I am a child of the eighties, and grew up playing many of the early computer games. The games were smaller and simpler back then, and at times, you had to manage everything on your computer, including disk space usage and conventional memory. I started on a 8088 with 20 MB of disk space and 640 KB of RAM. Oh, and a CGA graphics card that could display 4 colours.
At times, I do enjoy trying to get some of the older games to play on my current computer. Sometimes they work, many times they don’t even want to try to work on XP or Vista. Then again, I’d rather not work on Vista myself. About a year ago I discovered a great site that sells old computer games, that will also play on the current Microsoft operating systems. I purchased one game back then, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Good Old Games
When I talk to others that are the same age as me, once conversation that usually adds energy to the conversation is when we talk about old TV shows, or games we used to play as kids. Many times, I find out that they wish they could still play some of those old games. While board games are easy to find and purchase in stores, computer games are more difficult, especially getting them to run on the newer machines of today.
One method that I have used with success is by using DOSBox to run old DOS games on Windows. While that works for me, others may not want to get too technical just to load up “Maniac Mansion”.
Last year I came across a site that sells old, classic computer games. The difference is these games are modified to work on Windows XP and Vista. The site is GOG.com, which means “Good Old Games”.
I have purchased three games from them, and so far have had no issues. One game was released in 1996, just after Windows 95, and works without problems on both XP and Vista.
Each game on their site is offered for either $5.99USD or $9.99USD. The newer games, not by year but by when the game was available for purchase on GOG.com, are offered at the higher price. While you can download the game for free somewhere else, you do get a bit more for you money here.
You Get What You Pay For
Many of the older games can be found online from various “abandonware” sites. These are usually the original games zipped up. While some provide instructions on how to run the game, many provide very little support for the actual running of the game.
At GOG.com, when you purchased the game, you get full support then it comes to making the game run on your computer. While I haven’t experienced any problems, others have, and have posted issues on the GOG.com forums. From their, their issue will be examined and, hopefully, a solution will be found. When you buy the game, the support is automatically included.
Unlike other sites, all games include the GOG.com installer. You simply download the executable from their web site, after you purchase the game, and then double-click the file. The installer will begin and step you through installing the game onto your computer. Once the game is installed, you can then run the game.
What happens if you lose the executable you download from GOG.com? No problem. You login into their site and download the file again. You can download the file as many times as you want. You bought the game, and have 100% access to it from their site. Your account displays all the games you have purchased, so you can easily find and re-download the game.
There are also other files you can download besides the actual game file. The games also include their original manual in PDF format. Some games even include maps, supporting documentation, and original music from the game. When they add games to their inventory, they take the time to add the extras you will need.
Many of the old games were notorious for including copy-protection. The games you buy from GOG.com have the copy-protection removed, so you don’t have to pull out a manual and look for a specific word in a specific paragraph on a specific page. I’m pretty sure I was the only one annoyed by the copy-protection.
How Long to Download?
The games you download are of various sizes. Since some games were published after 2000, optical discs allowed the games to become large. Others that were published in the 1990’s and 1980’s tend to be smaller since they were released on floppy disks. This means that there are various sizes, in terms of bytes, for each game download.
Each time you view the description of a game you are shown the game sizes in megabytes. This will give you an idea of how much time is needed to download the entire game.
The good news is that I had no trouble download games from the GOG.com web site. In fact, I always got great speeds when download games. The current download speed of my ISP is 14 Mb/s, or 1.75 MB/s. When I downloaded games from GOG.com, I was getting close to 1.75 MB/s download speeds for the entire download. I’m not sure if everyone was downloading games near their ISP’s maximum download speeds, but I had no problems.
What’s the Catch?
Honestly, there is no catch. Well, okay there is one. Their library of games isn’t very extensive. There are many great games available at the moment, but if you are looking for a particular game, it may not be available on their site.
They are a fairly new site, and are constantly adding new games on a regular basis. They also provide an area where you can vote on which games you would like offered. While they can’t guarantee that the game will be available, it does help to see which ones are in demand.
Don’t forget, that before they offer a game, they first need to make the game run under Windows XP and Vista, as well as provide the game documentation in PDF format and any other supporting files. When the game you want is offered, you won’t be disappointed.
My Thoughts
GOG.com has finally done something no one else has done – offer great classic games for a reasonable price that run under the current versions of Windows. While many game companies have repackaged their old games to run under Windows, GOG.com offers games from many different companies.
The ability to download the game as often as you want, along with providing the manuals, and removing the copy-protection, makes GOG.com a great place to go for your “Good Old Games”.