GOG.com - WTF???

[Born2bwire]

I can't imagine Steam having that much to do with it. The products that they offered did not overlap very much. GOG specialized in older games and I only remember a few of them (like Evil Genius) being also provided by other services like Steam. I did think however that they were not expanding their catalog as fast as I would have liked. I haven't seen anything of interest on there for months.

 

[Daverino]

Maybe I'm just the cynic, but a lot of the games that GoG sold used to be abandonware and free. Can there be any better deal than abandonware?

 

[gonvik]

Maybe I'm just the cynic, but a lot of the games that GoG sold used to be abandonware and free. Can there be any better deal than abandonware?

Perhaps some of their older dos-based games, and even then I'm not sure... but the majority of the games that I saw in their catalog definitely were not abandonware/free.

 

[BladeVenom]

Maybe I'm just the cynic, but a lot of the games that GoG sold used to be abandonware and free. Can there be any better deal than abandonware?

If they're selling it, it's no longer abandonware is it. Most old software is still copyrighted, even if it is no longer for sale. Pirating old software is still piracy. GOG provided a legal alternative.

 

[PingSpike]

Abandonware isn't really the same thing as free. You don't really feel to bad about "pirating" (Its a gray area I guess, you could argue its still pirating) that software since it is out of print. I usually tried to find a used copy, but those aren't ideal and it seemed like publishers consider that about as bad as pirating anyway!

GoG's value add is a lot of games, particularly early 3D titles just won't fucking work on modern PCs. They fixed most of them correct? I know steam sucks for this, just dumping the old games files (often with a CD crack installed they downloaded from the internet) and then charging you $5-10 for a game that doesn't even work on anything but the thousand year old computer you already threw out. The sad part is many of these problems are fixed by people doing exe hacking that don't even have access to the source code. Lazy.

 

[Dankk]

From Wikipedia:

On September 19, 2010, the website for the company was changed to a message that appeared to suggest GOG.com was shutting down, and would offer those that had already purchased games a means to download them later. However, Internet forums discovered that this "shut down" came after a news item that CD Projekt would have an announcement about the service on September 22, 2010.[4] A spokesperson for Good Old Games reiterated that the site is not being shut down, and confirmed news would be forthcoming about changes to the service.[5] A clarification posted on the site on September 20, 2010, said they had to shut down the site temporarily "due to business and technical reasons", with industry journalists believing the shutdown may be related to the nature of DRM-free strategy, based on Twitter messages from the company.

 

[stlcardinals]

It was all a PR stunt....

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/22/gog-not-dead-relaunching-with-new-site/

Also noted on their homepage...

http://www.gog.com/

 

[Powermoloch]

lol at the PR stunt

 

[Qbah]

Baldur's Gate!!!

 

[ZzZGuy]

If they put any DRM on their games I'll never buy anything from them ever again.

At least being DRM free I can download and make backups on whatever medium I want.

 

[rivan]

It was all a PR stunt....

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/22/gog-not-dead-relaunching-with-new-site/

• Facebook integration that allows you to "Like" games
  
• A new recommendation system based on games you've bought and rated
• A download calculator
• GoGmixes: user-created lists of titles grouped around a single theme
  
• Baldur's Gate will be added to the service when it relaunches tomorrow at 9 a.m. EST]

I'm beginning to hate seeing the fucking Facebook logo everywhere as much as I hate DRM.

 

[Nizology]

If they put any DRM on their games I'll never buy anything from them ever again.

At least being DRM free I can download and make backups on whatever medium I want.

You'll sure show them. It hasn't even been mentioned that they'll be going this route, so really, no reason to asplode.

 

[ZzZGuy]

You'll sure show them. It hasn't even been mentioned that they'll be going this route, so really, no reason to asplode.

They shut down the site one day with no warning and nothing mentioned by them aside from a cryptic message that seemed to say they were shutting down. It's not beyond imagination that their new business model would include DRM with such bad PR and lack of info.

And DRM has been discussed (not by gog), but not confirmed nor denied. After this stunt a lot of people will second guess buying from GOG, if their games now require the company to be active (eg, steam) to install their games then even less people will buy from them.

At least Steam doesn't pull stunts like this and I already limit my purchases to under $15 (usually $10) in case such a thing ever does happen.

If there is no DRM then I will be ticked off and make sure every game I buy from them is backed up the day I purchase it.

 

[coloumb]

It was all a PR stunt....

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/22/gog-not-dead-relaunching-with-new-site/

Also noted on their homepage...

http://www.gog.com/

Reminds of Drama Queens - doing crap to get noticed when it turns out it was nothing really important. I hate that crap.

Glad I've never bought anything from them...

 

[Bateluer]

GoG better not include any DRM. The bulk of their titles are old, hence their name, they don't need DRM. If they were to put DRM on a title from the 1990s, people would just go to BitTorrent and download it.

Give me DRM-Free products that I'll be able to use 5, 10, or 15 years down the line, and I'll buy it.

 

[novasatori]

This has to be one of the worst PR events ever imo

I am unlikely to buy from them.

 

[BladeVenom]

Reminds of Drama Queens - doing crap to get noticed when it turns out it was nothing really important. I hate that crap.

Glad I've never bought anything from them...

I grant that they have a poor sense of humor, but being able to purchase games DRM free and old classics is great and worth it.

 

[Golgatha]

I grant that they have a poor sense of humor, but being able to purchase games DRM free and old classics is great and worth it.

Yes, I liked them anyway. It turned into love the moment they put the entire Total Annihilation discography out there for $5 and included an audio soundtrack in with the package. GOG.com is a great company!

 

[CPA]

Baldur's Gate!!!

Wait, what? Are you serious? I can't access GOG from work.

 

[Nizology]

Wait, what? Are you serious? I can't access GOG from work.

Won't be able to until tomorrow anyways...

 

[sanzen07]

2 out of the 4 games I have bought from GOG.com have not worked without significant tomfoolery/screwing around to get them to work. They are supposed to do this for me so I don't have to do it. If I wanted to have to screw around getting one of these games working then I would grab my old disc and fire up DosBox. I was pretty underwelmed already but pulling this crap has completely swung them out of favor. Way to go.

 

[Qbah]

Wait, what? Are you serious? I can't access GOG from work.

I kid you not Once the site is back up, apart from going out of beta they are also adding Baldur's Gate to their list of available games. With Tales from the Sword Coast

 

[BoberFett]

That was pretty lame.

 

[ZzZGuy]

They have several video updates on gog.com.

So this entire hoax was over tweaking the site to make it easier to navigate and features to let fanboys rave on about their favorite game.

And Baldur's Gate 1 + expansion are indeed coming to GOG.com.

Considering the negative views of people who never bought from GOG before, a major sale alongside several well known game releases (eg, Total Annihilation + Baldur's Gate) would have created a better PR stunt that would attract new business rather then drive it away.

But seeing the "DRM-FREE" label across the front page (in the video) all is not lost, you can still backup the games the day you buy them and never return to GOG again.

 

[Mike Gayner]

Grade A douchebags TBH. Won't be dealing with these cowboys.