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Those games are gone. Those game companies are gone.

And the current games will most likely not produce anything like them again.

Oh. The adventure genre has been making a comeback lately.

Check out titles such as Resonance, Machinarium and Deponia.

Those games are gone. Those game companies are gone.

And the current games will most likely not produce anything like them again.

Oh. The adventure genre has been making a comeback lately.

Check out titles such as Resonance, Machinarium and Deponia.

Those games are gone. Those game companies are gone.

And the current games will most likely not produce anything like them again.

Oh. The adventure genre has been making a comeback lately.

Check out titles such as Resonance, Machinarium and Deponia.

Not to sound like a shill, but you can vote for Outlaws to be added to GOG.

I haven't gotten to play it yet but people rave about the Deponia series http://www.gog.com/gamecard/deponia

I think their top sellers list only covers the last week or so, because most or all of the games on it were on sale last weekend.

There's lists of games that use DOSBox here and here. They're a year or two out of date but probably not far off, since most of the recent additions to GOG.com are Windows games from the late 1990s or 2000s or modern indie games.

Then there's also Retro City Rampage which puts GTA into 8-bit-esque world.

Well, if you ever do feel like playing games again, please check out GoodOldGames' great selection of titles!

I just found this which should go a long way. A good part of the reason I couldn't get into it was the horrible chicken-scratch handwriting font they used everywhere.

Many of the good old games are still for sale (cheap), without all the modern BS connection requirements, broken first releases, DRM, etc.

Personally I'd take about 8 or so Pentium 4's if they have it and store them in a closet just so I can set up a Gog Lan party whenever I want.

Duke was okay but frankly IMHO it wasn't the best the Build engine had to offer. If you haven't played Blood or Redneck Rampage then you haven't seen what the Build engine could do, huge levels with tons of secrets, plenty of bad guys that would give you a good fight, and while the visuals of course couldn't match Quake you could play the Build games without a graphics card which at the time was NOT cheap.

so if anybody hasn't tried them GOG has both Blood and Redneck Rampage and since they are running in DOSBox you can play them on just about any OS. If you really want to see what the Build engine could do those are the ones to play. besides who can't enjoy a game where you shoot a titty gun while drinking beer and listening to Mojo Nixon or go through classic horror sets like the Phantasm mortuary while spouting one liners like a cross between Clint Eastwood and Bruce Campbell?

Duke was okay but frankly IMHO it wasn't the best the Build engine had to offer. If you haven't played Blood or Redneck Rampage then you haven't seen what the Build engine could do, huge levels with tons of secrets, plenty of bad guys that would give you a good fight, and while the visuals of course couldn't match Quake you could play the Build games without a graphics card which at the time was NOT cheap.

so if anybody hasn't tried them GOG has both Blood and Redneck Rampage and since they are running in DOSBox you can play them on just about any OS. If you really want to see what the Build engine could do those are the ones to play. besides who can't enjoy a game where you shoot a titty gun while drinking beer and listening to Mojo Nixon or go through classic horror sets like the Phantasm mortuary while spouting one liners like a cross between Clint Eastwood and Bruce Campbell?

Apparently, it runs on both windows and mac courtesy of Gog. Definitely one of my favorite games of all time. http://www.gog.com/gamecard/sid_meiers_alpha_centauri

That article lacks a lot of important information and also the very first sentence don't make any sense at all.

Commercial software going Open Source doesn't happen very often.

Commercial Software and Open Source Software are not orthogonal concepts. There are many Open Source Software that are commercial. For example RedHat Linux, MySQL.

The first question is what is "success"?
You can take any software and re-license it under the GPL or BSD (if you have the copyrights). But what is your goal? What are you defining as "success"?
Do you want more users, more money, more developers?

I guess the author wants more money. So if you are taking your product and offer it now for free, how are you suppose to make more money? The GPL do not forbid you from taking money for your product!

Going open source will bring you more developers, but only for some kind of projects. For example, a game engine will not bring you many new developers, just because game engines are normally very complex. A finished game is the same, games are complex and not many want to develop your game.

