Microsoft holds the Mechwarrior license, but I don't know how and whether or not Activision still has the software anywhere.
GOG News and Updates 2014
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Microsoft holds the Mechwarrior license, but I don't know how and whether or not Activision still has the software anywhere.
Once MS put Age of Empires II HD on Steam only I figured that MS was out of the picture. They do like their DRM, after all (GFWL).
Plus, in the 2012 Letter to Santa GOG didn't even mention MS.
That was a change from a couple months before that when GOG said they had made progress with one of MS, Take Two, or LucasArts.
GOG used to do 3-4 conferences per year. The last one they did was over a year ago. So, I guess one of their major deals fell through. :/
The outlook doesn't look too good. That would have been great though.
I feel bad for GOG. You know they're trying, but convincing companies like Microsoft, Zenimax, and Disney to release their properties DRM-free is like pushing a boulder up a steep hill.
iirc, Mechwarrior 2 contains some of the Robotech-derived mechs that pretty much no one can license anymore short of buying Harmony Gold outright. It's not likely they can alter the designs in a game that old, so even if MS and Activision were on board, the games still probably couldn't be re-released.
Seems like MS was really close to something, as they had all that Halo stuff on Steam that never went anywhere.
terrisus
Member
Same. That would be amazing.
charlequin
Banned
LucasArts had weirdly proprietary ideas about its back catalog that weren't really based in anything particularly logical; they changed leadership frequently and never had anyone who was seriously engaged in making their back catalog available in a useful and profitable way.
Disney is a soulless, mercenary conglomerate who have effectively exploited bazillions of properties to make money. The thinking here goes that full-catalog releases on Steam and GOG would make a lot of nearly-free money for Disney while strengthening the visibility of their brands, so it'd be much easier to negotiate with them.
It does seem very possible that whatever deal was in-progress before the acquisition fell apart (or at least got set back) as a result, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Disney is a harder nut to crack in a vacuum than old LA was.
I suspect there would be a number of challenges to effectively opening up this marketplace, but if there's anything that could get me to spend a hell of a lot more money on GOG (besides LucasArts, lol) it'd be shit like Saturn games.
Classic PC titles are also just a limited resource. Four years or so ago when I first started buying from GOG they were a neat service with an interesting (but extremely limited) selection of old PC games, but look how much the catalog has fleshed out since then. Especially, look at how many "Holy Grails" they've signed since then: the Infinity Engine games, the enormous classic EA catalog, System Shock 2. The actual options for classic PC games that people would actually get excited about have shrunk a lot.
(Not that there aren't still huge gets: LucasArts would be a huge coup, and I imagine a lot of people would jump up and down for stuff like NOLF as well, but this is all the stuff that's actively difficult to license, like you said.)
Yes, SSI would be an amazing get as well. I want really badly to throw my money at someone for digital copies of the Eye of the Beholder games.
According to Wikipedia, the remnants of SSI are all owned by Ubisoft, so I wonder why nothing's happened on this front. My best guess would be that getting the stuff people care the most about -- the D&D games -- would be another major cross-licensing nightmare due to getting both Hasbro and Atari involved.
Sierra's missing output is reasonably minor at this point (although I do really want to buy the Laura Bow games.)
What concerns me more on the "stuff Activision has in its vault" level is Infocom. Absent their two licensed games, there's no real reason you shouldn't be able to buy everything from the Masterpieces of Infocom collection on GOG.
I agree with what you're saying. I'd like to add that a game being simply old doesn't make it a classic. In 10 years Aliens: Colonel Marines won't be a classic, for example. I'm not implying you suggested such a thing, but when these discussions come up sometimes people mention that there will always be a steady stream of classics. I guess at this point I'd favor referring specifically to pre-2000 classics.
There are still some great old games to be released, but I don't expect all of them to arrive. I just wish these publishers and IP owners were more amenable to the idea of selling their games on GOG. The thing is, while it's great GOG was able to release SS2, they needed the help of a then previously unknown company called Night Dive Studios to help secure the rights. I don't think there's any shame in that, but it makes me wonder how much negotiating power GOG truly has, or what Night Dive was able to offer that GOG couldn't do themselves before that.
