http://liquidat.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/an-incomplete-list-of-high-quality-open-source-games/

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free

That all said, like Tom, I think we do need limited copyright to induce creation. It’s just that I’d like to see the limits of copyright kept and respected. The problem, as I see it, is that as the cost of production decreases and incumbent media producers are challenged by new “blockhead” competition, they insist on tightening copyright in order to protect their industry. Sure, Star Wars is “a media property that benefited from protection,” but it’s ridiculous that it won’t be in the public domain for a hundred years or more.

Two notes about “Star Wars: Revelations.” First, it’s based on a very successful and impressive media property that benefited from copyright protection. Second, while I too was impressed with the storyline in this “Star Wars: Revelations” amateur effort, it was decidedly amateurish in other important ways, too. Namely, have you ever tried to scale up the video to a big screen TV? Well, I have. It looks like shit. Moreover, it sounds like shit. In sum, when it comes to the quality of the final product, it really is amateur hour. There’s no appreciation among the anti-copyright crowd for the issue of quality control. What the hell use is a $3000 new 50″ plasma HDTV and a 7.1 surround sound audio set-up if all I have to play on it is grainy YouTube videos and stupid Burger King games?

Now, it certainly may be the case, as Mike Mansick suggests, that “Alternative business models can and do exist that allow the creator to earn money,” and that “These other business models need not use copyright — and, in fact, can often benefit more by ignoring copyright.” I agree with that statement to SOME extent for SOME businesses or forms of art SOME of the time. But what I am suggesting here is that the really big, bold, impressive works of culture and art—and yes, I understand that is a terribly subjective term—will likely be under-produced in world devoid of some semblance of copyright protection. And we will certainly have lost something important if that is the case.

Could I be wrong? Sure. And I suspect we will find out the result of this grand experiment in our lifetimes because I am convinced that the effectiveness of traditional copyright law will gradually fade away for the same reasons that efforts to control speech and expression via censorship will increasingly fail in the future, as I have discussed in great detail here. The difference, of course, is that when censorship fails because of the combination of developments I outlined in that essay, we will not have lost much as a society. When copyright fails for similar reasons, however, I believe we may lose some of the prized cultural expression and creativity that flows from the modern gaming and movie-production community. In sum, I just don’t see the Halo video game trilogy or the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy being produced in a world without some sort of copyright protection. But we just won’t know for many years until copyright law falls apart and the grand experiment plays out.

Two notes about “Star Wars: Revelations.” First, it’s based on a very successful and impressive media property that benefited from copyright protection. Second, while I too was impressed with the storyline in this “Star Wars: Revelations” amateur effort, it was decidedly amateurish in other important ways, too. Namely, have you ever tried to scale up the video to a big screen TV? Well, I have. It looks like shit. Moreover, it sounds like shit. In sum, when it comes to the quality of the final product, it really is amateur hour. There’s no appreciation among the anti-copyright crowd for the issue of quality control. What the hell use is a $3000 new 50″ plasma HDTV and a 7.1 surround sound audio set-up if all I have to play on it is grainy YouTube videos and stupid Burger King games?

Now, it certainly may be the case, as Mike Mansick suggests, that “Alternative business models can and do exist that allow the creator to earn money,” and that “These other business models need not use copyright — and, in fact, can often benefit more by ignoring copyright.” I agree with that statement to SOME extent for SOME businesses or forms of art SOME of the time. But what I am suggesting here is that the really big, bold, impressive works of culture and art—and yes, I understand that is a terribly subjective term—will likely be under-produced in world devoid of some semblance of copyright protection. And we will certainly have lost something important if that is the case.

Could I be wrong? Sure. And I suspect we will find out the result of this grand experiment in our lifetimes because I am convinced that the effectiveness of traditional copyright law will gradually fade away for the same reasons that efforts to control speech and expression via censorship will increasingly fail in the future, as I have discussed in great detail here. The difference, of course, is that when censorship fails because of the combination of developments I outlined in that essay, we will not have lost much as a society. When copyright fails for similar reasons, however, I believe we may lose some of the prized cultural expression and creativity that flows from the modern gaming and movie-production community. In sum, I just don’t see the Halo video game trilogy or the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy being produced in a world without some sort of copyright protection. But we just won’t know for many years until copyright law falls apart and the grand experiment plays out.

1. The cost of creation keeps dropping. So, the cost becomes less of an issue.

2. Alternative business models can and do exist that allow the creator to earn money. These other business models need not use copyright — and, in fact, can often benefit more by ignoring copyright.

3. A decade ago you might have asked how, without copyright, anyone would ever produce something like the Encyclopedia Britannica, yet now we have Wikipedia, which in many ways is a lot more impressive and a lot more comprehensive — and it doesn’t rely on copyright.

Don’t assume that copyright is the only model. There are many models for the creation of both complex and simple content.

http://www.panicstruckpro.com/revelations/

It’s better than most of the prequels and contains special effects almost as good as Lucas’. Most important, though, the creators made it just for love of art. Here’s the Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Revelations

http://www.shatters.net/celestia/

But this is a good game, and one day it’s graphics will be better:

http://www.wesnoth.org/