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Mr.Hotkeys: Dec 27, 2008; you're just thinking too much

hogswallower posted:

I'd like to see The Neverhood on Gog. Any chance that'll ever be a reality?

Published by Dreamworks who was acquired by EA, so no unless their big announcement is they sold their souls.

# ? Jan 31, 2010 00:33

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# ? Jun 6, 2024 14:24

FearOfABlackKnob: Nov 5, 2008; by Ozma

hogswallower posted:

I'd like to see The Neverhood on Gog. Any chance that'll ever be a reality?

Anything is possible

# ? Jan 31, 2010 00:59

Grawl: Aug 28, 2008; Do the D.A.N.C.E
1234, fight!
Stick to the B.E.A.T
Get ready to ignite
You were such a P.Y.T
Catching all the lights
Just easy as A.B.C
That's how we make it right

hogswallower posted:

I'd like to see The Neverhood on Gog. Any chance that'll ever be a reality?

I certainly hope so, because if you try to run the game in Vista/7 you'll get hosed up colors (like Worms Armageddon).

# ? Jan 31, 2010 01:01

Panic Restaurant: Jul 19, 2006; Pork Pro

hogswallower posted:

I'd like to see The Neverhood on Gog. Any chance that'll ever be a reality?

Neverhood would be amazing, especially since the game is ridiculously expensive and hard to find. I'd love to play it without having to sell a kidney.

# ? Jan 31, 2010 22:26

Magnificent Quiver: May 8, 2003

Let's see Normality and Realms of the Haunting. They sure don't make games like that anymore.

# ? Jan 31, 2010 23:03

al-azad: May 28, 2009

Magnificent Quiver posted:

Let's see Normality and Realms of the Haunting. They sure don't make games like that anymore.

Gremlin was bought by Infogrames who are now owned by Atari which I believe is GoG's next stop on their way to publisher domination.

Infogrames also owned Humongous Entertainment. I want to play me some Spy Fox!

# ? Jan 31, 2010 23:35

Rocket Baby Dolls: Mar 3, 2006; Underneath he has a velvet, yummy tummy you wish you could just stroke and squish all day! Ahh! But on top... On top it's a whole different story... On top he is a scary stiff stabber!

I bought The Feeble Files from there a couple of months ago as my 12 year old original copy won't run on Vista. Works like a dream, now i understand why i never got anywhere with it the first time around.

Also bought Lionheart for �2 a few weeks ago, no problems at all.

This is an awesome site, easy to use, provides full scans of the booklets, full walkthroughs (for adventure games) aswell as any other free extra's. Not to mention the download speeds are very very fast.

# ? Feb 1, 2010 00:15

Erdos: Dec 31, 2005

Has anyone had any luck getting games from GOG to work in an XP virtual box? I'm trying to get Arcanum to run, but it just crashes immediately after I click the shortcut. I don't get an error message or anything.

# ? Feb 1, 2010 02:43

24-7 Urkel Cosplay: Feb 12, 2003

Arcanum seems to be the kind of game that using the wrong build will screw you over. Can anyone recommend a fun build?

# ? Feb 1, 2010 02:50

Dog Toggle Switch: May 16, 2006

I think the real key is to specialize. Obviously, you need to focus on either technology or magic and in my personal experience, neither is inherently more difficult to play.
I think the most fun character I had was a mage who specialized in summoning with some direct damage spells thrown in to sling around while his minions tore things apart.
Then again, playing a technologist sniper was a lot of fun too especially since a lot of the items technologists can make compensate for any short-comings in skills or stats they may have.
Locked Chest? Build an auto-key
Bad reputation? Mix an Elixir of Persuasion.

The beginning of the game can be difficult, especially when you're coming to grips with the battle system, but really any character will probably be edging towards over-powered once you get a few levels under your belt, so long as you stick to a particular "theme" to build around.

# ? Feb 1, 2010 05:02

Overwined: Sep 22, 2008; Wine can of their wits the wise beguile,
Make the sage frolic, and the serious smile.

So when you do level how much do you put points into skills and how much into attributes? Early game seems tough because there are so many things you need to improve and you only get one measly point per level.

# ? Feb 1, 2010 05:33

Lemon-Lime: Aug 6, 2009

Chunk posted:

Arcanum seems to be the kind of game that using the wrong build will screw you over. Can anyone recommend a fun build?

Install the tech fix from Terra Arcanum and you can play whatever you want.

Otherwise, don't bother playing tech, as it's vastly inferior to magic if you're playing out of the box.

If you're not playing tech, you'll definitely want Harm (the first Necromancy spell) - it's borderline broken (less so with the fix but still drat good).

