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Games => General Gaming => Topic started by: MysterD on Thursday, July 10, 2008, 02:50:41 PM
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This just is freakin' awesome, guys!
CD Projekt has revealed their newest project -- Good Old Games (also known as GOG). (http://bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=89246)
This new site, you will be able to buy old classic PC games for around $5 to 10, which will be designed to work on Win XP and Vista.
And best of all -- there will NO DRM!
Good Old Games Coming (Back) [July 10, 2008, 5:31 pm ET] - 2 Comments
CD Projekt announces the preliminary launch of GOG.com, a marketplace for "Good Old Games." The site, which will go live in September, will offer its titular good old games will all necessary updates to install and run them on current computers (including Vista support), completely stripped of DRM, and all priced between $5.99 and $9.99.
The site will enter closed beta testing in August, and visitors are being offered the opportunity to sign up for a chance to be a tester. There's a Q&A about all of this with PR rep Tom Ohle on Shacknews discussing, among other things, whether they are concerned with piracy of the DRM-free games. The site also has an image of game boxes illustrating the types of offerings they plan, showing Giants, Operation Flashpoint, TOCA Race Driver 3, Fallout 2, Freespace 2, MDK, Colin McRae 2005, and Fallout Tactics. Here's the announcement:
Warsaw, Poland – July 10, 2008. CD Projekt, best known in the Western world for its award-winning PC RPG, The Witcher, is proud to unveil its invention of time travel. The company sent several representatives to the past and they’ve returned with some amazing findings. Quick to capitalize on the incredible treasures of history, the company is pleased to reveal its newest project, GOG.com. The site, whose name is an acronym for Good Old Games, is a new games-on-demand platform that allows old fogies (and young fogies) to buy some of the best PC games of all time – many of which just can't be found in stores anymore – and play them on modern hardware, completely free of intrusive DRM. GOG.com is poised to become the center of the classic-games universe with a huge community section including forums, user reviews and ratings, as well as insightful commentary and editorials from some of the industry’s most beloved writers. A closed public beta of the site is scheduled for launch on August 1st, and excited old-school gamers can sign up for more info and a chance to enter the beta by visiting GOG.com.
The site makes it tremendously easy for gamers to buy, download and install some of their all-time favorite PC games. The games will be sold for $5.99 or $9.99, are guaranteed to work on Windows Vista and Windows XP systems and are available to download as many times as needed. This is very nice, yes? The DRM-free games, low prices, the site’s ease-of-use and the community are some of the main features that make Good Old Games something more than just another digital distribution outlet.
GOG.com has already lined up agreements with such publishers as Interplay and Codemasters to make their games available on the site. Among the titles those companies are bringing to the site are in-demand classics like Fallout, Freespace 2, Operation Flashpoint: Game of the Year Edition and TOCA Race Driver 3. Negotiations are in progress with several other publishers, with the ultimate goal of GOG.com offering a comprehensive collection of classic PC games from the 80s, 90s and 2000s.
“Our main goal is to create a user-friendly site with the best classic PC games for a price that might be considered impossible to achieve,” said Adam Oldakowski, Managing Director of GOG.com. “The people behind GOG.com are gamers and we all know how difficult it is to find a lot of classic games. So we’ve started building a great games catalogue, gotten rid of the copy protection that gamers hate so much, optimized the games to work on modern operating systems, and made them cheap enough that piracy seems like a rip-off. It’s so easy to buy, download and install a game and then get deeply involved in the community; we’re very confident that gamers will absolutely love the site.”
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Wow, that's completely awesome. If they do a Vista-compatible version of X-COM: UFO Defense or Enemy Unknown (same thing), I'm all over that.
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From Shacknews.
Interview w/ Tom Ohle of CD Projekt on this GOG Project.
Lots of details and info on it all here. (http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=914)
Good Old Games Interview: CD Projekt on Reissuing Classic PC Games for Cheap, Piracy Concerns
by Chris Faylor Jul 10, 2008 12:47pm CST
When it launches in September, CD Projekt's Good Old Games will offer cheap, DRM-free digital downloads of long-lost old-school PC titles like Fallout, Fallout 2, Jagged Alliance 2, Sacrifice, Descent 1-3 and Kingpin: Life of Crime, among others.
Priced at either $5.99 or $9.99, these aren't straight re-releases. CD Projekt has done work to ensure that each game is now compatible with Windows XP and Vista, going so far as to create a custom installer for each game. A closed public beta demonstrating this is set to go live on August 1, with the site currently accepting applications.
The company is even removing DRM from titles that featured copy protection upon their initial release. It's already got the support of publishers Interplay and Codemasters, with the company hoping to eventually expand its catalog to include classic titles from others, such as EA and LucasArts.
But how does it actually work? How far back with GOG's offerings go, and what's stopping them from offering modern games as well? Isn't CD Projekt afraid of piracy? What about reprinting old game manuals, or adding features such as achievements?
And, most importantly, how will GOG compete in the already-crowded digital distribution space, which is dominated by Valve's Steam platform and other efforts?
For the answers, I turned to CD Projekt marketing VP Tom Ohle.
Shack: How does Good Old Games work? Is it just a website, or is it a dedicated platform a la Steam?
Tom Ohle: Essentially, GOG.com is just a website. You go to GOG.com, we'll have the latest games listed up top, reader reviews. We'll have a news section dedicated to retro gaming, or classic PC games.
The focus will be on the games catalog, online. So you go to GOG.com, either search for your game or start browsing, we've got a pretty deep browse feature for different categories.
The games are gonna be priced at either $5.99 or $9.99. You buy it, pay for it, download it and install it. You can go back and re-download it any time you want.
Sounds awesome.
Shack: How far back do these games go?
Tom Ohle: I'd say most of the games that we've got in our initial pack will probably be from the, let's say, mid-90's to mid-2000's. The range of titles that we're looking for is anything that's not brand new, and going back as far as we can. As far back as stuff like Zork, who knows. We can go back as far as we need to. I shouldn't have mentioned Zork. At this point, we don't have it.
Our main goal is to try and deliver the best games of all time for PC. We've got a pretty long history to work with there.
Shack: What about DRM? Online activation? Can I download Fallout at home and then go to work and download another copy? Maybe put it on my laptop?
Tom Ohle: Nope. The whole goal is basically totally free of copy protection and DRM. We've got custom installers that come with each product. Run it [on one PC], and if you go to your laptop or whatever, you can just download it again.
No DRM and can re-download it anytime? Freakin' awesome.
Shack: If there's isn't any copy protection, aren't you concerned about piracy? How do you ensure this will be a profitable and long-lasting enterprise?
Tom Ohle: Realistically, it's probably out of our hands. What we wanted to do is kind of, provide that unique value in terms of--it's something that other competitors don't offer. Separate just from the games catalog itself, every other digital distribution platform basically requires some kind of online authentication, some sort of copy protection in there.
For us, it's basically log into your account and download any game [you've bought], any time. The concern about piracy is something that we've gotten from publishers, who kinda go, "We'll give you these games, you sell them, and then they'll just be out on torrents immediately."
It figures publishers like probably EA said something like that.
