On Tue, 7 Jun 2022 13:42:41 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<
dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
On 6/7/2022 9:14 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
On Tue, 7 Jun 2022 07:33:29 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
On 6/7/2022 2:47 AM, JAB wrote:
I then realised that Steam isn't GoG.
Something for which we Thank Gog. :D
Speaking of GOG, I've noticed that recently they've really picked up
on the 'good old games' bit. Usually, when I sort their games by year,
I've already purchased all the games from the 80s and early 90s. But
there are whole bunches of new games for me to buy now, including a
number of pre-GoldBox SSI titles.
In fairness, most of these are more "old games" rather than "good
games" and I can't imagine many people rushing out to buy them
(except weirdos like myself) but its nice to see GOG refocusing on the
brand that originally made them unique.
They still need to work a bit on upping their game when it comes to
the 'extras', though. They used to offer soundtracks, game bibles,
artwork, clue books and more... now we're lucky if they offer a
manual.
Finding manuals for older games these days probably isn't easy, even
less so ones they can reproduce and distribute.
Well, it's getting easier thanks to the hard work of a lot of
dedicated gamers, who are scanning their own manuals and uploading
them to archive.org in the hopes of aiding the digital preservation of
games otherwise abandoned.
Why, there may even be one such archivist in this very newsgroup ;-)
Still, if GOG and their partners are going to the bother of selling
these games, they really ought to also be scanning the manuals. It's
not like they aren't available (you can buy all the games on Ebay,
albeit for a few hundred dollars) if the publishers don't have a copy themselves. They just aren't making the effort.
(And, often enough, when they do include a scan of the manual, it's
just a rebadged version of the fan-made scan, without any effort to
attribute the work or improve the images.)
I will, however, forgive GOG for not providing soundtracks for pre-'87
DOS games that utilized the PC speaker as its sound source. I don't
think 320kb FLACs would do anything to improve the ear-piercing
screeches and beeps that passed for video-game music back then ;-)
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