You can have more users with an Open Source license just by offering it as package for the Linux distributions. Maybe your software will get into the main repository and will be shipped with every copy of Ubuntu, Debian or some else.

You see, it's a very complex. You can't just go Open Source and except to get a shitload of money. Open Source is in the first to share information, not making money. Of course by sharing information you can get money.

The results were...disastrous. Within a very short period of time of going Open Source, the total funding for the projects fell to less than 20% of what was being brought in via sales when the software was Closed Source, which almost completely impeded the ability to fund continued development.

What a surprise. He offered his product for free and wondered why nobody is paying for it. If my baker tomorrow will offer their bread for free, why should I pay for it? Why didn't he made his stuff Open Source and sold it? Or sold a premium version that is Open Source for a higher price?

The Humble Indie Game Package was a success because there is a big market for DRM free and portable games. All gamers are just took in the ass from big publishers with rootkits, always-on, Windows-only, DRM-crap games. And then came Humble Indie Game Package. My only source of games is right now the Humbe Indie Packages and http://www.gog.com/

"rent for an unlimited time"

You think your rented games will work in 20 years from now? Dream on!

see: gog.com, they've got games approaching (and exceeding, in a good number of cases) the 20 year mark.

Way I figure it with GOG, I'm paying them about $5.00 (or, rather, $4.99) for their offered services:

- Packaged Installer
- PDF copies of any relevant documents for the game (user guide, quick reference card, etc)
- "Key Generators" to replace any card-based references -- e.g. the "star chart" wheel from "Starflight"
- Bandwidth
- Taking the time to fight with DOSBOX, so I don't have to for *every* game


Once I have the game on my HDD, GOG doesn't care what I do with it (barring re-distribution ... I'm OK with that). Full details

Here is such a list. It's not even likely to be exhaustive.

Just as a bit of historical context: Sid Meier/Microprose used to have a favorably-priced service that offered backup disks for a few bucks. I suspect that the reason for this, at the time, was because few people (myself included) had more than one floppy drive. I took advantage of this to acquire copies of F19 Stealth Fighter and Railroad Tycoon. Sadly, I have since lost those games, although I should point out: you can get many old games, DRM-free, at GOG for next to nothing.

I think copyright is OK. As the creator of a work, you should be able to license it however you please. Many bits of software are a true labor of love, and I think that authors should be compensated for their work. Just because you do not agree with them does not mean that the law is unjust.

However, I think that copy-protection is extremely misguided. Fair-use exemptions aside, I believe that society should be allowed to archive these things, at least for historical reasons. Actually, there's a funny story about this-- I know a researcher at Microsoft who wrote a relatively famous Apple II game in the early 1980's, when he was a high school student. One of his recent projects has been developing software to get kids into programming, which is much more complicated than when we were kids hacking on Apple, Commodore, and TI machines ourselves. To prove his point, he fired up his old Apple II game in an emulator during the presentation, and he showed the kind of code that produced a game like his; simple stuff using BASIC. But that game-- he had lost it years ago, and he had to resort to using the cracked version floating around on the Internet. I couldn't get him to comment on the merits of copy protection, but I think the lesson is pretty clear.

I should also point out that I think that modern copyright terms are completely ridiculous. 15 years ought to be a reasonable amount of time to capitalize on your work before the public gets the benefit.

I have no affiliation with GOG, but I should point out that you can get your SMAC fix there as well.

Just as a bit of historical context: Sid Meier/Microprose used to have a favorably-priced service that offered backup disks for a few bucks. I suspect that the reason for this, at the time, was because few people (myself included) had more than one floppy drive. I took advantage of this to acquire copies of F19 Stealth Fighter and Railroad Tycoon. Sadly, I have since lost those games, although I should point out: you can get many old games, DRM-free, at GOG for next to nothing.

I think copyright is OK. As the creator of a work, you should be able to license it however you please. Many bits of software are a true labor of love, and I think that authors should be compensated for their work. Just because you do not agree with them does not mean that the law is unjust.