But really, how much would a publisher like EA be say making on say an old classic like System Shock 2 at the retail stores? Close to zero, I'd guess! Right, you can't find a physical copy of the damn thing in any retail outlets -- especially since EA is done with reissuing physical copies with it. At least w/ GOG, EA don't have to do anything w/ pressing physical copies of the game, which would cost them money and whatnot -- EA would just hand the digital files over to CD Projekt and the gamer can buy the game; I'm sure EA will get some percentage of what is sold over GOG. At least a little bit of money on a classic would be better than making NOTHING.
Ohle: We're hoping that with the low price point--we're also adding a bunch of added value features. For some of the key games, we're gonna have really in-depth game guides. And just trying to have that low price point, plus the no DRM, sort of working on a bit of an honor system.
Awesome.
Ohle: The gamers that we're targeting are going to end up being a more mature audience anyways, because they're these hardcore, old-school PC gamers. For $5.99 or $9.99, it's pretty cheap. Hopefully people won't be too tempted to copy it and give it to their buddies, because it's pretty cheap. And hopefully the more sales we get, obviously, the more likely we are to bring on additional publishers and different titles. If everyone's pirating games right off the bat, then I guess we'd be in a bit of trouble.
For $5-10 for a classic I can't find in retail stores? That's pretty damn cheap, if you ask me -- especially for something like the greats. I mean, they've already got the original Fallout lined up. And Fallout: Tactics, which I don't have.
Best of all -- NO DRM for any of these games.
I really hope this whole thing works out for CDP. I really do.
Shack: Both Fallout and Fallout 2, both of those have been pretty difficult to find at retailers for a while now. Honestly, I can't imagine piracy of those titles going up.
Tom Ohle: One of the biggest arguments against copy protection is no matter what you put in your game, there's always going to be piracy. At this point, we haven't created anything that's totally piracy-proof, except for, to some extent, World of Warcraft and other MMOs. Beyond that, somebody's going to pirate your game.
We want to make sure it's as easy as possible for people who legitimately bought [the game] to play it and download again. In terms of digital copy, this is just like owning the game. You could buy the game, back it up on CD, and you've got it.
So, not only can I re-download a game I've bought from GOG by signing into my account, but I also can back these games up on CD/DVD that I buy from GOG. Awesome.
Ohle: Our argument is that games are going to get pirated. I'm sure there's probably already a million torrents out there with a lot of the games we're going to be offering.
Agreed.
Ohle: We're giving gamers a version of the game that works on Windows XP, works on Vista, we've tested it. You get our support to make sure the game works for you, you get game guides if we have them, and basically just the fact that you can download it at any time again I think is worth people just spending that little bit of money to buy the game.
Imagine how great this'll be if say a really old game that just doesn't run period on Win XP or Vista completely is put up on GOG, working without any issues. Think like the original Legacy of Kain game. That'd be great.
Shack: So there's no limit as to how many times you can re-download a game once you've purchased it?
Tom Ohle: Nope.
Awesome.
Shack: Will you be keeping an eye on accounts to make sure someone doesn't buy the game once and then share their login info?
Tom Ohle: Yeah, possibly. Personally, that's nothing I've really thought about. I'm sure our programming team has given it some thought. Ultimately, I think we'll deal with situations like that as they arise.
Right now, the plan is sort of a power to the people sort of thing. It's a trust system. If people start abusing it, then maybe we have to come in and deal with it in some way. For now, we want to make sure that we give people a lot of really good games.
For me, I want to have a copy of the game on my laptop so I can take it on trips. I want it at home so I can play it while I'm at home. It's nice to have access like that.
Amen.
Shack: You've got Codemasters and Interplay, what other publishers and titles are you eying for Good Old Games?
Tom Ohle: Some of our holy grails are probably going to be TIE Fighter or X-Wing, some of the other LucasArts adventure games. Stuff like that would be awesome. I'm sure EA has a lot of stuff sitting in their catalog, Wing Commander and things like that.
Shack: Don't forget Dungeon Keeper or Syndicate.
Tom Ohle: Yeah. Our goal is to be, ultimately, the one-stop place where you go, "I wish I could play this game. I'm going to go there and buy it."
Other stuff like Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate are remnants of a really good time in PC gaming, where we had all these really strong gameplay experiences. Early to mid-90's, I'd say. Anything in that period is really what we're aiming for. Think up a game that you want to play and hopefully we'll have it in the future.
I hope CDPR succeeds.
Everything that they're saying is stuff that I'd expect out of -- well, Stardock with Impulse. I figured Impulse would do more of this -- have older games to buy, especially since there's no DRM from Stardock. Hmmm, maybe Stardock will do so and compete with CDPR's GoG? Hell, I dunno.
Shack: What about support for fan-made patches that enhance the game, like the Fallout widescreen patches?
Tom Ohle: That's one of the areas where I'm hoping we can stand out. We're going to be doing as much as we can to support, or at least push people to, useful patches, different game enhancements. We're hoping the community also contributes some of that info. Ultimately, we want to make sure that people are playing the best possible game.
Awesome.
Ohle: We do plan to offer community achievements, to reward getting involved on the forums, rating games, buying games, stuff like that. People will be able to submit their own game guides, screenshots, hints, all sorts of things.
That sounds pretty cool, too.
Shack: And game-specific achievements? For example, finishing Fallout or beating 100 enemies bare-fisted?
Tom Ohle: Nothing planned that I know of, but that's certainly something interesting to consider. I'll mention it to the team. It would require us to modify the game code.
Oh, how about a Game Achievement for beating Fallout without killing anyone period!
(It can be done, if I recall correctly -- namely by upping your Speech skills and your Hacking skills as high as you can).
Shack: Any chance that GOG will offer boxed copies in addition to digital downloads, a la Stardock and Impact?
Tom Ohle: It's something we've discussed. There's no specific plan in place right now, but I think it's definitely something that would be good to look at in the future. Obviously, a lot of people like to have the box and disc in hand.
No plans right now, but potentially we can open the door to that. It might end up adding cost. At the price points we're looking at--$5.99, $9.99--it's a little less feasible than [the full-priced retail games] Stardock might have.
Okay.
Shack: What about game manuals and original box covers? Will scans of those be Included in the download?
Tom Ohle: Not at the moment. I think that's again something that would be good to look at in the future. We'll have the covers and stuff as images on the site. At this time, we're basically just sticking to the game.
Interesting.
Shack: What happens when there's a complicated game that doesn't have a good tutorial and basically requires a manual?
Tom Ohle: We'll be providing whatever we can. If we have the ability to put manuals and things like online, then we'll do it. But where it's not possible, for whatever reason, the fans can basically put up whatever info they want. We'll start trying to push that along.
If we see that we have a lot of concerns about people not being able to play games because they just don't know how or the in-game info is lacking, we'll look at it from there. Our whole goal is to make this the easiest to use site that it can possibly be. Initially, every game will have its own little sub-forum.
Sweet.
Shack: How did Good Old Games come about?
Tom Ohle: A couple of guys from CD Projekt were sitting around, trying to figure out some old PC games they wanted to play. They tried to find them and couldn't--that's basically where the idea came from. I think that was about GDC 07.
We've ramped up the team a bit in the last four or five months. I think it's about 15-20. It's been a long process. There's obviously building out a pretty significant backend, trying to get our custom installers going, tracking down potential licensers, different publishers we want to work with.
Once we have the publisher agreed, then we need to hunt down the masters, and do whatever we can to make sure the game works in Vista and XP. Otherwise we do what we can in terms of making sure the game works in Vista and XP.
