Freelancer Gold Disc
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https://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/gold_version.html
pre-release = for test, demo…
Gold = final version -
Utterly cool.
A Beta?
Figures they would. Wonder if testers got the gold when it went final? That sounds like Microsoft. -
Not a beta.
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Was saying that the disc might have gone to the beta & playtest team after it went final. Or was a special run for those at Digital Anvil - Microsoft.
To celebrate release. Such “Special Consideration” things went out with final releases at least back then. If and it’s a limited run in both cases it’s a rarity and something to hang on to ( tightly). -
It’s definitely final RC. Checked it against an alternatively acquired source and the files are exactly the same. Fun to see confidential on it though.
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Bingo! Confidential. Special run for MS, Digital Anvil and so on I’d bet. You might want to track that angle down. I think you have a real rarity. I’ve seen literally hundreds of Freelancer disks at cons and even flea markets. Never a gold disk. Or I would have one.
Edit: Went back and downloaded the photo and blew up on desktop. That line across the bottom says it all. A pat on the back gift at the staff before the game headed out the door. Maybe a handout to playtest team, but that’s not likely as an “in house” gift.
Edit Edit: Sent pic out. Legaleze for pre-copyright. Wouldn’t DARE release to outside staff.
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whats the point if this is just the normal version?
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Swat’s right. The value here is it was put out before not only the release, but before they had it copyrighted. (And the pretty gold bling). As releases go I think this is is about the most collectable item you could find. I wonder who it was given to back then.
Edit: Oh and it most certainly wasn’t a “retail” item. No way.
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irrelevant when it was copyrighted
A copyright is an automatic international right to protect intellectual property. The copyright registration is just there to clearly identify the copyright owner. That however, that does not mean everything without copyright registration is not copyrighted.With other words… there never was a not copyrighted version of the game.
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Oookkkaaayyy…. Since I’ve shelled out for copyrights I’ll just crawl back into my hole shaking my head. I’d point out that without a copyright Freelancer wouldn’t have landed on the selves. Now in the US you have the IPCC to deal with. And in the US it is anything BUT automatic Except were single owed IP like artists and writers have. Otherwise for businesses wade through this if you have a couple of days and a law degree:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_States
Good luck there. The process to file and receive a commercial copyright in the US costs thousands and can take up to a year. It’s basically a patent processes for IP where it has to be proven you’re not violating existing copyright. The process in 2003 for the game no doubt cost near 1 million US and teams of lawyers.
Welcome to the US of A. (Sigh) -
It will vary from country to country. I’m blessed enough to be living in canada:
“In Canada software is protected as a literary work under the Copyright Act of Canada. Copyright is acquired automatically when an original work is generated, the creator is not required to register or mark the work with the copyright symbol in order to be protected.”
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Oh yes and that’s why US software people are starting to make runs north. That IPCC of ours was pushed through by lawyers for lawyers and single handedly killed freelance designers. It assured Steam and the like are sole gateways to everything from registration to gameplay and if you really read US law the company that produced the software on the disc owns the disc. You simply permanently bought “Usage Rights” (Hence those long winded EULA documents that must be added to any software going out of the US.) Don’t get me started. Copyright laws is one reason I retired and the major reason I make no bones about giving up all IP rights to the models I give out. Microsoft made a bold and risky decision handing out that gold disc and now in the present day it would have violated a number of laws.
I yearn for those “Good old days” when I worked at home on the internet instead of being forced to travel to the software company, sign a stack of legal documents and such before I could go to work!Edit: Just read commercial copyright in Canada. Got room up there man? If I show that around you’re apt to build a wall of your own to keep us out!
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Jefferson001 wrote:
Oookkkaaayyy…. Since I’ve shelled out for copyrights I’ll just crawl back into my hole shaking my head. I’d point out that without a copyright Freelancer wouldn’t have landed on the selves. Now in the US you have the IPCC to deal with. And in the US it is anything BUT automatic Except were single owed IP like artists and writers have. Otherwise for businesses wade through this if you have a couple of days and a law degree:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_States
Good luck there. The process to file and receive a commercial copyright in the US costs thousands and can take up to a year. It’s basically a patent processes for IP where it has to be proven you’re not violating existing copyright. The process in 2003 for the game no doubt cost near 1 million US and teams of lawyers.
Welcome to the US of A. (Sigh)Have you actually read the stuff you have linked to?
Let me quote from there…
Copyright is automatically granted to the author of an original work (that otherwise meets the basic copyright requirements, discussed above). Registration is not necessary.
To avoid any further discussion about that.
International copyright laws state pretty much the same. It is pointless to cherrypick a country here.
It is also pointless to question if the copyright requirements applied… they did.
Its also not important if you are a private person or a company. If the creator does the work specifically for a company (with other words if the creator is an employee) then the author of the copyrighted material is the company.
Also for companies the copyright is applied automatically.
The registration of a copyright serves the purpose to defend this copyright infront of a court.
Not registering a copyright does not mean that there is no copyright… it just means that at this point of time you just dont have an intention to file a lawsuit. Its just burocracy.
You can even register a copyright after a copyright violation has been done (thats because the copyright always existed since the creation of the IP).
So with other words… to assume that there ever was a time where Freelancer was not copyrighted is wrong. The final product even has a copyright registration so every early version (no matter if a review version or a beta version) is copyrighted aswell (even without a copyright mark).A company I was working for went through such a copyright violation mess and won after proving to be the copyright owner eventhough there originally was no copyright registration.
But I dont want to argue with you… if you think that stuff in the U.S. sucks I will nod and agree with you.
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Okay. I bow to your obvious experience. I wasn’t looking for an argument. So I’ll rest this and post no more on the topic and just tell the owner of the disc in question. Hang on to it. Tightly.
-Bye. Been Swatted Out-
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lets just focus on that disc…. its golden
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I know I’m rather late to the party, but I just happened to stumble upon this thread while searching for other people also in possession of one of these gold release discs of Freelancer.
I think I can provide at least some additional information about these discs and what they were used for.
I attended a Microsoft game studios press event in Munich one day in late 2002 or early 2003, with Jörg Neumann presenting Freelancer and Rise of Nations to representatives of the german computer and video games press.
After the presentation was over, review copies of Freelancer and preview (beta) copies of Rise of Nations were distributed to the press present. It was exactly this Gold disc I got there and still have today.
So they were not only used internally but also as review copies, at least over here in Germany. I still remember the event, because it was held in a very cool location (a former riding hall from the imperial era) and because of Jörg Neumann, a very cool and charismatic dude.
Edit: I guess you’ll have to right click on the picture attached and open it in a new browser tab in order to see it completely. Sorry!
Cheers from Bavaria,
Stephan
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It is nothing unusual for gold versions to be given as preview samples. It is considered to be a done and working product which only here and there needs some polishing.
To be honest I am curious now if it is exactly what was released later in the stores or if there are small differences.
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I’m maybe waking up an old dog here, I am an indy game dev, working now to finish a game nothing related to freelancer but I consider building some sort of follow up of freelancer as it were.
I do not want to build a copy of freelancer, the game is good as it is with all the mods around, I want different graphics, somewhat different game play and story board, but I would like to keep the feel of freelancer in my game I con,sider working on
I would need some graphic artists to help get this done, a coder or two to help out on some stuff would be useful too as doing such a huge thing is long and complicated.
Not making this post uselessly long, but just barking up a tree
