What’s the first thing you think of when I say “Download and Play”? Bad things I assume. Whether its the activation fiasco that occurred during the launch of Half-Life 2 or the horrible DRM associated with any Direct2Drive purchase, chances are, like me, you’ve given up on online purchases and stick to physical disks. Whether its DRM, the lack of service, the general disregard of support, or just not having a badass box to place atop your desk, most people have given up on digital downloads, and I don’t blame them.

But then, out of fucking nowhere, I find GOG. No… not God… GOG. Good Old Games.

Good Old Games is a website centered around the user experience. Never before have I paid so little for a game (well… two) and received so much. I went onto the website, created an account, and then proceeded to buy the Fallout Bundle. This pack (for the ever so special price of $10) contained Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 with no DRM, and completely repacked to work just fine with XP/Vista computers.

One of the huge problems with playing the older games is that most of the time, the computer you’re using to play the game is just too damn new, too damn different, or too damn fast to run the damn things correctly. Damn. GoG allows you to skip all the wonders of configuring, scraping around for old hardware, and scouring the internet for patches to get your oldy-time favorites to work with that shiny new box of yours, and it just works. You get a really simple, absolutely wonderful, double-click install to run, but the fun doesn’t stop there.

Under the game download link, there’s a little section called “Additional Content” and is by far the best part of the site. The Fallout series makes the most of this section, more than other games they offer, but by no means are you being ripped of in any way. I have the option to download, for both Fallout 1 and Fallout 2:

Game Manuals

The Fallout Bible

Quick Reference Cards

Avatars

PipBoy Avatars

High-Resolution Wallpapers

Fallout Series Wallpapers

Concept Artwork

and the Original Soundtracks

Yea, for free. Free. Like no extra charge free. Like straight mp3′s. Like no DRM. Like all of this, the first two full Fallout games, and again: No DRM. So what are you waiting for? Go hit GoG.com and find something you like. I would have to recommend the Fallout series, but there are so many great games here, even one two at no charge! Go try out GoG.com for free and download “Beneath A Steel Sky”, you won’t regret it.

http://www.gog.com