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Total Annihilation. Real-Time Strategy. Multiplayer with multiple computers. Check the web for easter egg to take it from 4 player skirmishes to 10 player skirmishes, and similarly to tweak resolution (via registry editing) up to 1600x1200 (or whatever you have). I have it running under Mac OSX with WINE.

Worms 2 Turn based 2D cartoon combat. Multiplayer with hotseat swaping. I have it running under MacOSX with WINE too. Was not able to get it running under Windows 7. (Perhaps we should port WINE to windows.)

Dungeon Keeper. Real Time resource management.

Plants vs Zombies. Row-based real-time strategy. Offline version is better. More options and activities. It's like $10 at Walmart. But click that link and play it now!

Diablo II. (No longer supported under MacOSX natively, but works with WINE for me.) ($20 @ Walmart.)

Starcraft/Warcraft.

Back in the day, Elite on the Apple II.

Solitaire. With the ability to back up and take another set of choices, the game becomes far more interesting.

My list:

Rogue: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R...
Seriously been playing this game since the early 80s and have never "Won" there are thousands of variants but there's a particularly nice Android version: https://play.google.com/store/...

Ultima 7/7.5: http://www.gog.com/game/ultima...
Revolutionary when it came out. My friends and I in high-school literally sat their with our mouths hanging open the first time we launched the game. The MMO based on it was one of the first I'd call a true mmo: http://www.uo.com/ (let the flame wars begin on that statement, just so you know ahead of time: I don't care)

https://www.everquest.com/ -- first 3D mmo worth its salt. Huge time sink though.

Robocraft -- Build robots out of legos... then blow them up. Super fun. It's my current game. http://store.steampowered.com/...

You can request them in GOG's wishlist for movies. :)

if i ever get in the mood i'll just play some crap from gog

How about instead buy some good games from GOG?

if i ever get in the mood i'll just play some crap from gog

How about instead buy some good games from GOG?

if i ever get in the mood i'll just play some crap from gog

How about instead buy some good games from GOG?

if i ever get in the mood i'll just play some crap from gog

How about instead buy some good games from GOG?

Not a bad mistake! Actually I might add that SimCity 4 is also available at GOG.

Sometimes all that crashing happens anyway. Try to play IWAR on anything build in the last 10 years... good luck! If you manage it, do let me know because I REALLY would love to play that.

http://www.gog.com/games#%23sy...

There is a menu bar right next to the search box labeled "Filter"

First of all, this isn't SteamOS we are talking about, it is Windows.

Which, unless it's Windows RT, will always allow sideloading from GOG.

Secondly, I'm not suggesting that you can't load non-Steam games. But you won't be able to do it sitting on your couch holding your controller.

The first step is to make a list of XInput-friendly games on GOG. The second is to add something like JoyToKey or Keysticks that adds DirectInput or XInput navigation to all programs on Windows, or perhaps even a specialized web browser that implements something like what Microsoft has done usably in Internet Explorer for Xbox 360. Barring that, use something like the Lenovo N5902A Bluetooth keyboard with built-in trackball.

One poster noted the existence of the D2X-XL project as a modern source port. There is also the DXX-Rebirth project, a source port that tries to keep to the spirit of the original gameplay, while adding standard modern features like OpenGL, multiplayer over IP, etc.

The source ports provide the engine, but no game data files. The offerings from GOG provide game data files and a DOSBox configured to run the original Descent game. If you have original CDs, or if you buy off GOG, you can use those data files with the modern source ports. You can probably get data files from the Steam offering, but I went with GOG for their DRM-free stance.

So this Slashdot article mentions that GameSpot ran an article saying how nice it would be if a new Descent game was released.

How about some actual news, about something that has actually happened in the last three months (from the time of this article being posted)?

Descent 2 @ Steam has been made available for $9.99 (on February 19, 2014). Related videos have also been released: Descent 2 video @ Steam: Opening
Descent 2 video @ Steam: Game Play ... or, for those who wish to get even greather value per penny spent: Descent 1 and Descent 2 @ GoG.com (one payment of $9.99 covers both games). Descent @ Steam ($6.99) is also available.

