have never been "cutting-edge", it is the gameplay that shines through and keeps fans clamoring for more. - Underdogs
\ADVNTR\LUCASART\
Lucasarts (Lucasfilm) - Lucasfilm games is mainly known, like Sierra before it, for its third person graphic
adventure games. Their games were the first to use an interface turning away from a "guess the verb and noun" text parser.
Instead, they developed an inovative point and click sentence builder called "SCUMM" with which they released many popular
graphic adventure games.
\ADVNTR\MAGSCR\
Magnetic Scrolls - interactive fiction with background graphics.
\ADVNTR\MICROPRS\
Microprose Interactive graphic adventures.
\ADVNTR\SIERRA\
Sierra and Dynamix graphic adventures.
\ADVNTR\TELARIUM\
Telarium - Telarium (later known as Windham Classics) produced many quality text-parser-with-graphics adventure games
in the 80s. Although their parser is not as sophisticated as Infocom's, all of their games feature excellent plots (almost
all of which are based on bestselling novels), good writing, and a variety of "specialized verbs" that are game-specific
(Perry Mason is the best example of this). I also daresay that Telarium also pioneered the current norm of mixing arcade
sequences in adventure games (of which Dragonworld and Amazon come to mind) that blend well within the game's mythos without
detracting from the fun. - Underdogs
