Dead Games News Returns! (DMCA exemption, World In Conflict, Scrolls, Paragon)

Dead Game News returns! Now 55% more watchable.
1:46 DMCA exemption appeal to preserve online games
14:32 World In Conflict server source code
16:00 Scrolls resurrecting
18:36 Paragon shutdown
20:34 tangential 3d map stuff
This is my attempted new format of Dead Game News. If you have any interest in the topic, I think you'll find more info here than just simple parroting of the news and instead what it actually means for games.
Link to old DGN episodes:
/ @deadgamenews9784
Link to game shown in the video:
www.gog.com/ga...
www.accursedfar...

[@milczyciel]

"law is like a fence - a tiger will jump over, a snake will slither under, but at least the cattle stays put"

[@NODnuke45]

Oh I get it, so what you're saying is we're all going to be eaten and/or poisoned to death...

[@auger0073]

That's good, where did you get that quote

[@milczyciel]

It's supposedly "an old Chinese proverb" that is being used (though not very commonly) in Poland. I wouldn't be surprised if it is a fake one, taken from a book, movie or a comic.

[@tokiwartooth9935]

Sheep would've made a better analogy for that last animal, assuming that it isn't an authentic proverb.

[@adenowirus]

An old Chinese proverb says "If you have nothing to say, tell an old Chinese proverb".

[@CatalystEXE]

Imagine working 50 hour weeks, callousing your fingers helping to build a game, having it be finished, then watching a handful of suits you've never met in some conference room 500 miles away from you decide to kill it. Never to be seen again. That has to be the most demoralizing thing that can happen. It definitely sucks for the people who paid for the game, but the people who sacrifice their time, blood, sweat, and tears, the people who are responsible for the game coming to fruition, I can't imagine how disappointing it must be.

[@xXGodofTecknoXx]

Welcome to working for a publisher like EA, where you're lucky to keep your job after you've finished a huge best-selling game. As a dev, that should give you the clout to work on a new IP, given that you made the company lots of money. But EA turns around and lets people go as soon as they've squeezed everything valuable out of the studio. Gotta make those millions of tax-free offshore Swiss bank account dollars that you can't even spend, amirite?

[@RighBread]

Yeah man. Stifling and theft of intellectual properties is actually like a legit phobia of mine. Shit makes my skin crawl.

[@JarlFrank]

As a guy working in game design, yeah, it would be a terrible feeling to have my work pulled away forever after only a few years of being available. All those hours spent creating beautiful levels and interesting quests... gone. I'm glad that I'm working for a small-ish indie studio, and I seriously hope I will never come into a situation where I have to work for a company like EA. When Ultima VII made allusions to EA being the "Destroyer of Worlds" back in the day, they probably had no idea how prophetic they were.

[@MandaloreGaming]

I didn't even know that World in Conflict's multiplayer was shut down. This stuff is too under reported.

[@cornyfirstkill]

MandaloreGaming watches Ross? Shiiii on a side note. Keep making great videos man.

[@_motho_]

Is there some niche video game reviewer community i’m missing out on? Raycevik knows Mandalore knows Ross knows Sseth. What is all of this?

[@KriminalKrampus]

MANDALOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@SpecShadow]

Ross knows Sseth? waitwhatwhenwhere?

[@starwarsfan117]

Is there just a network of actually good KZbinrs that watch each other's stuff and comment on it? Also warden, nice to see another member of the merchants guild!

[@ilikegrapes6399]

You're right Ross, we should lobby for recreational large hadron colliders.

[@TheFrogspawnedOne]

We absolutely are in Crazyland. Trying to pay attention to politics in general reveals this in short order - the fact that it's even evident in gaming specifically just shows how insane the world is getting, I think. Even our hobbies are infected by insanity.

[@Strideo1]

They way modern corporate culture is today causes most major corporations to act like sociopaths. It's all about the profits and ethical business practices come as an afterthought. Having a huge base of customers who are uninformed is a big part of what allows companies to do this (besides poor laws) so Ross's videos to inform the world are a valuable contribution to fighting the good fight.

[@TheFrogspawnedOne]

True that. When the core of our society is democratic but people don't know/care/aren't educated about certain issues it necessarily makes it more difficult to get together enough people to affect meaningful change because the pool from which you draw is so much smaller to begin with.

[@SpaceBearEngineer]

It's not insanity. It's greed, plane and simple greed. It's the endless circle. The people have become complacent in a "bread and circuses" society and allowed things like democracy and economic mobility to degenerate back into the aristocracy. The people with the wealth and power at the top use that wealth and power to foment division and ensure that a united front against them is less likely to form, we're fucking up our environment and burning through resources without a solid plan, etc. This is a simplification and an overview, neglecting things like international relations and ideological divides, but it's the same basic plotline our species has followed for the 4000 years we have on record. We just need to remember to make the best choices within the bounds of our nature to mitigate the negatives of that nature. Should be...doable...hopefully.

