Blizzard's pulling of Warcraft I and II tests GOG's new Preservation Program • Hacker News Board

Re: Blizzard's pulling of Warcraft I and II tests GOG's new Preservation Program

#11

Post by 3eb7988a1663 » Tue, Dec 03, 2024, 6:34 AM UTC

If you only read the headline, GOG is still selling both games until December 13th.

Now, I have to weigh the calculus: do I buy the games just because, knowing there is basically zero chance I boot them up? What if that was Blizzard's end game -to drive scarcity?

Re: Blizzard's pulling of Warcraft I and II tests GOG's new Preservation Program

#12

Post by spiritplumber » Tue, Dec 03, 2024, 6:35 AM UTC

Well that's $15 that are going to GOG instead of Blizzard.

Re: Blizzard's pulling of Warcraft I and II tests GOG's new Preservation Program

#13

Post by soulofmischief » Tue, Dec 03, 2024, 6:37 AM UTC

> there would be a significant risk that preserved video games would be used for recreational purposes

Fuck DRM and fuck Blizzard. Kudos to everyone involved in games and film preservation during this hostile era.

Re: Blizzard's pulling of Warcraft I and II tests GOG's new Preservation Program

#14

Post by llmthrow102 » Tue, Dec 03, 2024, 6:50 AM UTC

They've also now launched the Warcraft 3 "remaster" twice, and it's still in a worse state than it was 20 years ago. First they did less than half the job, cut budget, and launched missing major features from the original project, with only some terrible new models to show that look decent up close, but bad from the overhead RTS view. Then they did a relaunch where they did lazy AI upscaling of old models and icons that don't actually look any better, added some realtime shadows that don't fit with the style of the game, and called it a "Warcraft 3 2.0".

Really terrible treatment of one of the best game series of all time, and being part of Microsoft hasn't helped. It would have been nice if Warcraft 3 got the same treatment as AoE2 or AoM.

I buy all games on GoG when I can, especially classic games, but new ones as well. It's so nice to just have a collection of DRM-free installers, and be able to support a company that does right by the classic games.

Re: Blizzard's pulling of Warcraft I and II tests GOG's new Preservation Program

#15

Post by waveBidder » Tue, Dec 03, 2024, 6:51 AM UTC

3eb7988a1663 wrote: post #11

If you only read the headline, GOG is still selling both games until December 13th. Now, I have to weigh the calculus: do I buy the games just because, knowing there is basically zero chance I boot them up? What if that was Blizzard's end game -to drive scarcity?

like other game companies (cough Nintendo) their old library is viewed as direct competition with their current set of games/subscription products. also wotmrth remembering that Blizzard is now a Microsoft property.

Re: Blizzard's pulling of Warcraft I and II tests GOG's new Preservation Program

#16

Post by MrDresden » Tue, Dec 03, 2024, 6:53 AM UTC

3eb7988a1663 wrote: post #11

If you only read the headline, GOG is still selling both games until December 13th. Now, I have to weigh the calculus: do I buy the games just because, knowing there is basically zero chance I boot them up? What if that was Blizzard's end game -to drive scarcity?

Had similar thoughts, but in the end decided that having the option of playing some of my favourite games from childhood was worth more to me than any spite I have towards Blizzard.

They have shown themselves to be bad curators of their own catalogue, so I bought a copy to avoid having issues during some possible future point when I just want to experience some nostalgia.

Re: Blizzard's pulling of Warcraft I and II tests GOG's new Preservation Program

#17

Post by fwipsy » Tue, Dec 03, 2024, 6:58 AM UTC

maeil wrote: post #9

Interesting how GOG is willing to take such a hard stand of this and fight Blizzard on it, when they immediately pulled the Taiwanese horror game Devotion for political reasons [1]. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/dec/17/taiwanese-horr...

I guess it's not a principled stand in favor of free speech. They just want to sell games. The CCP can block them in China; Blizzard can't.

Re: Blizzard's pulling of Warcraft I and II tests GOG's new Preservation Program

#18

Post by shakna » Tue, Dec 03, 2024, 6:59 AM UTC

maeil wrote: post #9

Interesting how GOG is willing to take such a hard stand of this and fight Blizzard on it, when they immediately pulled the Taiwanese horror game Devotion for political reasons [1]. [1] https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/dec/17/taiwanese-horr...

Scale of difference between being threatened by China, and threatened by a company within America, though. There's nothing surprising about bowing to a government to keep their citizens as customers.

Re: Blizzard's pulling of Warcraft I and II tests GOG's new Preservation Program

#19

Post by indigoabstract » Tue, Dec 03, 2024, 7:08 AM UTC

Hmm, if anyone wants to play them or add to the collection, buying them from GOG instead of Blizzard should be a pretty easy decision.

Re: Blizzard's pulling of Warcraft I and II tests GOG's new Preservation Program

#20

Post by akimbostrawman » Tue, Dec 03, 2024, 7:09 AM UTC

3eb7988a1663 wrote: post #11

If you only read the headline, GOG is still selling both games until December 13th. Now, I have to weigh the calculus: do I buy the games just because, knowing there is basically zero chance I boot them up? What if that was Blizzard's end game -to drive scarcity?

piracy