Now the backend's in place and everything's ready to go, with the beta launching for media in the middle of July, and then we're doing the public closed beta on August 1. We'll keep adding titles and functionality throughout the beta, and obviously keep going after the site launches.
Shack: Will the beta offer free games?
Tom Ohle: We have to figure out the exact number of things we want to offer, but people in the beta will get at least one free title.
Shack: Do they get to keep that?
Tom Ohle: Yeah. We'll have a fully-functional site during the beta. Anything they buy during the beta, and the free game, will carry over to the final site.[/b]
Awesome.
Shack: Will that public beta be open or closed?
Tom Ohle: It'll be a closed public beta. We're going to be launching a signup thing on the site, right around the time the announcement goes up, so people will be able to sign up and get entered for a chance to get into the beta. We'll also try to do a couple giveaways here and there.
I want in, dammit! :P
Shack: Valve started Steam because they wanted to distribute their games online. What's stopping CD Projekt from using GOG as a means to begin delivering its new titles?
Tom Ohle: Not a lot. Once the backend's in there, then technically it's quite feasible for us to deliver our products, and potentially other people's products.
Especially since of the kind of battling they went on w/ Atari, on what they had to do to the game -- butcher the USA version a little bit on its sexual content, remove about 20% of the game's written dialogue so Atari didn't have so much to voice-act, CDPR wanting to remove the DRM from the game; etc etc.
Ohle: Right now, the main goal is to focus on classic titles. We don't want to start trying to enter the digital distribution space at this point. Valve's got that pretty locked up. Impulse is also pretty good, and GamersGate and Direct2Drive and whoever else is out there. There's a lot of really good companies.
There's not a point to us entering that market and trying to make a big push, so we're just focusing on the core competency we've got right now: classic games.
I think that could be just a start for something more from CDP, if all goes well here w/ GoG -- that even new CDP titles wind up on their service; especially when those games get old. :P
Shack: Along with the games, Good Old Games will offer strategy guides for certain titles. Where do those come from?
Tom Ohle: To some extent, we're going to be working with people that already worked on the game guides. If there's already somebody who's done a really good job, for example. Where we can, we'll solicit game guides in the future for upcoming titles or we may have guys on-staff that are really well-versed in certain games. All of our guys are really hardcore PC gamers.
It's basically whatever we can do. We're working with a relatively small team on the site, so we're pushing as hard as we can and trying to do as much as we can with whatever resources we have available. We're all just working hard to try and make things happen whenever we can.
One of the biggest things that we're trying to do is really, wherever possible, push community self-help and contributions. The community aspect of the site is probably going to be one of the major reasons we're hoping that people will come back to the site, to get involved in the communities, rate and review games. We'll have a custom shelf, a graphical bookshelf, that has all your boxes stacked next to each other.
Shack: The X-Wing and TIE Fighter strategy guides were like phone books. Any chance we'll see something like that appear on GOG?
Tom Ohle: Maybe. It's always potential, trying to figure out what we can do with what we've got available. Some of the game guides that we're looking at trying to get are pretty big game guides. I was always pretty good at X-Wing and TIE Fighter so I never really needed that kind of thing...
Shack: Hey, they had entire pages of story in there too. It was like a novel crossed with a strategy guide.
Tom Ohle: I think I might have had the TIE Fighter one. We've got a pretty good web backend, so in terms of the size of things, it's not too much of an issue. The main thing that we want to do with the strategy guides and game guides is, we put a lot of work into them from a visual presentation standpoint. We'll have our art team actually go in and do a nice magazine-style layout with them.
Just from that angle, it's probably quite a bit of work to do something really huge. But for some of our key titles, as we move forward and as we roll out some new games, we're going to have these big name games we want to push. And we're going to put a lot of effort into those.
We ultimately see all this stuff as an investment to keep people coming back, and realize that it's just not some other digital distribution website that just happens to sell old games. We're trying to make it a little more valuable.
Shack: If you could guarantee a cheap X-Wing or TIE Fighter...
Tom Ohle: I'd probably stop working for a while. Those and man, there's so many games. There's so many games that we could get and that we're in discussions to get right now.
Located at GOG.com, CD Projekt's Good Old Games will launch in September, with a closed public beta set for debut on August 1. The site is currently accepting beta applications.
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I just saw this on GOG (http://www.gog.com/en/intro) -- and this would like make a person like Que drool.
5. Extend the experience with tons of cool and exclusive add-ons.
In-depth guides and walkthroughs
MP3 Soundtracks
Wallpaper and high-res artwork
Map Editors and Add-On's
Buying the game is just the beginning. With a purchase of any game at GOG.com you'll also get some great additional materials for free, including game guides, walkthroughs, wallpapers and more. No joke.
I think Que would re-buy some of these classics just to get the MP3 Soundtrack of a game, if it's made available through GOG for a certain game. :P
He always seems to be asking about game soundtracks around here -- which often are NOT made easily accessible or available to the consumer.
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Man, these guys are building some serious good will. Not only did they say it was cool for CDPR to fix up The Witcher for a new retail release when it was already stunning in its previous incarnation, they said it was cool to release all that expanded Witcher stuff free to people who bought the game, and now they're not only selling games without DRM, they're updating them to run on modern systems? That's hitting a lot of the right buttons for people like me. Like, a lot of them.
I'd never even heard of CD Projekt until The Witcher, and now I'm a big fan of CDPR and, if stuff like this keeps happening, potentially the whole company itself.
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Man, these guys are building some serious good will. Not only did they say it was cool for CDPR to fix up The Witcher for a new retail release when it was already stunning in its previous incarnation, they said it was cool to release all that expanded Witcher stuff free to people who bought the game, and now they're not only selling games without DRM, they're updating them to run on modern systems? That's hitting a lot of the right buttons for people like me. Like, a lot of them.
I agree with this.
I'd never even heard of CD Projekt until The Witcher, and now I'm a big fan of CDPR and, if stuff like this keeps happening, potentially the whole company itself.
CD Projekt did all the localizations in Poland for all the classic Infinity Games there -- BG series, IWD series, and PS:T. They localized Heroes of Might and Magic 5 in Polish, too.
CD Projekt's first developed game of their own was The Witcher.
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Is CDPR their first development studio, then? I haven't followed it all very closely. I just knew that CD Projekt was much bigger over there than any of us knew, since we hadn't really heard of them, but they'd done a lot of business in the past and were one of the bigger companies in and around Europe.
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Is CDPR their first development studio, then?
Yes.
I haven't followed it all very closely. I just knew that CD Projekt was much bigger over there than any of us knew, since we hadn't really heard of them, but they'd done a lot of business in the past and were one of the bigger companies in and around Europe.
That's probably due partially to porting already-great games like the Infinity Engine games.
It goes beyond that, b/c their localizations of those game have been said to be excellent -- in both the written and voice-work department. CDP has been known to use for their localizations of games talented and famous Polish actors to do the localization voice-work.
Usually, when a game goes from one language to another, something is majorly lost in translation in either the writing aspect or the voice-work department. Usually, it seems here in America, the translations of foreign games lose something in one place -- voice-acting. Look at Divine Divinity or Gothic series -- great games w/ good written translations. Though, the voice-acting is all over the place -- b/c the publisher will often hire cheap voice-acting (which usually will suffer in quality).
