Forums > Game Forums > Wrong Platforms?

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Señorita Kathryn (615) on 2/28/2012 4:20 PM · Permalink · Report

Isn't listing DOS games as a Windows platform wrong?

Just because Darklands is being sold again today on an internet site(gog.com in this case), doesn't mean it's automatically a Windows game. I could play DOS games on a Windows 95 era computer in it's own DOS, but it doesn't make it a Windows game just because I can use DOS inside a Windows 95 era computer. So why are DOS games all of a sudden Windows games?

I could be mistaken or not sure what's up here. To me though, listing DOS games as such isn't correct. All other DOS games listed as such should be corrected as well.

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vedder (70685) on 2/28/2012 4:29 PM · edited · Permalink · Report

The reasoning behind it, is that games purchased from gog.com come in an installation file that's only executable in Windows and then run through a Windows Executable (the DosBox emulator). Technically buying a game from gog.com will not allow you to play it in DOS because you lack the means to install the game.

If a publisher was to publish a PlayStation game on a cd-rom and it would load up using a Windows executable of a PlayStation emulator. We would list it as a PC game. It's a similar situation.

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Pseudo_Intellectual (66274) on 2/28/2012 4:33 PM · Permalink · Report

Ideally there'd be a way to indicate these repackagings as distinct from a version of the game made for that platform. Well, I suppose the emulator genre already does?

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Rola (8485) on 3/5/2012 4:28 AM · edited · Permalink · Report

I've got a better idea: since we already have "windows launcher" for DOS games, why not adding "runs through DOSbox", "runs through ScummVM" (in tech-specs) for Windows titles (i.e. GOG releases)?

Because if you add "emulator" (genre), it applies to all platforms for a given game title.

On a side note: I've never liked listing GOG releases as Windows games, but oh well...

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vedder (70685) on 3/5/2012 8:29 AM · Permalink · Report

[Q --start Rola wrote--]I've got a better idea: since we already have "windows launcher" for DOS games, why not adding "runs through DOSbox", "runs through ScummVM" (in tech-specs) for Windows titles (i.e. GOG releases)? [/Q --end Rola wrote--]

I agree, that would help clarifying the situation.

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CalaisianMindthief (8172) on 2/28/2012 4:32 PM · Permalink · Report

You have a point that often GOG releases DOS games unchanged; but it's also true that all of them are prepackaged with DOSBox and with a shortcut that allows you to run the game using a single click in Windows. I don't think we should define this as a DOS release, mainly because this is not supposed to be played in DOS. Proof of this is the GOG gamepage which shows that the game can be run on Win XP, Vista, and Win 7, but not DOS.