Night Drive drops cryptic hints here and there about games or publishers they might be pursuing (such as LucasArts). They hinted I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, and a couple months later it was on GOG (and Steam). That brings me to my next thought - a few years ago publishers and IP owners probably didn't see as much potential for profit in old games as they do now. Recently, more old games like the Wizardry series, The Last Express, The 7th Guest, and some Square Enix titles have popped up on Steam. I think a big challenge for GOG is losing some of that exclusivity as "the place" to get old games.
2012 was transitional. 2013 showed that they can compete and do well with newer games and indies (a smart move). 2014 should be a big year for them, as they've teased.
Zenimax is weird because they did exactly that, FOR FREE, with Arena and Daggerstrike. But they may've viewed those games as wholly unsellable, or did so before realizing they could've probably sold them on Steam afterall, whereas Fallout they can clearly keep profiting off for forever given it's gone from GOG but still on Steam even today now that 2013's officially over everywhere. Though if it stays on Steam at least it's a partial victory, even if it makes Bethesda look dumber for demanding the gates be closed on something that everyone that wanted to pirate can, will, and probably have pirated.
It does seem these bigger companies are more inclined to double down on DRM no matter how little it may actually make sense (note how HDMI was all about keeping video from being recorded mid-stream... even though once we moved off of VHS no one gave a shit) but I do think that while that may make LA games harder than ever to get on GOG, they can probably still be gotten onto Steam at least... the problem is someone has to actually PUSH for that to happen. They're receptive to it at least given they didn't go pulling all the Star Wars games like complete madmen.
I suspect they'd need to work out a different deal for consoles, act more as a publisher getting games onto them or something. Although stuff like TG16 and Saturn games WOULD be amazing to get onto GOG, along with anything the likes of Konami and Capcom will willingly emulate/port over.
Well, technically those ARE constantly refreshing just because that's more a matter of age and it's not like consoles that are constrained to specific console libraries for their "classic games", even HL2 would count now under the standards of which GOG launched, but then I guess the problem is also that we're moving further away from games dependent on CDs and disks that are a pain to dig up and get working on a computer again, likely with a lot of supplemental materials we'll want in some form, and closer to games that were digitally released on Steam in the first place and we probably have there ready to install at a moment's notice if it's not just sitting there anyway. Nevermind some of that service crap the likes of Ubisoft and EA are set on implementing in games and just fucking everything up.
it was developed by Cyberdreams, who also made I have no mouth and I must scream, but GoG mentions " the Dreamers Guild" as developer. hmmm.
at the moment, Dark Seed is abandonware, not sure what's with Dark Seed II.
charlequin
Banned
Yup.
Night Drive has totally different incentives than GOG. They can offer upfront cash plus "free" conversion and vendor-relations labor to the publisher in exchange for points on the back end, which GOG can't do easily since they probably have standard pricing agreements in place.
In Bethesda's sort-of defense, the timeframe on these rights reverting was pretty short and while they have an ongoing relationship with Steam, they've never had one with GOG. Even if they can be persuaded to bring these games (and, in my fantasy world, others) to the service, there would've been an interruption.
Well, there are two different trends here that fight against each other. On the one hand, all big media companies push for arbitrary levels of DRM at all times, on everything, because it's a hedge -- putting DRM on everything makes the guy who makes that decision unimpeachable inside his organization.
On the other hand, consumers spend money to make it clear that they won't accept inconvenience in the name of DRM, and companies love to make money on their back catalogs now that they figured out that it's possible. So DRM directly on content itself keeps getting eroded everywhere (vanished in music, less prevalent than it's been in ages in gaming, etc.) because people don't actually like getting restricted by it.
I think what GOG has now is a clear sign that the needle has moved in favor of DRM-free releases, and as they sign new stuff I think it'll keep moving further, even though it'll always be an uphill struggle to start with any new publisher.
Yeah, it's hard to think about how this could actually work in a way that everyone involved would sign off on.
