Goodbye GOG.com

[Majek]

Well those that quit will be replaced by new people. Who cares.

 

entrerix you're nuts.

 

And both Crusaders works fine on Dosbox for me.

[RPGmasterBoo]

Storm in a teacup. I don't see why everyone is going emo over it.

 

I was fooled but I expected to be able to DL my games once again - as was promised. Seeing as how it wasn't true, I don't see why everyone is having a nerd rage. It smells like emotional insecurity. It smells like... a new Bioware romance plot.

[Purkake]

It may not be cool, but .... while there are some things that companies could do that would make me 'quit' them, a bad PR/transition move isn't one of them. (edit:I've seen a lot of ppl on Twitter claiming they'd quit GoG over this, which I think is a bit of an over-reaction)

I'm not saying I will quit them, considering that I haven't really used it all that much in the first place. If I see something I want, I'll buy it. My point was that all this left a sour taste in my mouth.

 

It seems that very few companies understand the power of goodwill. Putting out free stuff for Team Fortress 2 has gotten Valve a ton of free advertising, for example. The fickle internet masses do wield a considerable amount of power.

Edited September 22, 2010 by Purkake

[entrerix]

entrerix you're nuts.

 

And both Crusaders works fine on Dosbox for me.

 

 

????

 

wahhhhhhh!?!11??

 

explain! (explain me as nuts - Im not saying I disagree, I'm just curious what tipped you off...

 

also: i have tried on 3 seperate occasions to get crusader going on dosbox with no luck. xcom works like a charm, tie fighter worked after a LOT of mucking with it, but crusader just crashes immediately every time for me. I've spent probably 6 hours of my life trying to get that game to work over the years.

[Majek]

nuts in expecting ea to sell Origin games in the first place :D

 

Well Crusaders didn't work in the past Dosbox versions but i have been running them fine for about 2 years, version 0.70 or 0.71 i think. Made isos from my originals, mounted, installed, set sound and ran it. Played through both twice.

[Humodour]

Along with going out of beta after two years of service, they have two major items to announce: a new design and features, and the release of Baldur's Gate complete with expansion and lots of extras, selling for $9.99. Given this is the game that helped make their publishing business famous, they're extremely pleased about it. As for other RPGs with the D&D license: "the answer is yes."

 

I forgive them already!

 

DRM is still banned from GOG, so you'll be able to get your RPG on without any hassle. In fact, they're surprised anyone suspected otherwise.

 

[...]

 

One new "feature" users will love is the server upgrade: now GOG.com will be able handle much more traffic and with greater speed.

 

Sweeeeeeeeet.

 

Source with screenshots: http://www.neoseeker.com/news/14952-good-o...h-baldurs-gate/

[Humodour]

Interestingly, GOG have now clearly stated in no uncertain terms they "want to be the number 1 competitor to Steam". Awesome.

 

Management also confirmed that GOG was not acquired. "Our monastery is pretty well-funded these days," said Iwinski. "We are back and we believe we are stronger and healthier than ever."

Edited September 22, 2010 by Krezack

[Zoraptor]

Not exactly. Someone claimed that he wrote back in an email and said that they would likely do what you say. Oh, and,as fas as I know, the original post/email is missing so no-one can verify this.

Yeah...vague statements like that I don't find very comforting. To me it sounds like "If it comes, we hope we can, but in the end, who knows." So it's a fear of mine, with things like Steam, as well. Not a huge one, but it's always in the back of my mind, making it difficult for me get on the Steam-like bandwagon.

To be clear, the statement (if it were ever made) was patent rubbish. There are a host of circumstances- eg get sold or go bankrupt- where you'd have zero say on what happens; your administrators/ new owners can close it down, turn it into a subscription model or whatever and there's nothing you could do about it. In fact, if you were going bankrupt and 'jailbroke' all the games you'd almost certainly be criminally liable for deliberately decreasing the value of the company's assets. They'd pretty much need to be both closing down voluntarily and to have got the prior consent of every publisher and developer to do what they claim.

 

That's not just true of Steam, of course. GoG's a lot more safe though because so long as you've backed up properly there's no dial home at all.

[Gfted1]

So, just to get the stupid questions out of my system, the games GoG sells are already fully patched and guaranteed to work in modern systems and OS's? I already saw BG is speced to work in Win7 x32 and x64, is that the case with most/all games?

[Deadly_Nightshade]

...is that the case with most/all games?

 

Yep!

[TheHarlequin]

As much as how frustrating of a tease this is, I'd have to say that this marketing stunt, whatever it might hold, has been incredibly effective. It's made everyone jump up and take notice... exactly what PR campaigns are designed to do. Granted, it's quite a jarring thing to do, but nonetheless effective.

Imagine if Steam had done this. The world would have ended. HAHA

 

 

Actually this is a valid concern of mine... if Value or Stardock pulls a DNF and ends up in chapter 8 (lets just say for the sake of the discussion it happens, not debating the odds of such) what happens to those of us that have bought games on the service? With impulse at least I can archive the installed games and reinstall them locally as long as I got a copy of impulse still to manage such. Steam from my understanding if the service goes down the games stop working... While I bought many games via impulse and I had to install steam for civ5 (don't get me started on that) I am very apprehensive of this model. As you have a vest interest in the company staying afloat. If it does not you just lost all those games you bought.

 

Valve already have a system in place, should this happen with Steam.

 

Which is...? Not very informative nor reassuring...

 

THe CEO released a statement about it awhile ago. Something to the extent of "in case of catastrophe, Steam has a number of back up plans to make the games available."

