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General discussionGOG Video Game Preservation Recap 2024(97 posts)(97 posts)
(97 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted 5 days ago
2024 was a milestone for Video Game Preservation.

With a plethora of amazing projects accomplished by us and our outstanding partners, we continue the fight to ensure your gaming legacy is safeguarded and will live forever.

Why? Because video games made us who we are today. They shaped our personal lives and had a lasting impact on the world we live in. Preserving them and their stories is of the utmost importance.

Please enjoy the recap of all the efforts made in 2024, created in collaboration with our partners—and, of course, with your support.

It features presentations by Jason Scott of the Internet Archive, Stop Killing Games, The Strong National Museum of Play, Mike Arkin from Argonaut Games, Nightdive Studios, and more!
Posted 4 days ago
Video is great, but how about fixing game which aleady in Preservation Programm: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/demonicon_wont_launch
Posted 4 days ago
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CMiq: Some people genuinely would rather games be lost to time, if the re-release is not identical to the original release, down to the last bit.
At least that's what I'm getting from comments here and in the announcement thread for the preservation program.
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zx1976: ..
Ultimately we all have to preserve our own copies of our games because one day GOG or Windows or SCUMMVM or DOSBox might not be around or at least not in a form that we're comfortable using.
I have pointed this out before: GOG is not going to preserve every game; in reality, it is up to us to do it. However, what GOG is doing is making it a little easier to preserve the games they do have for us. Since there DRM free and can be obtained legally. Ultimately, it is all in the hands of the users.

Everything any company does is a marketing decision. They need to make money. It’s similar to the belief that Steam supports Linux out of the kindness of their hearts. Because their not.
Posted 4 days ago
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00063: One only has to look at Skyrim to see how brilliantly GoGs "Game Preservation" works!

Instead of providing Legendary edition, you know the first complete Skyrim edition! (because of course, why would anyone like to experience the original as it was, after all, we all bought it day one on Steam when it was released) They dumped only the SE, that, wait for it... has Alftand audio corruption (SE only, known since 2016, still unfixed) bug (that also completely freezes the game), that was non-existent in LE!

Like that wasn't bad enough, GoG ALLOWED bugthesda to finally kill the game!!! GoG could just say no to the update (like they are doing for fallout 4), but nooo they ALLOWED bugthesda to introduce what has to be one of the most horrible memory leaks in history (thank the gods i backed up just the bug-infested version and not the totally defective one)!
All that without as much as a changelog! Also by doing so, GoG introduced DRM, since now one has to go through Galaxy to un-broke the game, because of course, as always THERE IS NO PREVIOUS VERSION IN THE OFFLINE INSTALLERS!!!
I agree that it's frustrating to have to download the game from Galaxy to get the fixed version. However, this doesn't mean it's adding DRM simply because you need to use Galaxy. You can actually download the game, uninstall Galaxy, and still play Skyrim.

Additionally, you can zip the game files and back them up. I've done this with a couple of games when the GOG version wasn't fully updated for some offline installers.

I guess if your Linux users you're screwed? But you should be able to do the same with HGL.
Post edited 4 days ago by Syphon72
Posted 4 days ago
While i've always appeciated the efforts that gog, on its own, has put into preservation over the years i never really considered a storefront, any one storefront, as the most appropriate venue or driving force for "proper" preservation endeavours.

A storefront as part of a network of diverse entities all working towards preservation makes infinitely more sense to me, so there's really no way for me to look at this as anything other than positive.

Although the benefits of such efforts don't necessarily lead to more games being made available to the public in the short term here's hoping we'll get some anyway.
Posted 4 days ago
"and had a lasting impact on the world we live in."
This made me puzzled. Come on. How? Haha.

That aside, it'd be nice if GOG started including BETTER versions of old games here too. A lot of early PC games are of inferior quality both in terms of graphics and PARTICULARLY in terms of sound and music, when compared with Amiga versions.It'd be nice to have the better version here. The only instance of it being pulled off here was the case of Wings. And that's it, I think.
Posted 4 days ago
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lubwak: "and had a lasting impact on the world we live in."
This made me puzzled. Come on. How? Haha.

That aside, it'd be nice if GOG started including BETTER versions of old games here too. A lot of early PC games are of inferior quality both in terms of graphics and PARTICULARLY in terms of sound and music, when compared with Amiga versions.It'd be nice to have the better version here. The only instance of it being pulled off here was the case of Wings. And that's it, I think.
Sure, that would be nice. But who exactly has access to a legal portable copy of the Kickstart Rom and other needed utilities to provision that?

