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GOG have opened sign-ups for the open beta of their Galaxy digital game distribution platform, currently live on Windows and Mac OS X with a Linux version expected at some unspecified point in the future. The client allows for the purchase, download and launch of a broad selection of DRM-free titles, specializing in older games with the necessary emulation or compatibility baked into the installation. While comparisons with Steam, Uplay and Origin are inevitable, the DRM-free nature of GOG's offering is likely to be a major selling point for many. Almost all the features 'expected' of a digital game distribution platform are in place; chat, auto-updates, matchmaking, achievements and time tracking. Some are still in development, like in-game overlays, but others are somewhat unexpected; auto-updates are optional and will be capable of being rolled-back in the future, interoperability between Steam and GOG allows their clients to launch games from both of a user's libraries, and the entire platform is itself optional - with no plans to withdraw the DRM download service they already provide, GOG specifically state that "the [Galaxy] Client will never be mandatory".
I'm personally intrigued by the delays to the Linux client. Given that SteamOS is Debian based, that Valve have invited other digital download platforms to participate in the project and that there appears to be close integration between Steam and GOG libraries, could a SteamOS version of GOG's Galaxy be in the making here? It certainly makes sense, expanding the audience for GOG and the catalog for SteamOS, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. With fingers crossed.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 08 2015, @03:24PM
These are things I would uncheck in the installer.
My game distribution service needs to be reliable, but I don't care for them recording my chats, nor do I care about achievements.
There are very few "achievements" in games that I care about, if you could call it that. I am still a fan of the high score, and special achievements should be more than a requirement in a new game.
The first, and only achievement I can remember as having felt like I *DID* achieve something, was being one of the very first people to launch the gnome into space.
I got that done on the second or third day the game was out. I read about it in an interview and decided that it was my calling in life at that moment. I did it on my first playthrough. And it was not simple; that little guy did not get a seat belt in the buggy... there was a lot of setting him down somewhere safe and then driving back to pick him up again. I don't even think there WAS an achievement at the time; I think that was added in later.
As for auto updates, i am still quite upset that plants versus zombies erased the michael jackson zombie and replaced it with whatever they replaced it with. I did not ask to have my game modified in that way; I purchased the game with a set of features and they changed it without recourse. That is a trivial complaint, but if it was a retail game, I could have kept a version working the way I wanted... forever! But not anymore. Now, I can't even go back to play it how it used to be.
Game emulation in the future will probably suck because none of this will have remained the same, and as a result it will not still will be what we remember.