Some of you may not have heard about DOS_deck, but it sounds interesting ... though perhaps gimmicky as well.

DOS_deck offers free, all-timer DOS games in a browser, with controller support

Maybe GOG should get into a partnership with them.

Perhaps this might be the future for old DOS games ... play them in your browser.

It might be the future for some simple platformers but many puzzle / RTS games are still 100% centered around keyboard & mouse. I still have Lemmings + ONHL + Lemmings 2 on disk. Even with the best AntiMicroX (keyboard & mouse to controller translator) scripts, the game is very obviously 100% centered around having a fast & accurate mouse input to the point where "Fun" levels start off well but by the time you're midway through the "Tricky / Taxing / Mayhem" levels many just aren't completable on a controller with "loose" faked mouse movement vs tight time limits. Same with RTS's, etc, that involve clicking on small units very quickly, not easy on a tiny screen + controller / 'fat finger' on a touchscreen. Playing games in your browser is a nice option but I'd rather have them offline. I've seen a dozen website offer DOS games via browser (with varying degrees of legality) come and go and when they go it's no different to a DRM'd streaming platform shutting down.

"Controller support" means a lot more than just translating mouse to controller via AntiMicroX. It means a lot of other under the hood "authorized cheaty" code that newer games are designed around like controller auto-aim, snap-to-target, enlarged hitboxes, weapon wheels, targeting assist in general, etc, that make controllers even playable in FPS's in general still aren't going to be in old games (and short of source-porting everything, never will be). Likewise 7" (16:9) screen size of Steam Deck style devices means it's actually only effective 5.7" screen size for pillarboxed 4:3 content. I've tried DOS games before using Magic DOSBox for Android and it took a 10" tablet to feel comfortable as a minimum (a 6.5" phone was not). And even then only half the games were playable using an external mini-keyboard / trackpad / touch-screen, before I added a Bluetooth mouse to make the other half playable.

I get why the Steam Deck / Switch form factor is popular for newer 16:9 games that are controller friendly, but I definiitely wouldn't want a "Steam Deck" like device for old keyboard & mouse heavy 4:3 games. I'd rather see a modern return of what "netbooks" used to be in the early 2000's (10" screen, compact, inexpensive and a lot more flexible outside of controller-friendly games) but right now for just a portable DOS / ScummVM retro rig, $1,000 devices like the GPD Win Max 2 are way overpriced vs what you can do with an Android Tablet + compact Bluetooth peripherals for 1/4 of the money. There's definitely a gap in the market for "Modern 10" x86 Netbook that's good for old games and is priced more like a Chromebook than a 13" ultra-premium business laptop".

And they all have valid licences like Warcraft and Syndicate?


Edit: Nvm, I see they call it "abandonedware", which means that it's illegal. GOG should definitly NOT partner up with them. Some of the named games aren't even abandoned, GOG still sells them and so do others.

I was wondering that Blizzard or Origin would donate their games for this.


Browserplaying has been a thing for quite some time now, not just for DOS games, but I hate it.
I rather start up DOSBox or my other emulators.

I would like to point out a warning about small PC brands. They use garbage parts in the final products. They send the good stuff to youtube creators and ship trash to real customers. A good example is the power controllers. If the battery is ever unplugged or removed from any brand unit, they fail. Most fail to even be functional at all altogether.

Another problem is numerous defects. As well as making high claims to functions and changing their website to cover up blatant lies about what they promise, then failed to commit to. Like a switch from Thunderbolt to usb 4, but using knockoff components to break function. Due to non standard use or just trash components.

As was mentioned in this thread about them, I write this in case small machines caught your interest.

I had two netbooks and miss them but on the other hand a Windows tablet kinda covers that market gap for me. Some old games are even playable with touch interface either with fingers or pen (stylus).

also, there is no property if there is no owner.....it's always up to the owners... Otherwise, it's everyone's Forest and I love wild berries... Can tell which one are healthy.

edit: I will try, but on my G90@XP there is a space for all desired dos games. No need for dosbox for most games, yet somehow it works better.

I tried, it would be perfect for mobile just does not support mobiles *yet.

Lemmings have Demo licence.

And... Why not to Doom that way, having GOG's licence in library....

ps: Why not criticise me for what I wrote instead of making something up to criticise?
I didn't say it was stealing, you won't find that word in my post. For something to be illegal it's not necessary to hurt someone or take something from someone. And they certainly didn't licence the games currently sold on GOG as well.
If you copied and used my source code I would be mad as hell, even if I still got it on my hard disc. Nothing would have been physically stolen for me, but I would drag you to court.

Use that site as much as you want, I don't mind. Just GOG will certainly not partner up with them.

If you aren't stealing, then why would it be illegal?

I never suggested you stole anything. But the idea of what is/isn't illegal just because they say so. In their perfect world, you would pay likely for every instance of using something, and you'd never have it in your hands in the first place.

'You will own nothing, and you will be happy'. Never said anything about stealing from your hard drive. Pretty sure we're talking commercial products that were in the wild, sold on floppy disk and in hundreds of thousands of people's hands at one point. Certainly some source code is there too.