To me, CDP don't seem like most game companies or publishers. Their production values are high, compared to most. What they are doing with The Witcher/Witcher: Enhanced AND the upcoming GoG Project seems to say that to me.
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Wow the more and more I hear about this the more awesome it sounds. I'm going to be all over this thing.
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There's so many older games I missed, which I wished I had -- which are impossible to find legally these days.
I'm thinking up a list of a older games here that I don't have, just off the top of my head.
Here's some games I don't have, that I'd like to see hit GoG to work in Vista/XP:
3D Realms -- Shadow Warrior
EA/Origin -- Any of the SP-based Ultima games
Looking Glass -- the original System Shock
Lucas Arts -- Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island series, Grim Fandango
Monolith -- Blood, Blood 2
Raven -- Jedi Knight series, Jedi Academy
Quantic Dream -- Omikron
I'm sure there's a lot more than that, but that's just thinking quickly and all....
EDIT:
What are some games y'all would like to see on GoG that y'all DON'T actually have?
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GOG Project from CDPR will go into Early Access Beta next week.
If you've signed up for the Beta, expect an e-mail coming your way anytime beginning from next Monday.
Woohooo!
You have until Sunday Sept 7th at Midnight EDT to get your e-mail address in there, if you want to be invited to the Beta. (http://www.gog.com/en/intro)
Early Access Beta is Coming! Beware.
On Monday, September 8, anyone who signed up for the GOG.com beta will start receiving access keys to the site. We're saying goodbye to the press beta and gearing up for the next phase: Early Access Beta.
Everyone who signs up at www.gog.com before Sunday September 7 at midnight (EDT), during the next week will receive an access key, which will allow them to dive into the GOG.com site.
If you don't receive your access key on Monday, don't worry as we're sending them out in stages. The Early Access Beta will offer all the main features of the site, including buying DRM-free games, joining the community and writing reviews.
Apart from just getting access, everyone buys a game from GOG.com during the Early Access Beta will receive a bonus code to get one game from GOG.com’s Interplay catalogue for free! So what are you waiting for? If you haven’t signed up yet, be sure to enter your email address and get in on the action.
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Q&A (http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3169758)
Most interesting:
Here's a partial list of the games to be available for download at GOG.com's launch later this month.
From Interplay
Descent 1-3
Fallout 1 and 2
FreeSpace 2
Giants: Citizen Kabuto
Jagged Alliance 2
Kingpin: Life of Crime
Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader
MDK2
Redneck Rampage
Sacrifice
From Codemasters:
Colin McRae Rally 2005
Operation Flashpoint
TOCA Race Driver 3
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Man. If that was the starting lineup for any game system out there, it'd pretty much be the best system ever.
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Wow I'll finally get to play any of the Fallout games and Sacrifice.
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Yay for Fallout 1.
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Sacrifice is one of my all-time favorite games. I was really happy to see that one available right off the bat.
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Did anybody play Lionheart?
Or Giants?
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I never played the former, but the latter is pretty awesome. A little wonky in some respects, but the humor makes it all worthwhile.
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I actually bought Lionheart for $1 not long ago, but I never got around to installing it.
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I actually bought Lionheart for $1 not long ago, but I never got around to installing it.
ONE DOLLAR?!?!?!?
Score!
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I played both Sacrifice and Giants. Right when I first started playing PC games in like 2002 or something was right about when those games were like $3 in bargain bins. Sacrifice seemed really cool but I never really got all that into it. Giants...well, that kind of sucked if I remember correctly.
EDIT: Take Que's opinion of Giants over mine. I can't really remember (Although we all do know I have much better taste).
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Giants is an interesting game, but it'd be really interesting to see if it aged well. It was sorta 3rd person/RTS hybrid with more emphasis on the action. The really big thing is it was one of the first games to really make use of bump-mapping and all the super 3d stuff that's become the standard today and was a big showcase for the GeForce 2.
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Giants is an interesting game, but it'd be really interesting to see if it aged well. It was sorta 3rd person/RTS hybrid with more emphasis on the action. The really big thing is it was one of the first games to really make use of bump-mapping and all the super 3d stuff that's become the standard today and was a big showcase for the GeForce 2.
I can't imagine it aged well. Giants: Citizen Kabuto came with my Geforce 3 and I tried playing it because I heard good things. I immediately thought it was pretty crappy looking, even back then. That was like 2 computers ago.
It started off slow and the dated graphics turned me off so I never got very far into it. I might have played it for about twenty minutes.
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That's the problem. Most people will play it for 20 minutes, feel like the control is weird and it doesn't look that pretty, and turn it off. It's a much better game than that, but no, I don't imagine that it aged all that well. Still, a very funny game from a time when we needed more of them.
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Games need to be more funny NOW. It's a sad state of affairs when people jerk each other off over the three ongoing and pretty lame jokes in Portal.
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I wish there were more games as funny as Psychonauts and Telltale's Sam & Max Episodes/Seasons.
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As funny as the Sam & Max episodes would mean OK funny.
Is that what you want D?
eh?
eh?
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People are starting to get their beta stuff. A guy on Something Awful forums (which I found via a Cheap Ass Gamer thread) has listed more games. Not all are available for purchase yet.
1nsane - racing, arcade, off-road - 474.3 MB
Colin McRae Rally 2005 - racing, arcade, rally - 2.9 GB
Conquest of the New World - strategy, turn-based, historical - 75.5 MB
Descent + Descent 2 - shooter, fpp, sci-fi - 546.8 MB
Descent 3 + Expansion - shooter, fpp, sci-fi - 797.5 MB
Die by the Sword + Expansion - action, adventure, fantasy - 482.2 MB
Earthworm Jim 3D - action, adventure, platformer - 136.3 MB
Evolva - shooter, tpp, sci-fi - 443.8 MB
F/A-18E Super Hornet - simulation, combat, modern - 281.1 MB
Fallout - rpg, turn-based, sci-fi - 505.4 MB
Fallout 2 - rpg, turn-based, sci-fi - 579.6 MB
Fallout Tactics - rpg, strategy, sci-fi - 1.6 GB
Freespace + Expansion - simulation, combat, sci-fi - 829 MB
Freespace 2 - simulation, combat, sci-fi - 1.6 GB
Giants: Citizen Kabuto - shooter, tpp, sci-fi - 787.7 MB
Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising - strategy, real-time, sci-fi - 522.5 MB
Invictus: In the Shadow of Olympus - rpg, strategy, historical - 669 MB
Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business - strategy, turn-based, tactical - 407.8 MB
Kingpin: Life of Crime - shooter, fpp, modern - 337.1 MB
Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader - rpg, action, fantasy - 699.4 MB
M.A.X. + M.A.X. 2 - strategy, turn-based, sci-fi - 613.4 MB
MDK - shooter, tpp, sci-fi - 74 MB
MDK 2 - shooter, tpp, sci-fi - 219.4 MB
Messiah - shooter, tpp, sci-fi - 408.5 MB
Operation Flashpoint GOTY - shooter, fpp, modern - 732.6 MB
Original War - strategy, real-time, sci-fi - 978.3 MB
Perimeter - strategy, real-time, sci-fi - 1.3 GB
Redneck Rampage Collection - shooter, fpp, modern - 337.6 MB
Sacrifice - strategy, action, fantasy - 562.6 MB
Shattered Steel - action, fpp, sci-fi - 474.9 MB
Shogo: Mobile Armor Division - shooter, fpp, sci-fi - 248.5 MB
Soldiers: Heroes of World War II - strategy, real-time, tactical - 1.4 GB
Stonekeep - rpg, action, fantasy - 425.4 MB
Toca Race Driver 3 - racing, simulation, touring - 5.3 GB
He also stated that most of them are $5.99.