[@hkr667]

Ross, you are a truly intelligent man. With many videos I'm like "Yeah, you make sense, I follow you all the way", only for you to go into it two levels deeper than I ever thought about. You really add something that most popular 'rant channels' fail to show. Never change, Ross.

[@Bruno-fe8vm]

Pretty much what I wanted to say :) Amazing job Ross!!

[@meikvincenco1584]

You might have missed the point at which he said that giving people a refund they did not ask for in order to take something they bought and wanted to own was fine. Imagine I sold you a car. Some time later I came around your house, took the car and threw the money you gave me at your feet. Does that sound good to you ?

[@Bruno-fe8vm]

Yeah that sounds like a bad idea :( I would prefer to buy a quality product and use it the way I want for as long I want :)

[@gnetkuji]

Wait, wait, wait. There's a game company which would rather refund all of the money they took in for their game than release their server code? That makes me *super* suspicious of their server code now. What's in that code which is so valuable that they would rather turn over every dime they made from the game than release it? Was it fucking data mining us or something?

[@frostywasp1743]

MINING FOR THE BITCOIN!!!!

[@MaartenvanRossemLezingen]

They probably just wanna hide plagiarism in the code so they don't risk getting sued.

[@ince55ant]

actually now that you mention it, it is pretty strange... particularly considering how much unreal give away for free with their engine...

[@Gillsing]

That's an interesting conspiracy theory, but maybe they just thought it would be worth refunding the money in exchange for PR/goodwill? We don't know how _much_ money it really was, so maybe it wasn't that much. Seems like a fair assumption that a game that dies, dies because it isn't generating a whole lot of money. I've never even heard of the game, but I'm not very knowledgeable about games I'm not interested in playing. And if the game had been killed _without_ refunds, what would have happened? Nothing much, it seems like. So rather than 'refund or release server code' I assume it was 'refund or just kill the game with _no_ refunds, like everyone else does it'. Unless someone was threatening to release the server code if all players didn't get complete refunds, I guess. Maybe that's the _real_ story. An unlikely explanation for an unlikely refund.

[@JosephDavies]

It's likely that the code contains proprietary parts, or things they have licensed from third-parties. The cost of either ripping those parts out, potentially re-writing them, or even negotiating a re-licensing, may all be more than they were willing to spend. Code that you never intended to be open-source is not always easily converted to open-source, sometimes in ways that can surprise after the fact. Given how risk-averse companies are, it doesn't surprise me that this isn't an option for a game that they've already decided isn't making them enough money to keep running. It's regrettable, but it's at least a pretty simple economic decision most of the time. As long as there is no penalty for them just taking the ball and going home, this will continue being the norm. The only way to improve this particular situation is to change that math.

[@SuperHandyman100]

All games, no matter how bad should be preserved. That includes online games, if an online game is being shut down, then they should allow the players to take over and make their own servers for the games.

[@SuperHandyman100]

There's so many great games that are sadly been took offline, and they don't need to be. One good example I like for this is Valve games, say what you will about the company, but I love how Valve actively encourages people to set up their own servers, because even though games like TF2, which is 10 years old mind you, pretty old for a video game, an online video game at that, is still online, it's not gonna be supported forever, so I do like that there are some companies out there like Valve where I can be happy knowing that someday when they finally stop supporting their games, we can still play them.

[@Accursed_Farms]

I'm actually not that far on the spectrum and don't think everything necessarily needs to be preserved, but I'm adamant about not intentionally PREVENTING people from preserving what they want.

[@SuperHandyman100]

^^^^

[@dontspikemydrink9382]

Accursed Farms why dont you think that ross?

[@mitchellbenbrook2041]

Silly Billy I don't mean to speak for Ross here, but my stance is similar and I think I understand his reasoning. It's great to say that every game should be preserved, but not every game is necessarily important or deserving of it. Look at all the projects that were on Steam Greenlight and the early access titles now, you'll see an ocean of half-baked cash grabs with the occasional promising concept. One could argue that every game that falls into those categories is a unique project someone cared about and they are deserving of preservation, but the likelihood that anyone will care about or gain satisfaction from most of them is extremely slim. I will admit, I don't know how well this argument applies to full fledged minor releases with good intentions that just never got a high degree of respect for whatever reason, I think that becomes kind of a gray area where it would be a case-by-case basis and would probably have to be community-driven preservation, because not every minor release is particularly noteworthy or innovative.

[@MegaSuperBingo]

Ross, you would be an amazing games archivist. You have a better understanding of preservation issues than most of the archivists teaching at the archive school I attend.