However, I think that copy-protection is extremely misguided. Fair-use exemptions aside, I believe that society should be allowed to archive these things, at least for historical reasons. Actually, there's a funny story about this-- I know a researcher at Microsoft who wrote a relatively famous Apple II game in the early 1980's, when he was a high school student. One of his recent projects has been developing software to get kids into programming, which is much more complicated than when we were kids hacking on Apple, Commodore, and TI machines ourselves. To prove his point, he fired up his old Apple II game in an emulator during the presentation, and he showed the kind of code that produced a game like his; simple stuff using BASIC. But that game-- he had lost it years ago, and he had to resort to using the cracked version floating around on the Internet. I couldn't get him to comment on the merits of copy protection, but I think the lesson is pretty clear.

I should also point out that I think that modern copyright terms are completely ridiculous. 15 years ought to be a reasonable amount of time to capitalize on your work before the public gets the benefit.

I have no affiliation with GOG, but I should point out that you can get your SMAC fix there as well.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet." (Juliet)

So what's in a game? The subject has been discussed by folks far more eloquent and persuasive than I; but hey, this is Slashdot so what the hell. In some ways trying to define what 'game' means is akin to defining art; grasping at the wind. I think you're pretty close to the mark with your latter definition, although as sibling posters suggest the win condition is not necessary, and the concept of winning itself has been toyed with as a mechanism (see UnwinnableByDesign). "Fun" is hardly a necessity either, witness RPG grinds, for example. And how 'fun' would Contra be without UUDDLRLRBA?

That leaves "simulated environment", which I think approaches the heart fo the matter. Games (not just video games here) are a simulacrum, an approximation of a scenario. Some are more complex than others - Snakes and Ladders versus Dwarf Fortress or MilSim-du-jour - but all distill a scenario/environment into a set of rules. Fun and winning are usually part of the arrangement, but not by necessity.

Sibling post hit the mark too in saying that a significant proportion of gaming is there as a vehicle for storytelling. It's easy to be cynical as there are some bad stories out there. But there is good storytelling too, if that's your thing. Planescape: Torment* has a particular focus on story; and there are times where the line between 'game' and 'interactive story' are pretty heavily blurred. Dear Esther is an example which PA Report recommends quite highly:

Dear Esther is a $10 PC [note: currently on sale on Steam for £1.74 for the next two hours at time of writing] experience that toys with the concepts that make, or don’t make, a game. You are a man exploring a deserted island, and every so often you’ll trigger a voice over that helps to explain what you’re doing there and describes other characters you never see. It’s a desolate, lonely game that funnels you into one specific ending that’s impossible to escape. It takes around 90 minutes to finish, depending on how much of the island you choose to explore.

At the end of a day if someone creates something that is a representation of something with at least some semblance of interaction, and calls it a game I'm quite happy to believe them until proven otherwise.

*Planescape was recently discussed on /. and it was mentioned that GOG had it for ten bucks, which was nifty. Now they've discounted it to five bucks, which is at least twice as nifty by my calculations.

http://www.gog.com/gamecard/planescape_torment DRM free, it appears

http://thunderpeel2001.blogspot.com/2009/01/planescape-torment-fully-modded.html

Platinum rating running under Wine: http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=294

If you're ok with 90s graphics and the fact that this is much more an interactive novel than hack n slash, there's absolutely no reason not to check it out.

A non-exhaustive list: http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/list_of_drmfree_games_on_steam/page1

I agree that DRM free is the exception. Doesn't mean one has to go along with it. As for GOG, from what I understand they used use that as an acronym Good Old Games, but officially it's just GOG because there are some newer games available now on it (Alan Wake and ARMA 2 come to mind, along with a bunch of newer indie titles and some slightly older games like the newer Sam & Max series). So I wouldn't just class them as all about really old stuff anymore.

