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GOG.com Brings Sim City 2000, Syndicate and Other Classic PC Games to OS X
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It's funny... When games like this came out I struggled to find the hard drive space for them.
Remember the good ol' days when you would open the box to a new game and then proceed to install from twenty 3.5" floppies?
FYI, these are using the Mac OS X port of DOSBox.
This is an emulator- though it's more akin to virtualization since DOSBox's core is bloody fast (if you want the technical details, DOSBox supports something called "dynamic recompilation" or DRC- so as far as emulation goes, it doesn't get any faster then this).
IMHO; if you want to enjoy good old DOS games- then you should really use Boxer (boxerapp.com) instead. It's a true Mac OS X port of DOSBox in that it comes with a native Cocoa UI (and a nice one at that). Boxer basically lets you install your DOS games into "boxes" that you can double-click from the Finder and automatically launch.
So I guess the end result is the same, either way you're running stuff in an emulator. The games from GOG are just pre-packaged in a custom version of DOSBox, if you go the route of Boxer instead then you get a nicer user interface and a while bunch of extras (like Roland MT-32 emulation).
-SC
This is an emulator- though it's more akin to virtualization since DOSBox's core is bloody fast (if you want the technical details, DOSBox supports something called "dynamic recompilation" or DRC- so as far as emulation goes, it doesn't get any faster then this).
IMHO; if you want to enjoy good old DOS games- then you should really use Boxer (boxerapp.com) instead. It's a true Mac OS X port of DOSBox in that it comes with a native Cocoa UI (and a nice one at that). Boxer basically lets you install your DOS games into "boxes" that you can double-click from the Finder and automatically launch.
So I guess the end result is the same, either way you're running stuff in an emulator. The games from GOG are just pre-packaged in a custom version of DOSBox, if you go the route of Boxer instead then you get a nicer user interface and a while bunch of extras (like Roland MT-32 emulation).
-SC
I have been buying from GOG for years. Keep in mind what you but is DRM free and you don't need a client connected to the web like Steam. GOG uses dosbox and scummvm. Both can be obtained free. If you own the CDs/floppies you can do this yourself. However GOG makes it very easy for only pennies. Plus they give you tons of extras like manuals, backgrounds, mp3s, etc. they have sales every week and have been known to offer free games from time to time. They are also part of the family that made The Withcher.
LOL, I remember buying my Mac Classic II...for the educational price of $1295, IIRC...and making sure I got the max RAM of 4 MB, but going, "Why do I need an 80 MB harddrive? I'll never fill the standard 40 MB drive!"
Ahhh, good times...
Syndicate was amazing; might have to pick it up. Part of the problem with it in terms of hard drive space though, was that half of its ~10MB footprint was the intro video, which you could remove to save ~5-10% of a whole drive in those days
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The Mac version was vastly superior to the DOS and Windows versions, due to using real music, instead of MIDI, so when the Eagle Screamed in the song, it really came through.
TEG
iMac Heat? Yeah, just play Call of Duty for a while and you can fry up some eggs on the back of it between missions.
GOG is using Boxer - you can check inside the package and you'll see that GOG is using a standalone version of Boxer for their games.
You of course can still transfer the GOG files to the core Boxer app on your machine easily enough.
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Unfortunately old Mac versions are a little more difficult to get running on modern machines even running MacOS X.
Which sometimes is a shame because once in awhile the Mac port would indeed be better than the original PC/Amiga version. But you can still play some really awesome games from back in the day!
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It will very likely be added - 50 games to start with, DOSBox and ScummVM games will probably be added over time as they make sure they have the right to sell those games for the Mac. Ensuring compatibility probably won't be too much of a problem. Even though it is not officially sold for the Mac, the version GOG sells will work on the Mac with only limited hassle, so you can still buy it and get it working without much issue (real trouble is getting the game files out of the Windows installer, but after that it is easy with Boxer).
