5 ms·

Nice, this also includes the infamous half-life 2 leak from 2007 as well as some other ones that definitely weren't officially released. Or like re-volt, which

Nice, this also includes the infamous half-life 2 leak from 2007 as well as some other ones that definitely weren't officially released. Or like re-volt, which is now owned by a company still actively trying to take down mirrors of the code that pop up, hence any unofficial port of it only releases in binary form. But then again a lot of the older leaked ones, nobody probably cares about too much. There's definitely some old, sometimes less popular games where I'd like to get hold of the code and take a stab at porting to something modern. So if you were a game dev for some now defunct game studio in the 90s and still have some games' source floating around it would be a great coincidence if that would surface somewhere like archive.org... :-)

justarandact2 7y ago
I would advocate wiping any version control files, and reverting any custom changes to leave it as stock as possible. Delete any digital indication of who checked out the source.
paavohtl 7y ago
The archive entry is mislabeled; the Half-Life 2 leak was in 2003 [1]. [1] https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-02-21-the-boy-who-stole-half-life-2-article https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-02-21-the-boy-who-st...
- mepian 7y ago
  It's not mislabeled, there was a later leak of the 2007 version, which happened in 2012: http://www.valvetime.net/threads/source-engine-code-leak-version-2007.223834/ http://www.valvetime.net/threads/source-engine-code-leak-ver...
  - paavohtl 7y ago
    I'm aware of the later leak, but at least the screenshots attached to the Archive file are from the 2003 leak. https://ia800800.us.archive.org/24/items/HalfLife22007Source/HL2%20Source/hl2_1_2.jpg https://ia800800.us.archive.org/24/items/HalfLife22007Source...
    - mepian 7y ago
      If you check the actual content, you'll see that it includes both the 2003 and the 2007 leaks: https://archive.org/download/HalfLife22007Source/HL2%20Source/ https://archive.org/download/HalfLife22007Source/HL2%20Sourc...
benologist 7y ago
Game companies are learning old IP can be modernized for fresh new profits so most likely a lot of old game copyrights will become retroactively enforced and sources hunted down and expunged as they're remastered and made exclusively available in whatever online shop or subscription service. https://www.polygon.com/2018/7/22/17600008/nintendo-roms-lawsuit-cease-desist https://www.polygon.com/2018/7/22/17600008/nintendo-roms-law... https://www.maxim.com/entertainment/best-video-games-remasters-and-remakes-of-the-year-2018-1 https://www.maxim.com/entertainment/best-video-games-remaste...
- pvg 7y ago
  People have been reworking old IP, neglecting or enforcing various rights, etc for years. I don't think it's some new trend game companies recently learned or that it affects how aggressive (or not) owners are that much. Old sources in particular are not all that valuable in many cases, beside historically.
  - benologist 7y ago
    Right, but at the moment there are dozens of old movies being reworked and dozens of old games being reworked and the volume feels like it's growing with new announcements all the time. Over the last 20 years I have only seen a few games remade to maintain compatibility, usually unofficially patched by fans or as open source homages. I think this is being fueled by movie and game outliers today being able to achieve their first $billion in their first week. That outsized ROI on gaming, like movies, completely changes the calculus on what old stuff is worth today. FAANG will throw billions into making games as soon as their movie pipelines are sorted.
  - kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
    Low value doesn't make copyright disappear.
- iforgotpassword 7y ago
  IMHO that shouldn't be too much of a concern. As long as it's just the sources leaked and you only distribute your modified versions of it plus binaries, but not all the games assets, players still need a copy of the original game to actually play it. (So as long as people don't pirate it, it should be fine and if it's still on sale make them an additional buck or two, but that question is somewhat orthogonal.) I'd even argue that you could be smart as the IP holder and release the code with a clause saying any modifications and extensions must be open source too and the IP holder had the right to use those and make money off of it. Then you can decide if you wanna take the risk of potentially working for some company for free when you take on porting that 90s racing game to the PS 4 in your spare time. Taking down leaked source is obviously pretty simple due to DMCA, but as history has shown that just leads to groups working on it behind closed doors and only doing binary releases. Which might be technically illegal too but probably much more involved for the IP holder to prove, so they don't bother in most cases.
metamet 7y ago
Wow, I had no idea about Re-Volt's history. [1] * Throwback Entertainment acquired 190 titles from Acclaim on July 7, 2006, including Re-Volt. [2] * Throwback sold the rights to Re-Volt to WeGo Interactive Co. on February 23, 2011. [3] * WeGo released Re-Volt Classic for iOS in Oct 2012, then April 2013 for Android. PC version was launched in Oct 2013, but was pulled in Jan 2014 due to a community patch misunderstanding. [4] * Appears there's still a largish rewrite/port out there [5], which is a rewrite of the v1.2 community patch, based on the leaked Xbox version [6]. Anywho, thanks for mentioning that. Brought me down a fun rabbit hole. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throwback_Entertainment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throwback_Entertainment [2] https://throwbackentertainment.com/throwback-entertainment-completes-largest-title-acquisition-in-video-game-history/ https://throwbackentertainment.com/throwback-entertainment-c... [3] https://throwbackentertainment.com/throwback-sells-re-volt/ https://throwbackentertainment.com/throwback-sells-re-volt/ [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Re-Volt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Re-Volt [5] https://rvgl.re-volt.io/ https://rvgl.re-volt.io/ [6] https://forum.re-volt.io/viewtopic.php?t=139 https://forum.re-volt.io/viewtopic.php?t=139
linux_devil 7y ago
Wow , re-volt used to be one of my favorite games back in those days.