And as far as I know, the Amiga fans in the scene never put forth the effort to make an alternate kickstart rom.
Post edited 4 days ago by dnovraD
Posted 4 days ago
Someone convince whoever pulled Death Gate from digital stores to make it come back. I missed buying it when it was here :D
Posted 4 days ago
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lubwak: "and had a lasting impact on the world we live in."
This made me puzzled. Come on. How? Haha.
You're aware the gaming industry is beyond massive, dwarfing any other type of entertainment, right? to say games "had a lasting impact on the world" is putting it lightly
Posted 3 days ago
Someone not taking this culture, the industry and its effect sufficiently serious may not be the best to judge whats good or bad. First of all it will need respect and humility toward something that is in fact very big already.
Posted 3 days ago
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00063: One only has to look at Skyrim to see how brilliantly GoGs "Game Preservation" works!

Instead of providing Legendary edition, you know the first complete Skyrim edition! (because of course, why would anyone like to experience the original as it was, after all, we all bought it day one on Steam when it was released) They dumped only the SE, that, wait for it... has Alftand audio corruption (SE only, known since 2016, still unfixed) bug (that also completely freezes the game), that was non-existent in LE!

Like that wasn't bad enough, GoG ALLOWED bugthesda to finally kill the game!!! GoG could just say no to the update (like they are doing for fallout 4), but nooo they ALLOWED bugthesda to introduce what has to be one of the most horrible memory leaks in history (thank the gods i backed up just the bug-infested version and not the totally defective one)!
All that without as much as a changelog! Also by doing so, GoG introduced DRM, since now one has to go through Galaxy to un-broke the game, because of course, as always THERE IS NO PREVIOUS VERSION IN THE OFFLINE INSTALLERS!!!
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Syphon72: I agree that it's frustrating to have to download the game from Galaxy to get the fixed version. However, this doesn't mean it's adding DRM simply because you need to use Galaxy. You can actually download the game, uninstall Galaxy, and still play Skyrim.

Additionally, you can zip the game files and back them up. I've done this with a couple of games when the GOG version wasn't fully updated for some offline installers.

I guess if your Linux users you're screwed? But you should be able to do the same with HGL.
I use Lutris on Linux and just log into my GOG account on it since it can manage native Linux and wine bottle Windows games installed all on one program.
Posted 3 days ago
Here is my release on GOG wishlists.

Game Preservation wishlist
Aliens vs Predator 2 + Tribal Hunt
Archon Ultra
Dungeon Siege - Legends of Aranna
Dungeon Siege 2 - Broken World
Enemy Infestation
Fuel
Maelstrom
Might & Magic X Legacy
No One Lives Forever
No One Lives Forever 2
Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor
Shadowcaster
Wizardry 1-5
Worldshift

Newer games wishlist
Bayonetta
Blur
Dead Space 2,3
Dragon Age 2
Dragon Age Inquisition
Just Cause 3
Knights of Pen & Paper 2
Mass Effect 1,2,3
Split Second
Posted 3 days ago
It would be nice if the version of Just Cause sold on GOG was a better port for preservations sake. The best version is from the XBOX 360. The one that has been ported over is the XBOX version.
Posted 3 days ago
Hey GOG,

Just wanted to post to say thank you for what you're doing for gaming.

I hope 2025 is an excellent year for you! Keep up the excellent work!
Posted 2 days ago
Keep going Strong, GOG - thank you for preserving games and making it possible to enjoy them decades after their release, and all the memories and emotion they enrich us with!
Posted Yesterday
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ReynardFox: How many 'preserved' games have new issues and don't play nice with well established community patches? How about source ports? How many different PC configurations did you test when applying your personal fixes? How's that Dragon Age Origins patch working out?

If you actually cared about preservation and not this hollow PR stunt, you'd be pushing devs to keep their games up to date, letting users know when they aren't, and at least trying to get untouched archival versions (or not remove existing ones) of games as bonus goodies. Maybe try unlocking your DRM'd rewards from Cyberpunk too...

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tfishell: I wonder if it'd be worthwhile or not to host the Unreal games here, since Epic gave the "ok" for Internet Archive to host them. Might not be worth the bandwidth usage or/and GOG needs an official "ok" from Epic.
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ReynardFox: This is something GOG should have pursued already, especially considering they are games that used to be on the store.
I completely agree with all of this. It feels hollow:

- why are companies focusing on physical preservation when digital only games that get delisted are far more at risk?

- why is Jason Scott dressed up like a human boardgame?

- also why is GOG talking about preserving games when they should already have been doing this for years?
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionGOG Video Game Preservation Recap 2024(97 posts)(97 posts)
(97 posts)