[@IronPineapple]

fantastic video, I really hope to you more on this topic in the future really enjoy hearing your thoughts

[@Iceman5613]

I'm starting to feel like all the creators I watch also watch each other...

[@BillPairaktaridis]

Took me a while but Ross is playing "Satellite Reign"

[@Marauder224]

Bill Pairaktaridis Maybe he was a Syndicate fan back in day, also ironic since he's talking about corporate bullshit while playing a cyberpunk game

[@i_am_ergo]

Weird, it only took me 23:46 to get to the end titles to see the name of the game in the background.

[@Gillsing]

_Maybe_ that was Ross playing, or maybe it was someone who'd sent in game footage to be used as background for Dead Game News.

[@TzarAugustus]

Not irony, it's more fitting. It would be moreso irony if he was praising the companies and corporations while playing a cyberpunk game

[@pariah076]

It was driving me crazy. Now I know what it is. The thanks

[@legion8585]

It's about time you decided to carry dead game news in your main channel. Hope it'll get the recognition it deserves.

[@shizzlebizzfizz]

I am glad you decided to upload this video here. I never knew you had another channel and the information you are talking about is definitely news to me and should be spread around for other to see.

[@ViktorBerg]

Is the expression you're looking for "You're not seeing the bigger picture!"?

[@Meximagician]

More like "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic"

[@ViktorBerg]

That's a good way to put it.

[@Rinnenth]

I would've never thought any game I enjoyed to be shut down. Gigantic, a game I fell in love with is now shutting down this year. Now I can only hope it can be saved, looking at the small group fans for it, I say it has a chance. Thanks Ross, good to know your spreading the word about games being cut short.

[@degiguess]

imagine buying a car and agreeing that you can't put your own gas in it on the conditions that the car dealer ship will put gas in it for you but then 6 months later the dealership decides they don't want to put gas in it for you but you still aren't allowed to put your own gas in it or even get a refund

[@samurai90x]

it's funny i started talking to my mom about this problem and i also used car as an example, tho i said "it's like if the manufacturer for the car you drive came by your house and removed the engine from your car every time they made a new model forcing you to buy a new car"

[@strangebot8492]

I think the problem is just how obscure the idea is to non-gamers and even a amount of gamers who just aren't familiar with online only games. I mean, imagine if you bought an electronic watch that ran off an internal battery. Now, that watch works for like 5 or 6 years then the battery dies. Now, any normal person would just replace the battery and be done with it, but imagine if the watch maker said no, when the battery dies the watch dies too, pitch it, bury it, go buy a new one, but the one you own is gone for good. Now say you reason that you bought the damn thing in the first place so it's your right to continue using it longer than the company intended. Well now the company starts on about how you're legitimizing people to steal their watches and deny them the right to make money off their own product. Now, of course this isn't a one-to-one comparison but people who have absolutely no idea of how video games function are most likely going to side with video game companies in these situations because in legal-talk what they're saying sounds reasonable.

[@JosephDavies]

Pretty good analogy, I think. Sadly, I even see gamers defend this behavior, because "companies are entitled to make money". It's really depressing when consumers are begging to be taken advantage of, and don't even enjoy any benefits from the exploitation.

[@gurriato]

Why make a hypothetical case about watches? Plenty of phones come with non-replaceable batteries, all of which have a limited life.

[@mycterism]

Pretty close to what's happening to my iPod Classic right now. Any newer model with anywhere near the same storage space has useless cruft like cameras tacked onto it, WTF

[@SpaceBearEngineer]

Sadly, even your hypothetical "extreme" case *is* a reality now. Some smartwatches (selling for nearly $200) have built-in batteries, soldered to the main board, that are only rates for a few years. Sure, they'll probably last longer, but in the long run, it's still a $200 disposable watch.

[@Miseric0rde]

You missed the Diablo clone Devillian shutting down on the 6th. Steam deleted it from my library. Knowing it would die, I copied it to a separate folder, knowing they would do something like that. Oh, and yeah. I originally subscribed because of your crusade to save dying games.

[@Miseric0rde]

Well, I'll be checking steamdb in the future for that. But can you play it?

[@bloodbath5732]

I think you get to an empty server select screen and that's it.

[@Accursed_Farms]

Damn, I didn't even realize that one died.

[@Miseric0rde]

There's plenty more. I'll try to write down all the recent ones I know of in an email to you.

[@joaohbecker]

Don't worry, the industry is already getting ready against this by changing games to "live services". Then we will have no rights because we are not buying a product, just hiring a service. If this really happens, the future will be grim.

[@FlymanMS]

I can envision montly payment for being able to drive your car and possible discontinuation of any services if the company who made it goes bankrupt.

