😲

Most intriguing indeed. Maybe there will be secret memos about the formulation of some of their bizarre marketing strategies.
http://411mania.com/games/the-hall-of-shame-0 … aims-marketing/

There was an auction for a bunch of Acclaim's old IP a few years ago, wasn't there? Perhaps whoever ended up with it (someone at assemblergames, maybe?) would not be averse to new releases.

Careful with what you upload off those systems, don't want to get sued...

Anyway find any source codes to old games?

You should make full dumps of all the harddrives while they work fine...

Jade Falcon wrote:

Careful with what you upload off those systems, don't want to get sued...

Anyway find any source codes to old games?

Quite a lot of source files, though it's hard to tell exactly what they are at a glance.

As for legal concerns, I'll be mindful about posting anything inflammatory. Art assets, design docs, and other production-related materials shouldn't be a problem, as it's hard to imagine any incentive for current IP rights holders to want to suppress this stuff. It would just be bad PR for them.

Honestly if they sold them off as liquidation you should be able to do anything with it, but I'm betting the first buyer was told to wipe the drives.
Still, better to not have to pay an attorney. Just don't upload ant source codes or personal info, that the two things that could really get you in trouble.

lolo799 wrote:

You should make full dumps of all the harddrives while they work fine...

It would be a shame to lose everything. I can't see the drives being that big, I'd dump them.

Luckily I AM an attorney, so if anyone wants to invoke legal remedies I'll know how to respond. Can't imagine it being worth their time - any relevant patents would have expired by now, and I won't be posting anything personal or salacious.

I will definitely image the drives as soon as possible. They're all 1GB and 2GB SCSI disks so it won't take much space. Have already started backing up the contents of the CDs.

make all the content public (if you want that is) since you bought them from a liquidation and they are sold with the data in them - maybe there are sources and unreleased stuff !

I'd suggest getting in contact with Frank Cifaldi

SiliconClassics wrote:

Luckily I AM an attorney, so if anyone wants to invoke legal remedies I'll know how to respond. Can't imagine it being worth their time - any relevant patents would have expired by now, and I won't be posting anything personal or salacious.

I will definitely image the drives as soon as possible. They're all 1GB and 2GB SCSI disks so it won't take much space. Have already started backing up the contents of the CDs.

You should keep on mind that, while patents would have expired copyright surely has not expired. That could affect to code and artworks (I'm not sure about how this could affect unreleased artworks).

Although everything would be very interesting, maybe you should find copyright owners before you release it (or hand it down to other entities that are not as friendly with copyright).

I can't see anyone doing anything so long as it's not code or personal info. But better safe then sorry.

Got a laugh out of this one, had to share...

Wow that's just sad. The anti violence part that is

But no, that pretty funny.

Very interesting, awesome find!

You might want to make a post over assemblergames, there is a good chance that some one there also bought a few computers or cds when acclaim shut down.

Cool stuff!

It's snowing outside today, so here's a look at some Acclaim sprite drawing code from 1997:

1//ACCLAIM SPRITE
2
3#include <windows.h>
4#include <ddraw.h>
5#include <aklmutil.h>
6
7#include <sprite.hpp>
8
9//------------------------------------------------------------
10
11LPDIRECTDRAW CSprite::m_stapDD              = NULL;
12DWORD        CSprite::m_dwTransparentKey    = 0;
13//------------------------------------------------------------
14CSprite::CSprite( void )
15{
16m_bTransparent = 0;
17wuXSpeed = 0;
18wuYSpeed = 0;
19pSurface = NULL;
20memset(&rcSource, 0, sizeof(RECT) );
21memset(&rcDest, 0, sizeof(RECT) );
22};
23
24//------------------------------------------------------------
25
26CSprite::~CSprite( void )
27{
28if ( pSurface )
29    {
30    pSurface->Release();
31    pSurface = NULL;
32    };
33};
34
35//------------------------------------------------------------
36int     CSprite::SetDirectDraw( LPDIRECTDRAW pSetDD )
37{
38m_stapDD = pSetDD;
39return( 0 );
40};
41//------------------------------------------------------------
42void    CSprite::SetTransparencyKey( DWORD dwSetTransparencyKey )
43{
44m_dwTransparentKey = dwSetTransparencyKey;
45};
46//------------------------------------------------------------
47void    CSprite::SetTransparency( int iSetTransparency )
48{
49m_bTransparent = iSetTransparency;
50};
51//------------------------------------------------------------
52void	CSprite::Update(void) 		// Updates all object data.
53{
54rcDest.left += wuXSpeed;
55rcDest.top  += wuYSpeed;
56
57if ( m_bUseBounds ) ValidatePositionBounds();
58
59rcDest.right    = rcDest.left + m_iImageWidth; 
60rcDest.bottom   = rcDest.top + m_iImageHeight; 

61}

That's a short snippet of the original code so as not to run afoul of copyright. Lots more where that came from!

I say make full backups, and release as much of it as you legally can. You've got an absolute goldmine here, and I'd hate to see it go to waste.

Welcome to the world of abandoned property.