5 Of Course ((Hell Yeah!))

Price?

$14.99-$19.99((same as console basically, $20 mark for maybe a year old still top shelf games with goodies)

Day one Releases?

YES ((but only if you guys can stay strong as a business i dont want to see you lose money))

Abandonware exists, it's just not as straightforward. In most cases, if a company (owner of the rights) seizes to exist, the rights are sold, or "inherited" by employees, or distributed to creditors etc.. But it's not always the case and as such, it can happen that the rights became public not long after the company collapses.

Also, as with patents or trademarks, if the work is not protected or used by its owner, it can become public domain. Look up the history of the iPhone trademark. The company who owned it didn't use it for some time, so it became public domain and Apple could seize it.

I actually think gog is in good position to search for such titles. It might even persuade some companies to release their older works as public domain. I don't see EA, id Soft or Valve giving up their15-year old cash cows, but some companies just might release the old stuff.

Them's fightin' words.

Seriously, if you want good old games that contain DRM, buy them from a different business! Much of GOG's catalogue and more is available legitimately through various places, all it usually takes is a simple Google search. Right now I see Raven Shield for $5.00 from Amazon and $10.00 from Steam. The same price (or less with Amazon) as GOG. Though it fills me with bile, I picked up the Rainbow Six catalogue while it was available in a Steam sale. Something like $5-10 for all the Rainbow Six titles Steam offers.

OT: In terms of offering new games, I would be very appreciative if any amount of effort could be supplied towards offering them completely DRM-free. I know it goes against the pretense of "old", but I really see this DRM business as a shining light for the whole industry. You're near one of a kind, and if positive results came about of your efforts, there really could be an astonishing new paradigm in the gaming industry and the doom and gloom forecasts as most gamers who pay attention see it (games being only accessible remotely), could hopefully be overturned.

About abandonware. It's wrong to apply examples of trademark law to copyright. Copyright is meant to be an inherent value that the artist never has to protect actively. There are limits to what can and should be copyrighted, but generally unless it's a patent it will apply to a specific work only. If I write a poem and share it with others, that poem is still mine and they have no right to copy it -- unless I, or a possible contractor allow it specifically. Now, this can expire when applied in law... but the expiry date is generally a lifetime (though it can and used to be shorter).

So, a copyright MAY have expired. But unless you have written proof of that, or know the author to be pre-20th century, you should generally assume it hasn't.

Yeah, that's the wanted list with hundreds of variations of misspelled/misnamed titles that may already be on gog.com (I seem to even remember titles being added that had been on the site for months) and seemingly no regulation whatsoever. They need a new wanted list where new titles are screened before adding them, and sortable by publisher and perhaps other information...

Yes, but that's valid if the author is a person. If the author (copyright owner) is a company which no longer exists, and the rights aren't owned by anyone else (former employees, new owner etc.), the court can easily declare them public domain. It depends on the law of the particular country of course.

No, i don't want GoG to participate in any kind of business that implement even the tiniest amount of DRM (Witcher 2 is an exception). If they do this, maybe the floodgate will open for things that make them stray far from their root. They better stick to their philosophy and promises which is no-DRM is one of them. GoG is like last wall of defense fighting the evil Dr. M.

The first thing that i did on March before making any purchase was read about this company business model and philosophies:

1. We've got games your 10-year-old won't be better at.
GOG.com offers you critically acclaimed games from major publishers in every genre. Don't let your kids mock the graphics; remind them that the classics never go out of style, unlike their totally wicked haircut.

2. So you're cheap. It's okay - we are, too.
For less than the cost of a lunch at some lousy diner you can own some of the greatest games of all time. No matter how big the file is and how successful the game was, you'll leave the table satisfied that you got a great deal for your money. As an added bonus, our house specialities won't make you sick.

3. You buy it, you keep it.
Don't let your DRMs turn into nightmares (clever, no?). You won't find any intrusive copy protection in our games; we hate draconian DRM schemes just as much as you do, so at GOG.com you don't just buy the game, you actually own it. Once you download a game, you can install it on any PC and re-download it whenever you want, as many times as you need, and you can play it without an internet connection.

4. All games are Vista and XP compatible.
Thanks to our handsome programming team, the classics are now Windows Vista and Windows XP compatible. Now you can use your lightning-fast PC to unleash the full potential of those games you just couldn't play properly on that busted old 386.

5. Extend the experience with tons of cool and exclusive add-ons.
Buying the game is just the beginning. With the purchase of any game at GOG.com you'll also get some great additional materials for free, including game guides, walkthroughs, MP3 game soundtracks, wallpapers and more. No joke.

6. We're bringing together classic games and a classy community.
Dive into the GOG.com community, share your love for the games and meet other gamers with the same passion for classic games as you. Rate and review every single game, discuss your favorite titles on message boards, get support for your games and help others. Who knows, maybe you'll find that special someone.

7. It's so easy, your gramma's probably already playing.
GOG.com is so easy to use. We have an easy account setup, game installers as user friendly as can be and simple, fast and hassle-free downloads. Thanks to these features, you'll need just a few clicks to get you on your way to playing some of the best PC games of all time.

8. Same game, same price, no matter where you're from!
We believe that all gamers around the world should be treated equally. Therefore GOG.com is available to everyone, everywhere, and we offer the same prices to gamers from all countries. Getting the worldwide rights to the games takes some extra effort on our part, but we think it's worth the reward of opening up our site to the world.

9. We trust you, not the Geo-IP
We trust our users. And we're not just saying that, but we back that statement up by offering DRM-free games, so even if you can pirate them or give them out to all your friends, we believe you won't. We also believe that geolocation based on IP can have a negative impact on your experience and is frequently not working well. That's why we decided not to use IP addresses to determine your location for game purchases and downloads. We trust you to keep your accounts updated with your location.

I'm sold on these 9 points, no other digital distributor company come close applying these brave philosophies.

No question it's a mess and could use a serious overhaul. Look at the games that have the most votes, though, mine included. Nearly all of them are from Lucas Arts. Got my fingers crossed that someone is paying attention to that.

You're like an opposite me.

How (on earth) would a client make anything easier? It's more clutter for the same functionality. Horrible idea.

Recent games I'm more inclined to accept, but as I said, a sister/mirror site or something to clearly separate the two stores would be needed.

I second that!

Where is the survey at? I don't see it anywhere.

In the news post.
If you still can't see it, you have either scripts blocked or your browser acts douchey

No client please! It's all good as it is now. LLAP

Just a vague idea. I wonder if GOG made more profit with Witcher 2 this year or with all the 10$ and less games together that they also have???

But they must take in account that many bought The Witcher 2 to support GoG and CD PRoject. I bought The Witcher 2 knowing full well that my computer would barely run it, It's not unplayable but it does slow down at times.

That's a fair distinction, but I would still assert that the court order is the documentation required.