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Wow, this is amazing. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, but do you know what? I don't really think it will.
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Oh, man, I enjoyed the shit out of Jagged Alliance 2. Gettin' it.
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What's scary is I either own or have played at least 75% of those games, and I'm at least aware of the entire lot of them.
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What's scary is I either own or have played at least 75% of those games, and I'm at least aware of the entire lot of them.
Not scary.
I wish some of these newer games were as great as some of the old school classics -- such as Fallout 2.
I own Fallout 2. So, it'd really be nice to complete the PC collection and get FO1 and FO: Tactics.
And, yeah -- I definitely remember Descent 2. I got that somewhere on disc. But if I recall, it does force an install of DX 2.0 on it, or it won't install...
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Daaaamn.
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Hell yes!!!
I got in on The Beta!!! ;D
Got my code in my e-mail today!
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Of course, you first got to set-up an account; which is pretty painless.
This is absolutely painless to order a game from -- you know, just like Steam. Better than Steam, though -- there is no real forced app to run to boot it, either. You just do all this within your web browser.
After you order a game (via credit card), it takes you right to "Your Games" page for your Account. Here, whatever you bought in your lifetime with GOG, is listed there forever. Download whatever they are offering up with any game at anytime as much as you want -- The Game's EXE Installer; PDF Manual; Wallpapers; Soundtrack MP3's; etc etc.
B/c I am in Early Access Beta , if you currently buy one game only in your first order, you will get a FREE Interplay game to download from them. Already got the code in my e-mail. Too cool.
So far, so freakin' painless.
Downloading Fallout 1 right now.
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Wow, the price is definitely right here. Downloading fallout 1 and then going to use the freebie on fallout 2.
After purchase, you can download the manuals, soundtracks, and other stuff as well.
I'm sold. Thanks, D. Helluva find here.
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I already got FO2, years ago. Still got it, CD and all. Yeah, it's a great game. :) No doubt about it.
I had to jump on FO1. It finishing downloading while I was at dinner -- took about 35 mins or so to DL. So painless, to say the least.
Been playing it since I got it all installed after dinner.
I don't have FO: Tactics. Will probably buy that.
Gonna try Lionheart, too -- that was one I miss'd, but still wanted to play when it got cheap.
Since GOG has it, seems like a good cheap deal to me.
Gonna use the freebie on one of those two, probably.
Y'know, I wish Steam was as painless and DRM-free as this GOG is.
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Yay, I got in as well. I wonder how limited it was or if everyone who signed up just got to jump in?
I'm going to have to see if there's anything I want that I don't already have. That's going to be tough. I own a lot of old PC games, and the ones I don't have I generally don't feel any need to own. Still, I'm sure there'll be a couple cool things to snag, or maybe a few I haven't had any luck getting to work properly with my own efforts (that's likely to be the bigger advantage here: paying for someone to get all the emulator shit worked out for a game you've spent ages trying to get working without success).
EDIT - Yeah, I own almost every single game on the Interplay list. One I'd really like to try, though, is Messiah. I really enjoyed what I got to play of it, but the thing had a sound bug at one point that basically made the entire game silent past the halfway point. Nothing I could do to fix it after hours of trying it. I don't think it was the best game ever or anything, but it was funny and very different... pretty cool all in all. I'm tempted to get Sacrifice too just because it's one of the best games ever made and would likely still hold up very well in terms of gameplay and presentation. It had unique gameplay that nothing else has ever tried really to this day (there've been some similar hybrid games, but not with the same feeling at all), a pretty damned decent little story that was fun to go through and offered quite a bit of replayability, and some great graphics and sound that I fully expect will look and sound nearly as good now as they did then thanks to the stylistic presentation. It was a gorgeous game for the time, and looking at screens, it still looks really effing good. It's very tempting, even though I have game disks sitting right here...
I might, however, go with MDK, because I only got to play about a quarter of that, and I have had zero luck running it on modern systems the last couple times I tried.
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Yay, I got in as well.
Awesome!
I wonder how limited it was or if everyone who signed up just got to jump in?
I got my e-mail on Wed, to join up.
I signed up for this thing like the day it was announced. LOL.
I'm going to have to see if there's anything I want that I don't already have. That's going to be tough. I own a lot of old PC games, and the ones I don't have I generally don't feel any need to own.
I'm a big BIS fan.
Lionheart always seemed cool to me -- but, it was buggy upon release. That made me stay clear of it, until I could get it cheap.
By now, with its last patch behind it -- it can't be that unstable, I bet.
Plus, I'm sure it'll run fine, thanks to whatever CDPR did to re-program it.
Still, I'm sure there'll be a couple cool things to snag, or maybe a few I haven't had any luck getting to work properly with my own efforts (that's likely to be the bigger advantage here: paying for someone to get all the emulator shit worked out for a game you've spent ages trying to get working without success).
Someone working out the kinks is the big advantage here -- agreed.
I also think that CDPR ripping tracks from the soundtrack out of the game and into the MP3 format is great. Some of these classics have some great music in the game.
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I got in too. I'm probably going to get Fallout and Fallout 2 and Sacrifice, though not all at once. I was not impressed with the Interplay catalog.
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I got in too. I'm probably going to get Fallout and Fallout 2 and Sacrifice, though not all at once. I was not impressed with the Interplay catalog.
Isn't the Fallout saga enough? heh! :P
It would be great for those who don't have PS:T, BG series, and Icewind Dale series, those would get added by Interplay.
Curiosity factor -- has anybody around here played Freespace series stuff?
And if so, how was it?
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The Freespace games are very good. Sy will tell you that Freespace 2 is hands-down the best space combat game in the history of gaming, and it has more or less ruined all similar games for him because none of them are as good. I'm not as much an aficionado on that stuff, but I can certainly vouch for the quality.
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Well, hell -- that's some pretty high regards for Freespace.
I really liked Starlancer; Freelancer even more so; and I liked X3: Reunion the best out of what I've played for space-sims.
I might have to eventually let those join my GOG Purchase club, in due time!
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The Freespace games are very good. Sy will tell you that Freespace 2 is hands-down the best space combat game in the history of gaming, and it has more or less ruined all similar games for him because none of them are as good. I'm not as much an aficionado on that stuff, but I can certainly vouch for the quality.
Easily man! Freespace was incredible and 2 set the bar even higher! I'd love to see a third instalment of Freespace.
As far as space sims go I think most are focused on total space culture simulation like Freelancer, Darkstar One, and X3. While the combat in those games is reminiscent of Freespace it's just not the same.
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Freespace 2 is like a skin mod of TIE Fighter. Seriously, the game is a complete rip-off of TIE Fighter in every way. Still, it's actually the better game. If you thought TIE Fighter was the best space sim ever, you'll probably like Freespace 2 even more.