Yeah, but there's a pretty strong soft limit in the middle of the 2000s. Definitely anything new enough to have been listed on Steam at release will never really be a "classic" for GOG's purposes. Their big selling point has always been bringing pre-digital titles into the modern era.
I wonder if anybody's figured out who even has the rights to NOLF? Last year Activision said they had no clue.
This kind of pisses me off. I hate that these giant publishers have squatted on and neglected a great many important PC game franchises. These titles and franchises are a part of gaming history, and there is zero logical reason for them to not be available for people to enjoy.
It's like Epic Records forgetting that they own Michael Jackson's Thriller album and not letting anybody listen to it for a couple decades. That might not be the best analogy, but my point is that many of these publishers are seemingly withholding, for whatever dumb reason. Other scenarios have different reasons, though - a game like Blade Runner probably has licensing and cost prohibiting complications.
I obviously don't support piracy and am fully on board with the "DRM-free revolution". However, part of me thinks that without file-sharing/abandonware, some of these titles would simply be gone. When the publishers don't do their job to preserve these games, other people step in to do it for them. Whatever the reason is - piracy fears, IP licensing, you name it - it's just a goddamn shame that so many of these games are stuck in a vault.
That's why I grew very skeptical of Disney's acquisition of LucasArts. It felt like whatever chance there was of GOG getting those games drowned in a sea of barriers from a giant company that has an iron grip over its properties. It reminded me of how Disney had some of their animated films like Beauty and the Beast in moratorium for so long until eventually being released on DVD.
They're all brilliant games. Don't let the haters tell you otherwise. VIII and IX are fantastic as well as the rest.
From what I can see, Age of Empires II being on the platform of Steam allows for so much more (Steam Workshop support, expansions) that putting it on there makes more sense.
I dunno. It's weird sometimes what IS and isn't on Steam. I mean if you want to grab yourself a copy of Rayman or Rayman 2 for the PC, the ONLY way to get it is through GOG - Not Steam, not even uPlay. That's weird.
Yea I wouldn't disagree that the HD edition of AoE II doesn't benefit from being on Steam with workshop support and whatnot.
What I should have clarified is the fact that they focused on an HD upgrade of that game, which sort of binds it to a client and online DRM, without also rereleasing the original version (on Steam or GOG or wherever) shows what I perceive as a total indifference to the latter.
bender
What time is it?
Yeah, I know. MW4 was okay and MechAssault was terrible.
Beyond that, I don't think MW2 or MW3 are functional on modern systems/operating systems.
MW2 was originally a DOS game, so it should be perfectly playable on pretty much everything thanks to the magic of Dosbox. The DOS original even supported 1024x768 without a 3D card, which was pretty mind-blowing back then.
I'd be happy just to get working copies of 'non-classic' games. I mean, there are hundred of titles that weren't setting the world on fire during the period that GOG originally set out as 'classic' that will be lost to time because either a large publisher doesn't care or their rights are spread out and lost in closures/buyouts/bankruptcies/mergers/etc and too hard to get a hold of.
bender
What time is it?
Need that sweet 3DFX though which, last I checked, was unstable and didn't allow you to remap controls.
It's a damn shame. This seems to be something that's more of a problem with gaming than with other forms of entertainment. I wonder why these publishers seem to never have their shit together when it comes to all the legal details of who owns what?
Sure, though I do see the popularity of something like Gog meaning that some devs are actually releasing their old stuff.
It's been quite a nice year for classics coming back on Steam - AoEII looks great, Duke Nukem: Megaton Edition is fantastic and a fantastic "final" version of that game, which is awesome.
I could see that maybe Bethesda is looking into something similar with Quake? I mean the version of Quake on Steam is kind of shit, and hasn't ages well. The DOSBox Quake (and even Wolf and Doom) run pretty shit. I could see them taking something like the Darkplaces Source Mod stuff and doing a new Quake 1 edition. I mean fuck, normal Quake doesn't allow for Mouse Look without pressing a key. (I'd love to see a port to consoles too, frankly)
I would love to start seeing more Apogee games. The Duke Nukems are a good start, but Bio Mance and Monster Bash would be nice. One day Epic might remember Jazz Jackrabbit and do that.