As for dragging people to court, you'll get into the same position as the MIAA suing people for downloading songs. You may on paper get millions of dollars in damages, but it's more likely they'd just declare bankruptcy if they can't lower it to something reasonable which is less than your lawyer fees. Ultimately you get nothing. It's not worth your (or their time) to go after them. Especially as most of them aren't selling or making money on it anyways.

What do you define as illegal? Youtube will say it's against their terms and services and it's to them 'illegal' to use adblockers on the site. Does that mean you'll get arrested for using an adblocker? But it's 'illegal' and some will say it's piracy to skip ads.

My distinction was regarding actual illegal crimes vs bullshit simply labeled as such. Embezzle millions of dollars from a company and you're fine, but say a naughty word or offend someone and you're off to the gulags. What BS they are enforcing is utterly stupid right now.

I would like to point out that you're in the wrong topic. The law says it's illegal. Otherwise GOG wouldn't go through so much trouble to get the rights. (Insert discourse here about corporations dictating laws, OK, now moving on.) DOS games in a browser is the past; it's been done for years now. As above, GOG will not partner with this for legal reasons.

Stealing is the only illegal action one can perform? Since when? I am quite sure that it's also illegal to drive with high speed in a pedestrian precinct, even if the driver does not steal. And I didn't say that you did. Neither did I. Read again.


... really now. Criticise me for my words, not your fantasies. Yep. It is not your right to copy or distribute or use them. That's illegal. I don't have to define anything, the law does.
But in this case: Use and distribution of intellectual property without permission.

People spent hours and lots of money to create something. Even if it only exists on paper or digitally, it has value.
That's why I buy games on GOG rather than copying them, which would be an easy thing to do.

The question what's legal has nothing to do with morals however, it's about the law and only the law.
No judge can condemn you for morality, only if your actions contradict the law.

let's read it again This implies i had to get it from your hard disc...

Which i'd happily go back to. Abandonware is hardly 'piracy', neither literal nor anything else.

I'm not convinced it's illegal. Remember these are from companies that have long since moved on, or companies that don't exist anymore.

What if i said having abandonware sites was actually lawful and just?

Consider: Copyright is intended to 'encourage the creation of arts and works, granting it's creators a limited time of ownership over them'. This means eventually everything goes public domain. But if it's gone after 10 years, it can never enter public domain, and is an art and work that is lost forever. Especially considering the bitrot of older media, it would be nearly impossible to have anything survive from tape, cassette, disc, hell even paper (thinking BASIC on paper roll tape) unless it's actively being preserved, and with a company like microsoft that wants you to buy a new OS every 4 years and completely discards the old one, you think they would preserve it and it's source code to release in 80+ years?

Also consider, after 4 years, discs, books and everything in production with a product tends to end. This means after that point they probably aren't going to make any more copies period; So all the physical copies are already made. Once they are taken off shelves, can it be considered correct to deprive yourself of something you can't buy anyways?

There are laws that are immoral, yet legal.

There are things that are illegal but only because they state it is.

This doesn't justify that. And no one is going to look up every law in existence to make sure they are following them. It's said there's so many laws on the books, that everyone commits 3 felonies a day.

Yes. But this is stuff that should have gone to public domain already. Corporations want to own everything forever. The reason for the length of copyright, was intended that you could make a profit off your work, not make a profit forever off your work. Also we see where companies try to make money off huge catalogs forever, become greedy machines that pump out crap and are falling apart under the weight of their own hubris (EA, Disney, Activision & Blizzard, Ubisoft)

I recommend you watch Forever Less one day..

Nope. This said that I still had the files on my hard disc, so they are not lost to me and therfore it is not stealing.
But it's still illegal to distribute them without my permission.

"should" does not make it legal.

As I said, moral and law are two different things. It's only legal if allowed by law. The discussion is about the legal aspect, not the moral one.

It's illegal to distribute these "abandoned" games which in reality are still the property of someone. Morally acceptable? Sure, I fully agree. I think the abandonedware sites are a good thing.

But just because something is not sold online anymore, does not stop anyone from buying the disc version on Ebay, right? In many cases that is still possible.Too expensive? That's just an excuse. I bought Turrican 2 PC for 120€, Lionheart Amiga for 80€, hundreds of Euro for licenced games on the Evercade. A friend of mine spent a LOT more to get old games, he's a collector, saw him grab a game for a old console for 270€. The market is there in most cases.
However, if a game really isn't available anywhere ... that justifies it somehow.

There are many reasons or excuses for copying a game and I find many of them morally acceptable.

But that does not make it legal. And therefore GOG can't play any role in it.

Another worthless crap prostituting DOSBox and DOS games for the sake of "modern accessibility".

Shitty emulation settings, shitty graphics, shitty performance, shitty controls, shitty everything.

I think you people enjoying this web-based crap cannot fucking tell a bag of dog's caca from a pizza margherita :-D

While I do agree with Ross Scott's (Game Dungeon, Freeman's Mind, et al) ranting reasoning of, "There are no good reasons; only legal ones!", the law still exists, even if it is tantamount stupidity.

It isn't legal. And until it is legal or we abolish the current system calling it illegal, it is in the best common interest to either stay within legality (freeware, shareware, public domain only) or to not advertise Discount Dan's Local Piracy hub; as that just makes the law hardened.