Not the store being old... it's actually rather new. Good Old Games promises to sell 'old' games via download. Now, the boxes in the top image don't look too old to me (the only one I've heard of is Fallout, but even that I've never played) but lower down, they're talking about 386. So that's probably something to keep an eye on, especially with the promise of being free of Digital Restriction Management.

What worries me, though, is the "All games are Vista and XP compatible" tag. That usually means the games are incompatible with anything else - unlike the original versions which can be run pretty much anywhere from a mobile phone to an overpowered workstation. Oh well - maybe they'll just include Dosbox and a config file to their downloads and still distribute the game in its original state. That wouldn't hurt.

The vista/xp compatible tag may essentially be just a marketing ploy. Many people may be afraid that an old dos game won't run on a newer system, so the store reassures them that they will run.

...and insinuate that they will only run on their MS-Windows equipped desktop computer (or laptop), thus alienating many potential customers.

However, I see more of a chance for this than any of those re-releases for some of these 'modern' consoles. Those are really ridiculous, as they require this new hardware. Completely out of question. At least there's hope here that system requirements won't be artificially inflated...

Most (if not all) of these games are already available on gametap. However being able to download and keep an install program would be a huge shift away from 'use must use this propreity software connected to the internet to launch the games you bought from us' that gametap uses. Hopefully their service will be initially successful so they can diversify their selections, because I see at least two games I've legally played for free on there.

Maybe our dream of old games coming back and being sold again will come true, eh?

Yes, obviously, so far, it's just a bunch of games which the publishers seem to give out to any online store. Also, age-wise, the games aren't really in the scope of this site yet.


Exactly, and that is why I have at least some hope for this. As I said initially, anything which forces me to use (buy) an expensive and non-standard operating system just to play classic games is simply out of question! Which is why I'm still waiting for word on how this site distributes its games. We'll see sooner or later...

It looks like the games use an installer (windows) and pretty much install the game as it was except with a modified DOSbox integrated into each game. I am not sure if this is true for ALL games, as most people seem to be interested in the fallouts.

I have no idea if there is an alternative installer for other operating systems. It hasn't been confirmed or denied.

Confirmed answer by their support team themselves: To install / extract the games, MS-Windows XP or Vista is required. After that, DOS-based games will run under MS-DOS if moved there, but the initial step still requires Windows. So, it's basically another useless store

I wouldn't call it another useless store, as WinXP/Vista/7 are a huge chunk of today's computer users. I know that this does not seem nice toward Mac users, but most of those games never were meant to be played on Mac.

I tried my windows DOSBox configured games in Ubuntu linux (11-04 and older versions) and everything seems OK. I didn't try (nor I know of any) DOSBox front ends, but it wasn't that hard to boot up the game. It should be more easy for Mac users, as there are some nice DOSBox front ends.

...and the number one native language of the world is Chinese. Therefore, I vote to republish all old games only in Chinese from now one.


Likewise, they were never meant to be played on MS-Windows. Which is equally far from MS-DOS as MacOS since both 'modern' ones run on the same hardware anyway.

Could you not use WINE to extract the game? You may want to check out their community forum thread GOG Games that are working fine with Linux/ Wine.

This assumes I'm running either i386 or amd64. Which isn't the point (me getting it to run), though: These games are not in the original format. They won't run if you've got only the original system. It's not worth more than any ported/emulated re-release on any non-original system. I.e. the right comparison would be this Wii or Xbox crap released these days. Not useless, but not the original game, either. If this "GOG" thing is so great, why aren't there equal praises aout these re-releases on so-called modern consoles? It's the same thing.

Seems to me that ANY form of extra playability for these games is good, regardless of whether they serve all OSes. Also, MacOS is not based on MSDOS like Windows is. Also, Fallout was available for Windows 95. I've gotten it to run on XP, Vista and even 64-bit win7, but only with a LOT of tweaking, so this, to me, is a good development. Allows non-computer savvy people to play these great games.

Aaaaargh! Why does this come up again and again?

-----> Windows NT is not based on MS-DOS! <-----

It is an offshoot of the joint OS/2 development between Microsoft and IBM. Which did not take MS-DOS (or PC-DOS) as a basis, but it started from scratch. So it shares the same level of familiarity with MS-DOS as MacOSX. That being zero.

I'm not sure if I understand what's your point.

You like to have unchanged old games (from companies that most of them don't exist in a while) for new systems, but you like them unchanged. So what do you think how much even those surviving few will get back if they invest in such a crazy project of re-release of games (for example Jagged Alliance) for MacOS or Ubuntu Linux??? How appealing this game might be for new gamers and how many DOS/Win98 users are now using MacOS or Linux and might get that product based on sentimental value??

