🔴 Get bonus content by supporting Game Maker’s Toolkit - https://gamemakerstoolkit.com/support/ 🔴 Spec Ops: The Line has been removed from all digital storefronts, due to licensing issues. Why was this game so important? Let’s understand the context surrounding its release. GMTK Minis are short, scrappy videos designed to let me comment on noteworthy news events. Enjoy! === Sources and Resources === - Sources [1] Spec Ops: The Line delisted from Steam | Eurogamer https://www.eurogamer.net/spec-ops-the-line-delisted-from-steam [2] We Are Not Heroes: Contextualizing Violence... | GDC Vault https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1017980/We-Are-Not-Heroes-Contextualizing [3] Don't Be A Hero - The Full Story Behind Spec Ops: The Line | Polygon https://www.polygon.com/2012/11/14/3590430/dont-be-a-hero-the-full-story-behind-spec-ops-the-line [4] Shooters: How Video Games Fund Arms Manufacturers | Eurogamer https://www.eurogamer.net/shooters-how-video-games-fund-arms-manufacturers [5] Playing War: Military Video Games After 9/11 | Matthew Thomas Payne https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt18j8z64 [6] Game Designer Dave Theurer on "Missle Command" | YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd6uaDQ-qRI [7] Hideo Kojima | Twitter https://twitter.com/HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN/status/1492797335256334336 [8] Spec Ops: The Line‘s lead writer on creating an un-heroic war story | Ars Technica https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/07/spec-ops-the-lines-lead-writer-on-creating-an-un-heroic-war-story/ [9] Spec Ops: The Line - Learn about the story with lead writer Walt Williams | Games Radar https://www.gamesradar.com/spec-ops-line-learn-about-story-lead-writer-walt-williams/ [10] Dissecting the Horror: The Mysteries of Spec Ops The Line | 1UP (Archived) https://web.archive.org/web/20160606040421/http://www.1up.com/features/horror-mysteries-spec-ops-the-line [11] Special Edition Spoilercast: Spec Ops: The Line | GameSpot https://www.gamespot.com/articles/gamespot-gameplay-special-edition-spoilercast-spec-ops-the-line/1100-6386587/ [12] The touch that transcends violence and death | Chicago Tribune (Archived) https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-it-is-impossible-to-mak/25124667/?locale=en-GB [13] 87% Missing: The Disappearance Of Classic Video Games | Video Game History Foundation https://gamehistory.org/87percent/ - Additional resources Spec Ops The Line... 5 Years Later | Raycevick https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dzstxE_5Rc Spec Ops: The Line - A Literary Analysis | Games As Literature https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ1Zp3gNcEI Errant Signal - Spec Ops: The Line | Errant Signal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlBrenhzMZI How Spec Ops: The Line's Opening Manipulates You | Monty Zander https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPm7tKvILrE Having Fun is Wrong: An Analysis of Spec Ops: The Line | Professor Bopper https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogg4ITOmYiw === Credits === Music provided by Epidemic Sound - https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/vtdu5y (Referral Link) === Subtitles === Contribute translated subtitles - https://amara.org/videos/zq3te4KZz6ym/
    • @dillekant@slrpnk.net
      3•5 months ago

      Disappointed that gmtk doesn’t address the fact that this wouldn’t really be an issue with physical media because it can be re-sold and kept in a library.

      • Beko Pharm
        6•5 months ago

        At least Steam lets you still download it when you purchased it before. I checked today just to make sure it really does still download. Granted, this is as long as Valve may exist but I don’t think there is anything DRM related here that would stop anyone from making a copy of the downloaded game 🤔 May try that later.

          • Beko Pharm
            1•5 months ago

            Ah that’s where I did see it in DRM free. Yes you’re correct. It refuses to launch without Steam running.

        • @dillekant@slrpnk.net
          2•5 months ago

          While, yes, Steam doing this is… OK… The resale is what matters. Technically passing it on via Gog’s download is “piracy”, but having some sort of physical identifier for the thing makes it legal to resell.

      • Something Burger 🍔
        1•5 months ago

        Unless the physical media is tied to an account forever, like what Microsoft tried to do with the Xbox One but backpedaled after massive outcry, or what Valve has been doing for two decades without massive outcry because it’s okay when Valve does it.

            • Beko Pharm
              1•5 months ago

              In all fairness: A lot of physical releases from back in the days can be redeemed on Steam nowadays. It’s not often obvious but it works for a lot. e.g. for Prey (the 2006 one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prey_(2006_video_game) ) - which saves me the trouble to look for a CD drive I no longer have xD

              Yes, I understand that archiving is more tricky nowadays and even Valve may defunct one day. Alas in reality is a > 15 yrs old CD also prone to errors and may no longer work already.