Overwined posted:

So when you do level how much do you put points into skills and how much into attributes?

Stats are basically there as a limitation on skill. You raise them if and when you have to raise them in order to get the next blueprint or next mastery level, in my experience.

Lemon-Lime fucked around with this message at 07:58 on Feb 1, 2010

# ? Feb 1, 2010 07:55

glug: Mar 12, 2004; JON JONES APOLOGIST #1

Erdos posted:

Has anyone had any luck getting games from GOG to work in an XP virtual box? I'm trying to get Arcanum to run, but it just crashes immediately after I click the shortcut. I don't get an error message or anything.

What OS are you on? I have had no problems installing things directly on win7 64bit from GOG, not needing to run a virtual xp like I did with my original old cds.

# ? Feb 1, 2010 14:38

Kikkoman: Nov 28, 2002; Posing along since 2005

I don't know if this has been reported on, but

http://neoseeker.com/Articles/Games/Features/activision_joins_gog/

quote:

GOG mused to us, "This might help people realize that Activision does stuff other than Call of Duty and Guitar Hero." Many more titles are planned (the acclaimed spy shooter No One Lives Forever 2 is rumoured thanks to a clue from the team)

I never played this game and it seemed pretty good, so yay!

# ? Feb 1, 2010 17:31

PrinnySquadron: Dec 8, 2009

Kikkoman posted:

I don't know if this has been reported on, but

http://neoseeker.com/Articles/Games/Features/activision_joins_gog/

I never played this game and it seemed pretty good, so yay!

poo poo yeah, the NOLF games are excellent.

# ? Feb 1, 2010 17:36

Lockback: Sep 3, 2006; All days are nights to see till I see thee; and nights bright days when dreams do show me thee.

Going back, higher price point on newer games is better than just not having them at all. Its always good to have more options on games you want to try out, even if GoG isn't always the cheapest.

Plus, as much as I love Steam, GoG's system of downloading the DRM-Free unpacker is very, VERY nice. It might be worth spending a little extra to get that.

Also,

Sporadic posted:

Also new publisher coming in March!

http://polygamia.pl/Polygamia/1,95338,7498776,GOG_zlowil_Activision.html

It has to be either Lucasarts or EA.

What does this article even say? Any clues as to whom it may be?

# ? Feb 1, 2010 18:02

Call Me Charlie: Dec 3, 2005; by Smythe

Lockback posted:

Also,

What does this article even say? Any clues as to whom it may be?

Look on the right side of the interview for the English translation.

quote:

>Was it hard to get a deal with Activision? How long did it take?

It's an interesting question, since we actually originally started talks with Vivendi over a year ago. We met with them just before the merger of Activision and Vivendi was announced. The moment was not the best one for such talks, since some people in the company were already packing, but our seed started to grow. From the very beginning the idea of selling older games was seen as interesting, as especially in case of Sierra (which, as one of the few publishers, had a dedicated Internet department - Sierra Online) the GOG model fit their business concept.

Of course, in the beginning we were met with a lack of understanding of our no-DRM policy. After several meetings and detailed explanations, we were able to convince both Vivendi and, after the merger, Activision.

The acquisition of most games is a long and tedious process. But acquiring them from Activision-Blizzard, one of the biggest publishers in the world, was especially long. It took us over a year to sign the license agreement! The fact that such a big player is joining GOG, with their vast back-catalogue of games, is a breakthrough event for GOG. I won't hide the fact that we count on it being a boulder (definitely not just a pebble) that will cause a whole avalanche.

> Which games from this publisher will we see on GOG?

With the announcement of the Activision deal, we have started an "Activision Month" at GOG.com. This means that anything happening on GOG in the coming weeks will be related to this publisher, and believe me, a lot will happen. First, we will release the first two games from the Activision range: Arcanum, one of the most interesting and elaborate RPGs, and the first part of the popular Gabriel Knight adventure game series.

Our goal is to have all good games in our offer, and we are consequently, step by step, realizing it. I believe that in near future GOG will offer games from all major publishers! The process begins with Activision games and by the end of Q1 2010 we're planning another major event, so there's much ahead of us! We started with Interplay's games, then there was Codemasters and many bigger and smaller partners, thanks to which we brought many classics back to the players, and now Activision. For now, I cannot disclose which major players will appear on GOG soon, since negotiations are underway, but we plan to bring you a plethora of older hits.

