I get you! I was bigger into copyright some 20-30 years ago myself when we would’ve all been on Slashdot.
To that end, I was WRONG in my post, I think I was conflating two things, and for that, I’m sorry. I was certainly thinking in part about Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Corley (2001). That was the case that decided that the software DeCSS was illegal, and you could distribute the software. I was thinking that while the court did agree with Universal over the software, that it did not find that breaking DRM on a product you owned was inherently illegal. (I legit think this was a “take” at the time. Probably wouldn’t hold up in court these days, sadly.) And I did find that years later the Library of Congress offered exemptions for breaking DRM on some hardware (vehicles, medical devices,) but I believe even those were temporary and have since lapsed.
Sorry I spoke so surely about something I was wrong about.
/edit: I was WRONG. This is my memory failing me. I explain it further below, and apologize for wasting any time.
After the DMCA passed there was a case of a judge finding it legal to bypass DRM to make backup copies, but illegal to distribute the software used to do so. I have no idea if there was ever further clarification or new law about this. That was like 20 years ago. It was part of a case going after the company who was making the software, but the name slips my mind. I’ll try to look it up if anyone cares enough and wants to look for something more than hearsay on a forum.
I’ll say this: props to Fandom for realizing the right thing to do. I know there was really no other good solution for them, but that hasn’t stopped many companies from being so obstinate that they cut their nose off to spite their face.
But more seriously, good for those guys buying it. I hope it goes well for them.
Dan removed GB from his BSky bio, and Grubb posted that he’s no longer with GB.
To add more context, last night Dan was streaming on Twitch and said he expects episode 888 to be the last Bombcast. He said things that, if he stays employed, would make Fandom the most understanding employer ever. To use words he used: he’ll keep taking their money as long as they’ll give it to him, but he expects that won’t keep happening for very long. He’s very annoyed with working for giant corporations and wants to bet on himself.
Considering I’m unemployed and job hunting, and Windows says I can’t upgrade my current (old) PC, and I regularly play Warzone with friends? No, probably not any time soon.
Maybe if I get a job with a six digit salary in a city with a reasonable cost of living (or remote) so I can jump out of debt before 6 months? But I’m not holding my breath.
Story-wise I’m not sure there’s much more that needs to be said for GlaDOS, but I think tech-wise they could advance it some. Currently players can build testing chambers. It’d be cool if you could build entire complexes consisting of several chambers, with your own (optionally voiced) personality core running the tests. Then the base game could pick up between facilities and whisk you away to new testing places. Basically, make it easier for players to make their own full mods. Especially if you allowed custom hooks for your ins and outs between facilities.
Which, in the immediate future, makes me wonder less about the things that are going to be done in code, and more about the creation of new, free, visual and audio resources that make this work. That seems like quite a noble pursuit.
I couldn’t pick a single one, but I got endless joy from all the Quake mods back in the day. Not just level designs and sprite replacement, but complete weapon changes that made everything different, Quake Kart, Cujo, etc. It seemed the sky was the limit.