GOG News and Updates 2014

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Classic adventure tomorrow.

It's worth noting that GOG.com has pretty much always waited until the second half of January to start releasing titles after the end of the holiday sale. Don't worry, we even have lined up a great adventure game for you guys to get our classic releases started back up. Look for it tomorrow, actually. :)

I'm going to have a wild and crazy guess at Nippon Safes. Inc.
 
That's always good news, though all the classic adventure games that come to mind for GOG to get at this point are the LucasArts ones, which seems very unlikely to happen. Never heard of Nippon Safes.
 
That's always good news, though all the classic adventure games that come to mind for GOG to get at this point are the LucasArts ones, which seems very unlikely to happen. Never heard of Nippon Safes.

That was the problem, I was wracking my brain for one they didn't already have. I did originally list Innocent Until Caught until I found out it was Psygnosis and there wasn't much chance of that.

Edit: Oooh, they don't have the Delphine Cinematique adventures. Future War and Cruise for a Corpse, maybe? Wonder where the rights are for those.
 
I'd love it to be Discword Noir!
Just yesterday I tried running it on win7. Nope... Even with the modified exe it crashes at the intro.
It is one of the best written games ever and even adventure fans probably missed it due to the Europe only release.
 

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Planescape: Torment added to the recommended game list today. Couldn't miss out on using EviLore's quote from his mini D&D RPG mega sale guide, which I'm linking for easy reference when the time comes for future RPG additions to the list.

Also a 66% off promo for Sang-Froid: Tales of Werewolves until tomorrow ($15 > $5), which is a game about a Canadian lumberjack in the mid 1800s cutting down trees by day to make money and defensive structures for fighting supernatural beasts by night. What's not to love about that? It always caught my eye, having some links to the TD genre and great artistic direction, but there's a lot more to it than that, going by the Eurogamer article, the duality of the day/night modes really compliment each other well:

Few games create such a jarring sensation as you switch between modes. Few games rub chilly strategy against warm-blooded violence with such gloating enthusiasm. And, yes, even fewer eventually teach you how to win out over the various hardships that have been piled upon you. Disempowerment! Few games (Dark Souls, the Stalker series) bring you so low and make it feel so glorious - and by turn transform mastery into such a tangible achievement.

That's Sang-Froid through and through, though: an unpopular theme handled in a relentless and unforgiving manner, a wild game slotted in amongst the polite, the ingratiating, the over-produced. I've played hundreds of great games this year, and, yes, some of them have been better than Sang-Froid, whatever better may actually mean here. None of them have offered the same emotional highs and lows, though. None of them have stayed with me after the campaign's finished and the review is submitted. None of them have refused to budge quite like this one.
 
That's always good news, though all the classic adventure games that come to mind for GOG to get at this point are the LucasArts ones, which seems very unlikely to happen.

There's still a number of Sierra classics (and not-so-classics) that aren't on the service: Colonel's Bequest, Manhunter NY/SF, etc.
 
There's still a number of Sierra classics (and not-so-classics) that aren't on the service: Colonel's Bequest, Manhunter NY/SF, etc.

I might be alone here, but the Sierra game I want the most is Lode Runner: The Legend Returns/Lode Runner Online. Easily my favorite incarnation of Lode Runner.


Well, that and FEAR... even though it's not an old game. That's kinda cheating anyway since Sierra didn't develop it. I'm guessing Vivendi still has the rights to that one. Kind of a messy situation that IP turned into.
 
I might be alone here, but the Sierra game I want the most is Lode Runner: The Legend Returns/Lode Runner Online. Easily my favorite incarnation of Lode Runner.


Well, that and FEAR... even though it's not an old game. That's kinda cheating anyway since Sierra didn't develop it. I'm guessing Vivendi still has the rights to that one. Kind of a messy situation that IP turned into.

Pretty sure the WB owns the FEAR rights.
 
@GOGcom said:
Tomorrow we resume our regular release schedule with something dark and cyberpunkish. See you in 13 hours!
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Another hint at what's to come tomorrow. Dark and cyberpunkish? What could it be!?
 
Blade Runner maybe?

That would be sick. I've never had the opportunity to play it and I've heard nothing but great things about it.

The only other cyberpunk classic adventure that comes to mind is already on GOG: Beneath a Steel Sky.

EDIT: Bloodnet? Never actually heard of that.

Wiki description said:
BloodNet puts the player into the role of a man named Ransom Stark, who must battle a vampire named Abraham Van Helsing who is attempting world domination and save both humanity and the cybernet. Ransom Stark was bitten by the aforementioned vampire, but is able to fight off the infection with the help of a computer grafted onto his brain stem. He must then embark on a journey to defeat the head vampire, Dracula, to stop the infection.

