Interesting news regarding the future of GOG

[MusicallyInspired]

http://www.gog.com/en/news/gog_coms_plan_for_the_future_gets_some_news

If you've been checking out the news on gaming sites around the 'Net, you've very possibly heard that GOG has announced some exciting news about our plan for 2012 and beyond.

In particular, there are three main elements that make up our announced path for the next few years: adding newer games to the catalog, focusing on continuing our impressive growth, and bringing exclusive game releases to GOG.com. There are a few common questions we've seen about this, so before we link you to some of these discussions online, we thought we'd create a quick FAQ for you.

Q: Oh no! GOG.com is never going to sell another classic PC game again and my favorite game never made it here!

A: Don't worry, GOG.com will continue to release classic PC games. We are, however, looking to expand the availability window of games on GOG, so we won't focus only on PC classics anymore.

Q: Isn't your name Good Old Games? It seems kind of silly to sell new games on an old gaming website.

A: We've always been about our core values: DRM-free games, flat prices worldwide, and extra goodies included in our releases. So don't think about us as "Good Old Games"; think of us as "GOG.com", and perhaps you can work your way around that objection.

Q: I see your terrible plot! When you guys start selling games with DRM, I will leave the Internets in disgust and never return.

A: Don't worry: we're devoted to those three core values that we mentioned above, and we know that if we ever abandoned them we'd quickly become just another digital distributor. Our goal is to become the best alternative digital distributor out there: the guys who do it differently, who respect their customers, and who can help change what the industry is doing as a result.


If you have any other pressing questions about our future plans, feel free to ask them in the forum and we'll do our best to answer as many as we can. Keep in mind that we can't always answer questions you ask for a variety of reasons, so apologies in advance if you happen to ask one of those kinds of questions.

[Bludshot]

I just want my Quest for Glory.

[DawsonJ]

I just want my Quest for Glory.

I agree. I like the site a lot, but it seems like they're just adding games I never knew existed. I wish they'd put PnC games into their To Do list, or, at least, put more emphasis on better games that don't run (well) on modern machines. A Special Collection would be nice for their current Sierra games, like KQVI in German, KQV in French, the AGI/SCI alternatives, etc.

Besides, they've already started adding new games to their repertoire. So what's the difference?

[Bludshot]

Yeah Beyond Good & Evil has been on GOG since I first joined.  I suppose the only problem I have with this update is that I'd rather have games on GOG I can't get somewhere else.  For example I'll propbably always favor a Steam download if the option arises.  (With the exception of the Witcher, which was far cheaper at GOG than anywhere else.)

What made GOG appealing to me was the ability to play some older games that are almost unplayable on PCs today.  If a nostalgic game isn't abandonware I prefer to make a legitimate purchase; GOG provided an avenue for that.

[MusicallyInspired]

They're still going to do that, no worries.

[crayauchtin]

I agree with the above -- I don't care what they do as long as I'm going to get Quest for Glory some day!

[MusicallyInspired]

Speaking of which, I managed to pick up the Quest For Glory Anthology CD in a Value Village the other day.

[snabbott]

Speaking of which, I managed to pick up the Quest For Glory Anthology CD in a Value Village the other day.

Nice!

[Bludshot]

I'd be more interested in GOG trying to get more developers for the site, like they did with EA.  I remember prior to that announcement the presented a list of possible developers that might have been added to the site as a sort of guessing game.  Among those was Lucasarts and I suddenly found myself enthralled with the idea of owning legit copies TIE Fighter and Grim Fandango again.  It's nice they're adding both old and new games still but frankly a lot of the newer releases could go for abandonware (Darklands is about 50mb and the developer went ouy of business ages ago).

Not to mention a quick look at reviews of certain games shows that a lot of times GOG doesn't include exapansion packs or superior versions of said games (correct me if I'm wrong but I recall that the GOG version KQ6 used the DOS portraits as opposed to the nicer CD counterparts).

But really if they released the Quest for Glory series I'd be happy.

