Game Jackal

Game Jackal is a PC application developed by Antiguan-based company SlySoft that allows users to play PC game titles without the need for the game's media to be in the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. The program functions similar to a virtual drive; however, instead of making use of large disc images, Game Jackal uses a proprietary format which takes up considerably less storage space by working to only capture data the game requires to run.

Game Jackal Pro
Developer(s)SlySoft
Final release
5.2.0.0 / October 20, 2013 (2013-10-20)
Operating systemMicrosoft Windows
Typevirtual drive
LicenseProprietary
WebsiteRemoved for legal reasons

Game Jackal is advertised to work with around 90% of games on the market, including games such as Sid Meier's Railroads!, Neverwinter Nights 2 and Need For Speed Carbon. While the authors admit not every title is bound to work with Game Jackal, support is gradually improving and regular updates which combat various bugs and blacklisting, as well as expanded functionality in the building of its profiles.

Game Jackal works by establishing a game profile which is used to store all of the game's relevant data. To begin, an original copy of the game is needed to allow Game Jackal to successfully 'capture' the game for use later. If a first attempt at capturing a profile does not succeed, it may be performed again: anything else Game Jackal picks up will simply be added to the profile.

Legality

The legality of the usage of Game Jackal is still constantly being discussed. Its authors claim that the program is completely within legal boundaries because:

  • The profiles are designed to be created from original copies of game CDs.
  • The profiles can not be publicly distributed.
  • The program does not modify any of the game's contents or data.

On January 2007, Jacal Consulting announced that Game Jackal would no longer be available for sale due to circumstances beyond their control. They subsequently closed the official website. According to several press releases, this was due to changes in Australian copyright legislation that came into effect on 1 January 2007.

Game Jackal was eventually acquired by SlySoft in March 2007, and a new version, dubbed 'SlySoft Game Jackal Pro', was released on 2 June 2007.

gollark: Apparently it needs to be stored at very low temperatures, which is likely to cause issues with distributing it.
gollark: No, I mean presumably nature would have come up with very infectious retroviruses at some point.
gollark: Although maybe something like that did emerge, spread everywhere, and died out when people got immunity to it.
gollark: I'd assume that if that were practical there would already be lots around.
gollark: I think there's one which was meant as a nasal spray.

See also
  • Copy Protection
  • Backup
  • End User License Agreement


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