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I second this post - I have almost entirely positive experience with GOG as well. Highly recommended people look at the catalog - even for games that aren't officially Mac compatible, you can still buy from GOG and chances are good you'll get the game working on your Mac. There are lists of games which people have gotten working on the mac and helpful forumers who will help you to do it!
Last time I checked, SCUMMVM was for LucasArts games.
Then again, I haven't checked SCUMMVM in a few years.
Originally it was only for LucasArts games. However it has since been expanded to support adventure games from Sierra and other developers.
Go check it out now. It covers all the Lucasarts games, the vast majority of Sierras games, and a bunch of other random adventure titles. As of the last version, they even threw in support for Lands of Lore.
Probably just a matter of time where the KQ games should be easy to do and they do already have them for Windows users. They'd be using DOSBox, so configuring them for Boxer with a nice Mac installer, etc. should be coming I'd think, or maybe it would be SCUMMVM but either way, same deal.
GOG.com has quite a lot of great classic games I think they'll be packaging up for the Mac as time goes by. It does take time doing it though, confirming dosbox settings for video and sound work correctly, creating installers, testing the installers and the games themselves, etc. These guys do all this stuff before releasing so it does take some time.
I watched their presentation this afternoon and learned they've been working on this for about a year now. So I think now that they've announced and released the first 50 games for Mac we can look forward to many more coming over time. I would be surprised if the Sierra games didn't all get setup for Macs too.
This is exciting news! I was running GOG games in a Windows XP VM with Parallels because I was too lazy to extract the files from a windows installer there and then copy them into boxer, etc. when I could just install and play in the VM. Now I don't have to bother firing up anything extra. I can just install on my Mac and so good to go! Yay!
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Jesus christ dude... they just released 50 games on the first OS X release date. At least give them a little time before you get all indignant. They don't owe you jack squat.
yes, I struggled to find hard-drive space. What was worse was that I had a Windows/DOS PC. I use to have to boot from a floppy to try and find the memory to be able to run the games struggling through dozens of alterations to the configuration files until I was able to squeeze enough memory to get the sound card & mouse to work.
Man those days sucked....
One purchase, you get both Mac and Windows installers. If you already bought the GOG game, you should now have the Mac version ready to install. Just like Steam.
I hope they bring Command and Conquer: Red Alert to the mac with the ability to edit the .ini file
Best game of my childhood!!!
Best game of my childhood!!!
Oh, man, Ultima IV V IV for $6? They got my money.
I've had the fact that I never actually managed to finish Ultima V on the Apple II nagging at the back of my mind since grade school, made worse by the fact that I cobbled together a //c+ in high school and got even farther before getting stuck and too busy to finish.
I have had it on my project list since forever to get a floppy ripper going so I can get my old game going in an emulator, but at that price I'll just let somebody else do the work and start fresh. Pretty sure I'd screwed up something along the line and lost the true path anyway, so maybe starting with a fresh character will be useful.
Now I just need to find all my underworld maps...
I've had the fact that I never actually managed to finish Ultima V on the Apple II nagging at the back of my mind since grade school, made worse by the fact that I cobbled together a //c+ in high school and got even farther before getting stuck and too busy to finish.
I have had it on my project list since forever to get a floppy ripper going so I can get my old game going in an emulator, but at that price I'll just let somebody else do the work and start fresh. Pretty sure I'd screwed up something along the line and lost the true path anyway, so maybe starting with a fresh character will be useful.
Now I just need to find all my underworld maps...
I still have an ancient Bondi Blue iMac with an OS 8.6 boot along side its OS X one. With RealPC installed to use abandonware like Panzer General and original copies of some Mac versions it does the job of a games time machine just fine. Running stuff like that on a Mac Pro usually makes it too fast to be playable. Hope GOG have a good throttle function.
Better than not having a hard drive. Back in the Amiga days I remember frantically swapping discs on one drive. The external drive was a dream!
I had a friend who completely beneath the steel sky with one floppy drive. That was something like a 20 disc game.