Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: 3,000,000 years away from Earth
Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 6:00 pm Post subject:
Classic Gaming Sites
Subject description: Only legal stuff, no "abandonware" or "warez" links
I've always been a retro-gamer of sorts, and I'm glad to see that old game sites and forums are quite active these days. Here's a list of a few noteworthy ones - even if you haven't been inclined towards old games before, you might just as well try going retro now
Freeware & Shareware Archives
Remain in Play
This is as much a database of commercial games that have been released into public domain as it is a gaming site. It provides info, screenshots and downloads of freeware games, but keep in mind that the database includes not only playable games, but also source code and raw data if those were the only things released to the public. There options to filter games by type of distributed content, and it's a good idea to look for binary executables if you want to get playable games and not files that are barely useful if you aren't a programmer or game developer yourself.
Theodor Lauppert's Game Gallery (mirror site)
Here you'll find interesting, insightful reviews of games, tons of related links, screenshots, demo/shareware/freeware downloads etc. You can browse games by genre, title, platform (featured games aren't limited to PC only), or country. There are also a few interesting related sites:
King Svatopluk's Court - a nice site dedicated to various RPGs like the Elder Scrolls series.
Svatopluk's Game World - various articles about games.
Svatopluk's DOSBox - a large, unsorted collection of screenshots from various DOS games.
Svatopluk's Arcade - a lot of info and screenshots about all sorts of arcade games.
Demu.org (formerly known as DOS Museum)
This is by far the largest archive of shareware episodes, demo versions, extras and utils for DOS and Windows games, as well as a selection of other programmes. Quite a few rare items can be found here, so it's a must see for everyone The only imaginable drawback is that original file names of archives aren't always preserved, and some games have been repackaged in RAR for better compression. Both playable and unplayable demo versions (and also preview slideshows, trailers etc.) are present. There's an option of ordering a DVD with the entire collection of the site per mail. Links to sites that offer full versions of featured games for purchase are present where applicable.
RGB Classic Games
Behind this site is an extensive agenda of preservation of old games (DOS and Windows), and thanks to the initiative of the site's author some old titles have been officially released into public domain by their respective developers following Internet petitions. RGB Classic Games is unique because it aims to include every existing version of each featured game, and the community members actively search for rare releases of old games. Each game on the site is accompanied by an brief but informative description that contains info on developers, publishers, current availability etc. Non-playable content is usually not included. The site also offers their complete collection on DVDs. Links to sites that offer full versions of featured games for purchase are present where applicable. There's also an extensive archive of emulators and other utilities you might need to play the games on modern machines, and comprehensive guides to successfully running old games on new hardware. In addition, there is an option to play featured games right in your browser.
Smush The Cat
A nice collection of shareware episodes, demo versions and freeware full versions of old DOS and Windows games. Descriptions and other info are scarce, but links to official and related websites for games are present if possible. There's an option to browse by multiple categories (platform, game type etc.). The site also offers utilities that might be needed to run the old games on modern systems.
dosgames.com
This is a popular site with a large archive of DOS games, offering playable demo versions and shareware episodes. Well-known classics are present alongside more obscure titles. There's also a community forum where people can get help with getting a game to run on a modern machine, or locating an old game they just can't find. A selection of utilities needed to run the games is also available.
DOS Games Archive
A sister site to dosgames.com. Non-playable content is also present, as are full versions of games that have officially become freeware. There's a multi-category browsing option (by genre, playability etc.), a number of selected screenshots for each game (unfortunately, they're not always from the demo version), cheat code listings and links to places where you can buy the full version if a game is still sold.
The DOS Multiplayer Archives
This site focuses on playing old DOS games over the net (through DOSBox). It offers demos of DOS games that have multiplayer capability, already bundled with DOSBox configured for online play. The collection of games isn't very large at the moment, but it can be expected to grow. Currently, the focus is on the less known games that have a multiplayer option, because they're not as easy to run on modern systems as those well-known classics (Doom, Duke Nukem 3D etc.) that have source ports to newer platforms, as well as large supporting communities.
Game Reviews
Hardcore Gaming 101
A dedicated old-gaming site with a huge database of detailed articles about PC and console games and game series.
The Computer Show
This is an archive of previews, reviews, walkthroughs and other articles about games that have been released in the nineties.
Ancient DOS Games
Periodic issues of video reviews of DOS games can be found here.
HappyPuppy (archived copy)
This seems to have been one of the most active gaming sites in the nineties, with reviews and links to shareware and demo downloads. Definitely worth of checking it out!