That sounds absolutely ridiculous in the best possible way.
 
I remember Bloodnet. Most notable for two things: One, quite gory for the time (I remember seeing a disembowelled corpse lying on a bed). Two: A top-down perspective, really unusual for an adventure.
 
I remember Bloodnet. Most notable for two things: One, quite gory for the time (I remember seeing a disembowelled corpse lying on a bed). Two: A top-down perspective, really unusual for an adventure.

What you're describing is DreamWeb, not BloodNet:
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/dreamweb/dreamweb.htm

DreamWeb was made Freeware by its developers and runs in ScummVM, recommended alone for the amazing atmosphere, (gameplay and story have some issues):
http://www.scummvm.org/games/#dreamweb
 
I remember Bloodnet. Most notable for two things: One, quite gory for the time (I remember seeing a disembowelled corpse lying on a bed). Two: A top-down perspective, really unusual for an adventure.

That's Dreamweb.
Bloodnet had standard pnc adventure game perspective I believe.
 
That would be sick. I've never had the opportunity to play it and I've heard nothing but great things about it.

It was the first game I played that had multiple endings. I'm sure I replayed it more than 5 times back then. Such an awesome game. But it looks like it's not that, oh well.
 
I've heard great things about BloodNet - nice to hear it's coming to GOG tomorrow.

Plenty of other MicroProse classics as well that would be great to see on GOG.
 
I just joined GOG a while ago and, man, nostalgia all over the place. Don't even know where to start.

I've actually played BloodNet, but I was too young to know what to do. If I remember correctly, you have to manage your lust for blood: if you have too much or too little you lose control - game over.
 


BloodNet added to OP, not the biggest first release splash, but at least an older game that is now unique to GOG. Really hard to find impressions of this on gaf not already mentioned. There's just about 0 people discussing it prior to this thread (other than placing it on a list of Amiga titles or something), I noticed in GOG's release discussion impressions are pretty positive, though reviews of the game are a bit harsh/low going by wikipedia. Certainly a unique title, but definitely not one with a vocal following, for here anyway.

If you do buy it and play it, be sure to give impressions. If there's a few positive impressions of the game, I will add it to the list of recommended games. As it stands now, there's just not enough recommendations for it to be added.

I'm thinking about running banners along with the text summary in the OP through the prior month's releases, so if you just want to check in to the OP every few weeks, there'll be an easy to see visual representation of what's new. Then as they become older, I'll start removing them and all that will remain is the text like normal. This also gives me a ready-to-use banner for the games that are going to make their way to the Recommended Games link as well, at which point I'll just have to add in the quotes half.

Why did they do this? Did the CD version axe the subtitles or something?

I think mainly there's always someone who prefers the floppy version because that's what they played, though as you point out, sometimes there's minor differences between the two in the game as well. This was said about BloodNet from a GOG employee, followed by a GOG forum user's response though:

The weirdest thing of all is that you can't, not to my knowledge at least, have the talkie version with text so we figured it would best to include both versions for two reasons: 1) for those who are hard of hearing and need to have text and 2) because there's that ONE guy who asks about floppy versions of games :P

Correct.
This is very sad :-(
The CD version also include extra graphics, and a couple of animations.

But it is more or less impossible to play the game without the text, so I don't recommend going for the CD version. The game is so loaded with story, text, talks, information, that you'll want to skip some stuff here and there. And witout seeing the text you'll miss many things.

On top of that, people seem to be saying the Amiga version is better sounding than the DOS version used in GOG's release, but that may be somewhat subjective and dependent on if configure the game to use general midi and load good soundfonts/etc. It was also mentioned the music between the Amiga and DOS versions sounds like it isn't even the same score, and possibly the two versions used different composers.

Also, if one is looking for an oldschool adventure game after today's release, I saw it mentioned that Creative Reality's 1992 adventure DreamWeb is distributed as freeware on ScummVM's website (both the 10 meg floppy and 225 meg CD version). Something to consider if you weren't aware, no idea on the game's quality though, but people seem to want that on GOG as well. :)
 
This is apparently a list of all the games Tommo picked up from the Atari auction.

