Good Old Games Message Board

GOG.com (aka Good Old Games) has announced plans to bring some portion of its catalogue of classic PC and Mac video games to the increasingly well-supported Linux platform.

Though not immediately available, this morning's announcement claims that GOG will enter the Linux market at some point this Fall. "We're initially going to be launching our Linux support on GOG.com with the full GOG.com treatment for Ubuntu and Mint," the announcement stated. "That means that right now, we're hammering away at testing games on a variety of configurations, training up our teams on Linux-speak, and generally getting geared up for a big kick-off in the fall with at least 100 Linux games ready for you to play."

Among those 100 are games already available to Linux, but the announcement claims that GOG.com will also play host to "a variety of classics that are, for the first time, officially supported and maintained by a storefront like ours."

Unfortunately, the announcement offers no specifics on exactly which games we might see available on Linux. Not out of malice or subterfuge, but because the team working on Linux support hasn't yet nailed down which games it will be working on. Presumably we'll hear more about the full slate of games on offer as we move closer to the program's launch this Fall. [Image: Linux.org]

When a Flare Path Friday falls on Chinese New Year, it’s traditional for all the stories to be Sino centred. Back in 1997 that meant coverage of Taiwan invasion TBS 以臺海兩岸緊張, thoughts on Ding Ding, a work-in-progress Hong Kong tramway sim, and an interview with Implicit Sextant, the team behind heavenly 14th Century fireworks sandbox, The Fire Drake of Fuzhou. Today it means Silent Service II patrols in the South China Sea, and a swift inspection of Just Trains’ new SS7C CR electric loco. (more…)

Harebrained Schemes has announced plans to sell all future copies of Shadowrun Returns (as well as its upcoming expansions) sans pesky digital rights management schemes.

"Thanks to a new agreement we were able to negotiate with our partners at Microsoft, Harebrained Schemes is pleased to announce that we are now able to release fully DRM-free versions of Shadowrun Returns and future expansions such as Berlin," reads a message on the Shadowrun Returns Kickstarter page.

Other than the removal of DRM, Harebrained Schemes assures fans that these new copies of Shadowrun Returns will receive the same level of developer support as any other version of the game. "You'll be able to download all game patches, use the Shadowrun Returns editor and experience user-generated content downloaded from third-party sites such as Nexus," the message states.

Those few who ignored our glowing 4/5 star review and still haven't played Shadowrun Returns may have another chance to pick up the game when it makes its Good Old Games debut. Harebrained Schemes is currently working toward this goal, though there is as yet no word on when or if the game might hit GOG.

Scoring cheap games is a noble pursuit, charity doubly so. Now, thanks to Good Old Games, you can tick off both boxes simultaneously.

GOG recently hit its five-year anniversary, and to celebrate, the classic game distribution service is offering players the chance to download three games from its collection for only $5. Throwing more cash toward GOG won't increase the number of games you earn, but it should give you a case of the warm fuzzies from helping your fellow human beings.

Full details, including which charities are involved, can be found on the official GOG website. There is currently no word on when (or if) this charity promotion will end, but if you'd like to take advantage, we'd suggest doing so sooner, rather than later. There's no telling when the orphanage might run out of porridge.

Good Old Games is hosting a weekend-long sale on Ubisoft's digital catalog, giving up to a 60 percent discount on featured games like Rayman Origins, Beyond Good & Evil, and the Prince of Persia Sands of Time trilogy.

All 54 games can be purchased together for $163.56, offering over $80 in savings over purchasing them individually at their regular prices. If, for whatever reason, you don't feel like you need all eleven Might & Magic games on offer, the bundle can be customized to include as many or as few games as desired. The sale extends through Monday, November 4.

Today in Dumb Yet Hilarious Publicity Stunts, here's online gaming store Good Old Games honoring the U.S. government shutdown with a special sale.Read more...

Good Old Games continues its fifth anniversary sale-abration with a new collection of limited-time promotional discounts. This week, the service spotlights the Wing Commander series and a varied lineup of PC role-playing games.

GOG's September RPG Special drops the price of many lengthy adventure games, including Wizardry 8, System Shock 2, Vampire the Masquerade: Redemption, and Divinity 2: Developer's Cut. The full 18-game collection can be purchased for $72.62, which breaks down to approximately one-hundredth of a penny per hour of gameplay.

Good Old Games also hosts a sale on the Wing Commander games, bringing steep discounts for the four main series entries, Wing Commander: Academy, and Wing Commander: Privateer. All six games are available in a bundle priced at $16.75.

Fans of classic PC games may also want to check out Flight of the Amazon Queen, which GOG is offering up as a free download this week.

