Good Old Games download service

[Nak Nak the Merciless]

CD Projekt are starting a download service for old games such as Fallout, Jagged Alliance, MDK etc. I think this is a great idea, especially since it seems like they have access to source codes and can make the games run well on modern systems. I see lots of potential if more publishers sign up to it:
http://www.gog.com/en/intro

Interview:
http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=914

This quote makes me very excited (SYNDICATE!):

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.

 

[Skyrage]

****. Me. Slowly.

Twice.

Tie Fighter, Dungeon Keeper, Syndicate, Wing Commander. And a ****load of more??? For 10 bucks at most?? Made XP/Vista compatible???

Holy **** I'm so gonna go on a shopping spree when this site takes off!

 

[Archonsod]

I was playing Dungeon Keeper on Vista last night, it doesn't need to be made compatible (although increasing the supported resolutions would be nice).

Big problem I can see with that service is competition from E-Bay. I mean, ten bucks to download Syndicate, or one quid plus postage...

 

[Darian]

[me=Darian]makes pseudo-erotic drooling noises[/me]

DO WANT. The total absence of DRM makes this an even more attractive option than Steam or GameTap--if the service dies years from now I wouldn't have to use a crack to get a game working. Not having to have a client running is another plus. I do hope they add some free titles at some point--it guarantees a ton of free publicity and means the publisher can reawaken interest in an old franchise with a negligible investment. I would expect some publishers will offer the first game in a series free to entice purchases of later games.

Big problem I can see with that service is competition from E-Bay. I mean, ten bucks to download Syndicate, or one quid plus postage...

While that works fine for some games, many older titles simply don't work properly on XP and Vista without a lot of effort. The Titanium versions of the MechWarrior 2 trilogy, for instance, require an obscure fan patch in order to gain partial functionality, and even then the music only plays if the CD is in drive D, and non-Titanium versions require completely different patches or simply don't work. Many other games simply don't work no matter what you do, or run with major flaws (e.g. the striped sky in Daytona USA). Some people have even gone as far as having a DOS/Windows 95 partition or separate computer just to gain compatibility with various games that refuse to run.

Since it seems they'll have some degree of access to the code(?) there's also the possibility of adding bug fixes and higher resolutions and so forth to make titles more marketable on modern systems--several GameTap titles (such as Arx Fatalis) have improvements that aren't available for the original retail versions. They might even update games that use now-dead multiplayer services to instead work with GameSpy Arcade or the like. Since GOG titles apparently have no DRM it's possible that the updated EXEs could give the originals some or all of these benefits, but I wouldn't hold onto any hope for that.

EDIT: there's also the immediacy factor. I click the button, give my credit card details, and the game zooms onto my hard drive. The games they're offering are tiny compared to the average demo these days (Crysis and The Witcher had demos larger than 1 GB) so the download will be fast even on a poor connection. With a short wait I could have that obscure/rare/old game in my hands (so to speak) and be playing it, without having to worry about delays for shipping the second-hand copy and then finding out it's got a couple of scratches that make it a coaster or gets angry that I mistyped the serial number or refuses to install because it thinks I have Windows NT.

 

[Local]

Thats kick ass,

Great find.

+++LocaL+++

 

[Gundato]

Sounds good, I will most likely look into this when the time comes.

However, I have a sneaking suspicion that this will be more like the Steam version of DOOM than a full out patch. ie. Wing Commander will come with an integrated DOS emulator (probably everyone's favorite box :p). But if they can figure out how the feth to get Star Crusader working (even in DOSBox), then I will be handing money over faster than you can say "How the hell do I scan stuff?"

 

[TehGherkin]

Thats kick ass,

Great find.

+++LocaL+++

I'm so glad you put your name at the bottom of all your posts otherwise I'd never know it was you.

 

[Sir Prince]

Nice! Looking forward to it.

 

[Local]

I'm so glad you put your name at the bottom of all your posts otherwise I'd never know it was you.

Glad i could help with your disability, Seriously big ****ing deal get over it you queen,

+++LocaL+++

 

[Redcoat-Mic]

You hate getting along with people don't you.

 

[Local]

You hate getting along with people don't you.

Of course.

+++LocaL+++

 

[phbbbt107]

You hate getting along with people don't you.

Of course.

+++LocaL+++

I think Local's just trying to be snarky. Of course, he's not particularly funny, either.

 

[Volkier]

TehGerkin - Local was rightfully annoyed at your need-less attempt at a flame-bait. You have been issued a warning.

Local - Whilst TehGerkin was in the wrong, your heated reply was still un-necessary. You have been issued a warning (although on a lower scale)

Everyone Else - I don't give a crap what problem you may have amongst each other. Teaming up in flame wars will get people banned. So will carrying on in this manner - reasons explained below.

Whilst I do believe you guys are mature enough to keep the flames on a 'joke' level, and whilst I would have probably over-looked this completely, reporting an attempt at a flame-bait of which you are part of, is not too intelligent. I guess you proved me wrong.

 

[phbbbt107]

Is there a list of confirmed games or something right now?

 

[Boomie]

Egad! They'll be selling Dungeon Keeper 1 and 2? *faints*

 

[Skyrage]

Well, the beta site is released and I got my key today and the site looks rather impressive so far. Not too many games available yet but the list is bound to grow

 

[Gundato]

Will probably be picking up Descent (1 and 2) and Die By The Sword when I get home. Has anyone actually heard about how compatible this stuff is? ie. Is it like Steam's DOOM (which used DOSBox, if I recall correctly) or did they actually write patches and the like?

 

[Gundato]

Hate to double post, but to answer my own question:

Some games they use DOSBox, others they use other open source software, and for a lot of games they code their own patch/frontend/whatever to get it to run. Shattered Steel for example is pure DOSBox (albeit, preconfigured and with a utility to set the graphics up without .ini editing).

 

[Ollieh]

Bought Fallout II from there for 6 bucks. Also got an extra free game of my choosing, gotta love that site.
You also get free soundtracks etc. after buying a game (for those interested)

 

[Gundato]

Well, not every game comes with uber-shiny stuff. But they do all seem to come with the documentation that came with the actual game (manuals, reference cards, maps, etc).