justarandact2 7y ago

I would advocate wiping any version control files, and reverting any custom changes to leave it as stock as possible. Delete any digital indication of who checked out the source.

paavohtl 7y ago

The archive entry is mislabeled; the Half-Life 2 leak was in 2003 [1]. [1] https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-02-21-the-boy-who-stole-half-life-2-article https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-02-21-the-boy-who-st...

mepian 7y ago
It's not mislabeled, there was a later leak of the 2007 version, which happened in 2012: http://www.valvetime.net/threads/source-engine-code-leak-version-2007.223834/ http://www.valvetime.net/threads/source-engine-code-leak-ver...
- paavohtl 7y ago
  I'm aware of the later leak, but at least the screenshots attached to the Archive file are from the 2003 leak. https://ia800800.us.archive.org/24/items/HalfLife22007Source/HL2%20Source/hl2_1_2.jpg https://ia800800.us.archive.org/24/items/HalfLife22007Source...
  - mepian 7y ago
    If you check the actual content, you'll see that it includes both the 2003 and the 2007 leaks: https://archive.org/download/HalfLife22007Source/HL2%20Source/ https://archive.org/download/HalfLife22007Source/HL2%20Sourc...

benologist 7y ago

Game companies are learning old IP can be modernized for fresh new profits so most likely a lot of old game copyrights will become retroactively enforced and sources hunted down and expunged as they're remastered and made exclusively available in whatever online shop or subscription service. https://www.polygon.com/2018/7/22/17600008/nintendo-roms-lawsuit-cease-desist https://www.polygon.com/2018/7/22/17600008/nintendo-roms-law... https://www.maxim.com/entertainment/best-video-games-remasters-and-remakes-of-the-year-2018-1 https://www.maxim.com/entertainment/best-video-games-remaste...

pvg 7y ago
People have been reworking old IP, neglecting or enforcing various rights, etc for years. I don't think it's some new trend game companies recently learned or that it affects how aggressive (or not) owners are that much. Old sources in particular are not all that valuable in many cases, beside historically.
- benologist 7y ago
  Right, but at the moment there are dozens of old movies being reworked and dozens of old games being reworked and the volume feels like it's growing with new announcements all the time. Over the last 20 years I have only seen a few games remade to maintain compatibility, usually unofficially patched by fans or as open source homages. I think this is being fueled by movie and game outliers today being able to achieve their first $billion in their first week. That outsized ROI on gaming, like movies, completely changes the calculus on what old stuff is worth today. FAANG will throw billions into making games as soon as their movie pipelines are sorted.
- kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
  Low value doesn't make copyright disappear.
iforgotpassword 7y ago
IMHO that shouldn't be too much of a concern. As long as it's just the sources leaked and you only distribute your modified versions of it plus binaries, but not all the games assets, players still need a copy of the original game to actually play it. (So as long as people don't pirate it, it should be fine and if it's still on sale make them an additional buck or two, but that question is somewhat orthogonal.) I'd even argue that you could be smart as the IP holder and release the code with a clause saying any modifications and extensions must be open source too and the IP holder had the right to use those and make money off of it. Then you can decide if you wanna take the risk of potentially working for some company for free when you take on porting that 90s racing game to the PS 4 in your spare time. Taking down leaked source is obviously pretty simple due to DMCA, but as history has shown that just leads to groups working on it behind closed doors and only doing binary releases. Which might be technically illegal too but probably much more involved for the IP holder to prove, so they don't bother in most cases.

metamet 7y ago

Wow, I had no idea about Re-Volt's history. [1] * Throwback Entertainment acquired 190 titles from Acclaim on July 7, 2006, including Re-Volt. [2] * Throwback sold the rights to Re-Volt to WeGo Interactive Co. on February 23, 2011. [3] * WeGo released Re-Volt Classic for iOS in Oct 2012, then April 2013 for Android. PC version was launched in Oct 2013, but was pulled in Jan 2014 due to a community patch misunderstanding. [4] * Appears there's still a largish rewrite/port out there [5], which is a rewrite of the v1.2 community patch, based on the leaked Xbox version [6]. Anywho, thanks for mentioning that. Brought me down a fun rabbit hole. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throwback_Entertainment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throwback_Entertainment [2] https://throwbackentertainment.com/throwback-entertainment-completes-largest-title-acquisition-in-video-game-history/ https://throwbackentertainment.com/throwback-entertainment-c... [3] https://throwbackentertainment.com/throwback-sells-re-volt/ https://throwbackentertainment.com/throwback-sells-re-volt/ [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Re-Volt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Re-Volt [5] https://rvgl.re-volt.io/ https://rvgl.re-volt.io/ [6] https://forum.re-volt.io/viewtopic.php?t=139 https://forum.re-volt.io/viewtopic.php?t=139

linux_devil 7y ago

Wow , re-volt used to be one of my favorite games back in those days.