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General discussionGOG Galaxy Beta starts now(1170 posts)(1170 posts)
(1170 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted May 06, 2015
Try the DRM-free online gaming platform.

<span class="bold">GOG Galaxy</span>: our truly gamer-friendly, DRM-free online gaming platform. As we shared our vision with the world, we promised auto-patching, social functionality like chat, friends lists, and achievements. We promised our own multiplayer support and cross-play with Steam. Most importantly, we promised truly optional.



Today we deliver.
The <span class="bold">GOG Galaxy</span> client enters beta, open to anyone, with the most important functionality ready to try, test, enjoy (and break) at your leisure. We're proud to have gotten this far, and we know that we couldn't have done it without you all - that's everyone who spent months in alpha testing, that's those of you who talked to us about your needs and expectations, and it's every single one of you that has supported us since ever. So thanks, GOG Galaxy is for you!

With the <span class="bold">GOG Galaxy Beta</span>, you can install your games in one click and keep them up to date automatically, the beta currently supports this feature in all but a couple of titles available here. You can also perform backups easily by downloading a standalone installer through GOG Galaxy. The beta features a friends list, game time tracking, achievements, and chat. You can now talk to each other, connect with your group of friends, and see what everyone is playing. You can also try out our online multiplayer & matchmaking solution that, in select titles, includes cross-play: platform-independent multiplayer between gamers on GOG.com and Steam. If you download a patch that breaks something or if you just change your mind, the app will soon feature a unique rollback option to restore a previous version of your game.

Best of all, GOG Galaxy is optional. If you don't want to use any additional software, your experience with us won't change at all. If you only want to take advantage of select conveniences, you can toggle them on and off. It's all totally up to you.

You can sign up for the <span class="bold">GOG Galaxy Beta</span> and find out more on <span class="bold">gog.com/galaxy</span>, where we tell you about the features and answer many of the questions you may have. We'll be watching the forums carefully, so feel free to leave a comment if there is anything else that you'd like to know!
Posted May 06, 2015
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gaddarmice: Now GOG is better than ever. This is real deal for all PC Gamers. No more restriction mentality over the gamers. Finally democracy become true with GOG Galaxy, no more dictatorship. So when you pay for a product you will have it one hundred percent, beside bunch of stuff and fancy feature will be waiting for you. So I would like to say HUGE THANKS to all GOG stuff to making this dream true. Long live GOG Galaxy! <3
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Trilarion: It's actually very funny that Steam never bothered to invent something like optional updates or even going back. Easy scoring for GOG I guess.

I like that GOG is now on par featurewise with Steam (mostly). Some things Steam handles better, other things are better on GOG.

Now the only difference left is DRM. So we can see directly what influence DRM has (all other things kept roughly equal).

If the market share of GOG does not increase, then people just give a damn about DRM.
If I remember correctly. Grand theft auto 4 had an optional roll back update option on steam. Not sure about any other games though.
Posted May 06, 2015
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gaddarmice: Now GOG is better than ever. This is real deal for all PC Gamers. No more restriction mentality over the gamers. Finally democracy become true with GOG Galaxy, no more dictatorship. So when you pay for a product you will have it one hundred percent, beside bunch of stuff and fancy feature will be waiting for you. So I would like to say HUGE THANKS to all GOG stuff to making this dream true. Long live GOG Galaxy! <3
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Trilarion: It's actually very funny that Steam never bothered to invent something like optional updates or even going back. Easy scoring for GOG I guess.

I like that GOG is now on par featurewise with Steam (mostly). Some things Steam handles better, other things are better on GOG.

Now the only difference left is DRM. So we can see directly what influence DRM has (all other things kept roughly equal).

If the market share of GOG does not increase, then people just give a damn about DRM.
IMHO it will never be about features of client or DRM, but about availability of AAA (overhyped) games masses are buying...
Posted May 06, 2015
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wolfsrain: Achievements, really?!:(((
Again, optional
Posted May 06, 2015
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Destro: It will work fine, we're not artificially blocking older versions or anything like that. We just state it this way as in the last few months of alpha we had many issues with XP on anything else than XP SP3 in 32 bit flavour as well as on Vista (many crashes that should not be happening and were not happening on any other Windows version).

While we managed to fix these, these two versions look a little bit worrying future-wise, so we're playing it safe and promise compatibility starting from 7 (especially as we have now very few user on these OSes, less than 2% I think)
My main concern is that this will ultimately cause a reduction (from pre-Galaxy levels) of core functionality for XP and Vista users.

At present the GOG Downloader is a (dramatically!) better option than browser-based downloads for most people.

My understanding is that once Galaxy is released, the Downloader will become deprecated, and may cease to work?

