X-WING and TIE FIGHTER re-released

GoG have teamed up with LucasArts to re-release the classic space combat sims X-Wing and TIE Fighter. The games will be available from GoG within the next day.

Released in 1993, X-Wing was a blatant attempt by LucasArts to cash in on the success of Chris Roberts's Wing Commander series by deploying the heavy firepower of the Star Wars universe. Employing then-cutting-edge 3D graphics and a finely-tuned power balancing mechanic, X-Wing managed to be better than its rival and was a superb - if extremely tough - game. Released a year later, TIE Fighter was even better, with a gripping storyline casting the player as an ordinary pilot unfortunately employed by the bad guys.

The series continued in 1997 with the multiplayer-focused X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, although it did feature an excellent, story-based expansion called Balance of Power. In 1999 the series concluded with the epic X-Wing Alliance.

At this stage, only the original X-Wing and TIE Fighter are being re-released from the series. Both games have been updated to work with modern PCs and the GoG editions include both the original versions and their 1998 re-releases, which are the same but use the much more advanced graphics engine from X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter. X-Wing will include both its expansions (Imperial Pursuit and B-Wing) whilst TIE Fighter will include its Defender of the Empire expansion.

Both games are excellent and I can recommend getting them both. However, they require joysticks (or, at the very least, gamepads) to play properly.

In additional news, LucasArts classics Sam and Max Hit the Road, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Knights of the Old Republic are likewise being re-released tomorrow. Knights of the Old Republic is highly recommended, as the previous PC version required a little bit of tinkering to get working properly (its sequel generally works absolutely fine). This version should work with modern graphics cards and operating systems out of the box.

GoG have said that they will ultimately be releasing thirty LucasArts titles over the coming months, suggesting that the overwhelming bulk of the LucasArts archive will eventually be available.

Rumourville: PS3 turn-based classic Valkyria Chronicles is also, curiously, getting a PC release many years after the original release.

GoG releases DUNGEON KEEPER for free

GoG have started a Valentine's weekend giveaway. Until Sunday, you can get the original Dungeon Keeper and its expansion pack, The Deeper Dungeons, absolutely free. All you need is a GoG account, which takes just a few seconds to set up if you haven't already got on. You can also get Dungeon Keeper 2 at 75% off its normal (very low) price, which currently works out $1.49 (so, not free but almost).

Dungeon Keeper was originally released in 1997 by the legendary Bullfrog Studios, the same company behind classics such as Populous, Powermonger, Margic Carpet, Theme Hospital and Syndicate. It's a dungeon management game where you play the dungeon keeper, digging out new rooms, giving homes to monsters and setting up puzzles and traps to defeat the invading heroes. It's still one of the (relatively) few games where you play the bad guy. Dungeon Keeper 2, released in 1999, retained much of the same classic gameplay but moved the series into full 3D graphics.

Both games were originally released for Windows 95, but GoG have tweaked them both to work - relatively - stress-free on modern systems. They are both absolutely brilliant, so frankly going to get them for nothing (or almost) is a no-brainer.

Electronic Arts recently caused huge controversy by releasing a mobile/F2P version of Dungeon Keeper for tablets and phones that was absolutely terrible, forcing the player to spend significant amounts of real-world cash to progress anywhere. GoG's move means that people can instead sample the original, superb games for nothing (or almost).

Get three FALLOUT games for free

GoG are launching their new Winter Sale with a great offer: for the next two days you can get Fallout, Fallout 2 and Fallout: Tactics for absolutely nothing.

These three games kickstarted the Fallout franchise, which is now one of the biggest names in computer RPGs. Though a bit on the old side, GoG have tweaked them to make them work on modern computer systems, and they are still notable for their storylines and character arcs, some of which continued into the more recent games Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas.

Kotaku recently received information confirming that Bethesda are now working on a new Fallout game. This is apprently more reliable information than reports from earlier this month, which were later confirmed to be a hoax.

Get FALLOUT for free!

GoG.com has a special offer on until Monday. You can get the original Fallout (legally!) for free. That's £0 or $0. You can get it now and download and play later on or whatever.

Fallout was originally released in 1997. Set in 2161 in Southern California, the game follows a player-created protagonist as he or she makes their way through a post-apocalyptic landscape. There is a main storyline to follow, lots of side and subquests to investigate, NPCs to talk to and, of course, mutants and bandits to blow away with an impressive array of firepower. The GoG version has been upgraded to work fine (touch wood) on modern PCs and operating systems. Given its age and modest graphics, it should work fine on fairly low-spec machines as well.

It's also good prep work for Wasteland 2, as much the same team who developed Fallout are working on that game. The rights to the main Fallout series are currently held by Bethesda, who will likely start development of Fallout 4 in the near future.

ANACHRONOX re-released on Good Old Games

Anachronox, one of the greatest, funniest and flat-out most bonkers computer RPGs of all time, has finally been made available on Good Old Games. For $6 you can set out to save the universe with a party comprising a washed-out Mexican superhero, a grumpy old archaeologist with health issues and a miniaturised planet. Worth playing for the showdown with the evil supervillain Rictus (catchphrase: "I SHALL KILL YOU...WITH DEATH!") and the fact your mouse pointer exists in-game as a character and occasionally talks to the party-members.


More than worth playing today (if you can get over the somewhat clunky graphics), especially at such a ridiculously low price and considering the game has been optimised to work with modern PCs.

Good Old Games drop IP checks; Australia rejoices

For a long time now, Australian gamers have lived under a cloud. Their government's insane game regulation laws means that no game can be released in Australia that would be rated more than a 15 locally, meaning that game companies either have to heavily re-localise games to edit out the more adult content (which is expensive and, given the relative size of Australia's population, not always cost-effective) or Australian gamers have to order in titles especially from overseas.

So, the news that the increasingly impressive Good Old Games website has dropped IP checks from its software will be extremely interesting to Australians or anyone else living in a country with extremely harsh game-censorship laws (Germany also comes to mind, though seem to be chilling out a little recently). GoG have said that they got tired of complaints from gamers travelling overseas who'd have to pay a different price to their home country or would have difficulties downloading legally-purchased games every time they crossed borders, so GoG have simply dropped the thing altogether. The fact that is just before the release of their heavily-trailed new RPG, The Witcher 2, (which had some minor edits for its Australian release) is almost certainly coincidental.

Exactly how this works - if Australians and others can actually buy games straight from the site or have to jump through some hoops - remains to be seen. But it's an interesting move from a company who seem to be making their business to make things as fair as possible for all their customers.