It's worth noting that in case of GOG our portfolio consists not only of games from major publishers. Since we offer the best of the older games, it often happens that after a certain period of time, the rights to the title return from the publisher to the developer. It is good for us, since then we're able to talk directly with the makers of the games and are not only able to publish the games themselves, but talk the developer into an interview, get additional materials and permission to publish them. It is also a reason for the players to buy legal copies of the games, since in many cases the money goes directly to the makers of a given title. It's a great feeling to support the makers of your favorite games from years back.

I'll tell a little anecdote connected with this fact. A while ago we were looking for the owner of the rights to the cult Broken Sword series. At the moment of its premiere (many years ago), the publisher was Virgin, but after a few years the right reverted back to the maker of the series - Charles Cecil. We found his contact info, met with him in London, convinced him that the GOG way is the way to go, and after a dozen days we had a signed deal, we learned how the game was being made and what he's working on now. Charles is a really incredible guy, a great developer and it's been a real pleasure to sell his games on GOG and support his work.

> So far, its' been the hardest to get the rights to release what on GOG?

The deal with Activision definitely took us the longest, but it is the hardest to get the rights to... what isn't on GOG yet? But seriously, there's a pool of titles with legal issues that are often an insolvable Gordian knot. Due to historical changes in the market, bankruptcies, takeovers, etc. it sometimes happens that the rights to the franchise are owned by company A, the code by company B, and the music belongs to some artist. Additionally, 2 of the 3 aforementioned entities are not interested in any kind of business talks. Players often don't realize that information like "Hasbro sues Atari?, which recently appeared on the Internet, is the worst that can happen when it comes to adding e.g. the Baldur's Gate series to GOG. These types of legal conflicts can block the possibility of selling older games for many years, and unfortunately solving such problems is beyond us. Fortunately, such cases are rare and usually we are able to convince most owners of the rights that old master copies are worth dusting off and selling on GOG.

> Who's next? Can you tell me who you're aiming at?

As I mentioned, our goal is to offer all good games from all publishers, so we're talking with... heheheh,... everyone who do have such games. In March, we plan to announce another big publisher thanks to whom GOG will get HUUUGE hits. By the way, it's not the only surprise we have planned for March.

> How big is GOG? Can you share some data?

I will share the numbers I can. We already have over 170 games on GOG and the number is constantly rising. Our ambition is to create the biggest catalogue of classic games, so that everyone can find something for themselves. Although our service is called Good Old Games, we don't really have strict criteria of selecting games. First, everyone has a different taste, and second, different games have sentimental value for different people, memories of whole nights spent on playing. But thanks to our store having a virtual, shelf of unlimited size, the size of our catalogue is not limited, so we think that it's always best to have as wide of a choice as possible. But as for the number of available titles, it is actually higher, since in case of older titles we compile several games into one set and sell as one title - a good example is the Might & Magic 6-pack, in which for $9.99 USD the player gets 6 parts of the cult M&M series, from 1st to 6th. We already have agreements with 30 publishers or developers, and, as I said, it is not our final word yet.

But back to numbers, I will show you the following list that was published in September for our first anniversary. The first year of GOG in numbers looked like this:

135717 forum posts
28 partners (publishers or developers)
207 wallpapers
21 game guides
326 game avatars
1861 artworks
89 sound tracks
7134 hours - we spent this much time testing the games so that they would work well on all systems
110 GB - this is the size of all our games and additional materials

Of course, in the last months these numbers have been growing, but they show, to an extent, how GOG is developing. It is worth noting that GOG is not just games. For each game, we release lots of additional materials, so when buying a game the players can not only play, but also listen to the soundtrack, read a game guide, interviews with the game's creators. It costs us a lot of work (both on the technical and legal side), but I still think that such materials are a huge advantage. Another unique thing that is lacking from other similar services. And stuff like soundtrack from our favorite game really is something!

> GOG hits - which are the most popular?

Of course the most popular games are ones that both us and the users have player for the longest time. To name a few: Duke Nukem, Freespace, all Fallouts, Might & Magic, Heroes of Might & Magic, Painkiller, the Gothic series - the list is long, but it's clear that everyone wants to return to the titles they have fond memories of. There is also a tendency of returning to titles that used to be hot, used to have good reviews, but the players for some reason did not buy them. This also applies to younger players, who did not have a chance of playing some classics because they were too young when the title was originally published or did not have a computer they would run on - now this problem is gone. Additionally, when such a title appears with an attractive price, like $5.99 or 9.99, there are many impulse purchases.

No clues yet but if it is a "another big publisher thanks to whom GOG will get HUUUGE hits" the only two I can think of that would be that big of an announcement would be either LucasArts or EA. Either one of those would be massive. Maybe even bigger than the Activison announcement depending on what they are bringing to the table.