BUY VIDEOGAMES BUY ALL THE VIDEOGAMES BUY THEM FOREVER…

…is what someone who works at videogame download service might say. I don’t work at one of those, so I don’t really know why I’m saying it. I suppose I’m generally in favour of the buying of videogames, however. I’m also in favour of videogames being affordable, so the last gasp of mad discounting in the current GoG Summer Sale prompts me to raise a grubby thumb in approval. You’ve around 20 hours left to obtain the likes of The Witcher 2, Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, Dungeon Keeper, Retro City Rampage and Syndicate for $cheap.(more…)

Wakey-wakey, rise and spend! Jackie is blowing her utility trumpet because she wants the world to know that three old wargames have just had their prices slashed. As conveying detailed sale information with valveless brass instruments is notoriously tricky, it will be left up to Jackie’s assistant Jean (Out of picture. Armed with a Glockenspiel 17.) to explain that the games in question are John Tiller’s Battleground Civil War, Forge of Freedom: The American Civil War and The Great Battles Collector’s Edition. (more…)

"Old" may no longer be a requirement for admission to the Good Old Games vault, but we're glad to see that "good" still makes the cut. The Longest Journey's sequel, Dreamfall, open world shooter Far Cry 2, and Remedy's Alan Wake's American Nightmare have arrived on the service, and are now available at $15 or less.

Other recent updates include a few other, properly old games like Torin's Passage, the Quest for Glory series, and Silver.

Good Old Games is hosting an Interplay 50 percent off sale this weekend, cutting the prices of 32 games right in half. Or, as we like to call it, this is GOG's "buy 16 games, get 16 games free" sale.

The sale includes Fallout 2, Earthworm Jim 1 and 2, MDK, Freespace and Invictus: In the Shadow of Olympus, for $3 each. Every title is $3, actually, making the entire bundle $96 -- a savings of $96. Yes, that's what we meant with "buy 16, get 16 free." This could also be the "buy one, get two half off" sale, or the "buy 8, get 16 half off" sale. Take your pick; any way they're all good old games for a great new price.

The sale runs from now until Monday at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

For the next two days, the classic post-apocalyptic RPG Fallout will be a free download from Good Old Games. Looks like it's time to explore the wastes again. More »

It seems like a good old weekend to play some good old games, and luckily there's a website dedicated to supporting exactly that. This weekend, GOG has a mad rush of Zork titles and other "Activision Treasures" on sale, including Zork: Grand Inquisitor, Zork Nemesis: The Forbidden Lands, Return to Zork and The Zork Anthology, which has Zork 1-3, Beyond Zork, Zork Zero and Planetfall.

All Zorky titles are half off, for $3 each this weekend, along with Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, Caesar 3 and Vampire the Masquerade: Redemption, the last of which we hear was recently rebooted as an open-world western. Or, wait. That may have been something else entirely.

#legendofgrimrock The nice folks at GOG.com were so excited to Almost human's Legend of Grimrock in our PC Indie Spotlight they spontaneously expelled 15 codes for the full game. I'm not touching them. I don't know where they've been. More »

Good Old Games is gone. But GOG.com continues on. In light of their starting to take orders for more recent games, the words are gone from their name and only the acronym remains. This comes alongside their new frontpage, the news that they’ll be aiming to add three games a week instead of two, an improved downloader, and the addition of The Whispered World, Trine, and the soon-to-be-added Machinarium, Darwinia and Spacechem. Oh, and they’re taking pre-orders for the Dungeon Master inspired Legend Of Grimrock. So where does this leave their identity?

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Everyone has at some point taken a pop at the first G of GOG’s acronym. Megarace? Postal 2? Alone In The Dark 4? Then just when you want to campaign they should just call it “Old Games”, they bring us a Syndicate, a Thief, a Deus Ex. So today’s announcement? Which way will it go? Up or down? Great or hate?

Pllrrrrrbbbbbbbbb. The 7th Bloody Guest.

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Now that my initial excitement has waned to a deep, purple coloured throb in the centre of my soul, the stark reality of GOG.com‘s Thief port has settled in. It runs, which is the big step up from my original version, but it’s not widescreen, the resolution is stamp sized, and it’s a bit grimy. Fret not, lovely Taffers, for I’m about to tell you how to make it work. And it’s ridiculously simple.(more…)

1998's much-lauded PC stealth game Thief has arrived at Good Old Games, where it can be downloaded for $9.99. Thief is widely to be one of the most innovative, standard-setting sneaking games ever made. More »

I can’t believe that writing about a 14 year-old game is getting both me and Adam so excited (He: “This is the best thing ever!”), but Looking Glass’s genre-defining classic Thief is now available to download on Good Old Games. I’m downloading it right now, Taffer.(more…)

Check the Earth for giant cracks, while demons ride high above the clouds, their red wings raining down fire, because the original Bullfrog Syndicate is to be available once again, via the magic of Good Old Games.

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Expect plenty more of these kinds of updates leading up to Wednesday’s web-wide SOPA protests: it’s an enormously important issue for the future of the internet and everyone who uses it, so we’re giving it our all.