If and when that happens, if Galaxy does not work for downloads on XP and Vista, that introduces a problem -- a large proportion of the games will work on those operating systems, but users will no longer have a good (or simply viable at all, in many cases) option for downloading them.
Post edited May 06, 2015 by Shadowcat
Posted May 06, 2015
Having been in the alpha, Galaxy is like the old downloader, fused with half of the community and store stuff. Comparing it to steam as a DRM is just silly (games run fine with or without it, it doesn't need to be running). I don't know how multiplayer only games work, but they need networking. While the "requires an internet connection" has been used as an excuse for some drm *coughsimcity*, in some games it's a legitimate design. Frankly, it would be a dream to hear GOG using Galaxy to steadily replace/fix multiplayer throughout their catalog (LAN over the net with friends? *_*).

Comparing it to Steam's other features is more sensible, because like Steam, it is starting to bring the community experience to games, and hurray it lets you download games without worrying about installers and messing around with finding where you saved said installers and where all your disk space has gone. Cherry on top of that will be the automatic updates.

Forgetting Steam completely, Galaxy has really smartened up the GOG experience for me. It groups my games better than windows ever will, lets me search for them and almost seamlessy shows me if they're in the store when not in my library. I'm no achievement hunter, but some games have awesome achievements that I want to share/brag about, so I'm looking forward to that. I'm not phased about chat unless it integrates with existing chat protocols, but it won't hurt, and maybe it will come with other community integration, which would be awesome. (and LAN over internet for multiplayer games please :<?)

Honestly I see very few reasons aginst switching to Galaxy from the old downloader - it's prettier, focuses on playing rather than downloading, and is entirely optional once the game is installed.
Posted May 06, 2015
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DazBoots: My thinking exactly. If people want a service like steam, then why not go with steam? GoG was a option for those whom dislike steam and it's ways, surly the chiefs at GoG must see this.

Why would we want another steam, origins or u-play?
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zeo: Again, people are missing the point. I don't know how people find it so difficult to understand that the core principle of Galaxy is optionally. GOG has gone to great lengths to show that. Even if some time in the future a game comes out that will work only on Galaxy does that mean all games will need Galaxy? Would you even buy that game? Would it have even came out on Galaxy if there wasn't a Galaxy?

Really guys, nothing affects you, in the end if you don't like it move along. The whole point of Galaxy is to make GOG more accessible to a generation that has grown up on the convenience of a Steam-like interface. You don't magically not start owning your own games if you use a program to help keep tab on them all. When more people start joining GOG that mean more funds can go into bringing new and old games here.
Honestly, I think it's you that is missing the point. There's a very real and valid concern on the part of those of us who aren't remotely interested either Galaxy or this client business that it will, in fact, cease to be optional. And the more people whoop and eat it up, the faster that is likely to become a reality.

It already sounds like this whole thing is going to make it more troublesome for people interested in having back-up installers, should GOG ever croak, to achieve just that. I've read through this thread since my last response and I'm not seeing anything to instill confidence in me. I have sunk hundreds of dollars into this site's games and I do not want to suddenly lose access because the "winds of change" have decided that DRM-free is no longer a core principle of GOG's values.

As was already said elsewhere, flat pricing used to be a thing, and now it's gone. I am all for making things better and fostering a healthy and active (re:spending) environment. That's a no brainer, but I don't want to see it come at the cost of those that've been here long enough to be concerned about such things. Which judging by you joining in 2013 you may not understand the full scope of what we're talking about.

GOG has made promises in the past, and it has betrayed our trust before. As some, such as LostWolfe, have said in this thread, and as has been said in other threads when big changes unexpectedly come to GOG... it will be exceedingly difficult for GOG to really regain all the trust it lost.

And to those that're gonna downvote me, cause I know that's gonna happen... booing what I'm saying doesn't make it any less true. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck still applies, and Galaxy is a little too much like Steam for comfort.
Posted May 06, 2015
I will probably turn off whatever options don't suit me. I like the fact that you can configure the stuff, it's easy on the resources, love the interface so far (clean and easy to use). I have all the clients (Steam, Desura, Origin, UPlay and GOG), but i love what i see so far in the Galaxy.

And no need to reply on the same comment over and over. I've got the idea from the first reply. Also thanks for downvotes to my comment. Love you, too. Really hope for the forum overhaul where you can actually see who upvotes and downvotes, like many serious forums have. Would also love a better forum search, but don't think that will happen soon.

I can only hope that GOG will keep its promise to keep Galaxy optional. I prefer to download my games from the site ( i have a really good connection, so i can dl fast from the site). Also i prefer the old manual patching. Keeps things interesting (plus the patches are way smaller). I like the fact that GOG is expanding its business, but that also raised a lot of concerns, voiced by many of the old/older members. No need to repeat them over and over.

