Good Old Games lived up to its name once again with the release of SimTex Software’s RPG-flavoured 4x title, Master of Magic. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time this classic Steve Barcia design has been re-released since 1994, and I’ve certainly been looking forward to playing a good turn-based 4x game that isn’t Civilization.

(A man was only meant to discover pottery so many times in one lifetime, Sid Meier.)

GOG has once again done a commendable job ensuring a classic game gets its due. For the low price of USD5.99, you get MoM ver. 1.31 along with the superb 153-page manual and 48-page spellbook (both as PDF files), the OST in MP3 format and some hi-res wallpaper.

The single best thing about GOG’s service is older games are guaranteed to run on Windows XP and Windows Vista systems — an impressive feat given the differences in hardware and software over the past two decades. In MoM’s case, this required using the brilliant MS-DOS emulator, DOSBox.

Although you can run MoM with the default settings without problems, I’d strongly recommend making a few changes to enhance the experience. To do this, you need to tweak DOSBox’s configuration file, dosboxMOM.conf, in the Master of Magic directory. Back the file up before making edits as needed.

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A pirate’s lot be a miserable one to be sure. The sea be a fickle mistress, lettin’ ye do as you will one moment and forsakin’ ye the next. There be pirate hunters huntin’ ye down for bounty, hopin’ to string ye up. There be other scurvy scoundrels lustin’ after yer hard-won booty. There be confoundin’ apostrophes appearin’ in every sentence ye set down on parchment. Then there be these …


May that infernal Nullcontainer be thrice damn’d. By what devilry do it own five open files to stop me rulin’ the Caribbean? A pirate can scarcely spend 10 minutes at sea before crashin’ to the desktop.

(Original image source.)

Good Old Games seems to be going from strength to strength. This unusual digital distribution service has won over major publishers in recent months, allowing it to reintroduce classic titles to an appreciative older audience as well as a whole new generation of gamers. The recent release of Master of Orion, Master of Orion 2 and the beloved Master of Magic, in particular, should be applauded for reminding everyone of the fantastic work done by SimTex Software‘s Steve Barcia, one of gaming’s forgotten designers. It’s also left many a gamer hoping for more titles from Microprose’s great catalogue.

(Dare one hope for Arnold Hendrick’s Darklands, fully patched up and DOSbox-ready?)

All’s not peachy keen, however.

GOG had to pull three Codemasters titles from its service last year because of licensing issues. It’s hard to blame GOG for this since the rights holder belatedly realised it didn’t actually have the full rights for Colin McRae Rally 2005, TOCA Race Driver 3 and Operation Flashpoint. In truth, there was little harm done as customers who had already purchased those games from GOG could download them as usual. This was a minor issue and well handled.

However, GOG does have a messy PR problem due to the way it goes about its business. A key selling point of the service has always been its games are guaranteed to be DRM-free. This meant games which originally shipped with DRM are stripped of it before being put on sale. While this extraordinarily brave policy left GOG very vulnerable to piracy, it was a policy that was universally hailed by gamers tired of intrusive and draconian DRM schemes. Here was a digital distribution service that got it. Here was a digital distribution service that understood customers do not take kindly to being treated like potential thieves after they have paid for a product. Here was a digital distribution service that truly deserved gamer support.

The problem was no one knew how GOG went about removing the DRM. The details are troubling to say the least.
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