For Descent 3, once again GoG seems like it may have an edge:
Descent 3 with Expansion, @ GoG.com ($9.99)
Descent 3 @ Steam ($9.99)

So, regarding this parent post recommending:

For those of us who still have the binaries around

... for those of us who have suffered hard drive crashes, floppy disk damages, or were just too cash-strapped as youth, there are now some convenient, legal ways to get access to those binaries.

Descent 2 Source Code @ Descent Developer Network (DDN) @ Descent2.com,
Descent 1 Source Code @ Descent Developer Network (DDN) @ Descent2.com. The code for Descent 1 includes the MINER level editor. It does not include some of the code that was copyrighted by someone else, such as low-level code related to serial port (including modem) handling, and sound libraries. The license says non-commercial use only. A forum post indicates that there are some troubles with those download links, and recommends the Icculus D2X Project for source downloads. That website has Source Code for Descent 1 for PC @ Icculus.org, Source Code for Descent 1 for Mac @ Icculus.org, Source code for Descent 2 @ Icculus.org, plus the source code for the Icculus D2X project, and other downloads like shareware versions and Descent 2 game patches, and references to resources like Descent Developer Network (DDN) which might be of interest to anyone wanting to enhance the source code. Hyperlinks to download official updates/patches for the second game were found at that site, but not for the first game. However, patches for the first game are available, and may be found at TOOGAM's page of Retail Games: section related to Descent (my site which has hyperlinks to download from Interplay, and also hosts the game patches in case Interplay stops hosting those downloads), and mentions other projects like MacDescent3Dfx, and D1X Project.

The web page for the D2X-XL project, a project mentioned by this parent post, starts with a giant banner that states, “This Project Needs Funding”. (That seems very questionable, as it may be running afoul of the non-commercial clause of the source code release...) The Descent Level Editor (DLE) on the same website, does not have that same funding-se

So this Slashdot article mentions that GameSpot ran an article saying how nice it would be if a new Descent game was released.

How about some actual news, about something that has actually happened in the last three months (from the time of this article being posted)?

Descent 2 @ Steam has been made available for $9.99 (on February 19, 2014). Related videos have also been released: Descent 2 video @ Steam: Opening
Descent 2 video @ Steam: Game Play ... or, for those who wish to get even greather value per penny spent: Descent 1 and Descent 2 @ GoG.com (one payment of $9.99 covers both games). Descent @ Steam ($6.99) is also available.

For Descent 3, once again GoG seems like it may have an edge:
Descent 3 with Expansion, @ GoG.com ($9.99)
Descent 3 @ Steam ($9.99)

So, regarding this parent post recommending:

For those of us who still have the binaries around

... for those of us who have suffered hard drive crashes, floppy disk damages, or were just too cash-strapped as youth, there are now some convenient, legal ways to get access to those binaries.

Descent 2 Source Code @ Descent Developer Network (DDN) @ Descent2.com,
Descent 1 Source Code @ Descent Developer Network (DDN) @ Descent2.com. The code for Descent 1 includes the MINER level editor. It does not include some of the code that was copyrighted by someone else, such as low-level code related to serial port (including modem) handling, and sound libraries. The license says non-commercial use only. A forum post indicates that there are some troubles with those download links, and recommends the Icculus D2X Project for source downloads. That website has Source Code for Descent 1 for PC @ Icculus.org, Source Code for Descent 1 for Mac @ Icculus.org, Source code for Descent 2 @ Icculus.org, plus the source code for the Icculus D2X project, and other downloads like shareware versions and Descent 2 game patches, and references to resources like Descent Developer Network (DDN) which might be of interest to anyone wanting to enhance the source code. Hyperlinks to download official updates/patches for the second game were found at that site, but not for the first game. However, patches for the first game are available, and may be found at TOOGAM's page of Retail Games: section related to Descent (my site which has hyperlinks to download from Interplay, and also hosts the game patches in case Interplay stops hosting those downloads), and mentions other projects like MacDescent3Dfx, and D1X Project.