I am aware of the trend to feature new titles there, however, is the vast majority of their software new? No. See for yourself, select release date and choose prior to 1995, 1995-2005, and 2005+. If the majority of their software is pre 2005 it's not exactly not "all about really old stuff anymore". Anything older than a year is old in the entertainment world, not to say they can't be appreciated. It can be old and recent at the same time, I'll use Skyrim as an example. It's a year old and their most recent TES game. I enjoyed the Gemeni Rue game, if you're looking for something a little off beat, take a look at Proteus.

Heck no, that's not what I mean. Particularly about movies, I'm not saying not to watch newer movies, or even stick with older games. The problem is entirely in the DRM. I'd play more newer commercial games if they didn't use Steam/DRM, simple. It's just that the older games (either by virtue of GOG's modifications or just via their age) don't have DRM because it wasn't around at the time.

Thanks for the clarification. I firmly understand your stance with DRM and for many people the "lesson" hasn't been learned yet, or they simply don't care. Many people don't pick up titles from years ago and play them, some might accept that they probably won't work. Perhaps they liken it to enjoying something disposable. While not a solution, I think we'll see more things where the scene will release some variant of an emulator like dosbox, and patched executables. Still, most of the pirated stuff doesn't disable the DRM, or remove it. The patches in many cases are "simple" tricks, enough to get the game running. The trend with free to play stuff is that the games revolve around an account, this trend is rearing its head for console releases and in some cases affects the resale value.

The only downside of course is that people want their games and if given a choice between Steam DRM and Half-Life 3... fuck, actually now I'm not sure even I could hold onto my principles in that situation

You could always purchase a boxed copy and wrestle with a scene release. Then the whole convenience thing comes into play... nobody said sticking to your principles was easy, but at least you can sleep at night.

Even more props to GoG - I found the guide to doing this on their site, linked from the game page...

http://www.gog.com/news/mod_spotlight_planescape_torment_mods_guide

Most important thing when going through this is to decide the resolution you want to run at up front and stick to it - and also, apply all of the mods you want before saving any games. The save games usually have issues if you change resolution or mods and then try to load one.

In case it is ... http://www.gog.com/
sign up for an account, get a free copy.

Actually, this isn't just a Linux problem. For example, I have become a HUGE fan of Good Old Games. I've been playing through a few classics that I never got around to back in the day, plus revisiting some old favorites. One thing that GOG has to deal with with every game is how to make them work at modern resolutions. The way that they do it is to reset the resolution for the entire system, let you play the game, then reset back to the original resolution once you're done. I have no idea how they do it, but I've seen it plenty of times. A good example of this can be found with their implementation of Lord of the Realms 2.

If someone can solve this problem for Linux, it removes one more barrier for GOG to create a Linux client. That gets me one step closer to removing my Windows gaming partition. :-)

This is true and there is even a list of both those that work in DOSBox on Linux and those that work with WINE so I really don't see what the fuss is about. After all its not like you have to worry about DRM and with the games being...well old, most have been tested and you can always look at the list.

Although frankly this is what dual booting is made for, even the most rabid Linux users I've talked to admit Windows makes a good gaming OS so why not just keep the install that came with the OEM and have a dual boot? Seems like a no brainer to me.

A list of games that work, and how:
http://www.gog.com/en/mix/great_gog_games_that_works_on_linux

A lot of Wine and open source ports/re implementation of the engines (was it icculus or something that did those?). Not just DOSbox.

Ooops, I've found the real announcement too:

GOG.com goes Mac

As usual, the summary is a bit misleading. The Mac support includes only 50 games none of which are part of the interplay "pay what you want" offering. The two announcements were conflated into one. The real Mac promo is here:
Mac promo

When can we start travelling over there?

We have to establish colonies with factions fighting each other!

I'm not sure what "DRM done right" would be, DRM is after all a limitation on what you can do with your purchased media

Yes, by definition DRM usually takes something away (in terms of your ability to play a game unhindered). However steam also gives something back, especially when compared to older DRM methods.
Remember needing a "play disc" whenever you wanted to play, or hunting for serial keys to complete an install? Remember looking up "paragraph 3, word 2, in your Galactic Almanac" in order to pass some important point of a game. For the most part, steam got rid of that.
It also lets you easily install any game in your purchase library from online, or from backup (disc, HDD, whatever), easily make matches with other friends on steam, and regularly has deeply-discounted sales of great games.

