Is it okay for me to request a game be tested out in Wine?

Dragonwinged · February 22, 2021

The game is Hot Wheels: Beat That!(the excamtion point is part of the title) it was made by Activision and released I believe in 2006 for the WII, PS2 and Windows, with a separate version made for the DS. The game isn't officially sold anymore, so you can probably find it on sites that distribute abandonware. I installed it to my Windows pc from a .iso file and found it runs just fine without the disc mounted on a drive. There are a few things I'd like to mention:

The game defaults to low graphics settings, regardless of your hardware. You'll need to go into the separate settings menu to increase it, and depending on your specs, it might get hung up trying to change the settings.

A couple of issues I noticed while playing. These are inherent in the game and not a glitch due to Wine.

The effect that's supposed to make objects appear shiny (sorry, I don't know the correct term for this.) Is overly excessive.

In the Attic Stage, the toy Train sets can be seen driving under the train tracks.

Very rarely, the game will softlock at the end of an event, but before saving, forcing you to turn off the game and replay the event.

LogicalDrm · February 22, 2021

Whats your question here? Tested in Wine why and in what way?

Also something not being sold anymore doesn't automatically make it abandonware. I suggest you go and read what the definitions are. Abandonware are software where copyright holder is not interested about it anymore (meaning support and sometimes copyright violations). The definition beyond is hazy at best. So if you have owned the game, I don't fault you of using alternative methods of playing. But distributing (either you linking or sending your own copy) will not be allowed.

Dragonwinged · February 23, 2021

17 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

Whats your question here? Tested in Wine why and in what way?

Also something not being sold anymore doesn't automatically make it abandonware. I suggest you go and read what the definitions are. Abandonware are software where copyright holder is not interested about it anymore (meaning support and sometimes copyright violations). The definition beyond is hazy at best. So if you have owned the game, I don't fault you of using alternative methods of playing. But distributing (either you linking or sending your own copy) will not be allowed.

Test as in is it playable. I checked both Winedb and Lutris before posting. Neither site has any information on the game. I have also personally checked distribution platforms like Steam and Gog. Not only is it not available, none of the Hot wheels games prior to the launch of digital distribution are available. I found the pc copy on the internet archive, along with the Stunt Track Driver Games. (Granted, the Archive site does have a complete backup of the WII U update Servers, and Nintendo is Usually merciless when it comes to copyright infringement.)

I do have an idea of what abandonware is, including games whose IP holders are MIA, including the PSX platformer Croc, and the trail i've followed according to wikipedia is: the developer, Argonaut Software, went defunct in 2004. The publisher, Fox Interactive, was purchased by Universal in 2008, who was then merged with Vivendi, who was finally purchased by Activision. All of these games currently have wishlist requests on GOG, with no response as of now.

LogicalDrm · February 23, 2021

5 hours ago, Dragonwinged said:

Test as in is it playable. I checked both Winedb and Lutris before posting. Neither site has any information on the game. I have also personally checked distribution platforms like Steam and Gog. Not only is it not available, none of the Hot wheels games prior to the launch of digital distribution are available. I found the pc copy on the internet archive, along with the Stunt Track Driver Games. (Granted, the Archive site does have a complete backup of the WII U update Servers, and Nintendo is Usually merciless when it comes to copyright infringement.)

I did not se this games copy in Internet Archive (which is whitelisted as download mirror at the time of writing this). Nor was it listed in https://www.myabandonware.com. So regardless of publisher being unknown, it can't be called abandonware just like that (developer is still in business). Though, all retail boxes I see for it say Activision outright.