The web page for the D2X-XL project, a project mentioned by this parent post, starts with a giant banner that states, “This Project Needs Funding”. (That seems very questionable, as it may be running afoul of the non-commercial clause of the source code release...) The Descent Level Editor (DLE) on the same website, does not have that same funding-se

http://www.gog.com/

They have recently announced their intention to support ubuntu/mint.

See http://www.gog.com/news/gogcom...

It shouldn't be that hard. Anyway, wine is also a viable solution for many older games, although I haven't tried it myself. For the adventurous types, many games from GoG can be played under linux. Here is a quick list:

http://www.gog.com/mix/linux_n...

They have recently announced their intention to support ubuntu/mint.

See http://www.gog.com/news/gogcom...

It shouldn't be that hard. Anyway, wine is also a viable solution for many older games, although I haven't tried it myself. For the adventurous types, many games from GoG can be played under linux. Here is a quick list:

http://www.gog.com/mix/linux_n...

Yet. But from the request page and then this notice, it is coming...

Yet. But from the request page and then this notice, it is coming...

Did retail copies bought in Poland have SecuROM, or any DRM at all? Those are the only copies that were published by CD-Projekt. In North America Atari had publishing rights (later, Warner Bros. took over), Europe and Australia had Bandai Namco, and Japan had CyberFront. It was the other publishers, not CD-Projekt, who added DRM to retail copies. CD-Projekt responded by arranging it so that if you bought The Witcher 2 from anywhere then you could go here and get the game DRM-free from GOG at no additional cost.

So I think The Witcher 2 is an excellent example of the lengths they'd go to against DRM.

You're saying that GoG has games on multiple platforms but you only get one platform's install when you buy the game?

No, I am saying that you get two. If I buy for example Strike Suit Zero on GoG I get Mac and Windows versions. If I buy it on Steam I get Mac, Windows and Linux versions. GoG simply doesn't offer Linux versions, even if they exist and the developers are willing to provide them. GoG so far has completely refused to offer any Linux support at all, even so there is absolutely no reason to not have that in this day and age. See also this popular wishlist item:

http://www.gog.com/wishlist/si...

I'll pay on GOG.com rather than free with DRM.

Likewise. I have the last-model Aluminum PowerBook G4 which came with the "high-res" display (1440x960 instead of the 1280x768 that was typical at the time), just for a few old games, though most of them have since been released on GOG and the like.

Yup, someone else already corrected me. As I told them, I was thinking of Classic support, which was cut off with 10.4. I still have an old Aluminum PowerBook G4 tucked away for when I get the urge to play some old Classic games, though most of them have since been re-released on GOG.

System Shock 2 is available on GOG.com for both PC and Mac. It is one of the finest FPS/sneak/RP games you will ever play. It is still is my #1 spot.

Because I am such a wonderful person, email me (address is visible above) with a random bunch of junk text then reply to this post with the same junk and I'll gift you the game. You can be playing it in an hour...

Evil Genius $10 @ GOG
Build your evil lair, send your minions out into the world to plot, teal money and recover cool artifacts, and finally take over the WORLD!! Why Despicable Me has not cloned this is totally beyond me..

Evil Genius is a brilliant game, a little bit flawed but it easily makes up for it.

For Role Playing Game fun there is nothing to compare to Neverwinter Nights. There are many people still playing, building and buying Neverwinter Nights (see http://gog.com/ to purchase a copy). The community is still strong after nearly 13 years and the wealth of custom content is staggering. http://playnwn.com/ is an example of an excellent server operating 24x7. Come join the fun!!!

Of my new games, the ones I play the most at the moment are both in paid working status (with free options)

Kerbal Space Program $27 (Free Demo link) (now teaming up with NASA officially)
        A fantastic rocket sim builder/sandbox, now working on the career mode side of things, if for some reason you haven't herd of this then give it a shot, learn about orbital mechanics and have fun at the same time, or just see how many Kerbals you can crash into the moon in an hour.. This game will remind you just how hard real physics for your tiny CPU to crunch.

Factorio $13 (Free Demo link)
        You have been sent to a new world to establish a colony and start industrializing it for settlement.. unfortunately your ship crashes and you are isolated from any other survivors, using you ''advanced'' technology you will be mining resources, researching technologies, building infrastructure, automating production and fighting enemies so that you can reach the final goal of building a defensive space port. An ever improving 2d world with 3d models for a fantastic effect.

