There’s a lot of hype surrounding the upcoming Fallout 3 launch – but for those who haven’t played Fallout 1 or 2, have you given a thought to playing “catchup?” While finding Fallout 1 can be a chore, getting it to work on your Vista 64-bit install might be next to impossible.
There are other games like that. Take “Giants: Citizen Kabuto” for example. For years I heard about how great, classic, and hilarious it was, but I never had the chance to play it. Where would I go to get that now?
In an attempt to make classic game acquisition as painless and modern as possible, today marks the launch of the Good Old Games public beta. Good Old Games is a service that takes classic games, repackages them into simple installers, makes sure they work flawlessly on your modern computer, and then offers them cheaply with no DRM. They also offer many extras, including wallpapers, avatars, screensavers, soundtracks, and digital manuals.
I gave it a shot tonight. The account signup was as quick and painless as possible. For gender they let me pick from “guy, dude, gentleman, brohda…” and other things in that vein. Cute.
The game library is somewhat limited right now. Catalogs from Codemasters, Interplay, Strategy First, and Xicat Interactive are currently available. In those catalogs, however, are some amazing gems. Fallout 1, 2, and Tactics are there, as are MDK 1 and 2, Redneck Rampage, Evolva, Sacrifice, and Giants: Citizen Kabuto to name a few. There are definitely some games that you are going to want to pick up.
The prices are also extremely reasonable. For $5.99 I was able to download Fallout 1 immediately. The download contained the game, wallpapers, avatars, screen savers, a manual, the original soundtrack in MP3 format, original artwork, and a printable reference card in a 570MB package. That is a great deal of content for less than the price of a meal at Taco Bell.
Logging into my account panel at gog.com displays the games I’ve purchased, and allows me to download them as many times as I want. Good Old Games seems committed to a totally DRM-free experience. From their About page:
We hate draconian DRM schemes just as much as you do, so at GOG.com you don’t just buy the game, you actually own it. Once you download a game, you can install it on any PC and re-download it whenever you want, as many times as you need, and you can play it without an internet connection.
I truly wish more companies felt this way. I am more inclined to feel good about spending my money here just because I want to support companies that trust me.
GOG.com seems like a grand idea, and this seems like the perfect time for it. I can’t really see any flaws in the product short of the limited library; luckily that is a problem easily-remedied. If you are a nostalgic gamer, or want to play some of the classics without jumping through hoops or emulators, go check out Good Old Games.
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