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The Descent games are on there too, and to this day no game has ever been made that really plays like those do, be it the first two or the third. I think they hold up quite well, and I'm an absolutely rabid fan of the series. If you never had the chance to check those out, they're still completely worth seeing. The first looks fairly dated, but all the really unique robot designs are still iconic, and those from the 2nd game are cool as well. 3 took them in a new direction, but I loved most of the designs there, too... once made a wallpaper with every single robot from each game. I wish I hadn't lost it... it was awesome.
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They just went open beta. If you've been wanting to check it out, now is your chance. They also added some new games.
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Disciples: Sacred Lands and Gothic 1 will be joining GOG soon (http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/Coming_soon_Disciples_Sacred_Lands_Gold_and_Gothic/10)
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Awesome! I highly suggest everyone try them. They're a great service with a great community (which I really, really hope survives the transition to open beta, and again when it goes live... please God, don't let the idiots take over...).
Also, I'd really love to try the first Disciples. I'm a huge fan of the second game, and looking forward to the third, but never did try the first.
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Interview w/ Lukasz Kukawski of GOG (http://www.strategyinformer.com/editorials/3808/strategy-informer-talks-to-gog)
Strategy Informer: How many games to you currently have in your catalogue?
Lukasz Kukawski: At the moment we have almost 90 Good Old Games available in the catalogue. We'll be hitting the milestone of 100 games very soon and we're going to do it in a big way, so stay tuned!
Oooh...I wonder what will number 100 be and if there'll be and nice special offers around that time!
Strategy Informer: What do you do to make sure these golden oldies are fully compatible with modern technology? Has been any games you haven’t been able to upgrade? What about Windows 7?
Lukasz Kukawski: The compatibility with modern OSs is aside of the lack of DRM another great feature that we offer on GOG.com. It's very frustrating that most of the classics are very hard or even impossible to run on your modern, lightning-fast computers. That's why our programming team is making its magic tricks to guarantee that all games available on GOG.com will run smoothly on both Windows Vista and XP as they were originally developed under those systems.
Also some of our games, as you've probably seen, are wrapped up with DOSBox or ScummVM that help with the compatibility issues. We're in constant contact with the teams behind these projects and we receive a lot of help from them that we're grateful for.
Some games require a lot of work from our programmers so it takes time to release it, but we do what we can to bypass all the problems and release a smoothly working game. We had some issues with WaxWorks that required some real magic from the programing team, but they did great job and the game, after being visible in the upcoming section for couple weeks, has been release and received a very warm welcome from our community.
As for Windows 7, the system is still in beta and we haven't tested our games on it yet, but we received information from our users who played GOG.com versions of the games under Windows 7 and they worked fine.
Strategy Informer: What games to consider ‘old’ enough to feature in your catalogue? What’s your cut-off point?
Lukasz Kukawski: As for how old game should be to appear on GOG.com, there's no specific rule for it. Simply saying we release games that aren't new, so don't expect the new Dawn of War or Empire Total War. The shelves in game stores are too short to have all games on them, that's why a game that is 6 months old is sometimes hard to get. We want to offer games that are hard or even impossible to find in retail, that's why aside of games like Stonekeep, Simon the Sorcerer you'll also find the newer titles like TOCA Race Driver 3 or Unreal Tournament 2004. But still these are all Good Old Games.
Strategy Informer: You've just announced that Ubisoft will become a supporting service for Good old Games. Can you briefly explain what that means for you and your customers?
Lukasz Kukawski: First and foremost it means we're expanding our games catalogue with the addition of great titles from Ubisoft.
But aside of adding more Good Old Games, we're signing one of the biggest game publishers in the world! This deal means the idea of GOG.com, including the DRM-free approach, is accepted by a company which has such big influence on the gaming industry. It's a huge step for us and we're really excited about it.
Strategy Informer: Do you think this will be a major breakthrough for your service? Do you hope that other bigger publishers will follow suit?
Lukasz Kukawski: I think that the agreement with Ubisoft will help us in terms of showing other companies that even a major publisher is accepting the DRM-free approach and are willing to trust gamers. I hope this will make other publishers look at GOG.com as a great way to sell their back-catalogue games.
I was very happy to see PoP 2008 PC not have any DRM -- kudos to Ubi.
And kudos to Ubi for bringing some of their games over to GOG in the DRM-free fashion.
Strategy Informer: Can you tell us which games exactly that you will be adding to your catalogue from this deal?
Lukasz Kukawski: With the announcement we're releasing Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and IL-2 Sturmovik 1946. The coming soon section is expanding with the addition of Beyond Good and Evil, Heroes of Might and Magic, Far Cry, Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six. We have also some games that we're keeping in a secret for now.
Strategy Informer: Some of the older Ubi games were infamous for including the Starforce DRM software, will that be removed before they are added to the catalogue?
Lukasz Kukawski: All games on GOG.com are free of any DRMs. That's what makes us so different from other digital distribution services and what are we proud of. There's no reason it would be different with Ubisoft games. That's great news, isn't it? :)
Strategy Informer: What are your thoughts on DRM?
Lukasz Kukawski: We are all gamers at GOG.com and frankly saying we hate DRMs implemented in games. We don't think DRM is the best way to fight piracy. You won't find any copy protection that haven't been broken, so this won't stop pirates from getting the games the illegal way. DRM is more of an obstacle for legitimate buyers than people who pirate games, because if you get the pirated version you'll get it stripped from all forms of copy protection and you can do with the game whatever you want.
But if you've bought the game legally then you have to register the game on-line, play it on specific number of computers, install some additional trash-software, etc... And that's not helping. We think that the best way to fight piracy is to offer good games in a reasonable price with cool additional content.
Strategy Informer: How easy/difficult was it to secure this arrangement with Ubisoft?
Lukasz Kukawski: It took us a while to finalize everything, but it went pretty smooth. Our business development team really did great, taking care of everything from the very beginning. There are always lots of things that must be done and take some time if you're signing a contract. And if you're signing a deal with such big international company like Ubisoft it may take even longer, but we have everything finalized and now we can share the great news with all GOG.com fans!
Strategy Informer: How hard was it to get all of the extra and exclusive content for the games?
Lukasz Kukawski: You have to give credit to our brave and good looking product team for the bonus content. They're digging up archives, warehouses full of weird stuff and even the whole internet in the search of cool content. Sometimes we receive the stuff from the publishers, but most of things that you can download with the game have been found by us. For very old games it's sometimes to find even boxarts, but somehow we manage to get everything done.
Cool.
Strategy Informer: Do you think it will be possible to eventually bring some console classics to GoG? Would that be feasible for you guys?
Lukasz Kukawski: It's hard to say at the moment. Right now we want to bring all the classics from the vast and rich PC gaming history. There are thousands of great games that need to be revived for the games all around the world. The console games are being brought back by services like PSN, XBL or WiiWare. But who knows, when we'll finally get all the games we want form the PC market, maybe we'll add console classics.
Oh, that'd be very interesting -- to see some companies that had consoles games that have not made their way to the PC come here.
I bet Que would jump for joy if Konami and GOG hooked up to bring the only Silent Hill to the PC that hasn't arrived here -- the original Silent Hill. That was one of the best SH's, if you ask me.
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Cool. They're getting IL-2. I might have to finally pick it up. But it probably means another $70 or something spent on a flightstick.
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1 Year Anniversary of GOG.