FTP Archives
Gamers.Org has several old FTP file archives on their site:
3D Realms' Master Download Page
Apogee Software, more commonly known as 3D Realms after it's sub-brand focused on 3D games, pioneered the shareware model of game distribution, in which a sizeable portion of a game ("episode") was offered for free download and distribution, and the rest could be ordered by "registering" the game, if the player liked it. This successful strategy was later employed by other companies, like id Software, and the result is a large number of classic shareware games that are freely distributed. The downloads archive features shareware episodes of games published by Apogee/3D Realms, and also offers full versions of games that have become freeware. Generally, the 3D Realms website has a lot interesting stuff to explore, visit their FAQs section and the extensive Apogee Legacy interviews archive by Joe Siegler.
Rise of the Triad Headquarters As the name suggests, this is a site dedicated to Apogee's Rise of the Triad, and it contains extensive information about the game and everything related to it. The downloads section offers source ports, the shareware version, and various extras. There's also a forum.
The Sierra Help Pages
As the name suggests, the site is dedicated to games by Sierra On-line. There's extensive information about the games, hints and tips, and helpful information about running them on modern machines. The site also features and extensive collection of demo versions of Sierra games.
The Sierra Chest
An extensive database of Sierra games, with screenshots, downloadable demos, and various links.
Interplay Official Website
The official website of Interplay Entertainment. They've got tech support for their old games, as well as demos, patches and other extras like PDF manuals and, in some cases, even music. Some links seem to be broken though.
Westwood Remembered
A tribute to Westwood Studios, this archive at CnC World is a copy of the company’s official site from 1996.
Miscellaneous Gaming Sites
A Force for Good
This website is about old PC games, and how to run them on modern systems. It offers detailed reviews of many games, both for DOS and Win9x, and general information articles about where to find old games, and what tools and tricks to use to get them running.
Videogame Music Preservation Foundation
A database of music from video games, regardless of platform. You can browse entries by games, by artists, formats or platforms. Also has its own Wiki.
leileilol's 90's Hunter
An interesting collection of obscure shareware and freeware games from the nineties. Also featured are largely unknown modifications for certain old games.
Leliork's Site
The site features a rather extensive list of old FPS games, organized by year of release, and contains screenshots and download links for demo/shareware/freeware releases of each game (if applicable). The content seems to exclude vehicle FPS games though, but it has quite a few rare titles so it's worth looking into.
S&F Prod.
A neat site about oldies, with various interesting and useful info about classic games (and, in some cases, utilities like game data extractors).
CuteFloor’s YouTube Channel
Has a large section of videos from unreleased DOS games, as well as alpha and beta versions.
Retro Game Forum
A promising forum dedicated to old gaming on various platforms, including home computer systems, consoles and game arcade machines. _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more Last edited by MrFlibble on Tue Mar 27, 2012 2:15 pm; edited 8 times in total QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 26 Nov 2002 Location: Algae Colony On Mars
Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2011 8:38 pm Post subject:
Not quite as retro as what you've posted but you can get the early Rockstar games for free. Then on top of that, Good Old Games is a good place to go.
I never quite followed the retro PC game world because my PC gaming experience started in the mid 90s and before that I had my Megadrive (and before even that I played on my mum's ZX81). That being said, I've played many of the landmark games out there. _________________
Quote:
This is sexier than what this forum was supposed to tolerate. - Banshee
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: 3,000,000 years away from Earth
Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2011 1:12 pm Post subject:
gufu wrote:
Abandonware's legality is questionable, but for obvious reasons, it is usually considered legal.
Um, that's not exactly the case. Rather, the distribution of abandonware is usually not considered legally punishable. The usual criterion here is that a) the game is no longer supported by the original developers and/or publishers (often the latter no longer exist at all) and b) the game is no longer sold. However, this is not enough to make free distribution of such games legal from the standpoint of copyright laws. To quote RGB Classic Games on the subject:
Quote:
Why is "abandonware" illegal?
Many people are under the erroneous impression that it is legal to distribute software once the copyright holder no longer sells or supports it. Large organizations like Microsoft, Nintendo and the ESA aggressively enforce the protection of software that, in some cases, hasn't been sold or supported for 20 years. The Copyright Society of the U.S.A. explains how long copyrights last in a very understandable way.
"Copyrights in works created since 1978 will last for 70 years after the death of the work's author. If the work is what the copyright law calls a "work made for hire," created by employees within the scope of their employment, the work will last for 95 years from the work's first publication or 120 years from its creation, whichever is shorter. The provisions on copyrights in works created and published before 1978 are complicated, but, as a general rule, the copyright in those works will last 95 years. Anything first published in 1923 or earlier, though, is in the public domain."
