Game News King of Dragon Pass Released on GOG

[Humanity has risen!]

Add to this the SSI strategy games like People's General and Imperialism 1 and 2. I don't understand why they haven't been released yet when Panzer General 3D has been released, and Ubisoft obviously couldn't care less.

Sure they would probably be bound to run out of low-hanging fruits as far as classics go, but man why even bother to stock very recent games like Far Cry 2 which can be routinely gotten on Steam for $2, at $29.99? Who seriously buys these?

 

[commie]

Add to this the SSI strategy games like People's General and Imperialism 1 and 2. I don't understand why they haven't been released yet when Panzer General 3D has been released, and Ubisoft obviously couldn't care less.

Sure they would probably be bound to run out of low-hanging fruits as far as classics go, but man why even bother to stock very recent games like Far Cry 2 which can be routinely gotten on Steam for $2, at $29.99? Who seriously buys these?

I'd like to see the original PG, Fantasy General, Allied General, Pacific General released as well. Strange with SSI as they've released some stuff, but totally ignored most of it.

 

[Gragt]

GOG has its fanboys, just like Steam does. Those will buy pretty much anything their favourite service offers. At least their methods are different.

 

[kaizoku]

GOG has a fair price (eurofag FTW). GOG releases are DRM free.

Doesn't steam require an internet connection to play the game?
Doesn't steam fuck up all installs that makes modding impossible?

 

[TripJack]

no and... maybe for some games i'm not sure

 

[thesheeep]

Doesn't steam require an internet connection to play the game?

No. Offline mode works very well. Of course, some games may require that, by using Steam to prevent piracy (similar to newer Blizzard games that require active Battle.net connection), but that is hardly Steam's fault.

Doesn't steam fuck up all installs that makes modding impossible?

Definitely not. Modding EU3 for example works just like it does in the GamersGate version.
Maybe there are also exceptions here, but only if a developer decides to build a really different file structure for Steam. No idea why anyone would do this, though.

All the Steam stuff goes on top of the normal game application. It can be intertwined more (for achievements, multiplayer hosting and such), but that is neither required nor should it influence modding.
I've heard that the Steam API is not that easy to use, but that's only a rumor. How hard can it be if so many games use it?

 

[MicoSelva]

Please only release classic gems like this and not those retarded indie games and three year old Ubisoft games for 30$ anymore. It was so fun to follow the releases from week to week in Gog's first two years or so, now I don't give a damn.

Well to be fair, after the first couple of years they ran out what they could release from the old times apart from a few big studios holding out with their ancient IP's and other things they were chasing down rights to. All that's really left now is the SSI RPG stuff as the obvious big fucking hole. Other more obscure stuff probably GoG can't find who has the rights to so they had to diversify in order to keep being able to offer fresh stuff while they scraped up what they could.

They still haven't released any Yendorian Tales. I remember liking them back in 1990s and they were still available for purchase around 2005.

Anyway, KoDP is day 1 purchase for me. Well, ok, day 2, as I missed this piece of news yesterday.

 

[Pelvis Knot]

Please only release classic gems like this and not those retarded indie games and three year old Ubisoft games for 30$ anymore. It was so fun to follow the releases from week to week in Gog's first two years or so, now I don't give a damn.

All that's really left now is the SSI RPG stuff as the obvious big fucking hole. Other more obscure stuff probably GoG can't find who has the rights to so they had to diversify in order to keep being able to offer fresh stuff while they scraped up what they could.

They still haven't released any Yendorian Tales. I remember liking them back in 1990s and they were still available for purchase around 2005.

Anyway, KoDP is day 1 purchase for me. Well, ok, day 2, as I missed this piece of news yesterday.

System Shock
System Shock 2
Grim Fandango
Wizardry 1-8
NOLF
Doom and all other Id software games
Homeworld
The elder "The Elder scrolls" games
Bladerunner
Freelancer
Day of the Tentacle
Age of Empires
Monkey Island
Full Throttle
Eye of the Beholder
Mechwarrior
older Blizzard games
Sim City
X-Com


I took this from the community wishlist - they have a long way to go yet.

EDIT: The Brazilian Slaughter

 

[asper]

The problem with releasing those games are legal issues, property rights, unwilling companies, and such. Why would Blizzard, Bethesda, ID Software or Lucasarts agree to have their old stuff released on gog? They have nothing to gain.

