Hi

I have heard about some guys who are planing to make some on-line store for download of old ESA protected games (of course with the permission and paying royalty to the companies). I'm just curious how much you retro gaming loving guys and gals would pay if they succeed and offer some grand titles of the 90s. They say they are in contact with Vivendi for some Sierra titles and with Interplay, or whats left of it.



How can I edit the poll? That garbage shound be a $ sign....

It surely depends on which game I want to download and if it's worth its money. That's very subjective. But I don't think that I would pay much for a game that doesn't run under XP without using extra tools. So a maximum of 10€ or 13$ or so would be the limit for me...

If it's a pay-per-download system, then... well... I won't pay $10 for a game that physically isn't even there. $7 at most.

It is a pay-per-download system...I don't think it would be worth printing them to cds.

It would be interesting if you pay once and have a lifetime-right to download it or something like that...

That's the idea :D

max 2$

it's old, it's crappy, it's obsolete, and i dont' really want is so badly that i would be willing to pay for it. i mena let's face it they dont' have any support, any development any option to claim nothing.... in fact i am preety sure such a site would be illegal in my country. but it could function for some very low price cause no one would mind loosing an euro or two...

The problem of the support is a tough one...the basic idea is that a very basic support would be offered by this company, but of course its limited.

By the way, why is it illegal in Slovenia?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Razor2 @ Sep 27 2006, 12:02 PM) [snapback]257727[/snapback]</div>To protect the consumer... Every product needs to provide service (if it is sold). If it doesn't work within a month it needs to be replaced with a working one. Also consumers can return the product and demand the money back if they are not satisfied with it. I am preety sure that's the case in whole of EU.

Selling some old things without providing service is not a good idea. Individuals can do it, but not companies.

what ever happened to "buyer beware?" ;)

I'd be willing to pay - in that the lack of support wouldn't bother me. After all, all those hours fiddling with various emulators already mean that I should be fine... Selfish I know, but this is capitalism baby :)

poll edited.
Razor2 how did you get those weird characters anyway ?

I would pay a maximum of 3$ , because you can't get the game physically.
¿And what about support? :whistling:

I voted too fast and voted 7-10$. I thought you were talking about real hard copies, but then I realised it was about online purchase/downloads...

... In which case I would never even consider buying.

Support will be offered...at this point it seems that it will comprise of an 24h e-mail helpdesk and some form of time limited (a couple of hours per day) skype support in english and german. This does not mean of course that the games will run flawlessly and can be made to run flawlessly on any system, but they will try their best.

For the other question, there is no way to make hard copies of decade old software profitable, I'm working in some similar business and for some cds to be profitable you need to sell about 2000 copies! I and also the guys I'm talking about think that this can't be done, at least not for the majority of the titles, so the only option is to sell them on-line.

Well, I chose 1-3$. Even that sum would be too high, because it's not an original copy (hard-copy), so I guess they should be 0.5$ each, no matter the popularity or anything. I guess I could pay that, but taking into consideration that 3$ can buy me a new game (hard-copy) - well... :whistling:

Erm... I actually paid Apogee $15 for Rise of the Triad. :unsure:

But that was a total once off. Normally I wouldn't consider them worth double figures.

I voted for 3-5$.
I think that they could sell somekind of pack with all necessary stuff to make a hard copy on your own. I'm thinking about:
- game
- manual
- printable cover for cd/dvd box
Just like some magazines, that gives full versions on cd's.
With all that stuff it could be nice. Only a game - with nothing more ... not worthy much.

Man, if these things are just theoretical downloads it's a complete rip-off.
Pirating is ok though, as long as I'm not the one doing it/caught.. so I say $1.00 per download.
just like iTunes or something

Well, this is a bit of a slow moving topic, so I decided I'd put in my 2 cents now.

I find all the discussion about "it's not an original copy (hard-copy)" and "a game that physically isn't even there" is kind of backwards. I mean, what do you pay $60 for when you buy a new game; the CD, the manual, or the actual game that took months or years of a dozen tallented people's blood sweat and tears? Aparently to you guys the medium is more valuable than the game. Lame.

Granted having the game on CD or disk (for us old-schoolers) does give a sense of ownership. But when you come down to it, take even a $20 game, strip away the 5 bucks of manual, medium, and packaging, and is $10-$15 really too much to pay? Even an older game that was once worth $40-60 in it's prime, putting a $1 price tag on it is a bit like seeing a '63 chevy sold for a song because the engine needs a little work.

Then again, here putting this to a bunch of mooches accostomed to getting their games for free.

It all depends on the title, really. If I really want it and I know I will enjoy it, I'll pay pretty much whatever it costs, but if I'm unsure and would want to check it out, I wouldn't spend a second hand bubble gum on the game. Oh, and demos are no good. Too many weaknesses are taken out of them for me to know if the game is worth the money.

No actually I would not pay $60 or $40 bucks for a game anymore. Last time when I payed 60 for Across the rhine and it was really crappy I said "thats it!" I won't go over 20 for even a new PC game. Even Bard's Tale and Pirates! which I love I waited till they went down. A download with nothing maybe 50 cents. With manual et al maybe two bucks if I MUST have it. :titan:

I wouldn't mind spending 10 bucks for an older game that i remember from my youth, as long as it works with my current OS then i'm fine with it.

Sure, i would buy an ESA protected game, it would really depend on the title though.

I guess you really can't blame companies for keeping their older games to themselves, although i must admit i've asked myself why they would want to hold on to a game that's 20 years old...personally i think it would be cool if Activision or EA decided to make some of their older game available for download on a site of their own design.

I dunno, it would be a nice way to show their thanks to the customers they've made over the years.....but i fear that cool items for customers in a video game based industry faded away with Infocom.