Wasn’t Microsoft just talking about how important game preservation was to them?
Blizzard is delisting the OG Warcrafts from GOG, but GOG says it's gonna preserve them forever anyway, hands out a discount, and announces new policy for its preservation program to boot
Submitted 1 month ago by inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world
Comments
newthrowaway20@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 month ago
There’s a very crucial fact you’re forgetting about corporations who say they care about anything. They’re liars and only care about money.
CosmoNova@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I guess that must be why I can’t buy the Black & White games or Fable 2. Because Microsoft cares so much to preserve the awkward, legal Loop some of their Lionhead Games are in.
Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
“No, not like that!”
PumpkinSkink@lemmy.world 1 month ago
It could be them getting ready to push a wc1 and 2 remake. Hopefully more of a D2 than a WC3…
NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
Friendly reminder: A “DRM-Free” game is only as preserved as the hard drive space you dedicate to it. If GoG goes down tomorrow then you are looking for torrents, same as everyone else.
That said: GoG has been doing this basically since year one (I want to say they lost and regained Interplay’s library like five times?). On the one hand, I love that I get that “hey, buy it now or never. Here is a discount code” warning. On the other hand… this feels like I would be calling it out as manipulative FOMO bullshit were it any other company.
Although… it is a pretty safe bet that MS aren’t interested in going back to GoG until the next time their online ecosystem collapses. So probably a “reasonable” bit of FOMO for those who love the SP campaigns of these games.
Glide@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
On the other hand… this feels like I would be calling it out as manipulative FOMO bullshit were it any other company.
While I hesitate to type this as it might be perceived as viewing a corporation as a friend, the intent matters, and GOG has a different history than the majority of FOMO abusing game companies. Did they identify that this is probably an opportunity to push some sales? Sure, probably. But I am chill permitting them that right when they’re visibly working to remove FOMO as a commercial strategy.
NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
Say it with me kids: Corporations are NEVER your friends. At best you have mutual interests, for a time.
Just look back to everyone who was all in on Google because “Do no evil” and “They aren’t Apple” and so forth. Unity when they were the underdog relative to Unreal. Reddit when they were the “counter culture” social media. And so forth.
I like GoG a lot and have since they first launched. I also remember the French Monk Incident and so forth.
Don_alForno@feddit.org 1 month ago
A “DRM-Free” game is only as preserved as the hard drive space you dedicate to it.
You mean, just like any pre digital purchasing game that you own on disks? Or similar to any physical object you ever bought (hard drive space / shelf space), for that matter?
Nah, that’s a bs argument. They’re preserving it as much as they’re able to without being a government funded museum.
NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
They’re preserving it as much as they’re able to
So we are giving participation awards? GoG use digital preservation as a marketing point. They aren’t doing that. And they are arguably making for a false sense of security (some might go even farther…) when people think that buying a game from a major dev and Eastern European publisher is digital preservation.
How would you feel if Crunchyroll started arguing they were the good guys because they were releasing Witch from Mercury for 100 USD?
Now for the fun part!
Or similar to any physical object you ever bought (hard drive space / shelf space), for that matter?
Yeah. As in it is “preserved” up until someone does a cross country move or merges their life with a partner who doesn’t see why you need to have every single Blizzard Battle Chest on a giant shelf in the living room.
You mean, just like any pre digital purchasing game that you own on disks?
Yes. Because bit rot is a thing and people need to be aware of that and actually preserve that data. Hmm, I wonder who could help with that…
They’re preserving it as much as they’re able to without being a government funded museum.
Good news. You don’t have to be a government funded museum. In fact, governments are kind of an active threat to these because they are in a REALLY grey area legally
I very much disagree that just having a copy of a game is games preservation but it is part of it. And orgs like The Internet Archive are preserving both the media itself AND the media and culture about said media. And they don’t have fancy deals with publishers to help market for donations. They have to ask.
So if you actually care about digital preservation? archive.org/donate?origin=iawww-TopNavDonateButto…
Whereas, if you just want to spend money and react to FOMO?
WarlordSdocy@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Yeah normally I would feel the same way about this FOMO style of marketing but normally in that case it’s the company selling it deciding to like remove it from sale to create the FOMO need. In the case it’s another company basically forcing this decision on them so I don’t think it’s bad to let people buy it for cheaper while they still can.