[@CesarJoseee]

Ross, I had no idea about your other channels.

[@noxure]

I was thinking the same thing but then it turned out I was already subscribed.

[@sisi7019]

He posted an announcement in one of his videos. :P

[@relixa1560]

I had heard of accursed farms junk channel, but i almost never watch it.

[@tumeg8282]

I just wanted to chime in and say how much I love all of these visual aids to demonstrate certain arguments

[@paulhangstein]

The German word you're looking for may be Stellvertreterkrieg, which roughly translates to "proxy war" (this translation obviously doesn't contain all the secret layers of subtext, sorry English folks)

[@abrahamvonwaltstein8390]

Last time I was this early people got to keep the games they paid for

[@RedRust]

Abraham Von Waltstein That's strong!

[@itaybron]

i too miss the early 00s

[@00svarni]

.oO(Hey but you are still allowed to keep them. In 2084, wanting to play a game you paid for will be known as gamecrime and posessing physical game copies will result in capital punishment...)

[@One3673241]

Buy indie and retro, spit in the face of modern AAA companies - my 2 cents.

[@One3673241]

The early 2000's were the best; the 6th gen of videogames is the greatest one of all time.

[@mdqp2]

Plato was definitely your best guest so far, he really had something to say. :^

[@Surgleh]

Another video that hits VERY close to home for me. I was a massive fan of City of Heroes, and there's such an infinitesimal chance that I will ever get to play it again, despite having bought the game, every expansion, and spent tons of money on its cash shop. Thanks a lot, NCSoft.

[@Twigspeaker]

Ross, there's a big hole in my heart where Firefall used to be. I wish I could have that one game back, even just as a patchwork single player game. Maybe someday I'll finally uninstall it from my hard drive, but I doubt it'll be any time soon.

[@Accursed_Farms]

I tried some of it, it wasn't my favorite, but it fell more into the category of "maybe warrants a further look later on" for me. It undeniably had a lot of production value behind it.

[@julipejarana7537]

I just can not fathom how this topic isn't the top priority of the industry today. Imagine if this happened to a movie, where the producer decides it will only play in selected cinemas and then be destroyed out of existence. Imagine it is a good movie, of Lawrence of Arabia or Godfather quality. I guarantee you the entire industry would raise their voices sky high until things change. Lost movies, paintings, books and recordings are a BIG THING in their respective media. Some people even spend their entire lives trying to recover lost art pieces. The gaming industry, on the other hand, does not give one single fuck, other than to fill their pockets with the "games as a service" scheme that I so wholeheartedly despise. I sometimes wonder if videogames are a sinking ship that will soon touch bottom and rot slowly until the ends of time. It's a sad doom that has befallen upon this generation's art form.

[@aquilliusranger2137]

Even back then, Ralph Baer, the Father of Video Games, didn’t even consider how much value his own first ever console was made, and yet, he still changed the world by making such a masterpiece under such a humble beginning, he was actually an idealist businessman to begin with! So I have no idea why do these publisher companies go so volatile now, to the point that it insults what Ralph Baer stands for!

[@FlymanMS]

The problem is that general populance seem to fail to understand that videogames are not just escapism and "fun for kids" but as much of an art as cinema, music, paintings and such, and it's just as tageable, despite being a programmed bunch of codes and assets. Once general public comes to the counclusion that destroting the worlds so many people appreciate and so many people worked hard on is unethical and criminal we could improve the situation.

[@aquilliusranger2137]

The day video games dies is when the world falls apart, there's WAY too many people that will SACRIFICE their lives in the real world to get their favorite video games back up and running again, it just shows you how much video game impacted our world in such a short-life span...for it to fall now? Gamers all over the world will riot until they finally escape back to their world that they deserved...by death or by life.

[@RetroP]

2:20 ofc there is a german word for it - it's called a "Nebenschauplatz" . An additional "place" of discussion/battle with lesser importance to the overall conflict :)

[@Ocirew]

RetroP I would suggest "Themengewichtungskomplexitätswahrnehmung" because he focuses on the feeling of the complexity of the topic weighting.

[@itaybron]

this is basically accepting planned obsolescence that's insane. he's right if this was a different industry people would have a fit.

[@RoyalApocolyptic]

I appreciate that you lined up the audio and video when you said "Dead game news" in the beginning. That was very satisfying and I am, for some reason, very happy that you did that.

[@salokin3087]

Alas the thing id do for a world in conflict sequel. RIP Massive games

[@Szalami]

As sad as it is and I know it's not the same because it doesn't have the carefully crafted singleplayer story of WiC, some of WiC's elements and spirit live on in Wargame.

[@MauroTamm]

Planned obsolescence. Shut down a popular game and force people to buy and spend money in a new one all over again.