Because software is usually created by a team of people, it is impossible to determine when 70 years from the death of the author have passed. Like motion pictures, software qualifies as work made for hire. This means that the copyright on software lasts 95 years from the date of first publication. Software written in 1984, the earliest publication date for any game on this site, will become public domain in 2079. There is presently no software for the PC platform for which the copyright has expired.
Changing the definition of abandonware
RGB Classic Games uses the word "abandonware" differently, in order to change the meaning of the word. Most websites define "abandonware" as software that has been "abandoned" – that is, software that is no longer sold or supported by the copyright holder. That kind of abandonware is illegal, but many people believe it is legal, so it's time to change the way the word is used. RGB Classic Games defines abandonware as any software that the copyright holder has abandoned his or her legal rights to. That means that only public domain software should ever be called abandonware. The copyright holders have officially, legally, and verifiably abandoned all of their rights to games listed as abandonware on this site. All such games belong to the public domain, and the coyright holder retains no rights to them whatsoever. It is, therefor, legal to distribute, modify, reverse engineer, or even sell such software. Those games have a red banner and background in game listings.
You can take a look at licenses for games that were officially released for free here. Also, publicly petitioning for a game to be released as free has the added bonus of drawing attention to it, from the original developers and the gaming community alike.
Morpher wrote:
"Mr Flibbles picks" ?
Yep, that's DOSGuy's (the creator of RGB Classic Games) idea to present opinions of community participants in this way
Another really noteworthy site, focused more on the history and analysis of games (but also featuring an extensive downloads database) is Theodor Lauppert's Game Gallery (mirror site). There are articles about game genres as well as individual games, lots of pics and quite a few rare finds. Apart from PC games, Mac, Amiga, arcade and other platform-specific games are featured. Overall, it's a very educational read for everyone _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: 3,000,000 years away from Earth
Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 11:53 pm Post subject:
DOS Games Download [link removed]
Yet another nice site that offers legal downloads of old games. There's browsing by genre categories, and info on release date, publisher, distribution type (demo, shareware, freeware), a brief description and a screenshot is provided for each title. As far as I'm concerned, original file names of distribution package archives are also preserved.
[Edit] This site turned out to be an unauthorized copy of dosgames.com, whose admin asked me to remove the link.
BTW, one of the most common problems with DOS gaming sites is that no information about the type of distribution of a game is given, so it is not always possible to determine at first glance if a download is legal or not. Obviously, the presence of games that never had any public demo versions or shareware episodes on a site is a pretty clear indication of what you can expect there. _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more Last edited by MrFlibble on Tue May 17, 2011 5:44 pm; edited 1 time in total QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: 3,000,000 years away from Earth
Posted: Sat May 07, 2011 2:25 pm Post subject:
The Sierra Help Pages
As the name suggests, the site is dedicated to games by Sierra On-line. There's extensive information about the games, hints and tips, and helpful information about running them on modern machines. The site also features and extensive collection of demo versions of Sierra games. _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
Videogame Music Preservation Foundation
A database of music from video games, regardless of platform. You can browse entries by games, by artists, formats or platforms. Also has its own Wiki. _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: 3,000,000 years away from Earth
Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 2:12 pm Post subject:
I keep forgetting to mention this excellent website:
Theodor Lauppert's Game Gallery (mirror site)
Here you'll find interesting, insightful reviews of games, tons of related links, screenshots, demo/shareware/freeware downloads etc. You can browse games by genre, title, platform (featured games aren't limited to PC only), or country. There are also a few interesting related sites:
King Svatopluk's Court - a nice site dedicated to various RPGs like the Elder Scrolls series.
Svatopluk's Game World - various articles about games.
Svatopluk's DOSBox - a large, unsorted collection of screenshots from various DOS games.
Svatopluk's Arcade - a lot of info and screenshots about all sorts of arcade games. _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: 3,000,000 years away from Earth
Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 5:45 pm Post subject:
I've removed the link to DOS Games Download as it turned out that its entire content and categories have been copied from dosgames.com without the latter's admin's authorization, so I was asked to remove all links to it. _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: 3,000,000 years away from Earth
Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 9:33 pm Post subject:
Here's a promising forum about old gaming (not limited to PCs) I've just been told about:
Retro Game Forum _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: 3,000,000 years away from Earth
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 2:31 pm Post subject:
Leliork's Site
The site features a rather extensive list of old FPS games, organized by year of release, and contains screenshots and download links for demo/shareware/freeware releases of each game (if applicable).