Anticorp@lemmy.world 1 month ago
If GoG goes down tomorrow
Or if Blizzard sues them to get the games removed.
UndercoverUlrikHD@programming.dev 1 month ago
The game will be removed on 13. December?
However that can’t simply take away a game someone has already bought.
GhiLA@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
If you didn’t buy any hard drives after Trump got elected, ya should’ve.
If you want something preserved, you gotta be the one to preserve it for yourself.
Encrypt it, too.
zerofk@lemm.ee 1 month ago
Which GOG makes possible by offering DRM-free and offline installers.
I know several big GOG customers download all offline installers and keep them on their own NAS. Some even keep the different versions.
Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Are complete data backups just not something people do anymore?
NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
For data that is “mine”? Yeah.
But the average steam library (from just asking chatgpt because i am lazy) is 30-100 games for a “normal” user and 200-300 games for an “enthusiast”. Assuming 10 GB per game on average (which is woefully small these days) and you are expecting people to spend 1-3 TB of storage on just their game installers alone. AND that is assuming none of those installers get updates and people need to figure out which ones (most of us who lived through The French Monk incident can attest to that).
So what happens is “oh, someone else will back it up” and so forth. And it means EVERYONE is grabbing torrents for Spec Ops The Line and not just the people who didn’t think to buy a copy while they could.
intensely_human@lemm.ee 1 month ago
What’s GoG?
UndercoverUlrikHD@programming.dev 1 month ago
A DRM free store that’s run by the CD Projekt Red guys. It focuses mainly on older games (Good Old Games) but it also got modern DRM free games such as Baldurs Gate 3.
If you’re buying an older game, it’s likely a better option than whatever steam offers as GOG will also try to fix old games that are broken on modern systems.
Ullallulloo@civilloquy.com 1 month ago
Thcdenton@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Always pirate blizzard
Suavevillain@lemmy.world 1 month ago
It is so lame that originals get delisted. I still hate that about the GTA trilogy when the remaster sucks.
ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
That’s one thing I really hate and why video game preservation is so important. We need to keep games alive forever so future generations can enjoy the classics and all the masterpieces out there.
EvilZ@thelemmy.club 1 month ago
Agreed however … I had a discussion about this for Fallout 1 a d 2 and one of the comments was that it should be remastered to be like fallout 3 or 4…
I get it but… Just leave classics to be classics… If classic are being changed and remastered than… It’s not a classic anymore…
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 month ago
It only really makes sense when the remaster is trash (like GTA I guess). Otherwise, all I can see it doing is increasing sales of both the original and the remaster…
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 1 month ago
It only really makes sense when the remaster is trash
I gotta disagree. Even when the remaster is (arguably) better than the original, there’s a lot of value in the original art assets and the more rudimentary gameplay as a historical guidestone. For the same reason you wouldn’t tear up the original Mona Lisa because we’ve got a high resolution digital copy, you don’t just scrub copies of the original version of Pong from the internet because we have Wii Tennis.
chiliedogg@lemmy.world 1 month ago
They actually updated the remaster a few weeks ago and it is a huge difference.
Now the only glaring issue is the music, since the originals came out before game studios knew to secure licensed music rights in a way that would allow future re-releases in different formats.
Klear@lemmy.world 1 month ago
They can update the remasters all they want and it won’t make delisting the originals any less shitty.
donuts@lemmy.world 1 month ago
For what it’s worth, they actually updated the trilogy to make it suck less, by a lot.
Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee 1 month ago
I never got into WOW. As a 90s kids Warcraft was always the FIRST game in the series. I couldn’t get the 2nd one as a kid (and only played part of it a few years ago to get it out of my system).
This hatred for old games makes me want to take a shit outside their offices.
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I can understand hating WOW. I can even understand not getting into WC3. But how do you enjoy WC1, but lose interest at WC2???
That’s like saying “A hamburger is good, but I just can’t into bacon double cheeseburgers.”
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 month ago
I can even understand not getting into WC3.
I cannot. Could be nostalgia talking, but WC3 was the pinnacle of the PC RTS gaming era imo.
Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee 1 month ago
I did not lose interest in 2. I simply couldn’t get it. I think we had some demo versions but they just… didn’t work. I have a functioning copy now, but I haven’t played it much. It is a fantastic game.