[@Accursed_Farms]

Maybe in a few cases, but I don't think there's even that level of thought put into it. When Battleforge and Darkspore shut down, EA didn't have another RTS / action RPG to usher people into and pay for that instead; they just died.

[@lostbutfreesoul]

Thank you for this, the diagram you drew sums up my problem so very well. Also, it is terrifying just how effective the Overton window actually is.

[@hazydawns]

20 minute video, hell yeah!

[@KittyPuppy]

LGR bringing this topic up is what led me to your channel Ross. I am so down for more videos on the subject. This is a discussion that needs to happen. Keep up the good work!

[@TooLateForIeago]

Applying the logic of the typical publisher's EULA, automobile manufacturers should be empowered to send out a permanent stop command to your car after an undisclosed period. Further, you should be forbidden to independently sell your car.

[@GeorgeMonet]

Coincidentally that is what many manufacturers of industrial/agricultural equipment are trying to achieve. They want it to be illegal for users to repair the equipment they purchased.

[@DetectivePoofPoof]

This "game environment conservation" thing sounds great! I hope it becomes a thing some day, or gets to be more of a thing if its already happening.

[@s1eepwalker1802]

i just closed my eyes while listening this. All i saw in my mind was freeman holding mp5 in his hand and walking in lambda core...

[@FlymanMS]

All while ranting about stuff no one seems to realize.

[@davidhayward6382]

I didn't watch Freeman's Mind first, just Ross's Game Dungeon, so I don't get that experience.

[@KaizoeAzurum]

Ha ha, now I have to run Freeman's Mind on mute with an other Accursed Farm playlist as the audio.

[@Bordie3D]

Derp Herp I really do like to think that's freeman's voice.

[@edisontrent618]

@Kaizoe It works pretty well, though the action-y parts mess it up a bit.

[@HeartofDiscord]

Ross, I just want to say your visuals and explanations are beyond fantastic, and an absolute joy to watch and listen to. You've become by a long shot my favorite youtuber, all the content you make is absolute gold and I hope you appreciate that. I don't know if you read all the comments you get, but if you read this, know that at the very least I appreciate all your videos.

[@Accursed_Farms]

Thanks, I always get concerned about audience reaction when I release something that's not Freeman's Mind.

[@HeartofDiscord]

I actually found your channel from Game Dungeon, but yeah. I honestly think anything you do has the same level of quality. I'm sure deviating from whats established is a big deal for any youtuber, but while I love the premise of Game Dungeon, I enjoy it as much as I do because you're the one making it.

[@archivemind]

Imagine also in the future your computer could be strong enough not only to host an MMO server but also run 100+ advanced human-like bots to play it. You could experience a long dead MMO reasonably accurate to how it was near it's launch without even needing players.

[@daveraschke]

Did you have a dead MMO being brought back to life is an interesting concept but filling it with a artificial intelligence seems a little bit more dubious

[@stonium69]

I feel like computers are strong enough to do something like this today. It'd be great for giant bosses that cannot be done with less than 20 people.

[@MRDLT00]

I'm gonna try sharing this around so it gets more attention. Great work as always Ross. :D

[@AdamBorseti]

I'm so happy that you make videos like this, Ross; considering the lack of other content regarding this issue. You also do a fantastic job of illustrating this stuff for the average Joe.

[@dexster8618228]

Damn you're really good at explaining these things. It was really easy to follow. Keep it up!

[@TheMaxPirat]

I like this format a lot! And it's a very important issue, thank you!

[@UnicornStorm]

that's why they try to sell this concept of games as a service.... they are not allowed to come over to my house and take away my physical games or alter them, but they can change the service via patches and updates and can stop prividing a service that I only paid once for and received

[@Waskomsause]

Reason I only use steam for my digital downloads, valve doesn't yank the rug out from under people, and they tend to defend people against a company that wants to stop a game from working on their store. Big alerts and all that telling people not to buy this game because the company is shutting it down. Hell, people even asked valve what would happen if they shut down steam, and while they pretty much laughed at the idea of it, they did state that if that happened, you'd have your games, and the servers to run them through matchmaking, because games-as-a-service to them means you get to keep them.

[@GatorMilk]

@@Waskomsause Valve has taken games before. The purpose of Steam was to push online DRM so that later on other companies and the same company can screw over customers.

[@Hairlesswookie62]

This is sharp, smart, deep thinking, Ross. Keep it hard and bring it relentlessly.

[@ezachleewright2309]

Holy crap, I totally forgot about that announcement! Now I have a bunch of videos to binge, yusss

[@pmcKANE]

The Andromeda Strain! I saw that movie years ago, I turned it on after it started and I had no idea what it was called. It left a lasting impression and I've NEVER... until now... know what the hell it was called. You've just helped me check a box on my bucket list there Ross. Good form, that man! Good form.