DRM-done right is IMHO when the benefit to the customer reaches or exceeds parity with the drawbacks. If steam isn't that for most people, it's probably as close as we'll get for any recently release games. For those that want to purchase slightly older (some still fairly recent) DRM-free games, I recommended someplace like Good ol' Games, which is great for a download library/catalog but lacks the match-making/social component.

Now Valve/Steam is pushing into Linux (well, their gameservers often already were, but this is for the clients).
Some people might complain they're not open-source.
Some people might complain they still have DRM.
Some people tend to have a cup-half-full mentality. I and many of my friends are infinitely pleased to see Valve taking steps to improving the Linux gaming ecosystem.

Well GOG has a selection of Ubisoft games with no DRM of course, so you can still buy some Ubisoft games without the BS. I bought FC 2 from them...its sucks ass BTW. The worst AI I'd seen in years, which after how damned crafty the AI was in FC 1 was a major let down.

Oh and for the Linux guys there is even a page listing the games that work on Linux so GOG has something for everybody, DRM free and great prices to boot. Great place to get some games.

Well GOG has a selection of Ubisoft games with no DRM of course, so you can still buy some Ubisoft games without the BS. I bought FC 2 from them...its sucks ass BTW. The worst AI I'd seen in years, which after how damned crafty the AI was in FC 1 was a major let down.

Oh and for the Linux guys there is even a page listing the games that work on Linux so GOG has something for everybody, DRM free and great prices to boot. Great place to get some games.

Try looking? http://www.gog.com/ for starters

> they won't grow their user base at all.

So how do you know that? Me, for example, I don't buy any games retail anymore because there is no Linux support. I still have a Windows 7 copy that comes with my Dell Laptop sitting there using 50GB, but I'm too lazy to boot it up. The only games I buy I research first if they run on Linux via Wine.

If Valve ports it's Steam to Linux, my gaming expensive would increase 200% or more. Like it did with http://gog.com/ because most of there games runs well on Wine and have no DRM.

Agreed. That's why I ended up snagging the Quest for Glory and Space Quest series games over at gog.com. It's dirt cheap to get the older games - definitely worth the money if you aren't particularly stuck on state-of-the-art graphics.

Don't forget about GOG, you guys. An actual employee of GOG posted this: http://www.gog.com/en/wishlist/site/add_linux_versions_of_games

This article starts with completely the wrong premise. Platforms don't become popular because of DRM. DRM gets put on popular platforms because there is nothing the purchaser can do about it other than do without. The idea that EA would choose not to earn a million dollars on non-DRMed software because they could have gotten 2 million if DRM was in place is ridiculous.

I point to http://www.gog.com./ If an inexpensive console had just that DRM free library of games, it would be a viable platform. There is no question that DRM free software can make money.

Although I do not feel as strongly about the matter as I do believe Steam to be very good, I have simply fallen in love with GOG's policies of having no DRM, no regional pricing, and other such goodies. I am presumably not as old as you, but I can very much grasp the issue you speak of, and have strenuously supported and continue to support the notion that GOG should make its way to Linux as well. I even submitted a self written article on the matter to Slashdot regarding GOG and Linux (there is more to write than you may think due to there being plenty of sources) and despite receiving an email telling me that the piece has been "favorably rated by Slashdot editors and readers," the folks apparently get too much sent in and therefore could not publish it, which I find unfortunate, especially since the Linux section is only updated with one or two articles per day as is. Whatever the case, if you love Linux, GOG, and dislike DRM, regional pricing, and other such restrictions, vote here: http://www.gog.com/en/wishlist/site/add_linux_versions_of_games

I keep meaning to find and play a copy of the Baldur's Gate series, which I never did play

Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2 are both on GoG.

I keep meaning to find and play a copy of the Baldur's Gate series, which I never did play

Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2 are both on GoG.

