
ScummVM 2.0 released - jsheard
http://www.scummvm.org/news/20171217/
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djsumdog
I think it's interesting how ScummVM originally just supported the old
LucasArts games and now it looks like it supports several versions of Sierra's
engines, the Zork engines, plus tons of obscure game engines here and there.
It's truly a great project that lets you play all those old classic CDs you
have laying around without needing Doxbox.

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agf
While I know the parent comment is a positive one, it's really underselling
the breadth of games ScummVM supports these days.

There are many games (or versions of games) supported by ScummVM that you
can't run in DosBox for the simple reason that they're not DOS games (or even
x86).

The number of "obscure game engine" games actually outnumbers the LucasArts
and Sierra games combined, and include some of the most popular and famous
games of the era, like Myst and Riven (as well as the mentioned Zork games).

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jadbox
Finally Scumm officially supports Riven, one of the best puzzle adventure
games produced. It's a shame it's never been natively updated or re-released
in a modern HD version (like Myst).

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jamesfmilne
That’s great news!

Now I’ll have find something with a DVD drive to actually read my Riven
DVDs...

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LeoPanthera
There's two versions of Riven, the multi-CD version and the single-DVD
version. The DVD version has (slightly) improved visuals and a couple of extra
(cosmetic only) locations, and is quite rare.

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jamesfmilne
Aha. You are correct, LeoPanthera. Just dug out my copy of Riven and it is
indeed on CD.

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lstyls
What are good ways to acquire these game ROMs legally?

A google search brings up a lot of not-completely-legit-looking sites, and I'd
hate to give money to some pirate. These games are amazing and I'd love to
support the authors if possible.

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djsumdog
As others have said,GoG et. al. have republished a lot of them (a lot of them
just repackage the game using Dosbox or ScummVM; you'll see the license in the
download).

I kinda wish they wouldn't though. A lot of these should just fall into the
real of abandonware. A lot of these licenses just get sold off to big
companies who try to do some long-tail nostolgia sales.

Some /really/ old titles are actually out of copyright (or the publisher has
gone under and the license has been lost), but they're still sold through some
services cause that's how public domain works.

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bhaak
> Some /really/ old titles are actually out of copyright (or the publisher has
> gone under and the license has been lost), but they're still sold through
> some services cause that's how public domain works.

Nobody has been dead long enough for any computer game to enter public domain
by the lawful way of inaction.

There are some games that have been made available by the license holder. Like
"Beneath a Steel Sky" which was released as freeware.

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digi_owl
Hmm, Starship Titanic. I recall reading about it back in the day, but never
got the chance to play it.

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rvanlaar
Nice catch that it's supported.

I encourage you to get a hold of the game. It's a nice puzzle gem that
incorporates the humor of Douglas Adams. One of the main parts is language,
talking to the staff, actually typing, and communicating with them.

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seanwilson
> One of the main parts is language, talking to the staff, actually typing,
> and communicating with them.

How well does this work? I can't think of any other game that has even
attempted this since. It would be interesting to see what the state of the art
could do with this. I think combining this kind of gameplay with voice to text
for input and using either text to voice or voice actors for the character
talking back could be super immersive.

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rvanlaar
It's fun and doesn't get in your way. It works.

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JonDav
Ah Christmas, the time of year to snuggle with a cup of cocoa and play games
of Phantasmagoria and Leisure Suit Larry.

In all honesty thanks so much to all the people that work on this project.

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nottorp
Decisions decisions... do I wait for the people at GoG to pack Phantasmagoria
with ScummVM for Mac or do I do it myself?

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MegaLeon
Surprised to see Plumbers don't wear ties on the list. For those unaware of
this masterpiece, I recommend watching this AVGN video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyaF_gCKWsI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyaF_gCKWsI)

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crtasm
I'm currently re-watching the 90s UK TV series Gamesmaster - they did a
feature on this game in their usual sardonic style.

I didn't realise there was so much more to enjoy, thanks.

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butz
Where's the zip version for Windows? I can only see installer download.

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WillPostForFood
Builds (zip) here:
[http://buildbot.scummvm.org/builds.html](http://buildbot.scummvm.org/builds.html)

Source here:
[https://github.com/scummvm/scummvm](https://github.com/scummvm/scummvm)