Games are not like books, they age, and some of them very badly. (3D shooters from Doom/DukeNukem time)

I can get all those games from many downloading places around the net, but I guess I'm getting older. I like to get game, install it and play it without loosing half day to figure out why it runs slow on my 64 bit computer, or why my video card does not work the way it should.

Again, I'm one of those who does not have problem with any emulator (running everything from WinUAE, DOSBox, to VMWare (windows and linux host)/Virtual PC (XP, DOS6.22, Win 9X and Win3.11 clients). I believe that I at least tried all computer/consoles emulators, as I was helping with one emulator web site to post emulators while back.

I still got Amiga 1200 (with turbo card that now does not work for some strange reason and SD card as HD) and old Win98 computer that has DOS shortcuts (best way to setup different DOS modes for Win98) and I'm able to play most of the games without any problems (large amount of free memory thanks to nice setup). But with life and things, most of the times that computer is turned off and I use my laptop for all gaming needs. (and xBox - old model that I softmoded and replaced HD with 500GB one and use it as my emulation station).

Here is my last small project that I'm working on last month. Collecting some old DOS games, documentation, manuals, walktroughs and setting them for easy install. (DFend got nice export to 7Zip file) That is how I found this site. (was looking for manuals for Hero Quest) And yes, that is DOS6.22, Win3.11 and Win95 running on DOSBox. (Win3.11 only used to play some only Win3.11 games))

The point is: Why don't they let their customers choose and let the pure original version be one option? I don't oppose hand-holding solutions like they currently offer. For all I care, this could remain the default when someone clicks "buy" or "download" or however it works (that site has got to be one of the worst accessibility nightmares I've ever come across). Nevertheless, how would it hurt them to have another option for the customers, even if it's tucked away in some profile setting ("give me the original versions without installer")? I told them that back then (three years ago) when they approached me about advertising for their site here, all I got was a "good idea, we will consider that in the future". Apparantely, they decided against it for an unknown reason, so I will continue to disregard their services.

I believe that support would be one of main reasons not to distribute original games. (in their original format)

I know that you prefer original over cracked copy, so you don't mind check the manual and type the code (call it nostalgia if you wish ) but I'm sure that most of people who are customers at GOG.com would not like that. All they care is that it installs easily and that it will work without much of tweaking.

What do you think of indie games? (such as braid)

I too preffer the original version. After all, with all the emulators and virtual machine you can make most of them work, and that's the closest to a solution for the compatibility problem you can get, as making an old game work on a new platform will make it work on that platform, creating two versions, the original and the new, which won't work on any other operative system. And so, you just create more problems.

But also, I'm a bit tired of all the people who don't know or even care about emulation. You want to play an old game? Then get the correct emulator. If I can make them work anybody can.

Actually, I think people ought to learn a bit about computers before getting into trying to play old games, I still feel bad each time somebody calls a zipped MS-Dos game a ROM, because apparently anything that needs an emulator is a ROM (actually a ROM, you see, not an image made from a ROM or anything like that). So I go one step beyond and say they ought to offer the original game, and steps to making it work on new computers. Make the buyers sweat to play them.

But apart from that, it's nice they fix the games for newer computers, just that not offering the original sort of defeats the purpose of creating a shop that preserves old games.

Saying "no support for the alternate (collector's) version" would be fine with me. It's not like I ever called any support hotline when these games were new. Then, the people who like having Dosbox installed 50 times can get all the support they want (and probably need); people who are able to think for themselves won't need it anyway.


Obviously, as people who are already customers apparantely can deal with what this store offers. Which doesn't say anything (one way or the other) about the rest of humanity.

As for Wandrell's point, I would extend that even further: In my opinion, someone who doesn't know what the difference between a file and an application is (common these days) has no business of even using a computer.

Having 50 DOSBox applications (not installations, but just folder with application as required for GOG.com games) or ScummVM for that matter does not really matter for someone who didn't live trough DOS time. As for space on HD, does it really matter, all users care about it is that it works.

Main reason I'm investing in DFend Reloaded installs is that once set, all you need is application installed, and your hardware really does not matter, game is saved, with screenshots and manuals. Kind of tired of collecting all that last 10-15 years...

You didn't tell me about indie games. Did you try Braid (or some other) and did you buy any of them?

Since I don't use the Steam/Spyware store, I obviously don't know anything about this game. Don't you think indie games in general would better be discussed in a dedicated thread?