A few of have been discussing the merits starting here.

But I feel it needs its own topic, and perhaps with enough encouragement from others, GOG will make it a reality.

The perfect resource for games, and GOG would be doing a wonderful service to us and all those who wrote the books, many (maybe most) of which are out-of-print, and the perfect companion to Good Old Games especially.

SUMMARY OF WHAT WAS SAID at other topic (by myself & others).

Actually I am quite surprised that GOG don't have an EBOOK section too.

That actually makes a lot of sense. Low tech support need, and we all like to read!

While I know many games sometimes come with the odd one or two ebooks, many more about games or that games were based on etc, are out there.

Yeah, comics would totally make sense, as they are already offered DRM-free, often in Humble and Groupees bundles too.

They wouldn't even add more to server load or anything, as compared to games their file sizes are on the small side.

There's so much more that could be offered DRM-free... books, comics, maps, music, software tools, clipart, photos, etc.

There are also a huge number of Game Guides out there alone. In fact, many have probably disappeared off the radar, and GOG could be doing a wonderful resource bringing them back. I mean, what a perfect place it would be here for them .... all those OLD out-of-print GAME GUIDES.

Definitely, and I can easily imagine using an ereader or tablet device to read a game guide while playing on the PC.
The perfect scenario really. Even just via an ebook app on your phone would be great.

Yeah.... nah

I think you underestimate the technical demands of running an ebook site.

The site is already not working all that well. To add something like ebooks would make a while new staff and whole new website sections.

Huh! In what way did I show that?

It's been done before you know ... just a few examples out there. LOL

;)

P.S. No to mention, that it would be limited here to just one category - Games.
And the target audience/customers are already here.

P.S.S. Not to mention, that many who have written game ebooks probably also come here.

Have to agree with that. You're basically asking GoG to compete against Amazon. I seriously doubt that could match pricing. And yes, there are costs involved on ebooks.

Not necessarily.

The emphasis here of course, should be on DRM Free. You don't always know what you are getting at Amazon, etc.

Then, what about all those out-of-print books ... many never made into an ebook yet.

Once upon a time, it was thought there was no market for OLD GAMES. Boy hasn't that been proved wrong.

Many people, especially many of the ones you get here, don't like Amazon, etc.

P.S. Costs involved in ebooks ... Really? Strange that, paying money for something. Games generally cost a lot more, and compared to them ebook costs would be minimal.

Further to my earlier reply to you.

GOG deal with a lot more complex issues here, involving games with all sorts or problems, etc.

In comparison, ebooks would be far simpler.

I mean, no-one is gonna say - "I have Win 7 64 and my ebook isn't working.", are they?

There are lots and lots of simple Ebook Sites out there.

What are these technical demands you seem so knowledgeable about?

I could make a website for them in my sleep ... almost. And that's starting from scratch, unlike GOG who have the majority of things here already setup ... they've even expanded into game movies already .... a riveting success by all accounts. LOL

P.S. Unless you are worried about the GOG eReader app ... a terrible thing no doubt. LOL

That's like one more tab on the shop and shelf, it's doable. If Humble can do it, so can GOG.

Now if we are talking about some software which automagically pushes stuff on some ereaders, yeah, then it's much more complicated. But as we can already download game manuals as PDFs, the technology already exists for ebooks and such on GOG.

And there actually are some ebooks (kind of) on GOG already, such as scans of the old Sierra hintbooks. Not to sound ungrateful or anything, but the quality of those scans leaves a lot to be desired, but the point is, GOG is already offering downloads which once upon a time were separate book form products. So expanding to ebooks wouldn't be such a massive leap at any rate.

I guess the bigger problem is that PDF is somewhat outdated as ebook format, and the way GOG is offering them zipped is clumsy for real book collecting. But if we have like two options, having something available "GOG style" or not having that available at all, I think GOG is the better option.

deleted

Not much of an ebook reader, but its an interesting idea.

Ice idea, never going to happen. Guttenburg and other free websites do that stuff, and there are places you can get drm free ebooks. It would bomb hard, just like the movies section (and music and any other of those thngs). Gog only exists because of a niche in the market, and now the online only business.

Nice, thanks for the link.

NIce idea, if they can get some interesting books from different genres on board.

I think it's possible if they were to ditch the movie section (and transfer the resources over to books), which is useless anyway, until a major overhaul takes place on how visual media and copyright intersect.

Books are more viable. Lower bar of entry and direct selling is the normal way of doing things amongst others.