Older games, warning these are older games.. If you cant stand to do retro games, don't bother.

Master of Magic $6 @ GOG
          Fantasy 4X game, that once some of the bugs where sorted became one of the best fantasy 4X's ever.. Others have tried to copy, non have succeeded. All Green magic FTW!!

Master of Orion 2 $6 @ GOG comes with number 1 as well
          Space based 4X, AI is unfortunately lacking a bit, but still quite engaging, Silicods FTW!!!

Populous $6 @ GOG
            How the Sequels for Populous missed the mark so much is anyone's guess.. Damn it, update graphics, tweek sound a bit, keep the game play/spells the same.. pure win for all!! And I shall put this out there for all, the DOS Roland theme music is the best of the old school versions :P

Evil Genius $10 @ GOG
          Build your evil lair, send your minions out into the world to plot, teal money and recover cool artifacts, and finally take over the WORLD!! Why Despicable Me has not cloned this is totally beyond me..

Of my new games, the ones I play the most at the moment are both in paid working status (with free options)

Kerbal Space Program $27 (Free Demo link) (now teaming up with NASA officially)
        A fantastic rocket sim builder/sandbox, now working on the career mode side of things, if for some reason you haven't herd of this then give it a shot, learn about orbital mechanics and have fun at the same time, or just see how many Kerbals you can crash into the moon in an hour.. This game will remind you just how hard real physics for your tiny CPU to crunch.

Factorio $13 (Free Demo link)
        You have been sent to a new world to establish a colony and start industrializing it for settlement.. unfortunately your ship crashes and you are isolated from any other survivors, using you ''advanced'' technology you will be mining resources, researching technologies, building infrastructure, automating production and fighting enemies so that you can reach the final goal of building a defensive space port. An ever improving 2d world with 3d models for a fantastic effect.

Older games, warning these are older games.. If you cant stand to do retro games, don't bother.

Master of Magic $6 @ GOG
          Fantasy 4X game, that once some of the bugs where sorted became one of the best fantasy 4X's ever.. Others have tried to copy, non have succeeded. All Green magic FTW!!

Master of Orion 2 $6 @ GOG comes with number 1 as well
          Space based 4X, AI is unfortunately lacking a bit, but still quite engaging, Silicods FTW!!!

Populous $6 @ GOG
            How the Sequels for Populous missed the mark so much is anyone's guess.. Damn it, update graphics, tweek sound a bit, keep the game play/spells the same.. pure win for all!! And I shall put this out there for all, the DOS Roland theme music is the best of the old school versions :P

Evil Genius $10 @ GOG
          Build your evil lair, send your minions out into the world to plot, teal money and recover cool artifacts, and finally take over the WORLD!! Why Despicable Me has not cloned this is totally beyond me..

Of my new games, the ones I play the most at the moment are both in paid working status (with free options)

Kerbal Space Program $27 (Free Demo link) (now teaming up with NASA officially)
        A fantastic rocket sim builder/sandbox, now working on the career mode side of things, if for some reason you haven't herd of this then give it a shot, learn about orbital mechanics and have fun at the same time, or just see how many Kerbals you can crash into the moon in an hour.. This game will remind you just how hard real physics for your tiny CPU to crunch.

Factorio $13 (Free Demo link)
        You have been sent to a new world to establish a colony and start industrializing it for settlement.. unfortunately your ship crashes and you are isolated from any other survivors, using you ''advanced'' technology you will be mining resources, researching technologies, building infrastructure, automating production and fighting enemies so that you can reach the final goal of building a defensive space port. An ever improving 2d world with 3d models for a fantastic effect.

Older games, warning these are older games.. If you cant stand to do retro games, don't bother.

Master of Magic $6 @ GOG
          Fantasy 4X game, that once some of the bugs where sorted became one of the best fantasy 4X's ever.. Others have tried to copy, non have succeeded. All Green magic FTW!!

Master of Orion 2 $6 @ GOG comes with number 1 as well
          Space based 4X, AI is unfortunately lacking a bit, but still quite engaging, Silicods FTW!!!