7th Legion (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Across the Rhine (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Air War series (1942: The Pacific, European) (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Bloodnet (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Bubsy series (Accolade - Atari - Tommo)
Challenge of the Five Realms (Microplay/Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Command H.Q. (Microplay/Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Deadlock series (Accolade - Atari - Tommo)
Demolition Racer (Infogrames/Atari - Tommo)
Elite (Firebird - Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Eradicator (Accolade - Atari - Tommo)
F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter series (Inc. F-19 Stealth Fighter) (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Falcon (a.k.a F-16 Fighting Falcon) series (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Fleet Defender: The F-14 Tomcat Simulation (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Gunship series (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Knights of the Sky (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Lightspeed / Hyperspeed series (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
MicroProse Entertainment Pack Vol #1: Dr Floyd's Desktop Toys (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Nam (GT Interactive - Atari - Tommo)
Operation Blockade (Infogrames/Atari - Tommo)
Orbiter (Spectrum Holobyte - Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Redline (Accolade - Atari - Tommo)
Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Sentinel, The (a.k.a The Sentry) (Firebird - Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Shadow Ops: Red Mercury (Atari - Tommo)
Sid Meier's Covert Action (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Silent Service series (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Slave Zero (Infogrames/Atari - Tommo)
Snowmobile Championship 2000 (GT Interactive - Atari - Tommo)
Starlord (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Steel Tide (Infogrames/Atari - Tommo)
Stunt Driver (Spectrum Holobyte - Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Sword of the Samurai (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Tactical Ops: Assault on Terror (Infogrames/Atari - Tommo)
Task Force 1942 (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
This Means War! (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Tycoon City: New York (Atari - Tommo)
Undergarden, The (Atari - Tommo)
Virtual Karts (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Weird Dreams (Rainbird - Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
World War II GI (GT Interactive - Atari - Tommo)
Zapper: One Wicked Cricket! (Infogrames/Atari - Tommo)
 
Hmm maybe I should give Bloodnet another try, I remember it being really really hard but it had a cool setting and oozed atmosphere....
(and Sword of the samurai on that list lawd....best game ever)
 

I think mainly there's always someone who prefers the floppy version because that's what they played, though as you point out, sometimes there's minor differences between the two in the game as well. This was said about BloodNet from a GOG employee, followed by a GOG forum user's response though

Ick. Sadly killing the subs on the cd version was quite common at the beginning of talkie releases.

Have to take a look at the file structure when I get home and see if they can be mixed somehow, but I'm guessing if it was easy then gog'd have already done it. :/
 

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Gothic II: Gold Edition added to recommended games. Being one of the highest praised European open-world RPGs, this one doesn't need too much of an introduction. :)
 
This is apparently a list of all the games Tommo picked up from the Atari auction.

There's some rather promising games in that list.

I've often wondered about Covert Action after seeing it advertised in the splash screen when you exited the original Civilization.

I think Rex Nebular was something of a Space Quest derivative, wasn't it?

I *really* like The Sentinel, and it's not a game that's particularly often remembered. There's not really anything quite like it (The entire game is based around the notion of climbing to higher ground without being seen.)

Weird Dreams is an odd game for UK folks, because many kids in the UK would know it from the *visuals* of the game being used in a quiz segment of a saturday morning show; I've seen a lot of the game, but when I've played it, I only got past the first screen once!

The one thing I associate with Starlord is that the graphic designers really couldn't do lips.

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And people think duckface is a new thing!
 
This is apparently a list of all the games Tommo picked up from the Atari auction.

There are some really good games on that list. I remember picking up Stunt Driver many many years ago in a Target clearance bin, because it looked similar to Hard Drivin', which I was a fan of at the time. I remember it being surprisingly good, since it had a fairly robust track creator.

Elite (Firebird - Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Sid Meier's Covert Action (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Silent Service series (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Stunt Driver (Spectrum Holobyte - Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
Sword of the Samurai (Microprose - Atari - Tommo)
 
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How awesome it would be if GOG could get their hands on the pc version of Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure. Excellent platformer and it's the best version of it.
Sadly it won't run on modern pcs no matter what you do.
 
Goddamn! No sign of Covert Action or Microprose Grand Prix? Boo!

Covert Action is on the list, as Sid Meier's Covert Action. It looks like Microprose Formula One Grand Prix (World Circuit in the US) wasn't even part of the auction, judging by the list of assets (pp. 74-75*) that Tommo received. So either Atari is holding onto the license, or it's in some sort of rights limbo, possibly due to use the various licenses involved. (F1, FIA, manufacturers, drivers, etc.)

* The list of De Minimis assets on Page 74 have the full rights. The list on Page 75 features just the past-catalog rights. So basically, Tommo could go out and make a new "Sword of the Samurai," but they can't make a new "Sid Meier's Pirates!", since the Pirates! rights for new games (made after 10/21/2002) reverted to Firaxis. However, Tommo can still release/sell the existing versions of Pirates! and Pirates! Gold.
 
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