_____@lemm.ee 1 month ago
Rose tinted glasses
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 1 month ago
That’s like saying “A hamburger is good, but I just can’t into bacon double cheeseburgers.”
I mean, I would say this unironically.
I’ll add that WC1 had fewer variances between factions. Orcs and Humans were almost identical. That made the game more akin to a real time digital chess than WC2, which made Orcs marginally more aggressive and Humans more defensive. I think WC2 is more fun because of the asymmetry, but that’s purely a question of taste. I’m not going to begrudge someone who has a fondness for the original.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 month ago
get a job as their janitor under a false identity. shit inside their offices.
y0kai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 month ago
Don’t even need to bother getting hired, just wear a jumpsuit and some keys.
RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
I will not pay 15-ish bucks for decade old games that I already purchased long time ago at release. Also not with another buck discount off. Definitely not since they are Blizzard games and these days that studio is not worth supporting anymore.
Good initiative from GOG, but this feels like wasted money to me. Warcraft 1 is definitely a hard sell because of how terrible playing it will feel. Or did they change that in the Remaster? You used to be able to only control one unit at a time. In Warcraft 2 they upped it to 9 units? Or am I off and it was 9 units in 1 and already more in 2?
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 1 month ago
If you already purchased it a long time ago, and you can still get that copy working, then cool. But having a DRM-free copy designed to work with modern systems is very appealing. Buying DRM-free shows them where customers want to purchase their games. There are plenty of decades-old games worth more than $7.50 each.
icecreamtaco@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I will happily pay 15 bucks for a game that I’ve never played before, and someone has put in continuous effort to maintain.
RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 1 month ago
So it’s wasted money because you personally already own these games.
RootBeerGuy@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
Yeah, I said I will not. I didn’t say no one should. I think it is great that GOG preserves them but the price is still to high for something from a scumbag company.
How does it work with the money GOG is charging, does Blizzard see anything of that? If not, then nice, makes it more worth to me to pay so GOG gets more funding.
If Blizzard does get a cut then GOG should give a rather hefty discount as a final “fuck you” to Blizzard. Because that’s all they deserve.
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 month ago
The good thing is that thanks to how GOG works, as long as some pirate purchases a copy, they will always be able to keep a current update available to the pirate community.
Thanks GOG, for being against DRM in games.
ceenote@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Never played the OG, but I’ve played the remaster and you can definitely select more than 1 unit.
quirzle@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
[deleted]gogoverdrive@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
It was 4 in warcraft 1, 9 in 2, increased to 9 in the remaster.
thermal_shock@lemmy.world 1 month ago
you could group multiple in W1. you could only build buildings adjacent to your road though, I remember making a road right to the enemy and putting the barracks in their camp lol
IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world 1 month ago
This entire preservation program is just going to end up costing them millions for dozens of people that care.
icecreamtaco@lemmy.world 1 month ago
If it was only dozens gog would have been shut down ten years ago
umbraroze@lemmy.world 1 month ago
I have them on CD-ROM.
I also think I have the final patches for them on floppies that I stuffed in the boxes. Not sure if they’re readable (or in fact the final patches)
inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Thankfully it seems that PC gaming wiki still has working links to the patches.
learningduck@programming.dev 1 month ago
Use code Makewarcraftliveforever on GoG to get a $2 discount.
SpicyCasual@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Definitely had to pick this up. Perfect excuse to add another game to my list of games to play :)
m3t00@lemmy.world 1 month ago
wow, was into leveling. have 2 accounts 10 chars/ea. haven’t subbed in years. coordination off. wtf gog?
ICastFist@programming.dev 1 month ago
This warcraft 1 and 2, the RTS games, not world of warcraft
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 1 month ago
What a bunch of scumbags.
inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Yeah, the Blizzard a lot of us grew up with is truly dead and gone.
Mereo@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
People do not understand that company name means nothing. The OG people who were the heart and soul of Blizzard are long gone. Blizzard is just a name now.
intensely_human@lemm.ee 1 month ago
Orcs and Humans were put into direct conflict by the opening of a portal by evil wizards. To fight for their homeland doesn’t make them scumbags, just brave fighters doing their best to follow orders, stand in the right places at the right times, and chop down whatever stands between them and safety.