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ive been really wanting system shock 2 and its a bitch to find, then i find underdogs and they have it for FREE. they say its abandonware so its grey area. are they reputable? will i get a virus or arrested? any help will be appreciated.

EDIT: IM A FRICKING VETERAN NOW!

They're software pirates. It's not a grey area.

You will most likely not get a virus, but of course whenever you decide to run untrusted code on a microsoft operating system there's some degree of risk.

I can't see how you'd be arrested since copyright infringement is not actually a crime (it is still illegal though). If you do get arrested, you'll be the first.

maybe ill test it on my guinea pig laptop first.... they just have a ton of old hard to find games.

I've used the Underdogs for years with no problems, haven't been arrested yet.

As always, run virus software on your system, just in case...but in well over 200 downloads I've gotten from that site, I've never had a problem.

I use Underdogs myself, no problems with them.

Too bad they don't have System Shock 2 as one of those $10 value titles any longer. I bought mine at $15 and its one of the best games I have, let alone at that price.

EDIT - Oops, I just relized I replied to a 10 day old topic. Guess thats a reason why I shouldnt leave the forums for a few months.

I downloaded SS2, I didn't get any virus.

Abandonware isn't piracy. Games that still are being printed/sold aren't available for download. The games you can download have companies who went out of business, released the code to public domain, or are out of print.

I've found most games that I've been looking for on there, even really obscure ones. I haven't had any problems whatsoever with any files or the site itself.

yea i finnally got system shock 2, and am going to get the blood series. two things suck though, i have to disable my firewall to do it, and the downloads are funneled. i was only getting like 7 kbps, when i have dsl that regulary does 200. this made SS2 take 14 HOURS! still great.

Originally Posted by magilacudy Abandonware isn't piracy. Games that still are being printed/sold aren't available for download. The games you can download have companies who went out of business, released the code to public domain, or are out of print.

You're wrong. "Piracy" is the popular term for "Copyright infringement". "Abandonware" has no legal equivalent - it's a way for copyright infrigers to justify their actions.

Just because a company does not offer a certain product for sale AT THIS TIME does not mean you're given permission to create and use unlicensed copies.

Ok, let me clarify. I meant that Underdogs itself does not promote piracy/ copyright infringement. Companies can and do tell them to take off the games for any reason (certain product for sale at some particular time) and Underdogs complies. The games up there now have been verified as being fair to put up by their respective companies, despite the fact the majority of copyright holders don't exist anymore, and therefore copyrights are in legal limbo. If you don't like it, then don't download off them. If you haven't, then don't comment on a thread asking for experiences with the site.

I have been following them for a few years now, and seen the changes they've made. In some cases they took a proactive stance and took games down foreseeing any legal troubles.

I really hate the term used these days: 'pirate' as it is an engineered term by the music/software/movie industry to put guilt on the average consumer. People are afraid to use their computers in fear of being labelled a pirate in a similar way that they are afraid of being labelled unpatriotic or a terrorist. That's not right.

</rant>

Ok, so this isn't ocmpletely off-topic, just be careful if you have an intermittent connection. Sometimes if you try to download a file that fails and try to redownload it, it will register as 2 requests. You might be banned from downloading for a few hours. This has happened to me once or twice.

Hey Sneaky, check into the rebirth texture pack (here.) It will make the game look a little more modern.

yea i alredy got that. that was one of the reasons i got the game i the first place (i saw it in pcgamer)