Sale going on -- Buy one Interplay game, get one FREE. (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3175874)
So, Here's the list of games... (http://www.gog.com/en/page/1year_promo/)
All priced at $5.99 below...
Fallout
Fallout 2
Fallout Tactics
Giants: Citizen Kabuto
Sacrifice
Descent + Descent 2 Bundle
Descent 3 + Expansion Bundle
Freespace + Expansion Bundle
Earthworm Jim 1 + 2 Bundle
MDK
Freespace 2
Redneck Rampage Collection
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Everyone buy Sacrifice if you don't own it already. Seriously.
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Realms of Arkania series -- which is based off the The Dark Eye ruleset, which Drakensang uses -- has made its way to GOG.com.
Realms of Arkania 1 and 2 Bundle is up on GOG for $5.99 right now (together).
ROA 3 will be coming soon. (http://www.gog.com/en/frontpage/)
Over 70 awards won and more than 5 million units sold world wide - we're proud to announce Realms of Arkania RPG series on GOG.com. Grab the first two installments, packed in one bundle, for $5.99 now!
The Realms of Arkania 1+2 pack consists of the games Blade of Destiny and Star Trail. They're both role playing games, based on an actual pen-and-paper RPG system. Similar to the Ishar or Might and Magic series, the games let you lead a party of characters through a 3D environment of towns and dungeons. What makes this game unique among other RPGs are its turn-based combat system, which uses an isometric view and an extensive and detailed statistics system that defines every hero. Both games offer you days of gameplay and, once you finish Blade of Destiny, you can export your party to its sequels. Both games are solid titles in their own right and must-haves for any fan of classic RPG games.
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I was really tempted to get those, but man, I just don't have the time...
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Timer gone up for a countdown.
Something's coming to GOG in 5 days and its counting down.
Saying to "Expect the unexcelled."
There's a space background, too. (http://www.gog.com/en/frontpage/)
On the GOG forums, a lot of speculating has begun. (http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/the_countdown_has_started/_/1)
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Hmmm... maybe LucasArts' space shooters?
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Thats what I was thinking. Which would be huge news if they got LucasArts on board.
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Thats what I was thinking. Which would be huge news if they got LucasArts on board.
I'd love to see LucasArts go to GOG.
I'd like to see Jedi Knight series; Jedi Outcast; and Jedi Academy go to GOG.
Of course, love to see the LA Adventures go over there, as well.
OMG, If only Grim Fandango made its way to GOG...
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Hint on twitter: The return of incredible karmic awareness.
EDIT
Heh, the thread on gog where people are guessing had a good one for this hint. Take the first letter of each word...
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Their games? Certainly not the company?
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Yeah, just their games.
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Troika's games are coming??!!?!
AWESOME.
Troika's now defunct - most went other places, such as Obsidian, Bioware, Blizzard, or other RPG companies.
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Right. After falling into the Wasteland completely in Fallout 3, I decided to do a little digging into its background. Along the way, I learned about Leonard Boyarsky, who worked on the FO games at Interplay, then went on with coworkers to found Troika. Interesting history.
Also somewhat related, while I play FO 3 here, I'm also playing FO 1 at Sandy's. I got FO 1 and 2 in one of those old 2-game packs (cardboard, jewel-case sized, one game shows on each side). They never worked right on my PC (lousy support for 8-bit paletized textures on Nvidia FX 5900), but they work perfectly on her laptop. So I'm going through the first game for the first time ever. I just collected the water chip. Completely different experience, and seems crude to me even allowing for its age. (Zelda 3 is 5 years older. Secret of Mana is 4 years older. Yes, I know it's a different genre. I'm referring to technical achievement and mechanics, with more primitive hardware to boot.) But still very engrossing after I was done swearing at the interface and invisible boundaries.
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I bought FO1 and FO2 on GOG.com shortly before FO3 came out. I couldn't get into FO1 at all. Like you, I found it very primitive. Everything seems so slow and stilted at it just wasn't any fun for me. I never played FO2.
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They definitely take a little getting used to. They hearken back to an era of PC gaming long past, and they weren't fantastic technical achievements even in their heyday, like you said. But there's some really, really fucking good gaming in there once you get past all that. There are some unofficial patches that fix bugs and stuff, too. If you head over to the GOG forums, i believe they have some stickied threads from the staff that talk about some of the patches and mods.
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Its Activision. (http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/GOG_com_Brings_Legendary_Activision_Games_Back_to_Life/_/1)
First releases are Gabriel Knight and Arcanum. Now, this may not be terribly exciting, but once you look at the games Activision has it becomes very interesting. Such as....Interstate 76. Man, if they got that game up there I would love them forever.
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Wasn't Gabriel Knight a Sierra On-Line/Entertainment game?
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Its Activision. (http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/GOG_com_Brings_Legendary_Activision_Games_Back_to_Life/_/1)
First releases are Gabriel Knight and Arcanum. Now, this may not be terribly exciting, but once you look at the games Activision has it becomes very interesting. Such as....Interstate 76. Man, if they got that game up there I would love them forever.
Awesome news that classic Activision stuff is there.
And yes, Arcanum is awesome - if you loved Fallout, you'll likely love this.
Plus, I can't stress enuff how great Arcanum's soundtrack is.
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Wasn't Gabriel Knight a Sierra On-Line/Entertainment game?
Yup.
When Sierra was selling some IP's some years back, Activision bought a handful of Sierra's IP's - which includes both Gabriel Knight and Arcanum.
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Am I the only one who doesn't get the hype and would never buy anything off of GoG?
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I'm kind of with you there, Pug. I love going down memory lane, but I don't really consider playing through this stuff. I don't think, anyway. I don't want to ruin the nostalgia.
I have to admit, taking another crack at Arcanum is tempting...especially now that it's all patched up.
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It's really on a case by case basis for me. I certainly don't jump at everything that comes onto GoG, but it's a really good service. I've never had a single problem with any of the games I've gotten there, at least that wasn't already a problem with the game before. They do a really good job of whatever it is they do to make these things work properly and without too many problems, and a lot of it is really cheap. I don't understand why you'd never buy anything from them. They're doing a really good job, I think. Classic games at cheap prices updated to run on modern systems, all with a really helpful and generally less dipshit-ridden community, some seriously competent staff (who in my experience are often on the forums for different games posting stickied threads about mods and addons, community patches, etc.), all within a clean, functional framework, with no DRM whatsoever. What's not to like?
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What Que said.
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Another Activision game joins GOG.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption joins GOG at $5.99. (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/vampire_the_masquerade_redemption)
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Just got an e-mail today from GOG.
Interplay games on sale this weekend:
$4.19 per game
Giants: Citizen Kabuto
MDK
MDK2
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All Disciples and Jagged Alliance games are 50% off. (http://www.gog.com/en/promo/disciples_jagged_alliance)
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It's really on a case by case basis for me. I certainly don't jump at everything that comes onto GoG, but it's a really good service. I've never had a single problem with any of the games I've gotten there, at least that wasn't already a problem with the game before. They do a really good job of whatever it is they do to make these things work properly and without too many problems, and a lot of it is really cheap. I don't understand why you'd never buy anything from them. They're doing a really good job, I think. Classic games at cheap prices updated to run on modern systems, all with a really helpful and generally less dipshit-ridden community, some seriously competent staff (who in my experience are often on the forums for different games posting stickied threads about mods and addons, community patches, etc.), all within a clean, functional framework, with no DRM whatsoever. What's not to like?