Populous $6 @ GOG
            How the Sequels for Populous missed the mark so much is anyone's guess.. Damn it, update graphics, tweek sound a bit, keep the game play/spells the same.. pure win for all!! And I shall put this out there for all, the DOS Roland theme music is the best of the old school versions :P

Evil Genius $10 @ GOG
          Build your evil lair, send your minions out into the world to plot, teal money and recover cool artifacts, and finally take over the WORLD!! Why Despicable Me has not cloned this is totally beyond me..

Of my new games, the ones I play the most at the moment are both in paid working status (with free options)

Kerbal Space Program $27 (Free Demo link) (now teaming up with NASA officially)
        A fantastic rocket sim builder/sandbox, now working on the career mode side of things, if for some reason you haven't herd of this then give it a shot, learn about orbital mechanics and have fun at the same time, or just see how many Kerbals you can crash into the moon in an hour.. This game will remind you just how hard real physics for your tiny CPU to crunch.

Factorio $13 (Free Demo link)
        You have been sent to a new world to establish a colony and start industrializing it for settlement.. unfortunately your ship crashes and you are isolated from any other survivors, using you ''advanced'' technology you will be mining resources, researching technologies, building infrastructure, automating production and fighting enemies so that you can reach the final goal of building a defensive space port. An ever improving 2d world with 3d models for a fantastic effect.

Older games, warning these are older games.. If you cant stand to do retro games, don't bother.

Master of Magic $6 @ GOG
          Fantasy 4X game, that once some of the bugs where sorted became one of the best fantasy 4X's ever.. Others have tried to copy, non have succeeded. All Green magic FTW!!

Master of Orion 2 $6 @ GOG comes with number 1 as well
          Space based 4X, AI is unfortunately lacking a bit, but still quite engaging, Silicods FTW!!!

Populous $6 @ GOG
            How the Sequels for Populous missed the mark so much is anyone's guess.. Damn it, update graphics, tweek sound a bit, keep the game play/spells the same.. pure win for all!! And I shall put this out there for all, the DOS Roland theme music is the best of the old school versions :P

Evil Genius $10 @ GOG
          Build your evil lair, send your minions out into the world to plot, teal money and recover cool artifacts, and finally take over the WORLD!! Why Despicable Me has not cloned this is totally beyond me..

I believe that you can use a standard Windows RPC client with ReactOS.

I would agree that they need to get some adoption. I think (which has no real bearing on what they should really do) they should work at getting some of those high value applications working 100% on ReactOS, and then create an installer so that the application could install into a version of ReactOS that launches the application by default and that installs into a Virtual machine. This would make ReactOS a compatibility layer for all of those old applications. Any bugs or missing features in ReactOS that are not used by the specific application would not matter.

Another option would be to try to work with someone like GOG. GOG already uses DosBox and ScummVM to run a lot of games. Having a system that would allow them to package old Windows games would enhance their offerings. Particularly if the system was cross platform, which ReactOS installed to a VM would be.

Will old games such as this also interest future generations or will they gradually lose their appeal because of technological advances?

No problem. Many times when I watch gameplay videos of old DOS games in YouTube there are comments like "where can I download this game for Mac??" The right answer is to show them DOSBox and GOG... But the point being, there still is a lot of interest of these kind of old, simple games. Look at something like Papers, Please. Technologically that could have been implemented for a 286 DOS PC, and yet people love it despite "technological advances". Simple, good games, into which you can get quickly by bashing Enter, not having to wait 3 minute long load times.

They legally shouldn't even be calling it "buying games" on Steam... you're buying LICENSES only.

Go with GOG.com or even Origin as you would get a hell of a lot better customer services, refunds, and you wouldn't be buying licenses but the actual games themselves, at least in the case of GOG.

Really?

From GOG's EULA

1.License. Company grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Program, but retains all property rights in the Program and all copies thereof. This Program is licensed, not sold, for your personal, non-commercial use. Your license confers no title or ownership in this Program and should not be construed as any sale of any rights in this Program.

I've noticed that GoG is carrying some newer (released in the last 12-18 months) games these days, including ones I had only previously seen on Steam.
Not everything of course, but there's some decent stuff on there and no DRM.

