GOG.com

[Infinitron]

 

[Bruticis]

Ooh, it's Ubisoft weekend. Gonna get me some Settlers games.

Terrible sale though, only 50%. You must resist!

 

[VonVentrue]

"Next week's enigmatic release will blow your mind by forging together fantasy and science fiction."

Bane of the Cosmic Forge?
If it's not a "Wizardry 6-Pack" (I can imagine them selling W7 and W8 separately), I may consider suing them for false advertising.

 

[t]

Fuuuck so am I now obligated to buy all that might and magic I never played? Man another week another $20 down the gog drain.

 

[Scruffy]

how's imperialism?

 

[Kirtai]

For shame, no one make a referral link? : x
http://af.gog.com/news/weekend_promo_top_ubisoft_titles?as=1649904300

 

[TripJack]

Also the weekly video hinted at Wizardry (FORGING together science fiction and fantasy) as being the next release. So if you're tired of downloading them for free from abandonware sites and having to go through the hassle of mounting a game in Dosbox, you'll be happy to know that GOG's gonna take care of all those problems for you for a measly 9.99.

amazing deal gog grettst website incline incline A+++ incline #1

 

[Eyeball]

how's imperialism?

One of the top 3 best tun-based strategy games ever made.

If you like Victoria, it is a must-have. It's what Victoria tried to be and failed miserably at being.

 

[tuluse]

I never played Victoria 1, but Imperialism is amazing. It has the best integration of trade and diplomacy I've ever seen. The AI sucks at exploiting it, but the system is incredible. It also lets the player makes lots of detailed and specific choices without ever feeling like you're micromanaging.

 

[stabby]

"Next week's enigmatic release will blow your mind by forging together fantasy and science fiction."

I will bet 5 dollars that they're talking about Albion.

Oh, I would definitely prefer some Wizardry goodies, don't get me wrong on that. I just imagine GOG would be giving some more oomph in pre-release buzz than just mentioning "Sci-Fi & Fantasy! Oh my!" if they've gotten the rights to it.

Moving on, sale wise, me likey. Will admit that with the recent release of Raiden Legacy I can see myself spluring just a wee bit this weekend, and I'm thinking Rayman's getting himself a spot on my lappy. As for some of the strategy games, any others on sale that are definitely must haves?

 

[Cosmic Misogynerd]

Yeah. I'm betting it's Albion too.

 

[cvv]

Battle Isle is absolutely must have. BI1 is skippable, BI2 is in my Top3 strategies ever and BI3 is great. History Line is part of the package too, a fantastic WW1 strategy.

As for Albion I recall playing it but not much more. I think I had fun (I wanna say "good with some weird design decisions"). Is there an oficial Codex dogma about this game?

 

[MicoSelva]

As for Albion I recall playing it but not much more. I think I had fun (I wanna say "good with some weird design decisions"). Is there an oficial Codex dogma about this game?

There is hoverdog's LP.

 

[Taxnomore]

If it is Albion or Wizardry, will any of the game makers get ANY money?
This is my main issue with digital destribution websites. Where does the money go? If it just goes to a fucker who acquired the IP by god knows which shenanongan then I am better off getting "someplace else"

 

[Gord]

Albion is interesting, but also a bit grindy.
Makes you wonder if James Cameron played it and reused some ideas in Avatar.

Definitely get it if you are a furry.

 

[J_C]

If it is Albion or Wizardry, will any of the game makers get ANY money?
If it just goes to a fucker who acquired the IP by god knows which shenanongan then I am better off getting "someplace else"

As for these old games, I doubt the original devs get any money from it.

 

[Infinitron]

If it is Albion or Wizardry, will any of the game makers get ANY money?
This is my main issue with digital destribution websites. Where does the money go? If it just goes to a fucker who acquired the IP by god knows which shenanongan then I am better off getting "someplace else"

How do you define "game maker"? Even if the former CEO of Sir-Tech gets money, all his developers are long gone.

 

[Taxnomore]

I define them by "people who actually worked on the game" (programmers, artsits, even playtesters FFS)."

And yeah, that's pretty much what I thought. All in all, I find this stuff pretty shady. Sure, it's pretty much the way to stay in the legal way but that doesn't make it moral.

For example, let's say I want to play an old Magnetic Scrolls adventure : Myth. Only way to get it legally is through second hand retailers. Let's see.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Myth-Magnet...pt=UK_VintageComputing_RL&hash=item20d1ff270a

Fuck that shit.

Of course, I'm not comparing GOG to this. It's not half as bad. It's pretty clear and legal. But if my money doesn't get to the original artists, it's much more harder for me to pay the bill. Sometimes, I'll still do it, but that won't be with great pleasure.

 

[Gord]

Yeah, no totally easy moral question, I think.

Of course you could just say "it's legal" and therefore the right course of action, but I understand the concerns behind it.
Then again, the original devs got paid for it (even if it's just once for making the game), they might even have seen some money from when the rights have been sold and that wouldn't have happened if it wouldn't be possible to make money from it...

 

[J_C]

I define them by "people who actually worked on the game" (programmers, artsits, even playtesters FFS)."

And yeah, that's pretty much what I thought. All in all, I find this stuff pretty shady. Sure, it's pretty much the way to stay in the legal way but that doesn't make it moral.

For example, let's say I want to play an old Magnetic Scrolls adventure : Myth. Only way to get it legally is through second hand retailers. Let's see.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Myth-Magnet...pt=UK_VintageComputing_RL&hash=item20d1ff270a

Fuck that shit.