[@Entropy_91]

I'd bet if gamers could learn to actually vote with their wallets and completely ignore any game put out by these publishers that make a habit of screwing over both their customer base and the developers working for them, this wouldn't be a problem. Also if you ever decide to pass the hat around for that VR 3D game world thing, I'll throw a few bucks in.

[@Accursed_Farms]

No, if I get something going with the 3D VR thing, there wouldn't be money involved; it would already step on a lot of copyright toes as it is, it would have to be strictly a hobbyist thing.

[@TediI47]

I applaud your incentive to preserve videogame assets. Repurposing videogame assets is great too. From fun mods, timeless maps ported to countless games to even full fletched game masterpieces in the style of Majora's Mask just shows the potential.

[@ACogloc]

So much rationality and sense! I admire you Ross. Not just about your stance, which I hope is widespread, but your ability to articulate your arguments so well. You should be a public speaker, a politician or such.

[@Drew-hu7hb]

Ross, you have some serious intellectual skills. I like learning new vocabulary and concepts as well as how to spot logical fallacies and your videos don't disappoint. I really enjoyed the graph you showed about how people argue about only a small part of the issue, I had the same thought but had no idea how to put it into words.

[@GameTaco]

Finally got around to watching it! Yeah, I don't mind you keeping Dead Games News on the main channel at all. It's practically a splinter of Game Dungeon anyway. Looking forward to seeing more once The Mold Crisis has been sorted out. If nothing else, you got me interested in Satellite Reign, which I didn't even know existed until now.

[@cheybat5390]

English has "byzantine" for "difficult to understand do to how complex the issue is"

[@brigidtheirish]

Eh... the definition is more like 'excessively complex, usually involving obstructive administration.' So not the word Ross was going for to describe his feelings, though it could describe that these companies did with their phone book of a legal document.

[@MrNobody47710]

@@brigidtheirish, looks like history has a dim view of Byzantium's administrative organization.

[@brigidtheirish]

@@MrNobody47710 Pretty sure most people at the time had a dim view of Byzantium's administrative organization.

[@MrNobody47710]

@@brigidtheirish Touche.

[@PsychoJosh]

"I remember looking at a Sonic game and thinking, this could be nice as some sort of freeform climbing game also". Then you should petition Sega to make Knuckles playable again in future 3D Sonics. Seriously, that literally WAS what his gameplay consisted of in Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, and it was removed in recent Sonic games because of fan outcry that they just wanted pure Sonic gameplay. Not enough people appreciate the gameplay variety the first 3D Sonics had.

[@valettashepard909]

Ross, you’re not the only one that wants to rip maps and port them for posterity. I’ve actually wanted to do something similar, specifically with open-world games, with porting their maps into a single engine and building a massive “super map” to walk and drive around in, along with the cars, trucks, boats, planes, and other vehicles from each respective game. So you could drive around a place like Steelport from Saints Row 3 in a Vespid 5.2 from Watch Dogs or do a cross-country road trip from Los Santos to Liberty City in a car from Sleeping Dogs.

[@jabroniyumerale6204]

When the "silent rage" videos about one topic have more entertainment and learning value than "normal" videos on that one topic, you can truly say "my legal position in that topic is more fucked today than that it was". Also, the Wiki links that are given on the "Overton Window" are ridiculously great. P.S. Atleast Tabula Rasa gave me a good avatar.

[@Reekabo]

Please consider a 'Ross Game Dungeon' Episode about the DOS game 'Rockford'!

[@phantomvirus1]

You are truthfully the only philosophical gamer out there Ross! I salute you on your sound arguments and well thought out videos that still entertain me.

[@albrechtrecht7680]

You really should be a game journalist somewhere. I would love to read your articles.

[@FlymanMS]

He would be among very few true journalists in gaming industry. Hell, I think if Ross started a blog or website about this stuff he would be fairly successful and popular and it would gain him more notoriety.

[@Accursed_Farms]

I'd rather just make more weird videos and leave journalism to other. Killing games is basically the only game issue I can't tune out.

[@albrechtrecht7680]

Well, that's of course your prerogative, but between Ross's Game Dungeon as a monthly article or Dead Games News I am sure you could establish yourself pretty fast if you were to publish somewhere with exposure.

[@jimbob3332]

Nothing gets me harder than discussion on consumer rights.

[@endlessenigma3855]

I could be mistaken, but I remember hearing that Epic also released a lot of the art assets for Paragon to the public. Was kinda surprised that wasn't mentioned.