PastorOfMuppets
Banned
There are still a few classic Holy Grails they haven't managed to get on their website - although I have to say, huge credit for getting System Shock 2, Thief and Alpha Centauri.
- Homeworld
- No One Lives Forever
- Tribes - although I wonder if their would be enough interest to restart the multiplayer community - especially if you're doing the entire series.
- The Lucasarts adventures - especially the ones from the latter years like Curse of Monkey Island and Grim Fandango.
- Will probably never be released considering it's a licensed title but man, it would be nice if someone could re-released Westwood's Blade Runner. That game was phenomenal.
- Microsoft's old PC game releases back when they used to care about publishing PC games. AOE, Age of Mythology, Close Combat, Starlancer, Freelancer, Flight Sim etc. This list is pretty big since many of those games have never seen a re-release.
- Bungie's Myth series
- Homeworld
- No One Lives Forever
- Tribes - although I wonder if their would be enough interest to restart the multiplayer community - especially if you're doing the entire series.
- The Lucasarts adventures - especially the ones from the latter years like Curse of Monkey Island and Grim Fandango.
- Will probably never be released considering it's a licensed title but man, it would be nice if someone could re-released Westwood's Blade Runner. That game was phenomenal.
- Microsoft's old PC game releases back when they used to care about publishing PC games. AOE, Age of Mythology, Close Combat, Starlancer, Freelancer, Flight Sim etc. This list is pretty big since many of those games have never seen a re-release.
- Bungie's Myth series
DiscoJer
Member
I was just thinking about this last night and started reading all the old clue books/journals for them.
This is an interesting resource at the GOG forum: games not on GOG from publishers that are.
Fuck, I forgot about Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. The other Kain/Raziel games are there.
How messy some of these rights are bewilders me. Who did these publishers hire to do the paperwork - Lionel Hutz?
Fuck, I forgot about Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. The other Kain/Raziel games are there.
How messy some of these rights are bewilders me. Who did these publishers hire to do the paperwork - Lionel Hutz?
PastorOfMuppets
Banned
A lot of these games just sorta fell into licensing hell with the developer/publisher went bankrupt. I know the rights for System Shock 2 was held by an insurance company that for years was being unreasonable with their demands for the game. A few of the old Firaxis games are stuck in it (as was Alpha Centauri for a while) when they left from EA to Take 2. Sid Meier's SimGolf and Sid Meier's Gettysburg for instance.
Then you have licensed games like Blade Runner, Wargames (RTS), Mechwarrior, Mechcommander. I can't even imagine the amount of work you'd have to go to get a game like Blade Runner re-released considering it's based on a movie that's over 30 years old which itself is based on a short story by Phillip K Dick.
Yeah, I was looking to get Blood Omen digitally. You can only get the PS1 version on PSN.
It is infuriating
water_wendi
Water is not wet!
i have collected everything on that list thats been released barring The Neverhood (well i have it just not in box which i dont really count.. i just have the disc that came with a customers Compaq or something). Ah, the satisfaction.
edit: the Wizardry games i dont have 3 for PC. i have the collection though.
SteveWinwood
Member
i wanna play the neverhood again
gog plz
gog plz
I think I read that the original creators and developers of the game could not even obtain the rights to it. I need to make a list of all the games that could possibly disappear so I can buy them and not forget anything.
I think something far more feasible for GOG to do in a similar vein is to do something like Amiga titles. I know I'd buy the shit out of pretty much anything they'd release on it, depending on how licensing and stuff goes. Just give me the opportunity to buy Amiga Defender of the Crown and have it playable on my PC with a single-click and I'd be over the moon.
Funny thing is, I know that game could even be done as a freebie because last I checked, Cinemaware have made the original Amiga disk image available for download on their site. All we need is GOG to start tinkering/license UAE and we'd be set!
Original versions were much better than the 3DFX versions. Less bugs, too.
charlequin
Banned
What are the biggest gems left in EA's catalog at this point? I guess the Maxis back catalog would be the biggest thing.
