CD Projekt announces new DRM Free retro gaming service

by: Chuck - posted: 7/10/2008 11:20:00 AM

CD Projeckt has taken the curtains off  GOG.com, a new online gaming service that will allow gamers to play old classic PC games.  GOG (which stands for Good Old Games) has agreements in place with Interplay and Codemasters so you'll be able to play the Fallout games, Operation:Flashpoint, and Freespace 2 (try it, it's awesome).  Games are priced from $5.99 to $9.99 and are DRM free so you don't have to deal with crap like Starforce or any other content protection scheme.  I'm interested to see how the service stacks up against GameTap but they do have a lot of good games to play right out the door (seriously, Freespace 2 is awesome).

The service is set to launch in September and you can sign up now to beta test the service at the site.

Time Travel Invented. GOG.com Brings Good Old Games to the Present

CD Projekt Announces DRM-Free Online Store for Classic PC Games



Warsaw, Poland – July 10, 2008. CD Projekt, best known in the Western world for its award-winning PC RPG, The Witcher, is proud to unveil its invention of time travel. The company sent several representatives to the past and they’ve returned with some amazing findings. Quick to capitalize on the incredible treasures of history, the company is pleased to reveal its newest project, GOG.com. The site, whose name is an acronym for Good Old Games, is a new games-on-demand platform that allows old fogies (and young fogies) to buy some of the best PC games of all time – many of which just can't be found in stores anymore – and play them on modern hardware, completely free of intrusive DRM. GOG.com is poised to become the center of the classic-games universe with a huge community section including forums, user reviews and ratings, as well as insightful commentary and editorials from some of the industry’s most beloved writers. A closed public beta of the site is scheduled for launch on August 1st, and excited old-school gamers can sign up for more info and a chance to enter the beta by visiting GOG.com.



The site makes it tremendously easy for gamers to buy, download and install some of their all-time favorite PC games. The games will be sold for $5.99 or $9.99, are guaranteed to work on Windows Vista and Windows XP systems and are available to download as many times as needed. This is very nice, yes? The DRM-free games, low prices, the site’s ease-of-use and the community are some of the main features that make Good Old Games something more than just another digital distribution outlet.



GOG.com has already lined up agreements with such publishers as Interplay and Codemasters to make their games available on the site. Among the titles those companies are bringing to the site are in-demand classics like Fallout, Freespace 2, Operation Flashpoint: Game of the Year Edition and TOCA Race Driver 3. Negotiations are in progress with several other publishers, with the ultimate goal of GOG.com offering a comprehensive collection of classic PC games from the 80s, 90s and 2000s.



“Our main goal is to create a user-friendly site with the best classic PC games for a price that might be considered impossible to achieve,” said Adam Oldakowski, Managing Director of GOG.com. “The people behind GOG.com are gamers and we all know how difficult it is to find a lot of classic games. So we’ve started building a great games catalogue, gotten rid of the copy protection that gamers hate so much, optimized the games to work on modern operating systems, and made them cheap enough that piracy seems like a rip-off. It’s so easy to buy, download and install a game and then get deeply involved in the community; we’re very confident that gamers will absolutely love the site.”



Okay, so that part about inventing time travel was a lie. Sorry.

Any publishers interested in bringing their titles to GOG.com are encouraged to contact contact@gog.com.



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About CD Projekt

Founded in 1994, CD Projekt is one of Eastern and Central Europe's largest game distributors, with offices in Warsaw, Prague and Budapest, and employs more than 250 people across its diverse businesses. The company has used innovative marketing and distribution practices to invigorate the Polish games market and to position itself as a leader in the localisation and publishing of world-class games, having brought such hits as the Neverwinter Nights, Diablo and Warcraft series to the region with great success. CD Projekt Group includes the publishing and distribution companies in Poland, Czech, Slovakia and Hungary; the dedicated Localisation Centre, which is the leading provider of cross-platform porting, quality assurance and localisation services in the region; CD Projekt RED, the development branch responsible for the hit role-playing franchise, The Witcher; Metropolis Software, currently developing the anticipated multiplatform sci-fi shooter, THEY; and gog.com, the ultimate online destination for DRM-free classic PC games. More information about CD Projekt can be found online at www.cdprojekt.com.



About GOG.com

Backed by CD Projekt, among Eastern and Central Europe’s largest publishers and distributors, GOG.com – or Good Old Games – is the ultimate destination for classic PC games. The site offers gamers some of the greatest PC games of all time for a low price and free from copy protection. GOG.com is much more than just another digital distribution site, featuring an extensive community component that allows players to rate, review and discuss their favourite PC games, as well as insightful articles from respected games journalists. A closed public beta test of GOG.com begins on August 1, with the official launch scheduled for September 2008.



About Codemasters

Codemasters is a leading developer and publisher of best-selling interactive entertainment products for a global audience across multiple gaming platforms and channels. Established in 1986, the company’s dominant brands include Colin McRae DiRT, Overlord, Race Driver GRID and Operation Flashpoint. Codemasters is headquartered in Warwickshire UK, with North American operations based in Universal City, Calif. the company also maintains operations in Germany, France, Spain, Benelux and Malaysia. Codemasters receives over two million visitors to its web site every month, discover why at www.codemasters.com.



About Interplay

Founded in 1983, Interplay Entertainment is a developer, publisher and licensor of video game software headquartered in Southern California. Interplay is best known for its successful titles in the Role-Playing Game (RPG) genre with hit series like "Fallout" and "Baldur's Gate.” The company has produced and licensed titles for many of the most popular interactive entertainment software platforms in the action/arcade, adventure/RPG and strategy/puzzle categories. Its portfolio of well-recognized Intellectual Properties includes Battlechess, Clayfighter, Dark Alliance, Descent, Earthworm Jim, Freespace, Giants, Messiah, MDK, Run Like Hell, Sacrifice and others.