The beta period of Good Old Games (GoG for short), the online shop for Good (and GREAT) Old Games from the fine folks at CD Projekt, has started. Having signed up probably around July, when the site first appeared, I was excited that somebody out there realized that many precious old games needed attention, their budget boxes being ignored or tossed around random shops. One time I even bought Jagged Alliance 2 for 2 euros (roughly 1 dollar and a half, dont quote me on that) at a Toys R'Us, with the original carton box and yer olde manual!

Now all of those old games can, or will, be found at GoG.com ready to download, for a price. For launch, the shop's selling mostly stuff from the Interplay Catalogue, with a couple of games from Codemasters. Hot on their list is Fallout 1 & 2, and it is fascinating for me to see new gamers trying out this game thanks to GoG.com. First impressions from newcomers to the series at the site's forums are really positive, these gamers are really giving these games a chance and enjoying them.

They also have both MDKs, the Descent Trilogy, Freespace 1 & 2, Jagged Alliance 2:Unfinished Business (the apparently inferior stand-alone expansion to the original game), Fallout Tactics, Sacrifice, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Messiah, Operation Flashpoint and even the Redneck Rampage games. There are more games, and more coming soon according to the site.

All games are DRM-free and wrapped in EXE installers that will install the game. Every game on the shop is guaranteed to work on Windows XP and Vista, and each game has its own troubleshooting section with known fixes to several issues. With each game bought, you get for free MP3s of the soundtrack, the manual and wallpapers. Things like these make each purchase special, even if the wallpapers are something that could be easily found on the internet.

Another good detail is that each game or each game series has its own forum, and every game has a list posted on the forum by the GoG people with MODs tested to work on their version of the game.

GoG works without any sort of launcher program, the game is yours after you download it and you can run it at will, from any PC you'd like.

I am yet to download a game, but my brother has already purchased Messiah, and it was a swift procedure, and he managed to get all the goodies without a problem.

Hopefully when the beta is over and the shop is open to everybody they'll have even more games to choose. The wish list on the forums is already running wild.

Oh, almost forgot, prices go from $5.99 to $9.99. They have an 1+1 offer, the first game you purchase gives you a free code to an Interplay game.