games  anime  |  toys
Destructoid is gaming news, community, videos, and sometimes love. Take the tour or jump in with Facebook:

 


Good Old Games: Bringing classic PC games to an Internet near you photo

I think CD Projekt might just be my new best friend. Sure, the Polish-based publisher’s announcement of the awesome sounding downloadable game service, Good Old Games, might have influenced the feelings expressed in the previous sentence, but I’ve always liked them, honest!

GOG.com is an on-demand platform that will be stocked with classic PC games. That, in and of itself, is great, but what about it is providing me with that extra oomph of excitement? Firstly, the games will be cheap: priced at either $5.99 or $9.99. Secondly, the games are all guaranteed to work perfectly with Windows XP and Vista (sorry, Mac users), can be downloaded an infinite number of times, and will come with cool extras. Thirdly, and here’s the big one, every game will be completely DRM free. YES! Thank you, CD Projekt, for realizing that people don’t like copy protection in their legitimately purchased digital downloads.

“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,” GOG.com managing director Adam Oldakowski stated. “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.”


So far, most of Good Old Game’s content is coming from Codemasters and Interplay, with titles like Fallout, Fallout 2, Freespace 2, MDK, Operation Flashpoint, and TOCA Race Driver 3 set to make an appearance when the service launches this September. Though if you can’t wait that long, there will be a closed beta starting in August that you can sign up for on the site.

CD Projekt has also revealed that one of their chief goals is to get all of LucasArts' titles added to the service at some point. Why hello there, fans of classic adventure games. Can you see yourself buying a bunch of games you’d previously missed out on once Good Old Games launches?


Continue: More PC stories





prev next

30 comments | showing # 1 to 30

mistic's Avatar
mistic at 07/10/2008 13:45
yeah registered for the beta the moment I saw this in the Clogs :-)
Faceless's Avatar
Faceless at 07/10/2008 13:49
This is exactly how digital distribution should be used. The only thing that could make it better is if all the games would work on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Tertiee's Avatar
Tertiee at 07/10/2008 13:52
To quote Yahtzee "it could only be more awesome if it had tits and was on fire"
moocow21's Avatar
moocow21 at 07/10/2008 13:55
Sounds AWESOME. And it's from CDProjekt Red, the company who made my favorite game of 2007 (the Witcher)!
madninja's Avatar
madninja at 07/10/2008 13:57
Dang, I think I can throw away my discs now.
Dexter345's Avatar
Dexter345 at 07/10/2008 13:57
Maybe now I can finally see what the big deal is about Fallout.
galagabug 's Avatar
galagabug at 07/10/2008 14:05
can be downloaded an infinite number of times, and will come with cool extras. Thirdly, and here’s the big one, every game will be completely DRM

as amazing as all this sounds, how do they plan on getting more than one subscriber? people aren't nice. they'se gonna get raped.
Mr Wilson's Avatar
Mr Wilson at 07/10/2008 14:14
Oh this is going to be ugly...
Necros's Avatar
Necros at 07/10/2008 14:16
Get it to work on Mac and I might be interested in playing some old PC games.
Cosades's Avatar
Cosades at 07/10/2008 14:20
Hell. Yes.
Justin Villasenor's Avatar
Justin Villasenor at 07/10/2008 14:23
@galagabug

I think that if something like this can be successful, it could send a strong message to those publishers that insist on stuffing their games full of pain-in-the-ass DRM.

That being said, I really hope gamers at large can come to the same realization and learn to support a good thing when it comes along.
graphic's Avatar
graphic at 07/10/2008 14:48
People payed for that radiohead album, so they´ll probably pay for operation flashpoint and fallout. I know I will.
Doomtrain's Avatar
Doomtrain at 07/10/2008 14:59
Needs more Mac games.
Doomtrain's Avatar
Doomtrain at 07/10/2008 15:02
I just looked at the website.

It's deigned so Mac like. They even have agoddamn Apple monitor, with default Leopard wallpaper behind a generic Aqau window.

