Yeah, I agree with you on that.
I was just sugesting this because I see highly unlikely to see any american/big brand movie DRM-Free.

Jesus, some companies even reject to publish on DRM-Streaming services like Netflix, so my hopes on this are not very high. Maybe they could get some shiny independent films?
I usually prefer them to the cheap hollywood ones (unless they're just a bunch of senseless images one after another, I hate art film).

Well. I think I will actually talk ABOUT this release.

I bought it yesterday because the use of Journey's art grabbed me. Journey is amazing. Sat down and watched the whole thing, and it was really, really good. It looks more at the ways indie games are designed and the mechanics they use as opposed to mainstream titles. Journey is one of the major focuses, as is Jason Rohrer (who basically links the segments together and is involved, at times, with almost all of them). One of the ex-Naughty Dog creative leads (whose name escapes me right now) makes a few appearances, and the amazingly talented Austin Wintory (composer for Journey, The Banner Saga, Monaco) appears a number of times too (along with Tina Guo, who played cello on the Journey OST). It's also great to see how diverse thatgamecompany's roster was (I don't know if it still is, people have left since).

It's not perfect, certainly. You don't have that same sense of doom that hangs over Indie Game the Movie (though you know they all succeed, you're tense because they're tense), and in a way it's almost the opposite. Instead of showing some games struggle to become successful or almost fail, you're seeing the successful people look back at what they've done (or what they're doing, to be more accurate in some cases). It also doesn't really do much to change the idea that indie devs are major hipsters or financially secure, which is a bit of a shame. There's no real feeling that any of these projects are going to fail (in fact, only one project featured in the video hasn't released, but is still in development).

Also, if you're aware of Jason Rohrer's politics or anything, I can guarantee you that they don't have a place in this film. They're not mentioned, although he does show Castle Doctrine (as it's in development), and he's pretty interesting to watch. But yeah.

I recommend it, certainly, but it probably appeals more to those who like these kinds of film - I really liked Indie Game: The Movie, I also bought Minecraft: The Story of Mojang yesterday and enjoyed it.

More like it please, GOG.

Edit:
I'd just like to comment on the discussion arising from what the GOG Team person said. I think they're entirely right. If you go into these new release topics then you'll find a good number of people complaining the new release is not something else, another group of people saying it doesn't interest them so they won't buy it, others saying they'll wait for a sale and then a small group of people expressing joy or excitement about the title. This sometimes isn't the case with games like, say, Hogs of War or another big/popular release, but it's a frequent thing.

The problem is that a number of members either resist GOG's changes at every step, complain about things that don't fit within their world view (i.e. the ol' "It's GOOD OLD Games! Not BORING NEW INDIE Games" crowd, who still haven't accepted GOG is now not an acronym) or otherwise pollute discussion and discourse with negativity or just general complaints. GOG is a service for all of us, and I think if the service GOG provides can expand then it can bring in more people and/or more money and improve things. I would rather see a service like GOG change and expand and try to update itself rather than see it stagnate as GamersGate has (oh gamersgate how i love you but dear lord you need to get with the times <3).

I would like to see GOG moderators be harsher on non-contributory comments (which would probably strip topics down to a handful of comments, I guess). But I don't think that'll happen. But that's just my opinion.

During a quarter a second, I thought Journey was coming to the PC and released on GoG. Then I realised it was the illustration of the movie.

[SIGH]

Thanks for the informative review! I have a better idea what the documentary is like now. How about adding it in the Reviews section? :)

I think it is the reason why now you have to click on additional button to see comments. A negativity in them has been overwhelming lately and I don't think a seller wants to have a pile of complains under product introduction no matter how ir/relevant they are.

I am resistant to change. I'm not ashamed of that. If the change ends up having a lot of positive effects, it can eventually win me over. If it doesn't, it won't. I "resisted change" when they changed their pricing policies, and now we're thirty-five games down. That change hasn't won me over yet, and it will have a hell of a job if it wants to. Maybe GOG and Nordic will work things out; that would be a big start. Maybe a bigger publisher then Nordic will decide they can now do business with GOG.

I'm resistant to this change, because GOG is now devoting resources to a fight I see no hope of their winning, and all we're getting in return are documentaries that, if I wanted to watch them I certainly have no interest in owning. If GOG wants me to stop resisting, they can release movies that I'd actually want to own DRM-free and prove that this change is a good thing.

I thought the same thing sad face.

Submitted.

See, this is kinda what I meant above. There are too many people here who are like "GOG isn't doing this thing I want or this thing that interests me so I'll complain or just huff about it.", and it's really, *really* annoying. GOG aren't here to serve your interests any more than they're here to serve mine. They're here to serve the interests of the community and their customers as a whole.

Steam goes through much the same thing. It has a couple of documentaries, ebooks, etc. for sale as well as interactive fiction (so visual novels, "walking simulators" (to use a horrible phrase), etc.). It caters to a wide group of people.

GOG are under no obligation to put movies you - i.e. a specific user - want up on the site. They probably can't get the rights, or they're in negotiations, or one of a dozen dozen other reasons. They've got a strong showing as it is - a great Minecraft documentary, one of the Bronies documentaries and both editions of the superb Indie Game: The Movie - and I hope they'll continue to expand. But you - we, even - need to realise that digital movie distribution is still a really weird thing that people are only just embracing, and license and rights agreements might not necessarily cover digital distribution until they're renewed or renegotiated.

Criticism is fine if it's well-reasoned and valid, but a lot of the criticisms you see about - say - this topic are neither. In fact, many criticisms GOG face in topics like this are essentially people moaning for the sake of it. "Oh it's not this game that I convinced myself it would be", "oh but this came out last week and it sucks according to this guy on youtube i know", "yeah but when is this coming", "this doesn't interest me so i'll pass", etc., etc. There's no actual relevant discourse going on in the vast majority of cases. It's people inventing gripes or finding a reason to post.

