mewse

i've been using this for a while, practically since they added protected mode support to the CVS, and my only problems have been with crashed during the transfer from geoscape to tactical.

it's legit. the site wouldn't survive very long if they were selling these games illegally. they're based in flagstaff, arizona. the infogrames logo on the disc strongly suggests they've cut a deal.

I ordered a copy of X-Com from the Free-CDSoftware website. As you can see from their page for the game, they've put up a copy of the original box art. Well, it's not a boxed copy of the game. It's not even an original copy of the game, it seems to be a new pressing, so I guess whoever these guys are, they got permission from Infogrames to press new copies of the game. It's got a 1-color black design on the CD which says: Xcom UFO Defense (Microprose) It actually says "Xcom" not "X-Com". Anyways, that's above the hole, beneath it there is a large Infogrames logo (that's an aardvark right?) and small print stating "All Copyrights, Trademarks & Trade dress are property of their respective owners." The version of UFO on the disc does appear to be 1.2 although I haven't checked the executables with XComUtil or anything. I suspect this disc is copied from the first CD pressing of the game. It's got a bunch of wacky batch files dealing with installing to a hard drive and stuff. Conclusion: * Buy this CD if you want a cheap copy of X-Com 1.2, which is becoming harder to find than 1.4 or the Gold Edition. * Don't buy this CD if you want a printed manual or box, or even jewel case, it shipped in a paper sleeve. It's obvious these people are making money from the shipping and delivery charges, and the whole "free" aspect is just a marketing scam, but I only paid $11 Canadian to get it shipped up here, that's like $7USD so I guess it was reasonable. My only other copy of X-Com is the CD from the Conquer the Universe set, it's v1.4 and it has a PDF version of the manual on the disc. The only reason I'm happy with this new CD is that it's got 1.2 on it so I won't lose that version again. Here's a listing of the files and directories on the CD: 01/03/1995 12:30 PM 337 CDSETUP.BAT 01/03/1995 12:30 PM 738 DONE.COM 01/03/1995 12:30 PM 254,556 DOS4GW.EXE 01/03/1995 12:30 PM 35 FULL.BAT 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> GAME_1 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> GAME_10 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> GAME_2 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> GAME_3 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> GAME_4 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> GAME_5 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> GAME_6 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> GAME_7 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> GAME_8 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> GAME_9 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> GEODATA 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> GEOGRAPH 01/03/1995 12:30 PM 1,169 GO.COM 01/03/1995 12:30 PM 841 INSTALL.BAT 01/03/1995 12:30 PM 6 INTR.O 01/03/1995 12:30 PM 74,314 INTRO.EXE 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> MAPS 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> MISSDAT 01/03/1995 12:30 PM 839 NOWAY.COM 01/03/1995 12:30 PM 957 README.TXT 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> ROUTES 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> RUNEXE 01/03/1995 12:30 PM 21,572 SETUP.EXE 01/03/1995 12:30 PM 16 SMALL.BAT 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> SOUND 01/03/1995 12:30 PM 10 SOUND.CFG 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> TERRAIN 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> UFO2EXE 01/03/1995 12:30 PM 6 UFOC.D 01/03/1995 12:30 PM 308 UFOCD.BAT 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> UFOEXE 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> UFOGRAPH 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> UFOINTRO 13/03/1995 10:51 AM <DIR> UNITS 01/03/1995 12:30 PM 705 WELCOME.COM