I'm sure that if they could, they would have released most of these games already.

They have to stay in business, so they release what they can. If the only harm is that following their news isn't as exciting as it used to be, I'm all for it.

 

[Pelvis Knot]

The problem with releasing those games are legal issues, property rights, unwilling companies, and such. Why would Blizzard, Bethesda, ID Software or Lucasarts agree to have their old stuff released on gog? They have nothing to gain.

I'm sure that if they could, they would have released most of these games already.

They have to stay in business, so they release what they can. If the only harm is that following their news isn't as exciting as it used to be, I'm all for it.

I don't mind them releasing anything they want, it's not like I'm forced to buy that shit. I'd just like they finish what they started. I want Homeworld and SS!

The Brazilian Slaughter

 

[kaizoku]

The problem with releasing those games are legal issues, property rights, unwilling companies, and such. Why would Blizzard, Bethesda, ID Software or Lucasarts agree to have their old stuff released on gog? They have nothing to gain.

I'm sure that if they could, they would have released most of these games already.

They have to stay in business, so they release what they can. If the only harm is that following their news isn't as exciting as it used to be, I'm all for it.

Blizzard? Bethesda? fuck those losers. I really don't know why they don't allow their old games to be released. Just pure retardation.
Lucasarts has their games on Steam. Did they sign an exclusive deal with steam? They have a DRM policy?

About SSI, I don't get it. Wasn't it acquired by Ubisoft? There are Ubi games on GOG.

As for why GOG doesn't release anything at once, well... economics.


edit: forgot to alert The Brazilian Slaughter

 

[mondblut]

Well, that's certainly a massive incline next to the typical "yay, they made a dosbox shortcut I was too dum to set up". Liberating KoDP from cd is untrivial task.

If they could also fix the fullscreen resolution (no matter the blur), or at least enable proper windowed mode instead of that tiny frame in the middle of an ocean of blackness as it used to look like on any monitor larger than 640x480, I would rest my case against Magog on the grounds of them actually doing something useful after all.

 

[commie]

Please only release classic gems like this and not those retarded indie games and three year old Ubisoft games for 30$ anymore. It was so fun to follow the releases from week to week in Gog's first two years or so, now I don't give a damn.

Well to be fair, after the first couple of years they ran out what they could release from the old times apart from a few big studios holding out with their ancient IP's and other things they were chasing down rights to. All that's really left now is the SSI RPG stuff as the obvious big fucking hole. Other more obscure stuff probably GoG can't find who has the rights to so they had to diversify in order to keep being able to offer fresh stuff while they scraped up what they could.

They still haven't released any Yendorian Tales. I remember liking them back in 1990s and they were still available for purchase around 2005.

Anyway, KoDP is day 1 purchase for me. Well, ok, day 2, as I missed this piece of news yesterday.

Well obscure shareware stuff is hardly their forte. Haven't seen the high res version of Yendorian tales anywhere ever. Why not complain that Alternate Reality has not been released?

@ Pelvic Knot

I'd add the add ons for many of their released games too, but really that's a list of 20 titles. I'd probably add another 30-50 to be fully certain of all the great stuff from the past being covered but it's not that easy to chase down designers of 20 year old titles and work out who has the rights for dead IP's.

 

[Grunker]

Hmm, when I tried my pirated KoDP just before I bought this, it ran in a very small resolution in the top left corner of the screen. GOG's was much bigger and runs in the center. So they have done something to it, which is pretty neat.

 

[Transgressive Grenadier]

They have but nothing too clever... other than that it never occurred to me to try it!

Right click -> Compatibility -> Run in 640x480

 

[mondblut]

Hmm, when I tried my pirated KoDP just before I bought this, it ran in a very small resolution in the top left corner of the screen. GOG's was much bigger and runs in the center. So they have done something to it, which is pretty neat.

That's what happened when I forced 640 in windows shortcut settings - it went 640 for the splash screen (conveniently wrecking or moving to 2nd monitor all other windows running on the background, ffffuuuu), then got back to the original resolution once the main menu loaded, with a game in top left corner and grey screen elsewhere. When you don't force 640, the game window is in center of the screen and the rest of the screen is black. But the game window's resolution is still 640x480 in either case.