# ? Feb 1, 2010 18:10

HUNDU THE BEAST GOD: Sep 14, 2007; everything is yours

roushimsx posted:

It's not a very good game. The on foot bits are pretty trash (better than Driver 2, I guess...) and they simplified the car damage model down to the lowest level possible. Remember how you used to be able to position your car in I76 to absorb the damage on one side if the other was too hosed up, or you could armor up your trunk for a safe get away? Yea, not so much in I82. It made the game insanely frustrating ~75% through the game and I wound up just quitting because I wasn't really having that much fun at that point anyway.

The CG from Blur was really well done, though. Way better camera work than you'd think to find in a game from that era. Mark Mothersbaugh's soundtrack was pretty tits, too.

This post just reminded me of how well done and inspired i-76 was. That game is a work of art, and I remember catching poo poo for thinking Vigilante 8 was simple rear end console crap.

# ? Feb 1, 2010 18:11

slidebite: Nov 6, 2005; Good egg

PrinnySquadron posted:

poo poo yeah, the NOLF games are excellent.

Absolutely. Great humor and a great all around game. I hope the first one makes it too.

I'm checking gog twice a day now hoping to catch what the next Activision releases. :f5:

gog interview posted:

As I mentioned, our goal is to offer all good games from all publishers, so we're talking with... heheheh,... everyone who do have such games. In March, we plan to announce another big publisher thanks to whom GOG will get HUUUGE hits. By the way, it's not the only surprise we have planned for March.

Any guesses on this next big publisher they're talking about? I would love it to be EA but I don't think I'm holding my breath for that one. Janes Sims all patched up and Xp/Vista/7 compatible would be great but also probably a pipe dream.

# ? Feb 1, 2010 20:00

glug: Mar 12, 2004; JON JONES APOLOGIST #1

I just want Lucasarts, and I want Outlaws. Still the best first person shooter ever.

# ? Feb 1, 2010 20:04

al-azad: May 28, 2009

The Operative (first NOLF) was a kickass game and I can't stress that enough. The supposed "stealth" missions were garbage but the game's sharp writing, pacing, and set pieces were the first time I really looked at a game and said "Wow, this could seriously be a movie." The graphics have aged pretty poorly but NOLF 2 picks up on that slack as it still looks pretty good. NOLF 2 has a weaker plot and it's a shorter game (I remember NOLF being surprisingly long for a shooter) but it still retains all the charm of the original while fixing up the stupider gameplay issues like the broken stealth system.

Definitely looking forward to both of those because I really want to play through them again.

# ? Feb 1, 2010 20:14

Dissapointed Owl: Jan 30, 2008; You wrote me a letter,
and this is how it went:

NOLF huh? I remember playing the demo over and over again. Something involving a plane crash or exploding mid-air and having to snatch a parachute. It's all a bit hazy. But it was awesome.

# ? Feb 1, 2010 20:23

al-azad: May 28, 2009

Dissapointed Owl posted:

NOLF huh? I remember playing the demo over and over again. Something involving a plane crash or exploding mid-air and having to snatch a parachute. It's all a bit hazy. But it was awesome.

Yes, one of the levels is straight up out of Moonraker (is that the one?) where you're free falling from an exploding plane shooting other free fallers as you try to grab the guy with a parachute below you.

Both games has a lot of cool set pieces with my favorites being a showdown with a unicycle riding mime in the streets of Morocco and fighting kunoichi in a trailer park while a tornado rips through it.

# ? Feb 1, 2010 20:40

GreenNight: Feb 19, 2006; Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.

Review of Arcanum hit on the recent release:

http://www.gameshard.net/arcanum.html

# ? Feb 1, 2010 22:03

Weedle: May 31, 2006

I played No One Lives Forever 2 a couple of years ago, but I think I traded my copy on Goozex or something. I'd love to play it again.

# ? Feb 1, 2010 23:47

Rocket Baby Dolls: Mar 3, 2006; Underneath he has a velvet, yummy tummy you wish you could just stroke and squish all day! Ahh! But on top... On top it's a whole different story... On top he is a scary stiff stabber!

GreenNight posted:

Review of Arcanum hit on the recent release:

http://www.gameshard.net/arcanum.html

Arcanum was so near to being one of the most perfect isometric RPG's of all time. Okay, graphics wise it wasn't spectacular, but concept, atmosphere and setting it was halfway to the mark of being a wet-dream.

I'm so glad my original discs work with Vista, i've overplayed this nearly as much as Fallout 2 and Planescape.