No need to torrent: http://www.gog.com/game/ultima_7_complete

I shall free thee from your vow: Cyan Worlds games. GOG. No DRM.

Yes, called realMyst. The graphics are actually better in realMyst than the prerendered Myst graphics were. Myst's graphics were actually pretty bad, we just didn't notice at the time.

As far as I'm concerned, Riven was the pinnacle of the series. The art was incredibly detailed, the music and sound work top-notch. Scene construction was incredibly dense with story - everything had meaning, everything was a clue. It was obsessively detailed. I remember reading somewhere that the artists didn't do any low-poly models at all; single frames took days to render back in 1996 on then-top-of-line SGI hardware.

I bought the GOG version a few months ago in a fit of nostalgia. It's kind of sad how low-resolution and overcompressed the in-game renders are by current standards. I'd love to see a modern take on Riven - even re-rendered high res stills would be sweet.

You can play with the remnants of the Myst Uru MMO for free here. I think you can even download and run a server if you want.

Six dollars of game, $400 of laptop, and a couple spare solar fins on the ship to keep the battery charged.

Day 422: I seem to be the only Mars One colonist to notice that we have actually landed on Mars. I found one of the old Mars Rovers and have taken to behaving as if it was a stubborn pet dog to stay sane. While my garden is growing almost as well as the test garden did on earth, I have no idea where the other colonists manage to keep finding the Mountain Dew and beef jerky that provides their sustenance.

Go to Steam or GoG and look for PC games. Then try to convince me that they are dying.

To be less snarky, PC game sales have moved almost entirely to the digital download model. It should help piracy rates too because Steam and GoG make games cheap enough that they aren't worth pirating for most people. It's simply not worth the hassle to pirate a game when you can get a 6 month old game for $20 or less on Steam.

You gonna smoke all that yourself or pass it around?

Runs everything ever written? Really?

I've bought a whole bunch of games off GoG. Great prices, great games... Where else can you buy a dozen games for $20?

They are all supposed to work on windows XP/Vista/7. For the life of me, I can't get several of them to work under Windows 7. Even with registry hacking, compatibility modes, etc. Though they do run great under WinXP.

Ironically, all of these problematic games play perfectly under MacOS and Linux with MacPorts and WINE (development branch).

Microsoft keeps using that word "compatibility". As a Linux and Mac user, I have to say, I don't think it means what they think it means...

we could actually show its possible to sell digitally without nasty DRM schemas like SecuROM

You think?

And if Steam would let me play my fucking games whenever I left the house or a storm took out our connection, I'd call it good too. As it is, the DRM is just a bit too much for me. Which is why I moved onto good old games.

gog.com

Fuck You, You're Going To Buy Our Games Anyway

Yeah, probably,

Or more tastefully, Chiron, as it is called in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, if I recall correctly.

Also you can still play SMAC! GOG link

I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome PC gaming is.

That's why I put "DRM" in quotes.Did you not notice this? Their DRM comes part and parcel with the platform for better and for worse.

No, it doesn't.

http://www.gog.com/forum/general/list_of_drmfree_games_on_steam/page1

If the Steam platform (*not CEG*) is DRM then that makes the package manager for any given Linux distro DRM as well.

I've bought probably a dozen big-publisher games over the past two years... but often through GOG, which I can't praise highly enough, even though I risk sounding like a shill.

I don't know what kind of arrangement GOG has with the copyright holders, but their offerings are DRM-free*, unlimited in downloads, and cheap to boot. No, they don't have the latest greatest AAA titles, but they do have games that are fun, and once upon a time, they were big-name games, too. Even if half my purchase profits EA or another psychotic game baron, I'm glad to know that they see the purchase coming through GOG, in the hopes that some data-mining lackey in the hidden lair of evil game companies notices that a more liberal sales model is performing slightly better.

*I recall seeing a few listings that said the game included its original DRM but came with a fix to disable/bypass it. I also wouldn't be surprised to see a few of the old "find this word in the manual" prompts, but GOG usually includes the game manuals. Of course I can't find any such listings on demand.