Thief Fans Running a Source Petition

Since Square Enix has bought Eidos,  the Thief fans are now pleading with Yoichi Wada to release the source code for the original games in the series, namely Thief: The Dark Project and Thief II: The Metal Age, which both use the Dark engine, the same as Thief Gold and System Shock 2.

"To: Mr. Yoichi Wada, Square Enix' President and Representative Director 

Dear Mr. Yoichi Wada!

 We are the Thief-community and are inspired by the fact that your company, Square Enix, has bought Eidos. Your corporate slogan, «It is the mission of the SQUARE ENIX Group to spread happiness across the globe by providing unforgettable experiences», has brought hope to us, who are pained for ten years by the futile, but at the same time ineradicable, dream. Let us share it with You. 
The games Thief: The Dark Project and Thief 2: The Metal Age, which were released in 1998 and 2000, opened for PC players a door to the mysterious and mythical world based on Medieval Europe. The world that is tissued from steam and magic, made by the geniuses of Looking Glass Studios, became so attractive to Thief players that they began to create their own missions by themselves, and these missions enlarge and fill up the original games (now there is more than 800 of them). Not few among them are better in quality than the original games (see, for example, rating at http://www.keepofmetalandgold.com/fmarchive.htm). 

The world of Thief still lives over a decade after its initial release through the efforts of its fans – isn't it proof of the fact that the game is a work of genius? However, time passes by, and the technology, made for the base of Thief: The Dark Project and Thief 2: The Metal Age, can no longer provide enough freedom for the activities of those who want to enlarge and improve the original games. We, as the Thief-community, dream of receiving in our hands the original source code of Thief: The Dark Project and/or Thief 2: The Metal Age in order to make changes and improvements to it. By releasing the source code to us fans, it would give more scope to those who continue to create the world of Thief. 

We are by no means calling on Square Enix to release the games Thief: The Dark Project and Thief 2: The Metal Age as freeware. We are only requesting the original source code for the graphics engine to these games, not anything more. More than ten years has passed since the release of Thief: The Dark Project and more than nine years since the release of Thief 2: The Metal Age. Because of this, we realize that these two titles are likely to be of little technological and/or commercial value for publisher. That's why we charitably ask you, the new owner of the "Thief" brand, to make the Thief-community happy and publish the original graphics source code of the games Thief: The Dark Project and/or Thief 2: The Metal Age, thus confirming Your corporative slogan. 

Publishing the original source code of an old game is a widespread demonstration of good will to players - it is done by known of PC game developers: id Software (Wolfenstein 3D, Doom 1&2, Quake 1-3), Raven Software (Heretic 1&2, Hexen 1&2), 3D Realms (Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior), Volition (Freespace) and others. We cherish hopes that Square Enix will do the same with Thief: The Dark Project and/or Thief 2: The Metal Age as well. 

We understand that it has been nine years since the closing of Looking Glass Studios, and that it is possible that the original source code of Thief: The Dark Project and Thief 2: The Metal Age does not exist integrally and ready for compilation. If this is true, we understand this but then, please, publish everything that is left, and we will try, like archeologists, to rise the great past from the ashes! 

Sincerely, 

The Undersigned"

This has been provided as is, and there are bits and pieces that look as though it wasn't proofread,
but the message is clear. I agree that it's about time that the source code is released and those enthusiastic about it can get to work with giving Thief a bit of a face lift.

If you're interested, and want to know more, and sign the petition (I all ready have), then head on over to http://www.petitiononline.com/ThiefSrc/.

Thief Fans Running a Source Petition