Will keep testing the Galaxy for now. Will probably uninstall when it's final.
Posted May 06, 2015
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cyboff: IMHO it will never be about features of client or DRM, but about availability of AAA (overhyped) games masses are buying...
Could be, then the publishers are just deciding for whatever reasons where they put their games and therefore crown the king in digital games distributions. Actually why do the publishers not all sell their games themselves? Who needs Steam or GOG anyway.
Posted May 06, 2015
I haven't received any e-mail yet... :(
Posted May 06, 2015
high rated
Ask yourself - what real incentive do GOG have for going back on their core principle of optionality for Galaxy at some point in the future? For the crapstorm it would generate (not to mention the cries of DRM), the benefits from doing so - financial or otherwise - would have to be huge. And yes, I'd be pretty damn narked if that happened, and I'm not usually one to rouse easily.

Healthy cynicism is one thing, but I think the naysaying and paranoia is going a little far to suggest that Galaxy will be the ultimate doom of GOG. I can't help but feel that things are being blown slightly out of perspective here.
Posted May 06, 2015
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-El_Greeko-: I haven't received any e-mail yet... :(
That is normal, invitations are not out yet for almost everyone. So we need to be patient.
Posted May 06, 2015
I was gradually re-purchasing from GoG, my favorite games from my extensive steam archive. The news of this Galaxy thing has now given me pause.
I think it's going to be a case of wait-n-see, before I waste anymore money.
Posted May 06, 2015
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HiroshiMishima: It already sounds like this whole thing is going to make it more troublesome for people interested in having back-up installers, should GOG ever croak, to achieve just that. I've read through this thread since my last response and I'm not seeing anything to instill confidence in me. I have sunk hundreds of dollars into this site's games and I do not want to suddenly lose access because the "winds of change" have decided that DRM-free is no longer a core principle of GOG's values.
I can agree that they may have a few issues to fix (but I assumed that's why they call it a "beta" - silly me) but in the end, I've got serious difficulties to see how the Galaxy client will make life harder when it comes to backing-up your game collection. From what I've read and my time on the alpha, it's rather going in the other direction and creating back-up of the installer should be a simpler process.

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HiroshiMishima: As was already said elsewhere, flat pricing used to be a thing, and now it's gone. I am all for making things better and fostering a healthy and active (re:spending) environment. That's a no brainer, but I don't want to see it come at the cost of those that've been here long enough to be concerned about such things. Which judging by you joining in 2013 you may not understand the full scope of what we're talking about.

GOG has made promises in the past, and it has betrayed our trust before...
I've been joining in 2008 so we can put aside the "you're too knew to have a valid point". This "betrayal" stance is quite annoying. GOG made some business choices to widen its catalogue (and therefore strengthen its place on the market) that you may like (especially if you're Russian ;) ) or not but I think it's pretty safe to say that it never had an impact on items you previously bought (do not hesitate to prove me wrong). If they did, I could have understood the "betrayal" term.
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Zolyx: Ask yourself - what real incentive do GOG have for going back on their core principle of optionality for Galaxy at some point in the future? For the crapstorm it would generate (not to mention the cries of DRM), the benefits from doing so - financial or otherwise - would have to be huge. And yes, I'd be pretty damn narked if that happened, and I'm not usually one to rouse easily.

Healthy cynicism is one thing, but I think the naysaying and paranoia is going a little far to suggest that Galaxy will be the ultimate doom of GOG. I can't help but feel that things are being blown slightly out of perspective here.
+infinity and beyond
Post edited May 06, 2015 by cal74
Posted May 06, 2015
I can't seem to find an answer for this anywhere, so here goes. Ok, so I download an installer for, say, Empire Earth, save it to a usb, and install it on my sons' computer. If I use galaxy, I log in, see all the games I've purchased. But how does it work on my son's computer? The game is installed, but he never bought it, so if he manually adds it to his galaxy account, well, how does that work? Same as if a friend bought it on his account and brought the installer to me. I didn't buy it, it's not in my online library, so will they auto update? Will it even be an option to add a GOG game that I myself haven't purchased?
Posted May 06, 2015
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Shadowcat: My understanding is that once Galaxy is released, the Downloader will become deprecated, and may cease to work?
^ This. I'm not interested in a client, even if it's an optional one. I do appreciate the Downloader though, since my internet connection is not so great, so I'd be really bummed if it stopped working. And no, installing Galaxy just for that is not a solution for me.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionGOG Galaxy Beta starts now(1170 posts)(1170 posts)
(1170 posts)