[@theata]

Ross, buddy, you have to advertise these things often. I would have supported and subscribed in a heart beat if I knew it existed. Preserving video games and their usability is not the foremost problem I see facing the industry, but definitely an important one near the top of the list.

[@Accursed_Farms]

I'll concede that employee abuse could be considered a more serious issue than dead games, but that's about all I can come up with (for gaming). The thing is, take any other issue that's a problem with a game, anything. Now imagine you can never play that game again. Is that issue still as serious?

[@OllieMendes]

I think keeping things on one channel is the best idea. I can see putting streams and other scraps on a different channel but Dead Game News feels like main channel content. Best way to reach as many people too.

[@AkiRa22084]

You, sir, are a hero for shining light on this and telling it how it is.

[@TheBunnyb0y]

This video has a better like to dislike ratio, than ubisoft let live to kill videogame ratio, by far, and for good reasons, this is now one of my favorite video in all my years and years on KZbin, thanks man, this is important to me as well, to the point I might try that map copy software, and honestly, go pirates, save our old games, heck it's because of them we preserve so much.

[@alexandera.7127]

Wow, I never knew about those two channels and I've been your fan for a long time now. You really should include those in your descriptions or something, man.

[@FreakNasty52]

Thanks for this, Ross! The only problem I had with this video is that I was expecting one of your ending video clips... INCLUDE IT NEXT TIME! Ha ha, thanks for what you do, a lot of us love your work! Hope married life is well for you, brother! As always, I wait patiently for your next video.

[@khmnc]

one thing to note is usually mmos actually have the map stored client side, so if you want to rip the maps it's theoretically possible to do so directly from the client files, you just have to figure out their formats/encryption

[@barry-allenthe-flash8396]

I didn't know about this at all when it was your other channel, so I'm happy to see it here. Seems weird to assume that your fans would be somehow put off by you "dumping" it here - everyone who's a fan of Accursed Farms is interested in this stuff! :)

[@valcliffb8558]

There's something impactful about using iconically starved waifs to illustrate your news. I hope we get to see more of Oliver Twist in the future.

[@4Wilko]

Not only is this good information to listen to, but I like Ross's voice. It reminds me of Pixar's John Ratzenberger.

[@freakishuproar1168]

1:14 Whenever I read a Plato quotation from now on, I know i'm going to see his little face peeping into my peripheral vision.

[@ChrisLhamon]

2:18 Wow, that could be applied to other things too. In 1 minute, you summed up so much. I love it.

[@DarkEmperorRay13]

I just clicked the video and my heart literally stopped when I read "World in Conflict" , I almost shit my pants in fear thinking I couldn't play my copy's Single player, honestly I am distraught that Multiplayer was gone I found out about it months ago when I re downloaded my Steam copy and I was shocked to see it wasn't working, at least single player bots semi fill the void however there's some sort of problem where unfortunately only a handful of the multiplayer maps are fully accessible others simply crash the game as soon as they come up in the rotation you set... at least there's bots, Future proofing sort of.. The other devastating problem is World in Conflict isn't being sold on Steam anymore... it's literally my favorite by far Cold War era game. Oh sure there's War Game Air Land Battle / Red Dragon , or Toy Soldiers Cold War , two of my other favorites, but absolutely none had the emotional connection I had that resonated with the characters in World in Conflict, I know it's fruitless to put up a "spoiler" warning but my absolute and I'm sure other's favorite moment in the campaign has to do with Captain Banon's character in realizing his full potential in a very climactic battle and cut scene then experiencing his entire story in later levels giving you a full set of emotions when thinking of the characters. Also the voice acting is spectacular, I've heard Nikolai's voice actor in Call of Duty, Battlefield, he always plays a Soviet and I always love hearing him, but the Colonel, good God that actor needed a bigger paycheck for some of the moments in the story, but now I'm rambling. My point is if you don't have access to the game you have to find some way to acquire it, it's an absolute must and even if the multiplayer no longer works I couldn't recommend watching a Walk through more at the least.

[@TheRealityBin]

Awesome episode! I remember a few years ago wanted to make videos about this subject, but more focused on mobile games and games from companies that went under. But back then I was too inexperienced and then it really ramped up. Especially on the IOS App store which is essentially like an Ant hill that got sprayed with pesticide. Now that is a bit different as those are games you can get, well you can get SOME of them. But other areas like the end of Gamespy, some MMO's I tried out and the online for the PS2 era is super frustrating what has become of those. Apparently something like Resident Evil Outbreak has never had its server files leaked so its quite dead.

[@Cythil]

Very well done video. Totally behind you on this one. Really. Games with a online only component should be required, like you said, to have a reasonable end of service plan.

[@Yusuke_Denton]

Speaking of interesting world maps, supposedly Alan Wake actually takes places on one giant world map, and each mission was just on a different sectioned off area. That would be fun to walk through.