[MusicallyInspired]

KQ6's portraits are the same in every version. That is, any version that has the DOS interpreter (disk or CD) will have the low-res portraits and any version that also has the Windows interpreter (just the CD) will have the high-res portraits. The DOS version can't have hi-res portraits and vice versa.

It's KQ7 that's the culprit. I believe GOG's collection only comes with the earlier version of the game which is Windows-only. The newer version comes with the DOS interpreter and fixes a few bugs as I understand it. The Windows version is unstable and is more difficult to get running properly.

[DawsonJ]

I thought they were getting Microsoft onboard. I miss Monster Truck Madness 1 & 2 and Midtown Madness. (Yeah, I'm a redneck.)
I need to try my old copies on my new machine; maybe 7 can play those in Compatibility Mode.

[MusicallyInspired]

What they need on there is Age of Empires.

[Bludshot]

Seem as though a lot of requests narrow down to two things, compatibility and accessibility.  While new games are nice, I feel like GOG is getting into territory already well controlled by Steam.  For example what is the real appeal of buying the Witcher series from GOG? Sometimes they have deals on them but then so do all other digital game sites.

[MusicallyInspired]

No DRM. Even Steam, as forgiving as it is in this area, can't compare to that.

[Fierce Deity]

Can somebody explain Steam's DRM? I consider their games to be free from a pirate's grasp due to the fact that it is digital. And aside from games that use Steamworks (which I think is more for a social aspect than acting as a DRM), where does Steam's DRM come into play. GOG not having DRM is nice, but Steam's DRM is relatively non-existent considering I don't even know it's there.

[MusicallyInspired]

Well, you have to run Steam to run a Steam game first of all. You also have to be online at least once before being able to play a Steam game offline. It's quite easy to crack Steam games, though, as I understand it. It is the best DRM out there, though.

With GOG you don't need a frontend or anything. Once you download your game from GOG it's yours forever and there are no tethers to any GOG servers or anything. You can burn your game's install file to a disc and never have to be online to install or play it on a computer without an internet connection.

[Fierce Deity]

I honestly didn't even notice that. I must take my internet connection for granted, cause even Ubisoft's DRM is pretty tame, and there seems to be a lot of hate directed towards that.

Having absolutely no DRM must be nice. I still haven't purchased a game from GOG. I might be cheap, but $10 for an old game is kind of steep for me. I bought Mass Effect 2 for $10, so spending that kind of money on a multitude of titles that I want to play can really add up quickly. Do they occasionally have huge sales like Steam does?

[Enchantermon]

Do they occasionally have huge sales like Steam does?

They do have lots of promos (there's one on right now, as a matter of fact). Sign up for their newsletter and you'll get an e-mail every time they have one.

[Fierce Deity]

Do they occasionally have huge sales like Steam does?

They do have lots of promos (there's one on right now, as a matter of fact). Sign up for their newsletter and you'll get an e-mail every time they have one.

I've noticed the sales that they have from time to time, but do they have a Christmas sale where everything is discounted? The only reason why I've become completely obsessed with Steam is because it's become the equivalent of a digitally downloaded swap meet. I can get a dozen games for under $10. That's hard to ignore, even for someone who's turned off by DRM.

There are a handful of games from GOG that I want, but I hardly see them on sale. There was a Dungeons and Dragons sale that was going that I regret not taking advantage of, but it's only because of this weird percentage system they were using. Depending on how many of the games in the bundle you were going to buy, the percentage you would get off would vary. Considering I only wanted the Black Isle games, I was looking at paying more than if I were to have paid for the whole thing, but even that was out of my price range. So if they have a sale again, I hope the percentage is a flat rate for purchasing.

[MusicallyInspired]

Considering it's the only place to legally acquire some really old gems besides a thrift store or garage sale, it's a pretty decent store. It still has a long way to go to compete with Steam, but the old games part really makes it stand out. And with no DRM, well, gamers have long be crying out for a solution to that madness, and GOG is actually making it happen at last. Who knows? On that point alone they may rival or even beat out Steam because of it.