Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

Over the weekend, people started to notice that the Good Old Games site had gone away, and in its place, we had a wall of text that stated that Good Old Games, in its current form, could not continue to exist.  Well, the Internet, as it can do at times, ran with it and basically everyone thought the site had closed down for good.  A few more statements later seemed to try and drop some hints that maybe it was not gone, but at that point, the damage had been done.  A press conference was called to order, and Aeropause attended this event.

The short answer – Good Old Games is not dead.  Instead, it appears that they used this little ruse to move the site out of beta and revamped the entire thing while they were at it.  While it seems Good Old Games thought this would be met with humor, it seems that instead, it stoked the ire of many fans of the site. 

However, we do know that the site will be back up, starting at 1PM GMT on September 23rd, 2010.  That 8AM EDT/5AM PDT for our US readers.  Hit the jump to hear more about the new features and one new title that is sure to get RPG fans ablaze.

The entire press event started with a small video feed window that had the two founders of Good Old Games dress in monk robes and pronouncing that they had sinned against their user base and that they felt ashamed for the way that they announced the new site.  Apparently, it seems that the fan reaction was not what they expected.   However, we then learned that the announcement was about proclaiming the old site dead, and that the new Good Old Games would spring from the ashes.  The new site is brand new consisting of 98% all new code.  All of this will allow for the site to be 10 times faster, handle up to 6 times more users and of course, 6 times more downloads.

However, the principles of Good Old Games will stay intact.  This means that there will be no active download client that needs to be run in the background, no DRM on any title that you buy from them, and that they were not bought by any other company.  As a matter of fact, one of the persons announced, “we’re pretty well funded these days so why sell”.

So, what kind of new features can users expect when the system comes back online tomorrow?  Well, for new users, the sign up procedure has been completely simplified, with one click to open the sign up screen and only four fields to fill in – username, email address, password and birthdate.  That is it.  Fill in those fields and you are ready to start using the site.  Scrolling down the page, we have an expanded news section about games on the service, as well as a section where you can see the new releases, recommended titles and the best sellers on Good Old Games.  There is also a community section at the bottom of the main page that has three tabs – GOGMixes, Ratings (latest), and Discussion (Hottest items).

Now, you probably looked at that and immediately asked, GOGMixes, that looks new.  Yes, the GOGMixes is a new system, similar to building a playlist on a music site.  You can create a theme and then add games to it that talk about that theme.  Maybe you want to build a list about Teenage Angst, or maybe Hottest Female Game Characters.  You would create the list and then add games to it accordingly.  We were told that these Mixes were done to help gamers that might be new to the site, so they could find a topic of interest, and then some games that might fit the description.  Good Old Games will also have some built in lists that they create to get things started as well.

Product pages also got a new look, with a clear and concice overview of the game and its specifications, but it seems that each game will be getting more extra features added to them.  As you scroll down the page, there is a “What is Cool About It” section that pulls comments from users to explain why the game is good.  There is also a Facebook button to promote the game to your friends on Facebook.  You can also scale the download speed so you can see how long a game will take to download based on how much bandwidth you want to give to the download.

However, there were two announcements that overshadowed most of the event.  First off, Good Old Games has tested and certified 150 games completely compatible with Windows 7 in both 32 and 64 bit modes.  They have also put in place a goal to get all the games running flawlessly on Windows 7, although they would not commit to a date when this would happen.  The other big item is that Baldur’s Gate and its expansion pack are coming to the service when it reopens for the low price of $9.99.  Along with a purchase, you will get an original soundtrack, wallpapers, avatars, a manual and more.  And Baldur’s Gate is only the beginning, as they announced that 20 classic RPG titles will hit the service over the next few months, along with several other high profile titles that gamers have been asking for.  Can we just say now that if System Shock 2 is not one of these titles, they might as well just hang it up.

So there you have it, a crazy press stunt that went awry, but ends with a happy ending, and company founders dressed in monk outfits apologizing for their sins.  Yeah, it really went like that.  We hope to have more from the presentation when we get the files from Good Old Games, and hopefully are trying to get an interview set up with one of the Good Old Game guys to talk about the new features in detail, as well as the little press snafu.