[@TripAndJoy]

Finaly you brought this here. I think more people should see how game industry dying peace by peace. Still pissed about Hawken T T

[@AdamBorseti]

Hey, Ross! I'm very glad that you are feeling better!

[@AA-dn8dj]

I just got recommended Freeman's mind by a friend name Jon Graham. you're channel is awesome and i will be watching.

[@Razgriz_01]

If anyone is wondering what Ross is playing in the video, It's Satellite Reign.

[@orangebluehue]

As a City of Heroes survivor, I hope that we can see our old dead games come back.

[@WhatPayneVids]

This kerfuffle is very reminiscent of the lost silent films of early 1900's. It is estimated that 90% of the movies made in hollywood before 1920's are lost forever. In most cases they were destroyed deliberately because they were considered out-dated and worthless when talkies (movies with sound) came around...

[@JohnnyJohnJohnson]

I think the Overton Window can be applied to a lot of issues nowadays. I won't get into politics here, but I just want to say I'm thankful I discovered the Overton Window from you, it will really help me better frame discussions about different topics later.

[@titmaus7732]

Theres more channels!? Oh boy! Time to binge!

[@Ryusuta]

I honestly didn't know Dead Game News was a thing. I suppose the unpartnering was a blessing in disguise, at least for me, since it means more content from you that I'm aware of!

[@RafaCoringaProducoes]

Why youtube killed it?

[@steveasat2]

Great metaphor from the Andromeda Strain. I'm gonna start using that. "Don't let your antagonists pacify you with marginal concessions, since that saps your momentum and lets them drag the Overton window in their direction while you celebrate winning jack."

[@Demaeter]

Did you ever talk about Marvel Heroes? That was quite the mess.

[@SkitzFist1]

You sir, are my hero! Love your channels!

[@GOAToatoat]

Dawngate was a MOBA that also refunded all purchases when EA shut it down. Sad day when good games die. Nice job on the video! Definitely interested in more of this!

[@shekel_boi]

The VR world exploration idea is nothing short of brilliant. There are so many game worlds ripe for exploring and soaking in the atmosphere. And with the treadmill idea on top of that. There would be so much more shredded people walking around if that were the case.

[@theguywhogoesheck5961]

I'm glad most of this stuff has explanations, otherwise I would be incredibly lost.

[@ThatguycalledJoe]

Isn't the image above "Business Rights" at 9:22-ish from Jones in the Fastlane? Also you should try out Road Rash 64. Motorcycle racing game, but you can just divert off from the race and drive around without getting warped back or anything (unless you crash) because all the races take place on the same world map. You might be into that.

[@Yusuke_Denton]

Yes it is.

[@HalfLifeExpert1]

Thank you for covering World In Conflict Ross, I still play it even over 10 years after release. I didn't know about the MP source code release. That's the first time in almost a decade that I have felt good about something Ubisoft has done. It's hardly enough for them to win me over and lift my long time personal boycott of them, but it's good regardless. I stopped playing the MP years ago, but the SP is still one of my favorites.

[@2prize]

I didn't change the industry did

[@DyoKasparov]

What game is Ross playing?

[@DyoKasparov]

Rezalon Yeah forgot Ross mentions it in the credits Game: Satellite Reign

[@JosephDavies]

Thank you for talking about the bigger picture. I know just how you feel when it comes to trying to explain why the issue is so much more than just the parts that make it into the news and discussions. The "locked away by default" with a plea to renew exemptions every three years is the sort of thing that contributes to that Overton Window shift. It creates friction in fighting the problem, yet gives making it worse the benefit of being the default position. It's like a multiplayer game where the developers say they've given players the choice of either causing crimes or stopping them, but while people can harm each other in lots of creative ways, there is no gameplay mechanism that allows the players to block others or stop them in any way. The deck has been stacked, intentionally or not, in favor of one specific outcome even though there was a claim of "balance" in the system. In the case of the DMCA, this was very clearly the intent. It's protectionism for those who can afford it, since the DMCA presumes guilt, with the excuse that it's protecting commerce. Instead, it actually encourages sitting on IP with no incentive to utilize it (contrary to the entire purpose of Copyright law in the USA) and allows for harassing anyone attempting to exercise their rights (such as the First Sale Doctrine and format-shifting).

[@OhGeeWhy]

Funny that you mentioned Ubisoft, since they announced how they are committed to make videogames as "Live Services" from now on. So that 20:1 ratio sounds even worse now if they get to be all online-only games.

[@Gooberslot]

I don't think that offering refunds is an acceptable solution. If you really love the game then being able to continue playing it is far more important than the money you spent on it. If you buy something it should be yours forever, unless you break the law with it.