The content seems to exclude vehicle FPS games though, but it has quite a few rare titles so it's worth looking into. _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
Rise of the Triad Headquarters As the name suggests, this is a site dedicated to Apogee's Rise of the Triad, and it contains extensive information about the game and everything related to it. The downloads section offers source ports, the shareware version, and various extras. There's also a forum. _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: 3,000,000 years away from Earth
Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2011 2:16 pm Post subject:
Hardcore Gaming 101
A dedicated old-gaming site with a huge database of detailed articles about PC and console games and game series.
El Zee's Amulets & Armor Forum
A fan forum for discussing Amulets and Armor, a first-person action/RPG game that runs on the Doom engine. _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
_________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
Ancient DOS Games is a webshow dedicated to bringing to light many of the games made 10, 15, 20 or more years ago for personal computers using the Disk Operating System, aka DOS. Each episode generally covers a single game, shows a variety of gameplay footage, discusses how you might go about obtaining the game nowadays and how to run the game best using the DOSBox emulator on a modern computer.
Each video page also has additional information and corrections to cover any mistakes that creep into the videos or elements that get missed entirely. Information may also include links of interest or additional notes.
Thanks to Dogbreath from dosgames.com for finding this site! _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: 3,000,000 years away from Earth
Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:26 am Post subject:
Demu.org has got a new look yesterday, check it out! In my opinion, this change is a definite improvement, as with the new design the site has become somewhat easier to read due to the new colour scheme, and definitely much more convenient to navigate. _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: 3,000,000 years away from Earth
Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 5:20 pm Post subject:
I've just been notified of this true gem of ninties' gaming:
HappyPuppy (archived copy)
This seems to have been one of the most active gaming sites in the nineties, with reviews and links to shareware and demo downloads. Definitely worth of checking it out!
Also, somehow I keep forgetting about this very nice FTP archive:
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: 3,000,000 years away from Earth
Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 6:58 pm Post subject:
A Force for Good
This website is about old PC games, and how to run them on modern systems. It offers detailed reviews of many games, both for DOS and Win9x, and general information articles about where to find old games, and what tools and tricks to use to get them running. _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
Has a large section of videos from unreleased DOS games, as well as alpha and beta versions. _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
You can find there "clean" versions (original file names, no additional BBS comments) of online shareware distributions of games by big publishers like Apogee or Epic MegaGames, along with some other stuff. _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: 3,000,000 years away from Earth
Posted: Sat Mar 10, 2012 1:29 pm Post subject:
RGB Classic Games has moved to another domain:
http://www.classicdosgames.org/ _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: 3,000,000 years away from Earth
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 1:44 pm Post subject:
S&F Prod.
A neat site about oldies, with various interesting and useful info about classic games (and, in some cases, utilities like game data extractors). _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: 3,000,000 years away from Earth
Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 7:20 pm Post subject:
MrFlibble wrote:
MicroProse FTP Archive at GameFront
This is an archived copy of the official MicroProse FTP. Playable game demos, previews, patches and related files can be found here. The descriptions are rather scarce, insufficient and sometimes misleading though, so in some cases you might not known what you've got before you actually downloaded an item.
Westwood Studios FTP Archive
An enhanced version of the Westwood FTP, with some extra content thrown in, by Nyerguds, a well-known C&C enthusiast and author of the unofficial C&C v1.06 patch.
These links are unfortunately no longer active and have been removed from the list.
However, not all files are available - hopefully this is fixed sometime in the future. _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: 3,000,000 years away from Earth
Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 2:14 pm Post subject:
After a period of uncertainty and worry, classicdosgames.com is back online _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
BTW, I wonder if it ain't maintained by any of you guys? _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 24 May 2004 Location: Flanders (Be) Posts:300000001
Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2012 8:34 am Post subject:
MrFlibble, don't copy posts from another forum if that other forum messes up FTP links, please. They seem to work fine here, but not if you copy already-corrupted bbcode _________________ QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Location: 3,000,000 years away from Earth
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2012 4:42 pm Post subject:
Fixed that, thanks! I honestly didn't notice the links got messed up at CnC Comm Centre until you pointed it out to me _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
The Games Shed - a retro gaming blog that also includes a video section (and an affiliated YouTube channel). _________________ I am MrFlibble. Just MrFlibble. From the Potato King to Uncle Arnie to MrFlibble. I am his right hand. FED2k Forums - Westwood Studios' Dune games and more QUICK_EDIT
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Classic Gaming Sites