What. The. Fuck. Throw us a bone here.
dtomek's Avatar
dtomek at 07/10/2008 15:04
I dunno about getting in on games that I missed as I hit up most of the gems already. However, having lost almost all of said gems, I most certainly will be RE-hitting up some of these. A lot of them from the looks of it...especially if lucas gets in on this.
Timmy the cat's Avatar
Timmy the cat at 07/10/2008 15:08
I was just (last week) thinking how rad it would be to play tie fighter/x-wing again, oh to play them again one more time.
KamikazeTutor's Avatar
KamikazeTutor at 07/10/2008 15:20
On-demand services suck because they never get out of the US quickly enough.
I'm still waiting for f*cking GameTap to come to Europe.
At least let me login and play the free games goddamnit!
Timmeh's Avatar
Timmeh at 07/10/2008 15:27
This is fucking awesome news, although I've got a lot of the 'classic' PC games {most even legit).

If this takes off it'll really be a kick in the face for all the dickheads that whine about piracy ruining them, showing that quality really is a bigger incentive than any retarded-DRM they can shove on a disc when it comes to getting people to the checkout.
Yashoki's Avatar
Yashoki at 07/10/2008 15:42
I'll see how the service is before I stick my dick in it. I'd much rather just have these games on steam. The whole having all your games on one program would be nice.
JynxShot's Avatar
JynxShot at 07/10/2008 16:08
I saw Fallout 1 and 2 and became excited.
I saw Sacrifice and shouted out with joy.
I saw Giants, and now I will subscribe.
Capn Birdseye's Avatar
Capn Birdseye at 07/10/2008 16:13
Bring QFG5 and some of the sierra ones to the service and they have a customer. You can't buy that anywhere except on ebay now.
MechaMonkey's Avatar
MechaMonkey at 07/10/2008 16:32
Yeah, sure, I'm in.
Batthink's Avatar
Batthink at 07/10/2008 16:50
I maybe interested. Need to check this out.
UglyDuck's Avatar
UglyDuck at 07/10/2008 16:58
Giants and Sacrifice look great, it's nice to see those games getting another chance at appreciation, but why are there racing games in there? Seriously, what the hell are they going to offer anyone that the millions of billions of other racing games out there don't?

And then there's MDK, which has been developed and published by no less than 10 different companies over the course of it's lifetime, and now there's another one to add to the list.
Blackhat's Avatar
Blackhat at 07/10/2008 18:38
I actually still have a copy of Sacrifice, and just loaned it to a friend.

This looks really interesting. As has been mentioned it'd be nice to have this on steam so-as to use one thing to get them all, but still. Rock on!
Jetsetlemming's Avatar
Jetsetlemming at 07/10/2008 19:28
Fallout: Tactics, Freespace 2, Giants: Citizen Kabuto? Do want.

@Galagabug:
All of these games are already available on the internet to pirate if you're so inclined. Including DRM in these releases would be closing the barn door a decade after the horses got out. It would help nothing, and hurt the consumer. It's very smart of them to leave them DRM-free.
jsutcliffe's Avatar
jsutcliffe at 07/10/2008 19:34
Oh man, this is pretty much exactly what I want. I'd love to buy older games, but worries about Vista compatibility are a turn-off. I'd totally dig another playthrough of Freespace 2, and I never really gave Sacrifice a good go -- my PC at the time couldn't handle it so well.

Besides, anything that gets Giants into more people's hands is good with me. That game was awesome, and as British as afternoon tea. I'll keep my fingers crossed for the beta.

@uglyphil - I believe TOCA 3 and McRae 2005 are the best of each series. They've aged pretty well too - TOCA 3 still looks ace.

@timmy the cat: Holy crap - I hadn't thought of the non-adventure Lucasarts games. X-Wing and TIE Fighter were two of the first PC games I played, and I loved them to death. Another playthrough would be very welcome. Wonder if Alliance will be included -- I never got a chance to play that one. Ooh - and maybe the first two Dark Forces games will be there, too. They look like hell now but the level design was golden.