Also declaring themselves strongly against the online culture-trashing folly today are Minecraft-makers Mojang, who intend to make a right old song and dance about SOPA next week, NVIDIA, Trine chaps Frozenbyte and retromancers Good Old Games. Positions, statements and protests below.(more…)

The thing that I posted about last week, with the free copy of Empire Earth Gold and the 50% off most everything in the Good Old Games back catalogue, is happening right now. So if you somehow have any money left after having been repeatedly mugged by indie bundles, here’s where to go. Off you go. Why yes, I am watching as you walk. That’s a nice wiggle you’ve got there, sweetheart.

I remember Empire Earth quite fondly. I think I scored it 80-something percent in one of my earliest PC gamer reviews. Wonder how it holds up today? The game, not the review. The review is almost certainly terrible.

As I believe Jim wryly observed the other day, increasingly blogging about non-mainstream games entails blogging about non-mainstream games’ business strategies. It’s bundles, sales and more bundles as far as the eye can see at the moment, and latest to join the ranks of those appealing to the light-walleted is retromancery central Good Old Games.

Come Thursday, they’re knocking 40% off the price of The Witcher 2 (thus dropping it to £14.99/$23.99) and lobbing in a free copy of the Witcher 1:EE to boot. I believe this is about the best price there’s been for Witcher 2 so far right, at least for digital versions? Then come next Monday (12 Dec), they’re making olden strategy epic Empire Earth Gold Edition free for 48 hours, and slicing 50% off almost all the retro games in their catalogue. So you’ll want to go and lurk like a bargain-crazed pervert on GoG.com round about then. Full details here.

During the CD Projekt Red Investor's Day conference in Poland today, GOG managing director Guillaume Rambourg announced an "audacious plan" to bolster the DRM-free retailer with the addition of new games, following the success of The Witcher 2 on the service.

"Traditionally, GOG.com has looked for great classics that are three years old or older," he said. "We will continue to add classic games, of course, but we are actively working to sign newer titles now." Rambourg noted that the newer games will cost more than most GOG releases --$13.99 to $16.99, but that the company plans to maintain its DRM-free model. The low prices suggest that these won't be brand new games, but simply games more recent than GOG's current three-year cutoff period.

According to a translation of GOG's action plan, the company's goal is to be the number two PC digital distribution platform. It's already the number one platform in our minds, whenever we think about old adventure games. Isn't that enough?

Good Old Games have certainly built themselves a brand. Over the last few years the Polish project has leapt forward from offering a few provincial classics to a really impressive catalogue of games that made the 90s and early 00s interesting. Clearly they’ve been letting in many more recent games of late, with Fahrenheit appearing last week for example. And they used it to launch their own game, The Witcher 2, earlier this year. But it seems they want to expand even further, going directly into competition with the likes of Steam, Impulse, GamersGate or Origin. Which is always a bold step, but one made much more interesting when you consider their DRM-free requirement.

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After earlier reports indicated ongoing negotiations over the availability of action-adventure classic Little Big Adventure, the game suddenly appeared on Good Old Games this morning. Its sequel, however, remains absent, though we can't imagine that'll stay the case for much longer. Regardless, for $5.99, you can head back into Twinsun and get your 1994 on starting right now. Hot dog!

In games-that-I-never-got news, everyone else in the whole world will be delighted to learn that both Little Big Adventures have been secured by Good Old Games. The French adventure platform things have always been adored, but I remember bouncing right off them on repeated attempts to join the cheerful crowds. Perhaps I’ll give them yet another go, now they’re all set up to play on modern machines. GOG have the first game up now, for a very steep $6 (I really think it’s time GOG considered bringing in a lower price point for games this old, bearing in mind they’ve been resold on budget labels at much lower prices for years). The sequel, they say, is coming soon.

You all did your part in downloading a ton of stuff from Good Old Games. Now, after the goal of six million downloads has been achieved, it's GOG's turn to reciprocate and give everyone Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars for free, until October 1 at 7:59 AM EDT.

Even better, you'll actually sort of get two copies of Broken Sword for free. The GOG version includes both the remastered Director's Cut, with an exclusive extra chapter, and the original version, in case you don't like your Broken Swords all fixed up.

When Good Old Games released their first batch of EA games, it seemed pretty odd that the Wing Commander included was Privateer. Fortunately they’ve now righted that wrong by previously sticking up Wing Commanders 1 and 2 for $6 for the pair, and today they’ve added the most famous of the series, Wing Commander III: Heart Of The Tiger. Or as it’s more commonly known, The One With Mark Hamill In It.

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#sfw If these two aren't the most hugged girls at PAX 2011, well, shame on all of you. Shame. But kudos to Good Old Games, for their clever casting, both eye-catching and well within the bounds of PAX's costumed booth-representative policy. More »