If you have actual, reasoned criticisms that you can back up with evidence or examples (what are these movies that you realistically think can come to GOG?), then fine, create a topic and discuss it with people. But when you open up a topic about a new release to get information about it and it's post after post of the most inane, stupid, pointless "this is not for me" comments? It's just horrible and I wonder why GOG even bother sometimes. Why bother going through all that work to get the rights and to make sure the title works and everything when chances are the launch topic will be page after page of ungrateful, ignorant, petty whiners?

It beats me. Truly.

On a more positive note:
This documentary is still awesome.

coldalarm
[ If you have actual, reasoned criticisms that you can back up with evidence or examples (what are these movies that you realistically think can come to GOG?), then fine, create a topic and discuss it with people. But when you open up a topic about a new release to get information about it and it's post after post of the most inane, stupid, pointless "this is not for me" comments? It's just horrible and I wonder why GOG even bother sometimes. Why bother going through all that work to get the rights and to make sure the title works and everything when chances are the launch topic will be page after page of If you have actual, reasoned criticisms that you can back up with evidence or examples (what are these movies that you realistically think can come to GOG?), then fine, create a topic and discuss it with people. But when you open up a topic about a new release to get information about it and it's post after post of the most inane, stupid, pointless "this is not for me" comments? It's just horrible and I wonder why GOG even bother sometimes. Why bother going through all that work to get the rights and to make sure the title works and everything when chances are the launch topic will be page after page of ungrateful, ignorant, petty whiners? ? ]

For me, movies,.. meh. I come to GOG for games and I could care less what Steam does. The stupid, pointless "this is not for me " is how GOG figures out what works for it's customers. Do most of them like it or not? GOG bothers because they are in the business of making money like everyone else. So if someone gives an opinion that they don't care for this or that, they are showing GOG where they (customer) will put their money. It does not make them ungrateful, ignorant, petty whiners. I don't have to review (waste 2 hours of my life) of say a movie about the life of Richard Simmons to know I will not enjoy it.

BadDecissions "If the change ends up having a lot of positive effects, it can eventually win me over." (Did you read this?)

I watch Matt Chat on U-Tube. Great game and people in the industry stuff for free. :)

If movies don't interest you, fine. There is or are topics about GOG adding movies that you can discuss that in and explain your reasoning. But at the same time, do you complain when you go into a game store and they have merchandise or DVDs or Blu-Rays or other non-game products? You go to those stores for games and primarily and maybe exclusively for games, but often they sell things around gaming too. That's all that GOG are doing, and even now the majority of the movies available are about and for gamers. And when you get to that "should game stores only sell games?" question, you end up in a never-ending spiral of arguments where people try to decide what a game is or isn't (something that's been happening with Steam a few times now). That doesn't help us. And do you then go into a movie store and complain that they're selling shows done by people you don't like? Do you walk up to the manager and go "Hey guy, I think your store sucks because you're selling this Richard Simmons DVD and it's on display. It doesn't interest me at all and I wish it was something else. But I'll be back in a few days to sniff around your sale section."? Don't you see how ridiculous it is? That's what people are doing here.

My criticisms are levelled more at the people who come into every release or deal topic and declare that it's not for them, or that they think this is another sign GOG is going to be doomed, or that they're disappointed it's not this other game. Those are the ungrateful, ignorant, petty whiners, because they sit there and complain and fill topics with their unwanted and unconstructive comments. Where's the discussion? Where's the information about the game? Heck, look at this topic. The first person as far as I can tell to actually discuss the movie was me... on the third page. People want GOG to sell only one thing or to sell things only they approve of.

As for that last bit you quoted, yes, I did read it. And again - what are these "positive effects"? GOG is selling films people can watch and learn about topics or see behind the scenes. It's an unquantified, non-specific comment that means the goalposts can forever be shifted. There's no goal for GOG to aim for to win over that one customer (which, outside of tech support, is not a concern of theirs), and instead they'll work to improve the catalogue, perhaps the streaming, add accessibility functions if possible and so on.

I have bought two movies from GOG, I have downloaded and watched both. I have had a grand total of zero issues with how it works. The movies are cheap, they work, they're watchable, and some of them are of interest to me, so I'll be buying more. I'll be putting more money into GOG and getting more out of the site. How is that anything other than a Positive Effect?

I think that most of GOG's forum population are basically isolationist in nature. They first came to GOG to reclaim the "glorious" past of videogames. Problem is, GOG needs money to exist, and the lowest hanging fruit among classic games was exhausted. So then it was indie games...and the old buzzards recoiled in fear because suddenly there is an influx of new people and things, disturbing their stratified world. Thus the cycle continued up to this day.

Given enough time, new blood will supplant the old.

I've been here from very near the start, and GOG are still bringing classic games we've forgotten about or overlooked. But what they've done is basically what you've said - they've expanded to help bring in more income. We have indie games here, we have newer titles (often from 'classic' studios or continuing franchises already on here, e.g. the Divinity titles, Age of Wonders 3, etc.). That's because a lot of devs (and indie devs) support DRM Free, which makes GOG a natural fit, but also because games like Age of Wonders 3 are created to appeal in part to those who like classic titles.

Sabin_Stargem


Given enough time, new blood will supplant the old.



Young whippersnapper! :)

+1 :)

I suppose the short answer to all this is that if GOG doesn't owe me anything, I don't owe them anything either, and I'll say what I damn well want.

Since you've already dismissed me as an "ungrateful, ignorant, petty whiner," I won't bother with the long answer.