Timestamp is about 42:35 sec, it's only like a 1 minute discussion. I recommend listening to maybe 3-5 minutes before that for some context. I use this site to download from: https://www.poorstuart.com/podcast-episode/Giant-Bombcast/Giant-Bombcast-09-09-2008/200055/ (you can click "Download" and then select the 3-dots icon and select download too) But it seems to play fine via that site player anyway.

I'm able to listen to stuff at my job so I started listening to Giant Bomb's podcast as a way to pass the time. I started from the beginning, from the "Arrow Pointing Down" days, and it's been interesting to hear it as a source of gaming history, and for the camaraderie and comfiness. It's also been interesting to hear them talk rather positively about games, because back then I think my only source of gaming "news" was Zero-Punctuation and Yahtzee was negative even to many well-received games. (I was in college and didn't game much except on break. And I didn't grow up with the internet at home so I wasn't much aware of gaming news sites and whatnot.) Granted this was mainly positive talk about ]i]previews[/i], and Jeff brings healthy skepticism and "world-weary" experience.

On the Sept 9 2008 podcast they talked about GOG / Good Old Games beta briefly. It basically started as a discussion about id Software, Abe Odyssey games, and applauding publishers putting their old games on Steam. (Brad seemingly wanting publishers to be forced into a position where they have kowtow to Steam I found annoying, but the context was about EA and their awful service - I think this was before it was technically "Origin" - and paying some a $5 fee for an extended period to be able to redownload games, so I totally understand the frustration there.) I re-listened to that section briefly but may have misheard or misremembered some details so people can correct me.

Jeff mentioned "Good Old Games" and Vinnie talked about signing up for the beta. And Jeff said what mattered was how well the games on G.O.G. ran on modern PCs, and mentioned "old Interplay stuff" and Fallout 2, and said "no DRM" seemed crazy. :P

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edit: they also talked about DRM on the 9-9-2008 episode for like 10 minutes or so starting around 49:45, talking about Securom and EA's games like Spore using it.

I remember getting my invite to join beta GOG, Redneck Rampage was my first purchase the day my invite arrived 28/10/2008, you could only pay in US dollars at that time but the pound was ridiculously high so it was a good time to get started.

edit: I assume everyone else also remembers when the beta ended and they pretended to close down the site and this prank accumulated in that monk skit begging for forgiveness.

I'm not sure if my first introduction to GOG was during the Beta period or not long after. I recall the introduction was somewhere around 2008-2009.

At the time, I was using a 45K modem, didn't have a facility to do online purchasing, and didn't even make purchases from overseas. I don't know what led me to GOG's shores, but I wasn't able to take advantage of it at that time. That was around the time though, where I got disillusioned with the Gaming Industry, as I'd just discovered what requiring the Steam Client was all about, and how bad an experience it was back then where I lived.

All that meant that I effectively gave up buying games for the PC for something like 9 years. During that period I stuck to just buying games for my kids for the various consoles we had. I enjoyed some of those games too, even though I never graduated from N64 to Xbox or PS3, due to controller issues with my brain and motor skills.

My memory of the GOG store, was that I liked much of what was on offer, though I was a bit suspicious of them being legitimate or not. And because I wasn't able to use them, I virtually forgot all about them, until directed to them on the 1st of May 2017 by a friend, to grab the free Shadow Warrior. I grabbed a few other freebies, and also noted that a Star Wars sale was impending at the time ... and the rest is history. Lucky for GOG and me, because I kept coming back, and eventually GOG became part of my daily online ritual. I then wished that I had rediscovered GOG sooner. My main regret in that regard, was missing out on Duke Nukem 3D ... though I did have that on disc, along with the Duke 1 & 2 bonus, plus I'd downloaded the free Plutonium PAK update. Luckily I was eventually able to buy Duke 3D at ZOOM Platform, with bonus mission packs.

I remember applying for the beta after seeing te Fallout art work in the information. first game i got was Freespace 2 and got Descent 3 free.

The idea of DRM free games running on moder pc and classic games to boot really appealed to me and still does.

Really interesting to examine the gaming landscape at the time GOG launched, I can't say I was too involved then but I always like to look back and investigate these things.