One of these days I should go through the GOG most-wanted list and put together a decent sorted, annotated version of the list.
This is why it's so beneficial to have a third-party company with a monetary interest in working out the rights situation. Someone should poke Night Dive about tackling this series.
I would happily pay for Cosmo's Adventure or any of Apogee's other platform games (Crystal Caves, Secret Agent, Halloween Harry, Hocus Pocus.)
I would pay huge fucking stacks of cash money to get modern, legal licenses for Jazz Jackrabbit 1+2 or the Jill of the Jungle games.
And I know this isn't technically Apogee at all, but Commander Keen 6 has been a fucking white whale for me for my entire life (never found a retail copy of it back in the day) so I'd pay hell of money for that.
Generally these problems occur when an entity that owns a host of copyrights is split up, absorbed, or dissolved without someone doing a full accounting of said copyrights.
Hocus Pocus is already on GOG since...early 2013?
Anyone know what the deal with the Battlezone games is (the ones developed by Activision in the late 90's)? There's even that former developer who worked on it and he has done some amazing things with a 1.6 patch that enables widescreen and all sorts of tweaks.
They were both amazing games (still unsurpassed in terms of genre hybridity, I'd argue) and they really deserve a digital release.
They were both amazing games (still unsurpassed in terms of genre hybridity, I'd argue) and they really deserve a digital release.
charlequin
Banned
ZOMG!
Blood Omen is a bitch to make it run on newer-than-win 95 OS. In fact, you even have to use slowdown programs because the program freeze on CPU above 1GHZ.
For some games, the IP is a problem, but also the tech side can be a very big problem.
PastorOfMuppets
Banned
Anyone know what the deal with the Battlezone games is (the ones developed by Activision in the late 90's)? There's even that former developer who worked on it and he has done some amazing things with a 1.6 patch that enables widescreen and all sorts of tweaks.
They were both amazing games (still unsurpassed in terms of genre hybridity, I'd argue) and they really deserve a digital release.
Another game of the same ilk is a game called Uprising which I think predates Battlezone by at least a year. Game was successful enough to see a sequel done.
It's really kind of sad how terribly we've preserved RTS from the mid 90's to early 2000's. Blizzard and Westwood's RTS are readily available but so many other franchises are just floating in limbo. Battlezone, Myth, Mech Commander, Age of Mythology, Rise of Nations, Rise of Legends, Homeworld, Uprising...
neverhood is one example of bitchy program.
Run slow on some computer, has DEP (memory leak that are not accepted anymore on modern OS) problems, has colors problems that can be patched but not so much on win 7/8, etc
I think I made it run using dxwnd at some point, now it is running under virtual pc here, which is a nice thing to have for old games (but of course MS killed it on Windows 8).
Minsc
Gold Member
One of the things I'm interested in seeing this year as SteamOS matures, is how linux compatibility/support changes (officially or unofficially). I believe quite a number of games on GOG run fine in linux (namely any dosbox games, and more popular windows ones), but with potentially a few million users behind SteamOS, or at least keeping an eye on it, maybe we'll see more of a jump in that number of compatible/easy to get working games on linux list.
There's been an engine interpreter released recently which will allow you to fully install and play it on Windows. I can't recall the name of it, but shouldn't be too hard to find
Just spitballing but being steam era source engine may be an issue? A few years ago the game was known as something that never went on sale so at least now someone is paying a small amount of attention to bloodlines so i guess there could be hope in it?
Generally the games I want from gog are the exclusives.
As, for that matter, has Secret Agent. Given it shares an engine, it wouldn't surprise me if Crystal Caves is on the way too.
GuitarAnthony
Neo Member
No One Lives Forever, now being owned by Activision, I agree it's doubtful. I went ahead and bought the GOTY edition of the first one off Amazon since that one will run under Windows 7. Hell, if I can get a game to work by hook or by crook (or patch...thank you, patcher of Grim Fandango so I could use my original), I'll do it.
Some of the troublesome older Windows games run better in Linux, notably Interstate '76. It's perfect in Wine after you set compatibility for Windows 95.
Activision doesn't know who/own the rights.
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