Damn, automatic executions with a BAT? Start calling you Agent 47...
Nope. I mentioned that earlier; it used to contain gog, now, as you noticed as well, it's just a big g.Originally Posted by Shadowcat
Care to translate for those of us who don't speak Polish?
This can still happen, except now it's for virus removal, internet connectivity and slowdowns.
Gist: big online CDP conferences coming (GOG one on thursday), more info on GOG.com soon, don't panic about the current site.Care to translate for those of us who don't speak Polish?
Don't forget installing printersThis can still happen, except now it's for virus removal, internet connectivity and slowdowns.
Cool, thanks.
Ah, yes, that too.Don't forget installing printers
Hardly any ofthe gaming news websites seems to mention it. I checked, Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, IGN, CVG, and 1up and only Rock Paper Shotgun reports on it. Has an embargoed press release been sent out or are most sites really, really bad at reporting important news? Either way none of them are doing their readership any favours.
Update on gog.com:
First of all, we apologize everyone for the whole situation and closing GOG.com. We do understand the timing for taking down the site caused confusion and many users didn't manage to download all their games. Unfortunately we had to close the service due to business and technical reasons.
At the same time we guarantee that every user who bought any game on GOG.com will be able to download all their games with bonus materials, DRM-free and as many times as they need starting this Thursday.
The official statement from GOG.com's management concerning the ongoing events is planned on Wednesday. If you want to receive further information about GOG.com, please send an email to update_media@gog.com if you're a media representative or to update_users@gog.com if you're a user without a GOG account.
I think this sounds like legal stuff, hiccups with publishers or something.
Ah well. at least if it is due to problems with publishers, they can't remotely take back my games I paid for.
Kindle users: Can you say the same? http://www.readersread.com/blog/727091
Yeah, GOG have previously pulled two Codemaster games but gave people notice so they could burn the files to cd-rom beforehand.
Still not sure what to make of GOG's statement. If they move to a different business model such as launching through Client software a la Steam or online authentication, then it kind of breaks the point of their existence - having games that we can install whenever we like on as many computers as we like, even if GOG go under.
I'm holding with 'Marketing Stunt.' They add Age of Wonders and have two big sales on Saturday. They shut down their site and say they're closing/'no longer conducting business in their current form' on Sunday. On Monday they say that they're having a press conference on Wednesday and that by Thursday everybody who has bought a game from them will have restored access to their games with no real changes.
The speed with which they seem to have come up with a solution for their previous customers clinches it pretty well.
Ha! You did things the hard way. All I had to do was say "hey look, I can bring up all kinds of secret information on a computer", hop on the command prompt, and type dir/w. She looks at all that scrolling text, gets excited, and the next thing I know, my head is between two titties due to my awesomeness.
Things were so much simpler back then.
Fafhrd: Alternatively, it was business as usual, and then something forced them to pull the plug in a hurry while they sorted things out behind the scenes. The 'speed' with which they are providing a 'solution' for existing customers could simply indicate a slightly modified version of the regular site, so no surprise that it wouldn't take long to put together. Honestly, I'd love for you to be right (and you may be), but none of what they've said comes close to 'clinching it' as some kind of (incredibly ill-judged) stunt.
i don't believe in a pubicity stunt either. that seems far fetched at this point and an ill-advised direction for any business.
What I still don't understand is the vague and ill chosen words.
If they'd just posted something simple, something in the line of
Due to legal reasons we are forced to suspend operation. At least temporarily.all this guessing wouldn't have been necessary.
Our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience this may cause any of our valued customers.
We hope to have more information on the future of gog.com within the next couple of days.
But they didn't. And given their previous record of clear and open public relations, it gives enough reason to start wondering.
Minor update from GOG, who have put out this trailer. Check out 00:12. Possible spoiler?
Oh, THIS SUCKS.
They'd better be giving Baldur's Gate away for free to make up for this marketing disaster.
After Brian's link, I don't see it as anything else but. I mean what company puts forth the effort of making what's basically a teaser trailer after being waylaid by financial woes and/or legal issues? Comeon.
I agree, but as marketing stunts this is a very bad one. Digital Distribution services rely on the fact that their servers do not got turned off with no prior warning. If this is only so they can move from Beta to Gold, then they've handled it very badly - either you have redundant servers you develop behind the scenes and then have a fairly instantaneous switch-over, or you at least tell people you will be taking the service down for a day or so to make the service Gold. From a business perspective, shutting your shop for a few days when you don't need to is a bad idea, especially when you make it look like you're closing for good.
Oh, most definitely. It was about hamfisted and ill conceived as you can get. Whatever the new GOG ends up being, it probably won't be worth the loss of goodwill and trust this little drama club stunt has cost them.
That said, I'll still continue to use GOG, so long as they continue to follow the same business model that made them successful in the first place. I don't think they should be punished for one amazingly stupid move. It wasn't done any malicious intent...just pure dumbness and lack of foresight. As long as they'll continue to be DRM free, they'll get my business. If not, I'll just get whatever on Steam and keep things simple.
Oh, and yeah, the whole situation has made even more wary about trusting some anonymous server with my bits and bytes. It's kinda funny how I've always said that the cloud is best used for redundant backup rather than exclusive storage. Shame I didn't practice what I preached, cuz here I am, eating crow.
And then you have the mindless drones who started referring to servers as "the cloud" the moment it became trendy to do so.
Mindless drones like Renzatic, you mean?
My current working theory is that Atari has made a deal with CD Projekt that gave them control over part, or all, of the company. This theory came about when I was looking at the wikipedia article on Baldur's Gate looking to see who owned the IP. The article mentioned that Atari had released a compilation of the games in 2006. In addition to this, Atari was/is the publisher for both The Witcher and The Witcher 2. It makes sense to me at least.
I still don't really understand what all the fuss is about. Unless you are in the habit of bulk buying games and then thinking "oh, I'll download them later", then surely you have already downloaded anything you've bought? I mean, at least ONCE. Sure, you may not have downloaded it to every machine you might ever possibly consider downloading it to, but as long as you have it on ONE machine, you can basically copy it anywhere with impugnity. Right?
Sure, with steam, for instance, you pretty much need the servers to be there if you ever want to install a game on a different machine (unless you create a local installer), but these are small, old games that come in a prepackaged neat little installer that is totally DRM free and does not require connection whatsoever. Just...save your downloads? Hell, burn them to a disk if you must, but they generally take almost no HD space.
This just seems analogous to people who play with only a single savegame, and then do something stupid, and are faced with either restarting or being screwed...just: save. Save more often. Save stuff.
I never viewed/view GOG as a magical online depository of all my purchased games: it's a bonus, certainly, but once I've downloaded a game, it's like: right fucking THERE. I can save it, whack it onto a memstick and plonk it on my laptop for long train journeys, burn it onto a CD, whatever. The service I thought GOG was providing was 'classic older games that have been tweaked to play on modern machines, for reasonably good prices', with the fact that the things you've bought stay online and redownloadable merely a nice extra...but I guess most of you thought differently?
So yeah: if they turn out to still be alive, then wooo. If not, awww. But "OMG DAMN YOU, MAH GAEMZ!!" seems a crazy response.
Yeah, look at me all using established terminology like some kind of mouthbreathing slackjawed moron. What the fuck was I thinking? I should've said Sheeple Storage Information Superbyway, threw out a smug grin, and stuck my thumb up my ass.
Last edited by Renzatic; 21st Sep 2010 at 15:37.
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