Cool Thing Of The Week: Good Old Games

So I'm going to begin a weekly tradition: Every Friday, I shall bring to your attention something Awesome. Most likely it will be game related. For the inaugural episode of Cool Thing of the Week, I would like to direct your attention to Good Old Games (linky) If you haven't heard or stumbled across it already, I highly suggest that you go check it out. Essentially, Good Old Games (GOG) is what it says on the tin: High quality titles from the past available for sale inexpensively. "But Bobbicus!" some dolts cry, "These games are old, and easily obtained from Peer to Peer trading networks of dubious legality. Why should I lay down my hard earned cash in order to purchase them from this site?" To them I say "Bah! Your entitlement mentality disgusts me. Leave at once and stop dribbling all over my carpet. I shall address you in a post on Piracy at another time." Others, after perusing the GOG.com catalogue, have a more valid point. "I already own several of these games. What possibly benefit could there be to purchasing them again?" Excellent question! Here's your answer: A) NO DRM Now, I'm not one to fly into an apoplectic rage whenever DRM is mentioned, as I feel that anyone who produces a work has a right to attempt to protect their investment (once again, I'll elaborate more in an upcoming post on Piracy.) However, I much prefer games without DRM, as it's really nice not to have to deal with it. The process for purchasing a game from GOG is as follows: 1) Sign up an account 2) Buy your game 3) Download your game Easy as pie. You can even repeat step three as many times as you want, at any time, on any computer. Each game comes packaged in a stand-alone installer, which brings us to... B) IT WORKS Anyone who's tried to play older games on modern systems has inevitably run into this issue - modern hardware simply can't run some older programs without a lot of work. Well, buy a game from GOG and you don't have to worry about that. All their games are fully updated to be compatible with both XP and Vista. And this isn't some bunk like EA pulled with The First Decade (which basically amounted to clicking the "run in windows 95" mode box.) GOG actually gets their hands on the code and makes it work. For some older games, they package it with DosBox already configured and tuned for that specific game. And in the event that you do have technical issues, they have absolutely amazing customer service. I have contacted them twice, both times receiving replies in less than 12 hours. Pretty impressive, considering that they're based in England. Also, the fix they provided worked. I think it's the first time I've ever had tech support fix a problem completely. The level of care they provide is crazy, especially considering... C) IT'S CHEAP Now come on, are you really going to tell me that $6 is too much money to spend on a classic game that will get you hours of enjoyment from, PLUS tech support for as long as the company is around, on as many machines as you want? Even the pricier games ($10, there's only two price points - $5.99 and $9.99) are less expensive then an entree at a decent restaurant. Add to that the fact that GOG has weekly 25% of sales (this weekend it's a sale on Stronghold) and you really can't go wrong. And you really can't complain about price when... D) THE GAMES Are so damn good. Seriously, go look at their catalogue. Now. No, really. Go. I'll wait. Now, I find it hard to believe that anybody with an interest in gaming could look at that list and not find a single game that they remember fondly (or rabidly,) hear about constantly, or recall reading about as being the "best (insert genre here) of all time." Fallout, Freespace, Duke Nukem 3D, Earthworm Jim - these are classics. And not just older ones, either. With Ubisoft joining in the fun, you can now get modern innovators like Far Cry and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. There's also games that you should have played but haven't, buried gems like Beyond Good and Evil or Sacrifice. There's something for everyone. There's even a thread in the forums where people do a "game swap." Person A posts the games they own, and Person B gifts A a game they think A would like and A returns the favor. Everyone explores new horizons, and usually goes home happy. Finally... E) IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO I don't mean to be preachy, but seriously folks. Here we have a company that's defying the status quo by trying to sell old games nobody wants to support without any form of copyright protection. It's what everybody is always saying they want - a company that sells titles based on quality, relying on their customers to be honest enough to support them. It's the antithesis of the draconian DRM schemes and me-too sequels pumped out in large amounts by the mainstream industry. Buying from them not only signals that DRM-free games can be profitable, but it shows that there's a market that goes for quality over graphical fidelity. Last but not least, it shows that games can have an extended shelf life (I'll probably cover this in more detail later, but I think the short shelf life of a retail game is the #1 most detrimental aspect of the industry.) If you like any of GOG's games, even if you already own them, it's not that much to just buy one or two of your favorites to support them. I've always said that nothing happens for moral reasons, only financial, and no amount of Angry Internet Man bleeting about sequel-itis or DRM is going to change how EA or UbiSoft operates until you convince them (through voting with your wallet) that it will make them money to innovate and not lock down their products. If you care about these issues and have the means there's no excuse not to support this company. Good Old Games. Check it out.