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i know this is probably not going to be a priority for gog although it might be more advertising with hey sign up and get 10/15 games free instead of 5. (and yes its probably already 5 more then many other sites would give)

in another topic it was discussed about conquest of camelot and conquest of the longbow. on which the creator of the game even gives a link to the game for download. th same goes for al lowe with some games.
offcourse there might be some legal issues (or perhaps they are just freeware now)
i am sure there are some more games like that ?

also i am curious about dragonsphere being free yet there is still rex nebular and the phantom of the opera,(which i would buy if they dont make it free)

i am not talking about giving games away for free (like broken sword recently) but if something is already freeware (and clear of any legal stuff) then why not add it?

and perhaps 2012 gog might shower us with some more free stuff but well what do you think?
Post edited November 21, 2011 by lugum
Yeah... I remember a thread about that...
http://www.gog.com/en/forum/general/gog_able_freebies
;)
There's a ton of free games out there that they could give away. It's really a matter of which ones they can get licenses for, make work and how much time they have.

The free games are mostly a matter of marketing and except for a small number of temporary free gifts all of the rest of them are available for free elsewhere, IIRC.
I wondered if GOG can spare the bandwidth to be giving too much else away free too - especially big games over 1CD big or whatever (I pondered this while hoping for free C&Cs to turn up here...)
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hedwards: There's a ton of free games out there that they could give away. It's really a matter of which ones they can get licenses for, make work and how much time they have.

The free games are mostly a matter of marketing and except for a small number of temporary free gifts all of the rest of them are available for free elsewhere, IIRC.
yeah but so are the current free games but also the ones being for sale. anything can be found basically for "free". with that reason we shouldnt buy games anymore?
Post edited November 21, 2011 by lugum
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hedwards: ...make work and how much time they have.
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Fever_Discordia: I wondered if GOG can spare the bandwidth to be giving too much else away free too ...
Both good points that I wouldn't have thought. Do you guys actually play the free games? I can't say that I've even installed one of them. It might not be worth the investment to lure new people here. More popular and/or highly requested games would have a better chance at new business so I'm thinking that's a better area for them to focus.

Those other experiences that you can find elsewhere can still be found by the core (probably small) group of people that actually want them.
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Fever_Discordia: I wondered if GOG can spare the bandwidth to be giving too much else away free too - especially big games over 1CD big or whatever (I pondered this while hoping for free C&Cs to turn up here...)
That money almost certainly comes out of the advertising budget. But, yes I'm sure that it is enough to worry about.
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Fever_Discordia: I wondered if GOG can spare the bandwidth to be giving too much else away free too ...
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csmith: Both good points that I wouldn't have thought. Do you guys actually play the free games? I can't say that I've even installed one of them. It might not be worth the investment to lure new people here. More popular and/or highly requested games would have a better chance at new business so I'm thinking that's a better area for them to focus.

Those other experiences that you can find elsewhere can still be found by the core (probably small) group of people that actually want them.
whats wrong with beneath a steel sky, lure of the temptress or dragonsphere?
all good games, not too big to be very bandwith consuming. and yes i play them.
nothing different compared to a broken sword or king quest or space quest.

and what time will make some games getting to work cost? some might take minutes.
Post edited November 21, 2011 by lugum
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lugum: whats wrong with beneath a steel sky, lure of the temptress or dragonsphere?
all good games, not too big to be very bandwith consuming. and yes i play them.

and what time will make some games getting to work? some might take minutes.
I wasn't indicating something is wrong with any of those games; I'd just be curious to see how many people actually play them. My intent was to show that the play rate of the free games is probably lower than you think, but higher than I think. Both still not worth the time / money investment for GOG.

Their group is so small that just about everyone would much rather them be working on the next big game. And, more than a few minutes. Coding could be simple, but they play test and get extras, too.
Post edited November 21, 2011 by csmith
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Fever_Discordia: I wondered if GOG can spare the bandwidth to be giving too much else away free too ...
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csmith: Both good points that I wouldn't have thought. Do you guys actually play the free games? I can't say that I've even installed one of them. It might not be worth the investment to lure new people here. More popular and/or highly requested games would have a better chance at new business so I'm thinking that's a better area for them to focus.

Those other experiences that you can find elsewhere can still be found by the core (probably small) group of people that actually want them.
I like to have the adventures on my work laptop in case I get stuck somewhere with only it for entertainment and no internet connection - I'd need someting to easily play with a trackpad
Played Dragonsphere quite a bit actually (ie a couple of hours) I even recently asked how to migrate my save games to my new work lappy on it's forum here
The best one is probably Beneath a Steel Sky though - I had it on the Amiga years ago and completed the PC version on retail CD too - its from the same guys as Broken Sword (as is Lure of the Temptress but BaSS is actually good)
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lugum: whats wrong with beneath a steel sky, lure of the temptress or dragonsphere?
all good games, not too big to be very bandwith consuming. and yes i play them.

and what time will make some games getting to work? some might take minutes.
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csmith: I wasn't indicating something is wrong with any of those games; I'd just be curious to see how many people actually play them. My intent was to show that the play rate of the free games is probably lower than you think, but higher than I think. :)
you can ask the same thing about some very low ranked games here that they charge money for. but we can only all guess, gog has the numbers.
also if you are saying there is nothing wrong with these games, look at how many were eager to get broken sword 1 for free which is just a classic and old as the others.

i am playing the dragonsphere gog version currently, was also playing beneath a steel sky a long time ago (non gog version) but i am happy to boot up the gog version again and continue where i left of.
Post edited November 21, 2011 by lugum
I think the distinction is that the games we have right now weren't (legally) free before GOG added them. The other freeware games that keep getting requested for GOG (mostly Command and Conquer and the first two Elder Scrolls) are legally available elsewhere, and work perfectly with almost zero configuration in DOSBox. Arena and Daggerfall even have GOG-like installers.

Essentially, the large amount of bandwidth isn't worth adding new free games. I can't imagine they would get a lot of new users, as the people who are actually interested in playing these old freeware DOS games are the same kind of people who probably already know how to get them elsewhere.
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PenutBrittle: I think the distinction is that the games we have right now weren't (legally) free before GOG added them.
BtSS and LotT were pre-GOG free. So was Ultima 4 a few times. Tyrian 2000 was partially, as Tyrian 2.

Here's one that won't eat the bandwidth http://www.neurohack.com/anacreon/DOSEdition.html
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lugum: in another topic it was discussed about conquest of camelot and conquest of the longbow. on which the creator of the game even gives a link to the game for download. th same goes for al lowe with some games.
How come Conquest games are not yet on GOG then?

GOG, please contact the copyright holder (be it Activision or Ms Christy Marx) and provide those games to us.