I am officially excited. I love cheap games.
Kurtz's Avatar
Kurtz at 07/11/2008 03:28
Well, it may actually work, I believe their audience will be "old kids turned 30 something" replaying the games for the nostalgia factor...

Quoting: "1. We’ve got games your 10-year-old won’t be better at."

I mean, people with jobs that won't mind paying 10 bucks, I can't really see a halo kid getting excited for fallout or sacrifie...
Eschatos's Avatar
Eschatos at 07/11/2008 13:32
Officially, DO WANT
KorJax's Avatar
KorJax at 07/11/2008 17:21
There is a few bad problems with this:

1. Some of these games are legally freeware. Freespace 2 can be leagally downloaded on the internet. Sure it's conisdered "Abandonware" (as the company no longer exists), but in the EULA for Freespace 2 itself it says you can distribute the game freely (?!).

2. Doesn't Gametap already do this, for cheaper AND more? You can download several titles like Deus Ex GOTY edition for free on Gametap, and subscribe to them to get a VERY large library of classic games.
prev next

Comment with Facebook





Click connect and comment instantly!

Comment with Dtoid





New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds

Comments policy

Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?

Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!

 
New on Destructoid.TV play all videos

Loading
Loading Destructoid Videos




    Win this!
    Reminder: We're giving away six copies of Magnacarta 2!



    Dtoid Twitter    Got news?   tips@destructoid.com

    Reviews & Previews
    Mahjongg Artifacts 2 review
    Dragon Age: Origins review
    Lost Winds: The Winter of the Melodias review
    Osmos review
    Space Invaders Extreme 2 review
    Half-Minute Hero review
    JU-ON: The Grudge review
    Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble review
    Thexder Neo review
    Domino Rally review
    more reviews
    PS3's 256-player MAG
    Rooms The Main Building
    Skate 3
    Hudson's bringing back the Bonk
    James Cameron's Avatar
    Bomberman Battlefest
    Calling
    Bad Company 2's multiplayer
    Partying like it's 1959 in BioShock 2's multiplayer
    BioShock 2 through the eyes of Big Daddy
    more previews


    - The Dtoid Army is 49658 strong -

    Showing Cblogs with 3+ faps   show all

    Call for entries: do the wrong thing

    New to Dtoid? Read the survival guide




     Originals
    Jim Sterling: How to respond to a videogame review





















    More Destructoid Originals




     Popular now more






















    Team Destructoid   tips@destructoid.com
    Nick Chester
    Editor-in-Chief
    Niero
    Founder, publisher
    Jim Sterling
    Reviews Editor
    Hamza Aziz
    Community Manager
    Dale North
    News Editor
    Rey Gutierrez
    Video editor & director
    Anthony Burch
    Features Editor
    Colette Bennett
    Tom Fronczak Brad Nicholson
    Ashley Davis Ben Perlee
    Conrad
    Zimmerman
    Chad Concelmo
    Jonathan Holmes Jonathan Ross
    Brad Rice Jordan Devore
    Will Maddock Matthew Razak
    Dyson Joseph Leray
    Topher Cantler Samit Sarkar
         
      Adam Dork
    Daniel Lingen
    Joe Burling
    Mikey
    Stella Wong




     

     
      get involved

    register or login
    post a blog
    post a forum
    enter a contest
    contribute a news tip
    suggest a feature
    be a guest editor
    support

    new member's guide
    login assistance
    tech support
    report abuse
    email our editors
    read our dev blog
    nuclear crisis?
    keep in touch

    RSS feed
    Twitter
    Facebook
    Myspace
    Flickr
    Game nights
    Meetup+play online
    seriously

    about Destructoid
    advertising
    terms of use
    privacy policy
    jobs at MM
    buy our crap
    our network

    Tomopop
    Japanator
    Despingation?




    Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press
    living the dream since March 16, 2006