I'd really like to play Redneck Rampage

Redneck Rampage Collection is $6 at Gog.com, with soundtracks and extras. Carmageddon Max Pack coming soon.

You have to be realistic.

Commercial repackaging and distribution of back list titles through outlets like Gog makes a great deal of sense for the publisher --- and the player,

The open source remake is very difficult to pull off.

Due to its long development time Black Mesa has recently become notable for its delays, and dwindling updates on the status of its completion. The delays led to Wired Magazine awarding Black Mesa high spots on their Vaporware Of The Year list in 2009, and again in 2010.

On June 10, 2012 the Black Mesa development team announced that new "media" would be released once their Facebook page reached 20,000 likes. This goal was reached on June 11, 2012 when 8 new screenshots were released.

Black Mesa

Pathetic.

I'd really like to play Redneck Rampage

Redneck Rampage Collection is $6 at Gog.com, with soundtracks and extras. Carmageddon Max Pack coming soon.

You have to be realistic.

Commercial repackaging and distribution of back list titles through outlets like Gog makes a great deal of sense for the publisher --- and the player,

The open source remake is very difficult to pull off.

Due to its long development time Black Mesa has recently become notable for its delays, and dwindling updates on the status of its completion. The delays led to Wired Magazine awarding Black Mesa high spots on their Vaporware Of The Year list in 2009, and again in 2010.

On June 10, 2012 the Black Mesa development team announced that new "media" would be released once their Facebook page reached 20,000 likes. This goal was reached on June 11, 2012 when 8 new screenshots were released.

Black Mesa

Pathetic.

While not directly an answer to the question posed, gog.com's community wishlist ( http://www.gog.com/wishlist ) is one way of reviving old games. Not all companies are willing to open-source their creations, no matter how exceedingly good arguments you make, but they might be willing to revive these old games if there was a way of getting even one dollar of profit out of it.

There IS something capturing about the games of 1990 era. Maybe it's that computers were sufficiently advanced, but not too powerful, which set just the right artistic bounds. Especially in the indie scene there is some works that go back to the experience, check out Resonance, for example. I hope that "simpler" 2D games and complex 3D worlds like Skyrim can coexist. :)

Steam is a lesson in how DRM should be done.

Steam is one of the worst forms of DRM out there, and yet it's still widely accepted for some reason. Having access to all of your games tied to a single account seems extremely risky to me - all of your eggs in one basket as it were. If your account is compromised/disabled for any reason, Valve servers/database have issues, a multitude of potential what-ifs resulting from trusting a single vendor for the keys for all your gaming just doesn't sit well with me, and believe me I've tried living Steam for YEARS, but the nagging feeling of not being able to have direct (executable) access to my games just hasn't disappeared and instead actually got worse.

I'm now a big fan of GOG since they have full installers you can download and backup to an external HDD in my case, so that the control remains entirely within your hands and nothing that happens with Valve or even your GOG account will prevent you from playing said games now or in the future. Plus they have many more extras such as soundtracks, avatars, wallpapers and art for a lot of games which often cost more to obtain in Steam if it's even available anyway. It's even got newish games like Alan Wake, so the "Good Old Games" title is gone for a reason.

My biggest worry is that if Steam in Linux is successful, we'll have more games come to Linux but are tied exclusively to Steam. There are too many Windows games which require Steam now as it's assumed anyone who games on the PC doesn't have a problem with it. For people like me who are brain damaged and cannot shake the issue of network-authenticated DRM, it's just going to get worse. It's also rather hard to have an opinion of which you're in the minority. Maybe I should just give up gaming entirely and find a healthier hobby.

And you can have a look at the rest of the list at the Indie Kings bundle tracker, although not all of the 18 listed bundles should really be there (eg. The Blackwell Bundle). However, there is even a couple of free bundles to grab.

I also notice that they missed out on the Just Adventure - Pay What You Want Special 3 Maybe 4 Great Games. Now I just need a time machine to play all these games.

BTW, Assassin's Creed is available DRM-free from GOG.com. http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/assassins_creed_directors_cut