AfterDawn: News

Older PC games coming, downloadable and DRM-free

Good Old Games, a European gaming company, has announced that it will begin allowing gamers to access and download old PC games that are very hard to find legally or have been abandoned.

The company will provide titles from as far back as the early 80's and in a downloadable format that is completely DRM-free. The games will also be reasonably priced, ranging from $5.99 to $9.99 per title. Also, once you have purchased the title, you can download it whenever you want, all the times you want.



This new model seems very attractive for the consumer, especially those who want to revisit games that haven't been available in stores for 10 or even 20 years. The fact that they do not have DRM and are attractively priced make the situation all that much better.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 12 Jul 2008 0:19

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• 19 comments

• SuckRaven

  It's everything I've always wanted... I can finally play the awesome DOS title 'Crime' on modern hardware. SWEEETNESS !!!

  12.7.2008 00:56 #1

• dragnandy

  woo! Oregon trail! =D

  12.7.2008 01:11 #2

• windsong

  Um...FAIL.
  
  Every game known to man..on P2P or Usenet. Just go to the "old games" newsgroup and request whatever you want..for free.

  12.7.2008 01:19 #3

• osteotome

  Originally posted by windsong: Um...FAIL.
  
  Every game known to man..on P2P or Usenet. Just go to the "old games" newsgroup and request whatever you want..for free.
  So much for this lead.
  

  "Sony Rocks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

  12.7.2008 01:21 #4

• DVDBack23

  Originally posted by windsong: Um...FAIL.
  
  Every game known to man..on P2P or Usenet. Just go to the "old games" newsgroup and request whatever you want..for free.That is also not legal, as you very well know.

  12.7.2008 01:32 #5

• Pop_Smith

  Originally posted by dragnandy: woo! Oregon trail! =DHaha, that gave me a good laugh.
  
  On topic though, this could potentially be a big hit if they do it correctly. I have wanted to play several of my old games that don't run on XP (much less Vista!) and haven't been able to.
  
  Their are also several games that are, as stated in the article, older and no longer available for purchase. With the exception to illegal and possibly shady sources of pirated copies up until this launches I've been outta luck. =(
  
  I'll happily give this service a whirl when it launches in September.
  
  Peace

  12.7.2008 01:43 #6

• iluvendo

  Originally posted by DVDBack23: Originally posted by windsong: Um...FAIL.
  
  Every game known to man..on P2P or Usenet. Just go to the "old games" newsgroup and request whatever you want..for free.That is also not legal, as you very well know.
  Not good.
  

  If it wasnt for bad luck, Id have no luck!
  "The flimsier the product,the higher the price"
  Ferengi 82nd rule of aquisition

  12.7.2008 06:10 #7

• Xian

  A lot of the older DOS games are completely playable on the DOSBox emulator but a lot of people have issues getting them to run properly, especially if they were not familar with the DOS command line and installation procedures from years ago. Having a nice front end for running them and being able to obtain the games legally DRM free like GoG is trying to do sounds great to me, especially at the price point they are talking about.
  
  Even if I would obtain the old games through alternate means or find them on Ebay, I might not be able to install them anyway. I don't see a 5 1/4" floppy on my current computer, or a 3.5" for that matter. Several of the older games like ones from Access Software and others would look at the floppy disk volume label during installation.
  
  I am really behind the idea and hope that they can get many more copyright holders of old games on board and allow them to be offered.

  12.7.2008 07:51 #8

• narmo

  would games like counter strike be there. i can't find it in stores. that would be the only game i would buy. best game ever

  12.7.2008 11:01 #9

• 7thsinger

  Hey i liked Oregon Trail. :)
  
  
  

  
  
  Learn To Backup DVDs Here
  And Here.

  12.7.2008 11:16 #10

• Pop_Smith

  Originally posted by narmo: would games like counter strike be there. i can't find it in stores. that would be the only game i would buy. best game everAlthough its DRM-laced you can get CS directly from Steam for $9.99, see here.
  
  Since CS is a newer game (release date 2000) I don't think they will have that one for a while.
  
  I could be wrong but this site is looking to get older games back in peoples hands and on their minds.
  
  From the looks of it I don't think something as recent as CS is going to be on their for a while, if ever.

  12.7.2008 11:17 #11

• rtm27

  On another interview, a vp states some of the inital games will be from mid 90's to mid 2000, so they may have CS.
  
  
  
  http://www.shacknews.com/featuredarticle.x?id=914

  12.7.2008 11:58 #12

• Moomoo2

  How about just use Gametap?

  12.7.2008 12:59 #13

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by Moomoo2: How about just use Gametap?
  DRM online only FAIL,next!
  
  -------------
  http://forums.theeca.com/showthread.php?t=4895
  Fallout headlines CD Projekt's retro-PC store, 5-10$ no DRM!
  Finaily Digi distro done right!

  12.7.2008 13:05 #14

• xdgen84

  This is some cool news, can't wait

  12.7.2008 16:46 #15

• PeterKang

  Sounds wonderful but who's the company and do they have a website where they show what games they are thinking of releasing?
  Thanks
  Peter

  12.7.2008 20:10 #16

• varnull

  Fleecing money out of people for discontinued games and abandonware.. In a sensible world these would have been public domain years ago, like all the sinclair roms are.
  
  Go get them people.. they are all over the net already, free and illegal. Who in their right mind pays for something like Pitstop II anyway.. the company who wrote it are long long gone so you aren't doing the developers out of anything, just some greedy "buy it to stop people having it" POS publisher like Amstrad.
  

  
  
  Free open source software = made by end users who want an application to work. Get off my beach before I burn down your village!

  12.7.2008 20:16 #17

• pmshah

  Originally posted by Xian: A lot of the older DOS games are completely playable on the DOSBox emulator but a lot of people have issues getting them to run properly, especially if they were not familar with the DOS command line and installation procedures from years ago. Having a nice front end for running them and being able to obtain the games legally DRM free like GoG is trying to do sounds great to me, especially at the price point they are talking about.
  
  Even if I would obtain the old games through alternate means or find them on Ebay, I might not be able to install them anyway. I don't see a 5 1/4" floppy on my current computer, or a 3.5" for that matter. Several of the older games like ones from Access Software and others would look at the floppy disk volume label during installation.
  
  I am really behind the idea and hope that they can get many more copyright holders of old games on board and allow them to be offered.So far as the actual drives are concerned you need only a free utility called filedisk. It creates virtual drives which allow loading of floppy disk images absolutely flawlessly. I haven't used floppy drive in about 6 years. This "filedisk" system has never failed me. Only thing you can't do is boot from it. But then you have BCDW to take care of that problem.

  17.7.2008 00:50 #18

• hel13

  afterdawn has saved my life more than once so would like to join

  23.5.2010 06:42 #19