I dunno, being run in a standart windowed frame should be the most basic function of a windows API, second only to "make blue screen of death if something fails". How hard would it be to hack it in?

 

[Grunker]

I don't know, I'm really not a very advanced computer user. Most advanced stuff I ever did was write a bit of WeiDU. All I know the GOG version worked better. I don't think it's unreasonable to pay 6$ for ease-of-use - no CD, settings are done for me, and I can download it wherever I go.

 

[Transgressive Grenadier]

Oh I agree. GoG provide a valuable service with removing aggravation from early windows games.

Plus this is licensed from the developer: not a bank or holding company.

 

[mondblut]

Heh, actually, I just managed to force 640 into the main game executable, which is mplayer95.exe, not kodp.exe (which is only the launcher). Still, it is not at all what I want, I want the game to stretch to the current resolution, not the resolution to bend over to the game (and screw up everything else).

 

[Infinitron]

System Shock
System Shock 2

System Shock series is in "licensing hell".

The elder "The Elder scrolls" games

If you mean Arena and Daggerfall, then Bethesda has released these for free.

older Blizzard games

Pretty sure Blizzard will never work with a digital distributor that isn't Battle.net

Re: SSI RPGs, aren't these also in licensing hell due to being D&D games?

Re: LucasArts, have no idea what their problem is. They started releasing some of their older games on Steam, and then stopped. Allegedly they have had some severe managerial mood swings over the years.

 

[commie]

Re: SSI RPGs, aren't these also in licensing hell due to being D&D games?

Yeah, WOTC doesn't care for the ancient edition stuff but otherwise SSI has been scattered to the four winds so who knows who to talk to. I'd like the to se the earlier SSI strategies as well, but they are just as problematic.

Re: LucasArts, have no idea what their problem is. They started releasing some of their older games on Steam, and then stopped. Allegedly they have had some severe managerial mood swings over the years.

Lucasarts really does suck with it's half hearted attempt to release old stuff then pulling them. I'd love to see the iMuse version of Tie Fighter collector's for example on GoG at the very least and Jedi Knight and MotS apart from the adventures as they've been a pain to get running at various times in the past for me.

 

[kaizoku]

I don't know, I'm really not a very advanced computer user. Most advanced stuff I ever did was write a bit of WeiDU. All I know the GOG version worked better. I don't think it's unreasonable to pay 6$ for ease-of-use - no CD, settings are done for me, and I can download it wherever I go.

The developer is still alive and kicking, so it's certainly a more than valid reason to buy it.

Let us hope they do more of these games.


The Brazilian Slaughter is probably interested in this game too.

Oh I agree. GoG provide a valuable service with removing aggravation from early windows games.

Plus this is licensed from the developer: not a bank or holding company.

What I sometimes don't like in GOG is that sometimes pack or patch this in a way that makes problems with mods. For example, they include an older version of a fallout patch, which then makes it impossible to upgrade that patch or install a mod.
Their patches and fixes should be optional during the install step. This would make it so much better.

 

[Jaesun]

Re: SSI RPGs, aren't these also in licensing hell due to being D&D games?

Yeah, WOTC doesn't care for the ancient edition stuff but otherwise SSI has been scattered to the four winds so who knows who to talk to. I'd like the to se the earlier SSI strategies as well, but they are just as problematic.

UBISoft owns SSI. I still have never heard why specifically they cannot re-distribute their older SSI titles.

 

[commie]

Re: SSI RPGs, aren't these also in licensing hell due to being D&D games?

Yeah, WOTC doesn't care for the ancient edition stuff but otherwise SSI has been scattered to the four winds so who knows who to talk to. I'd like the to se the earlier SSI strategies as well, but they are just as problematic.

UBISoft owns SSI. I still have never heard why specifically they cannot re-distribute their older SSI titles.

Well it went through Mindscape sure, then Ubi but I though that parts of it went elsewhere as well or were let go. Regardless, Ubi fucking loathes the PC now so why not let this stuff go rather than sitting on it and making a few extra bucks with no effort?

 

[Transgressive Grenadier]

By early windows I meant stuff like win 3.1, redbook audio, cd swapping, winG, intel indeo...

May just be my ignorance but I don't think there's any easy way of obviating these issues (unlike with dos games) and gog seem to know what they're doing here.