I don't doubt the service. From the interviews I've heard of these guys, they really love their GoG website, and are committed to provide great value. I have tremendous respect for the way they have gone about things, and how they haven't whored themselves out. They've actually been honest about their shortcomings as well, which makes me think they are the genuine article. I hope they achieve tremendous success in this as well as their Witcher games.
The point is that I can easily see myself buying atleast 10 GoG games in an instant, if I let myself go...
At the same time, I can also see myself not giving my purchases more than a few minutes each. Plus that money adds up. I'd rather use the $60 I'd spend on 10-15 GoG games on two to three year old PC titles.
There are just so many games out there now... on the consoles as well as the PC that I'd rather spend time with than play games I've already been done with back in the day.
To give you an idea, just off the top of my head, here are games I have installed that I haven't played more than 20 minutes of, that I plan to come back to eventually...
Far Cry 2
Fallout 3
Dragon Age's expansion
Little Big Planet
Games that I haven't even started yet:
Demon Souls
Crysis Warhead
Company of Heroes' 2nd expansion
L4D2
Battlefield Bad Company 2
Uncharted 1
Uncharted 2
Killzone 2
Bayonetta
Darksiders
edit:
Metal Gear Solid 4
Games that I have played a big chunk of, and need to get back to:
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Final Fantasy 13
The Witcher
Game I am currently playing:
Alan Wake
Plus there are a ton of older games that I have, that I haven't either started, or need to come back to. Games like the Lord of the Ring RTS titles, Age of Empires III and its two expansions, Chronicles of Riddick (the new one)... that Star Wars RTS.
Anyway... I am sure there are plenty I missed mentioning.
edit:
Is it depressing that our lives are about this shit hehe.
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I don't doubt the service. From the interviews I've heard of these guys, they really love their GoG website, and are committed to provide great value. I have tremendous respect for the way they have gone about things, and how they haven't whored themselves out. They've actually been honest about their shortcomings as well, which makes me think they are the genuine article. I hope they achieve tremendous success in this as well as their Witcher games.
The point is that I can easily see myself buying atleast 10 GoG games in an instant, if I let myself go...
At the same time, I can also see myself not giving my purchases more than a few minutes each. Plus that money adds up. I'd rather use the $60 I'd spend on 10-15 GoG games on two to three year old PC titles.
There are just so many games out there now... on the consoles as well as the PC that I'd rather spend time with than play games I've already been done with back in the day.
To give you an idea, just off the top of my head, here are games I have installed that I haven't played more than 20 minutes of, that I plan to come back to eventually...
Far Cry 2
Fallout 3
Dragon Age's expansion
Little Big Planet
Games that I haven't even started yet:
Demon Souls
Crysis Warhead
Company of Heroes' 2nd expansion
L4D2
Battlefield Bad Company 2
Uncharted 1
Uncharted 2
Killzone 2
Bayonetta
Darksiders
I haven't even installed Crysis Wars (MP portion of Crysis: Warhead).
Though, I did finish Crysis: Warhead - SP portion.
I liked Far Cry 2, but it could've been better than it was. Side quests are just..."meh" and often repetitive. Main stuff's good, though - and I would've liked to ran into The Jackal more, too. I'm glad they fixed the nasty corrupt saves and rescue buddy bugs that plagued the game.
I ain't even touched Dawn of War - Gold Edition (Disc); Dawn of War: Dark Crusade (Impulse); COH; COH: Opposing Fronts.
Games that I have played a big chunk of, and need to get back to:
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Final Fantasy 13
The Witcher
I ain't finished Batman: AA either...awesome game, though....
Game I am currently playing:
Alan Wake
Plus there are a ton of older games that I have, that I haven't either started, or need to come back to. Games like the Lord of the Ring RTS titles, Age of Empires III and its two expansions, Chronicles of Riddick (the new one)... that Star Wars RTS.
Anyway... I am sure there are plenty I missed mentioning.
edit:
Is it depressing that our lives are about this shit hehe.
I also have LOTR: Conquest; LOTR Online - Mines of Moria: Special Edition; Riddick: Dark Athena (new one); and Star Wars: Empire at War - Gold.
That doesn't even touch some of the other stuff I began but never finished AND stuff I never installed list...
Crazy, eh?
EDIT:
Some of the GOG stuff I ain't even touched includes Dark Star One and Fallout: Tactics.
I'm waiting for Blood 1 and 2 to go on sale...
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edit:
My point was to explain why I am not so interested in GoG... not start a discussion we've already had before on the quality of these games etc. :P
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edit:
My point was to explain why I am not so interested in GoG... not start a discussion we've already had before on the quality of these games etc. :P
I love GOG - but, yeah, I've got a few games from them I ain't even touched; such as Dark Star One and Fallout: Tactics.
I never finished Lionheart (RPG).
Though, Fallout 1 from GOG got a good deal of play from me - awesome game. Ain't finished it, but yeah - when I bought it, it took some of my soul. :P
EDIT:
I would love to see Shadow Warrior join GOG.
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Unlike Baldur's Gate II, the older FO games don't seem to have aged well at all. No, I am obviously not talking about the graphics, or the interface. The actual game is unnecessarily tedious.
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Unlike Baldur's Gate II, the older FO games don't seem to have aged well at all.
Probably b/c natively, FO doesn't support high-res and wide-screen. There's mods out there for that, though.
I dunno, but I don't mind FO's old-school turn-based style. Same goes for Arcanum, as well.
Though, for some reason - I just never really got into TOEE - even w/ the Circle 8 mods out there...
BG2 was great - and still runs on most PC's today, as long as you turn OFF hardware acceleration; same goes for most Infinity Engine games (Planescape: Torment; Icewind Dale games). None of those games have aged, honestly - it's that damn Infinity Engine for you, some of the best 2D RPG'ing ever around. Plus, you can bump that bad-boy BG2 up to higher res's natively - even if they weren't supported by Bioware, Bioware left them there purposely just in case people wanted them for the future...
EDIT:
No, I am obviously not talking about the graphics, or the interface. The actual game is unnecessarily tedious.
What do you think is tedious about it?
The turn-based strategy/RPG part?
The questing?
Random encounters?
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Unlike Baldur's Gate II, the older FO games don't seem to have aged well at all. No, I am obviously not talking about the graphics...
Probably b/c natively, FO doesn't support high-res and wide-screen.
Obviously you missed the very next sentence when I said: No, I am obviously not talking about the graphics...
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Obviously you missed the very next sentence when I said: No, I am obviously not talking about the graphics...
I noticed that in my EDIT and asked you what didn't work for you. :P
So, read my EDIT.
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Do you do this in real life conversations as well? :P :P
D: Hi Noman, good to meet you finally!
Pug: Hi Derick, it is good to fina.....
D: EDIT! EDIT! ALSO NICE TIE YOU ARE WEARING PUG!
Pug: *wtf?*
edit:
One R in Derick.
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Do you do this in real life conversations as well? :P :P
D: Hi Noman, good to meet you finally!
Pug: Hi Derrick, it is good to fina.....
D: EDIT! EDIT! ALSO NICE TIE YOU ARE WEARING PUG!
Pug: *wtf?*
One R in Derick, BTW... :P