am I crazy
To answer your question, no you may not be crazy. I don't think you understand copyright or ownership of licences. It seems you are trying to justify downloading a game illegally just because it is old. The fact is, whoever owns the rights to Final Fantasy VII owns them until they die or they sell the rights to another. They can allow a game developer to create a remake of the game at any time, then make a deal with a publisher to get it back on the shelves in time for Christmas.
Alsoif you bye a game second hand the company that made the game dose not get 1 cent from the sell so to them it is the same as downloading a copy off say bit torrent becuase the only thing that would mean is your disks look prittier thats it.
Are you serious? Once a person buys any product, they own the rights to that product. That is why it is perfectly legal to by a CD or even a vinyl record and rip them to a mp3 format. You own the rights, so you can manipulate your property at your own free will.
Scenario:
Let's use your logic with the example of a car purchase mentioned earlier. John steals a car, then sells the car to Fred. If Fred knew the car was stolen property upon purchase, when caught, he would share a cell with John in prison. If Fred didn't know the car was stolen property, it would still be siezed by the authorities.(At least in the United States.)
The ownership of those "prittier disks" is the difference between being a consumer and a criminal. If you buy the game second-hand than thats between you and the selling party. They could choose to give you the game at no charge. They no longer have value in the property for their use, they feel they don't need your money, and don't want to bother trying to sell it to another.
Attaining ownership comes down to just simple economics, supply and demand. I understand that a price for the PC version is high. Amazon has used ones starting at over $55. I remember a few years ago when the platinum edition sold for like $20 at Costco, but that's they way it works. Limited supply (discontinued publishing) and an obvious demand for the product creates its current price in the market.
The only time a product becomes "abandonware" is when the owner to the property releases it to the public. Sad Jari made a fine example with the release of older GTA games. Electronic Arts has also released old versions of their sports games. I remember a release for NHL '97 a year or two ago.
So I would have to say
*If they stoped making and selling the PC ver of the game in stores
*they stoped suportin the game and releasing any patch the fix the bugs that pop up
then I think it can and should be called abandonware
ps: also this game was made for windows 95! and microsoft recently stoped suportion 98 (I think a year or 2 ago)
Once a game developer releases its product, it does not have to patch the product. They do this to save face and to keep the consumer happy. Your idea of a never ending patching process for every game, and if stopped therefore dubbed abandonware, is ludacris.
What does Microsoft support for their operating system and an Eidos Interactive game have to do with anything?
The game was not made for windows 95, but it is supported by it. The American release date for the PC version was May 31, 1998. The game is supported by Windows 95, 98, ME, and 2000.
Sorry, there is no way you can make an argument that justifies piracy.
EDIT:
I'll get back on topic. I don't think you could make a pack using the psx videos. There is no way to prove the one downloading it owns both the psx and pc version of the game. Someone could just make a really detailed tutorial, if it's really needed. The fact that this works is great news anyways.