 

So even more vague, ambiguous non-verifiable comments are supposed to make me feel better? Wow.. you are not hard to reassure! I OTOH require something of substance.. like facts and details.

[Hurlshort]

I'd be more concerned if Valve wasn't such an extremely successful company. They aren't going to just implode someday. There is a chance they will shift business models, like WalMart did with their music store, but I believe it is in their best interest not to burn all their customers. I also don't care about my game collection that much and don't expect it to last me for decades.

[RPGmasterBoo]

So even more vague, ambiguous non-verifiable comments are supposed to make me feel better? Wow.. you are not hard to reassure! I OTOH require something of substance.. like facts and details.

 

The point is you're screwed and no one will guarantee you anything - so don't bother to ask. If its not a hard copy, in 3 separate copies, in a vault, 300 feet underground - its not safe.

 

Why the hell did you buy a product you knew was virtual in the first place?

[Hurlshort]

The other day I came across my copy of NHL '94 for the Super Nintendo. It was a nice little bit of reminiscence, but in the end I threw it away. I have no Super Nintendo, it's old technology, and time has marched on. I went out and bought NHL '11.

[Gfted1]

^Should have sold it on Ebay.

 

I caved to the sirens song that is cheap games and joined GoG. Dont know what Ill buy but seeing $9.99 for BG w/ TotSC and $5.99 for Arcanum was just too much to pass up.

[LadyCrimson]

I assume they were up again for a while? Because I can't get the site to load at the moment. .... ah, nvm there it goes...server maintenance.

 

2nd edit: Can't wait to get BG...I still only have the original disc set where you had to switch discs in-game. heheh It'll be nice to have a copy that'll run on modern machines/no discs!

Edited September 23, 2010 by LadyCrimson

[Thorton_AP]

You could always do a full install which stopped disc swapping IIRC.

[Enoch]

I assume they were up again for a while? Because I can't get the site to load at the moment. .... ah, nvm there it goes...server maintenance.

 

2nd edit: Can't wait to get BG...I still only have the original disc set where you had to switch discs in-game. heheh It'll be nice to have a copy that'll run on modern machines/no discs!

I'm pretty sure that the installer on the BG1 disc version supports a full install. If you do that, the only disc check you have to deal with is the one when you launch the game. I can't speak to OS-compatibility other than that I got it running fine on Vistax32.

 

Hopefully, the GOG version will include support for higher resolutions. The "Complete Saga" 3-disc version doesn't work with the general IE widescreen mod; I was only able to get BG1 working at higher than 640X480 by installing one of the BG2-conversion mods (Tutu or the BG Trilogy).

[HoonDing]

Big negative for GoG is that in some cases you can't get a game without certain fanmade patches/mods already pre-installed. They should make those optional for download.

 

Not to mention, how they remove the DRM is sometimes... questionable. I recall some drama about them using a reloaded crack of Arcanum a couple of months back.

[Humodour]

Not to mention, how they remove the DRM is sometimes... questionable. I recall some drama about them using a reloaded crack of Arcanum a couple of months back.

 

Yes, but this is the same thing the major game publishers do too.

[Hassat Hunter]

Heh, I got the 4-pack of Baldur's Gate for 10 euro a LOOOOOOONG time ago, so it doesn't sound that cheap to me.

 

Of course that still requires the disk (but since it's all DVD's not diskswapping) and the patches weren't installed (not even supplied on the disk! What the?)...

Works fine for me (XP though). BG1 refused to run until I patched it though.

[TheHarlequin]

I'd be more concerned if Valve wasn't such an extremely successful company. They aren't going to just implode someday.

 

If I was a betting man I'd say the investors of lehman brothers, enron (and the rest) said the same thing 24hrs before they went belly up to...

Edited September 23, 2010 by TheHarlequin

[TheHarlequin]

The other day I came across my copy of NHL '94 for the Super Nintendo. It was a nice little bit of reminiscence, but in the end I threw it away. I have no Super Nintendo, it's old technology, and time has marched on. I went out and bought NHL '11.

 

Now your just talking apples and oranges.. Did I sayI want to retain the games for 20 yrs? However newish games that are 12 months or less old that are still viable is what I am referring too...

[TheHarlequin]

Why the hell did you buy a product you knew was virtual in the first place?

 

You fail reading comprehension so I'll repeat... I said impulse lets your back up/install your games off line and thats the service I use. However civ5 REQUIRES you to install and use steam. Never said I use the service for anything else. Which I don't. Does not keep me from pointing out the flaw I see in it however.

[LadyCrimson]

I'm pretty sure that the installer on the BG1 disc version supports a full install.

It does? *checks* Well, sure enough, there it is. I wonder why I never used it back then. I haven't installed/played it since way way back-guess I never noticed or maybe the PC I had couldn't handle it or something. Altho I don't remember any of the ppl I hung w/in those years mentioning it - we all whined about disc swapping. I guess we were idiots? :D Ah well, still like the no-disc/OS concept, as well as not needing all those discs anymore.

Hopefully, the GOG version will include support for higher resolutions.

That would be nice. I don't see a mention of it in the page description however.

The other day I came across my copy of NHL '94 for the Super Nintendo. [...]

Every time I try to toss my original NES, I just can't do it. Doesn't matter that I haven't touched it for maybe 8 years & only had one game I liked for it. I'm a book/game/vinyl/videotape hoarder. What can I say. Maybe in another 10 years... Altho, I did toss all my music audio-tapes a while back. Those really weren't worth hanging on to. 8-tracks, now...if I had any, I'd hang onto them. Alas I don't...

Edited September 24, 2010 by LadyCrimson