# ? Feb 2, 2010 00:21

Erdos: Dec 31, 2005

glug posted:

What OS are you on? I have had no problems installing things directly on win7 64bit from GOG, not needing to run a virtual xp like I did with my original old cds.

Mac OS X, running the latest virtual box and XP upgrade to SP 3 or whatever. I've tried installing the unofficial patches and high-res stuff with no luck.

# ? Feb 2, 2010 03:32

glug: Mar 12, 2004; JON JONES APOLOGIST #1

Wow, absolutely no help then. Keep on keepin' on, Mac Game Guy.

It's Feb 2.. where the hell are our new activision games!
grr.

# ? Feb 2, 2010 14:24

theBeaz: Jul 11, 2006

Erdos posted:

Mac OS X, running the latest virtual box and XP upgrade to SP 3 or whatever. I've tried installing the unofficial patches and high-res stuff with no luck.

Why don't you just use boot camp? Running Windows natively should solve your problems completely.

# ? Feb 2, 2010 15:11

Oae Ui: Oct 7, 2003; Let's be friends.

Erdos posted:

Mac OS X, running the latest virtual box and XP upgrade to SP 3 or whatever. I've tried installing the unofficial patches and high-res stuff with no luck.

VirtualBox won't really work well for any games, even old ones like Arcanum. Other VM software like Parallels or VMWare doesn't fair very well either. Sometimes you might have luck using Wine or Crossover Games, but those are both pretty hit and miss too. I've not really had any luck getting stuff from GOG to install and run properly with any of the above software. I usually just play it on my PC, or as theBeaz suggests, setup a Bootcamp partition.

# ? Feb 2, 2010 16:00

Rirse: May 7, 2006; by R. Guyovich

Don't tell me they are going to update only on Thursday during this month of Activison. I liked Arcanum, but I'm tired of seeing that elf woman from the boxart.

# ? Feb 2, 2010 18:37

slidebite: Nov 6, 2005; Good egg

^ Don't even say that :argh:

# ? Feb 2, 2010 19:16

Handsome Ralph: Sep 3, 2004; Oh boy, posting!
That's where I'm a Viking!

slidebite posted:

^ Don't even say that

Well in one of the interviews they did say every couple of days they'd be releasing something...so I'm hoping that wasn't just a hyped up statement and they hold themselves to that statement.

# ? Feb 2, 2010 19:26

Athletic Footjob: Sep 24, 2005; Grimey Drawer

"Still alive :). Just busy working behind the scenes!" was posted on their Twitter today in regards to being asked about a GOG today.

# ? Feb 2, 2010 19:29

spiritual bypass: Feb 19, 2008; Grimey Drawer

Any thoughts on the chances any part of the Close Combat series ending up on GOG?

# ? Feb 2, 2010 19:32

Rob Rockley: Feb 23, 2009

Erdos posted:

Mac OS X, running the latest virtual box and XP upgrade to SP 3 or whatever. I've tried installing the unofficial patches and high-res stuff with no luck.

Yeah just boot camp, it's worth it especially since you can access both partitions from either OS now. Boot Camp is far better now than it used to be. Crossover is the best virtual whatchamajigger for games, as in only 95% of games fail to run as opposed to 99%, so don't hold your breath.

Not to mention that GoG games are modernized to work on current systems, so often they're not really as old and simple as they seem, and getting them to work on Crossover or Parallels is unlikely.

Also I would pay :10bux:

for a Close Combat pack, that's a good idea. And I've never even played any Close Combat game.

# ? Feb 2, 2010 19:53

spiritual bypass: Feb 19, 2008; Grimey Drawer

rt4 posted:

Any thoughts on the chances any part of the Close Combat series ending up on GOG?

Looks like SSI published Close Combat IV (perhaps the best one). They no longer exist, but they were bought by Ubisoft. Prince of Persia is Ubisoft, right? Maybe there is hope.

# ? Feb 2, 2010 20:07

Kikkoman: Nov 28, 2002; Posing along since 2005

No one has heard anything yet? With all the hype that they were pushing about the month of Activision I imagined they would have started making announcements yesterday.

# ? Feb 3, 2010 06:24

Dudley: Feb 24, 2003; Tasty

Kikkoman posted:

No one has heard anything yet? With all the hype that they were pushing about the month of Activision I imagined they would have started making announcements yesterday.

Month of inactivision :effort:

# ? Feb 3, 2010 10:09

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# ? Jun 6, 2024 14:24

Mr.Hotkeys: Dec 27, 2008; you're just thinking too much

Dudley posted:

Month of inactivision

# ? Feb 3, 2010 10:17

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > GOG.com - GOG Does What Steam Diablon't

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