Of course, I'm not comparing GOG to this. It's not half as bad. It's pretty clear and legal. But if my money doesn't get to the original artists, it's much more harder for me to pay the bill. Sometimes, I'll still do it, but that won't be with great pleasure.

But how do you expect the devs be payed for these games? Do you think that each and every programmer, artist and designer should get a paycheck until they die for every units sold? These games are sometimes 20 years old, in a lot of cases nobody knows where are the people who made them.

But if my money doesn't get to the original artists, it's much more harder for me to pay the bill.

They you should stop buying modern games, because in 90% of the cases, the money doesn't go to the original artists. They go to the publisher, who already payed the devs.

I don't see anything wrong in GOG, neither legally, nor morally.

 

[Minttunator]

Albion is interesting, but also a bit grindy.
Makes you wonder if James Cameron played it and reused some ideas in Avatar.

Definitely get it if you are a furry.

Albion is one of my favourite games of all time - although I must admit I was 12 when I first played it and didn't know about furries (no Internet connection). The world, the lore and all the different cultures of Albion are really interesting, the dungeons are fun - if occasionally somewhat frustrating - and I'd say it's aged fairly well graphically for a mid-90s game. And yeah, Avatar is pretty much a complete rip-off - so if you've seen it, then Albion's story is pretty much spoiled for you.

 

[Taxnomore]

But how do you expect the devs be payed for these games? Do you think that each and every programmer, artist and designer should get a paycheck until they die for every units sold?

Why not ?


Isn't this why there is a Credits section in games ?

But yes, it's still difficult, right ? But in the current days so much progress is made about artist retribution ; kickstarter, digital distribution done right, jamendo. While the current copyright laws do not allow it, that still doesn't make it okay in my opinion. Call me an utopist.

It works in some cases. Little Big Adventure for example is registered to a company created for that purpose by one of the game creators. Buy the game, at least some money gets to ONE programmer. It's not much, and the rest of the members of the original team are getting ripped off, but it's still someone.

When I buy a game on Steam sale, even if sometimes the developers do not get "a share", I'm giving money to the structure that supported these developpers, and telling them I like their games. It helps them produce another game.

Giving money to Activision however if decide to buy Space Quest I to III ? What the fuck ?

I don't see anything wrong in GOG, neither legally, nor morally.

Not from a buisness and legal point of view, I agree. As a consumer "vote with your money" point of view, yes, sometimes it's not perfect.

 

[J_C]

But how do you expect the devs be payed for these games? Do you think that each and every programmer, artist and designer should get a paycheck until they die for every units sold?

Why not ?


Isn't this why there is a Credits section in games ?

But yes, it's still difficult, right ? But in the current days so much progress is made about artist retribution ; kickstarter, digital distribution done right, jamendo. While the current copyright laws do not allow it, that still doesn't make it okay in my opinion. Call me an utopist.

It works in some cases. Little Big Adventure for example is registered to a company created for that purpose by one of the game creators. Buy the game, at least some money gets to ONE programmer. It's not much, and the rest of the members of the original team are getting ripped off, but it's still someone.

When I buy a game on Steam sale, even if sometimes the developers do not get "a share", I'm giving money to the structure that supported these developpers, and telling them I like their games. It helps them produce another game.

Giving money to Activision however if decide to buy Space Quest I to III ? What the fuck ?

I don't see anything wrong in GOG, neither legally, nor morally.

Not from a buisness and legal point of view, I agree. As a consumer "vote with your money" point of view, yes, sometimes it's not perfect.

It would be great if things could work like this. But as you say, its pretty utopistic.

 

[Telengard]

I define them by "people who actually worked on the game" (programmers, artsits, even playtesters FFS)."

And yeah, that's pretty much what I thought. All in all, I find this stuff pretty shady. Sure, it's pretty much the way to stay in the legal way but that doesn't make it moral.

For example, let's say I want to play an old Magnetic Scrolls adventure : Myth. Only way to get it legally is through second hand retailers. Let's see.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Myth-Magnet...pt=UK_VintageComputing_RL&hash=item20d1ff270a

Fuck that shit.

Of course, I'm not comparing GOG to this. It's not half as bad. It's pretty clear and legal. But if my money doesn't get to the original artists, it's much more harder for me to pay the bill. Sometimes, I'll still do it, but that won't be with great pleasure.

The video game industry is the video game industry. There have been some inroads to getting residuals into the industry, but it's not going anywhere fast.

Something I find interesting, though, is since a residuals system is how movies and music work, those artists do get a residuals check if a video game shows a clip of their films or uses their songs. So, the video game industry will pay residuals, just not to their own artists. I love quirks like that, for some reason.

 

[Gord]

Even for movies and music it's not always so easy.
Hollywood accounting has its own Wikipedia article.
And (big) publishers in music industry aren't exactly known for fair deals with their artists either from what you read.

Ultimately, doesn't it boil down to the contracts the guys working on the games got? I seriously don't know how common contracts are in gaming that offer revenues based on percentage of sales. Probably not very. And even if, there's always Hollywood accounting to cover it (also see Obsidian and FNV).
But, if the devs anyway never expected to get paid outside of their regular income during development (and maybe some bonus based on scores/sales/whatever), is it despicable from the publisher to continue selling the game (and based on what should they stop selling it)? Or suddenly justified not paying for the game?

I guess it gets a bit more muddled e.g. in case of rights being sold because the original company went bankrupt, though.