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From: sss10@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Gun Control is a firm grip)
Subject: Re: Psygnosis Missed the Point!
Message-ID: <1991Jun8.031144.26864@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>
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Reply-To: sss10@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Gun Control is a firm grip)
Organization: we dont need no stinking organization
References: <6798@vela.acs.oakland.edu> <1991Jun6.063912.23994@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <16792@darkstar.ucsc.edu>
Date: Sat, 8 Jun 1991 03:11:44 GMT

In article <16792@darkstar.ucsc.edu> mcgowen@saturn.ucsc.edu (Richard McGowen) writes:
>In article <1991Jun6.063912.23994@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan):
>
>Usually write intelligent things concerning the amiga world.
>
>
>However, He has forgotten one very important thing that makes life with so many
>people in the world livable, COMPROMISE.  Although some of his complaints are

Compromise... then the game should be manually protected instead of a key disk 
thing which usually doesnt work. There should be no need for compromise. What
Psygnosis does with copy protection is not stopping piracy and almost
encourages people to pirate so that they can make back-up copies for themselves
rather than relying on a $15 fee for a copy from the company.

I wonder if psygnosis's version of lemmings for the IBM will have strong
protection on it, making it unable to be HD mountable... then requiring IBM
users to pay an additional $15 or so for a HD mountable version that relies on 
key-disk protection. We rarely see this sort of thing on Macs or on Ms-dos 
platforms but see it all the time on the amiga, and you say we should 
compromise??? we want essentially equal access to our hardware.

>still valid, for psygnosis to go as far as they did is amazing.  For one thing,


This shouldve been available in the 1st place, instead of making people pay
upwards of $50 for a HD mountable game. I paid $40 for lemmings, why should I
have to pay an additional $15 or so just for a version that is HD mountable?

>most key-disk copy protection schemes I have seen on require you to insert the
>key-disk once at the very start of the game.  This really can not be harder
>on "one track of the floppy" than playing the whole game from a floppy.  
>Secondly, if you ever had played a floppy based version of lemmings you would
>know that the disk acess is LONG, especially on systems with less than 1 MEG.
>In my opinion, I am much more concerned with floppy vs hard drive access times
>than the time it takes to find one floppy amid 12 to 1000 floppies.  Finally,
>we come back to COMPROMISE.  Psygnosis still does not want Joe Average to be
>able to give their games (an investment of their money) to the kid next door,
>down the street, and the one they met once at school who has the same kind of
>computer.  On the other hand, most users that own a hard drive would love to 

Manual protection is as efficient as on disk copy protection in preventing
this sort of thing. "joe average" will find a program that will allow you to 
make backups of all programs and merely use that to give the other person a
copy. 

>be able to take advantage of the speed their hard drive gives them.  If you
>are going to play a game for over an hour, what is so bad about spending the
>first 1 minute finding the key disk and not having to later sit through 10 
>minutes of floppy access.  Psygnosis came more than halfway, but yet you
>still want to condemn them for not going as far as you wanted.  This
>is the equivalent of you getting a speeding ticket and then yelling at the
>officer for giving you one instead of the one he gave you that only had you
>going 5 mph over the speed limit rather than the 50 mph per hour over the
>speed limit you were actually going.  If someone is doing something that you
>see as going in the right direction, you should encourage them, not condemn
>them for not being all the way there.

I commend them for coming this far but they shouldve been alot further down 
the road from day 1. I have to reiterate the MS-Dos problem again because that
fact about Amiga games almost made him decide to get a 386 instead of a 500
system. He was concerned about the fact that most Amiga games dont mount on 
HD's and thats largely due to the perception that making them HD mountable 
will make it easier to pirate, which I doubt it true. If companies can make the
IBM versions mount on a HD, why cant the amiga port do so?
Why why why why why.....


>--
>Richard McGowen
>
>"Men can't deal with commitment.  They're afraid they'll get married and then 
>meet the woman of their dreams at the reception."   --Carrie Snow


PiRho- Because its Co-Ed  . "tsroes rm `nsti ihst""enlgood rakm si amen ym"//
"Brave Sir Robin ran away. Bravely ran away away."                        //A 
Macintoshes should be accelerated at 32ft/sec^2                       \\ //mig
Gun Control means using both hands                                     \X/  A