The Unreal series may have been shelved years ago, but Epic is letting its first two installments live on through the Internet Archive.
      • jevans ⁂
        9•5 months ago

        I know that. I mean why are they not part of this agreement with the Internet Archive.

      • @[email protected]
        5•5 months ago

        Hmm it also got pulled from gog.

        UT2004 Onslaught is still the best game mode ever btw. Haven’t played in a long while but like ten years ago there were still a good number of servers around. Not enough players for the big maps, though, those need like 20 people per team and good luck convincing a server full of deathmatch players to play as teams.

    • Björn Tantau
      3•5 months ago

      The agreement wasn’t made with the Internet Archive but with OldUnreal so that they can distribute an installer that automatically downloads the games.

      But hopefully it can be expanded to the later games as well.

  • coyotino [he/him]English
    28•5 months ago

    I hate that we have to live in this world where something as vital as archiving the internet is a volunteer-based operation that requires permission from copyright holders. In a better world, the Internet Archive would be an international enterprise funded by mandatory contributions from UN members, and IA would have open license to archive everything. Maybe they wouldn’t allow regular users to access archived items that have active copyright, unless the items become inaccessible.

    • @[email protected]OPEnglish
      4•5 months ago

      Good grief that sounds horrible. I don’t want the government to be in charge of what gets preserved and what doesn’t.

      • coyotino [he/him]English
        15•5 months ago

        I go back and forth on this. Clearly there are downsides to a service being provided by a government agency. But someone has to be in charge of it, and every option has downsides. Obviously a for-profit private venture is the WORST option. The current system of volunteer/nonprofit is great, but lacking in stability, funds, and power to push back against copyright. You could argue that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, I just think it would be nice if my tax dollars supported vital services like Internet Archive or Wikipedia.