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General discussionUpdate: GOG.com Blog + FLAC Soundtracks(34 posts)(34 posts)
(34 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted January 31, 2014
A quick overview of new things on GOG.com

[/url]Friday seems like a good moment to sum up the interesting things that happened over the week. There's not much point talking about our DRM-Free Time Machine sale here, as it's already ended. We know you liked it, it was lots of fun, and we'll probably re-visit this idea in the future, but let's move on to more current things. There are two things in particular we'd like to mention. First, is the new [url=http://gogcom.tumblr.com]<span class="bold">Official GOG.com Blog</span> on Tumblr, that we've launched just this week. We hope to make it a place offering a different perspective on the games from our catalog, GOG.com and its team, and gaming in general. If you happen to own a Tumblr account and you would like to give us some help with spreading the news about the blog's recent launch, you can do so by re-blogging this post. Or any other post, for that matter. It will be greatly appreciated if you do.

The other thing is even more exciting, especially if you're a music aficionado. Over 30 [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flac" target="_blank]FLAC[/url]-encoded lossless soundtracks have been just added as bonus content to our games, and you can grab them alongside their respective games. If you already own one of these games, a FLAC soundtrack (or soundtrack) is now available for you to download. If not, you can some high-quality game music right now, for as little as $5.99.

Here's the full list of all 31 FLAC soundtracks. Note, that in some cases there will be more than one added to the same game+goodies package, so keep an eye out for the most attractive deals!

Another World

Battle Realms

Chaos Overlords

Crusaders of Might & Magic

Darklands (Roland MT-32, SoundBlaster16 OPL3, and the SoundBlaster OPL2 versions included!--see credits below)

Desperados Dead or Alive

Disciples: Sacred Lands Gold and Disciples 2 Gold

Earthworm Jim 1 and Earthworm Jim 2

Heroes of Might and Magic II, Heroes of Might and Magic V, Heroes of Might and Magic V - Hammers of Fate, and Heroes of Might and Magic V - Tribes of the East

Imperialism and Imperialism II

Jade Empire

King of Dragon Pass

KKND Xtreme

MDK 2

Might & Magic 6, Might & Magic 7, Might & Magic 8, and Might & Magic 9

Mob Rule

Neverwinter Nights 2(original soundtrack from the base game)

Shadow Warrior Classic Complete

The Witcher (both soundtracks: music from, and inspired by the game) and The Witcher 2

Wizardry 8

We’d like to thank Stefan_L. for providing us with the enhanced Darklands soundtrack. Also, special thanks go to Thiev and Judas Iscariot, two members of the jolly GOG.com crew, who went above and beyond their usual duties to procure all that lossless musical goodness and make it available for your listening pleasure.

That's it. Thank you for your time, have a nice weekend and remember about our Wargaming Promo.

Edit:
This Week on GOG returns! Well, at least in some form it does. Here's the first ever "<span class="bold">The week on GOG</span>" post on our blog. It contains the summary of all this week's releases, the weekend promo info, and--yes!--the Enigmatic Hint for the upcoming GOG.com release! We hope you'll enjoy it!
Posted January 31, 2014
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SCPM: Aw, no enigmatic hints today? I hope those'll return in some form.

And I hope you can convince SNK-Playmore to bring Metal Slug 3 here too, if it remains a Steam exclusive somebody is going to get a Kilrathi disemboweling.
Oh there is an Enigmatic Hint for an upcoming release already posted somewhere. Where? Let finding it be a part of the challenge, ok? ;-) I'll be uploading a "This Week on GOG"-type post to our blog later today, and it'll be included there. I wonder if you can find it before that!
Posted January 31, 2014
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G-Doc: Oh there is an Enigmatic Hint for an upcoming release already posted somewhere. Where? Let finding it be a part of the challenge, ok? ;-) I'll be uploading a "This Week on GOG"-type post to our blog later today, and it'll be included there. I wonder if you can find it before that!
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Dzsono: So this blog is more than just a bit of SEO, then?
Gawd yes. I've put a lot of energy into making it happen and I'm hell-bent on making it an interesting thing to follow :-)


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IAmSinistar: One question - will there be a permanent link to the blog somewhere on the GOG.com homepage? Perhaps in the footer area? Apology if I've overlooked it and it's already there somewhere.

Also, feel free to PM me if you need original sources for some of these games. I have a number of your catalogue on CD still, including both Etherlords titles and System Shock 2. I'd be happy to supply rips of the music if you need.
There's no link to the blog on the main page yet.

And here's the first "The Week on GOG" post. Hope you'll enjoy it :-)
Post edited January 31, 2014 by G-Doc
Posted January 31, 2014
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IAmSinistar: FLAC is lossless (no data is lost) audio compression, basically CD-quality. Unlike MP3, which is "lossy" (some data is lost in the compression of the file).

Similar to how a PNG image is lossless but (typically) larger than a JPEG image, which is lossy. So a FLAC soundtrack is a perfect reproduction, whereas an MP3 one is imperfect (but smaller).
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OldFatGuy: Thank you. I guess Windows Player will play it just fine then. So basically, for all the games with soundtracks, the ones with FLAC soundtracks will be better quality?? That is good news.

Thanks again and thank you GOG.

I see others have offered their CD versions in case needed, well, I can't possibly list all of the games I have on my shelves, but I have TONS of old games, with the CD's, in their original boxes. If you're having a hard time finding a game you're interested in, I just might have it. Some of the original games were so old though they only came on floppy. For example, I have ALL of the original Police Quest games in their original retail boxes.
Brotip:

VLC media player plays FLACs just fine and it's open source and DRM Free :)
Posted January 31, 2014
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skeletonbow: Anomaly Warzone Earth was just updated with a FLAC soundtrack also. I got the update notification in GOGdownloader a short while ago and see it has FLAC added, but didn't spot any notification on the forums. Thought I'd mention it here for those updating their games to get the FLACs.
Well, I figured the update was so obvious that it didn't need a forum post about it :)
Posted January 31, 2014
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JudasIscariot: Well, I figured the update was so obvious that it didn't need a forum post about it :)
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skeletonbow: Yeah, it was pretty obvious to me. :) Might want to update the first post in this thread to add it to the list though. :) Thanks again!
It was a late addition, courtesy of 11bit studios releasing their OSTs in FLAC form :)
Posted January 31, 2014
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evilnancyreagan: If you're going to use FLAC then it better be the absolute definition of lossless and not simply "high quality" as lossless is a clearly defined state not open for speculation.

Providing a FLAC soundtrack is worth a fart in the wind only if you manage to get your grubby mitts on a lossless version to source it from, otherwise it's simply file extension hokey-pokey. Typically, the only place to find a truly lossless version is on hard drives of the actual musicians who authored the damned things, everything else is compressed in some way since it was intended to go in a game on a disk. If you managed to accomplish this improbable feat then I tip my hat to you goodsirs at gog. Nice work.

Also, thanks for bringing back This Week on GOG. I guess it's time to mosey over to Tumblr and start rolling up an account. i have no idea what they are even about other than not being able to spell words properly but hey, what the hell, right?. Couldn't be any worse than curse...
Well, CDA is the next best thing that we can access in order to get the best audio quality. I highly doubt those musicians and studios would appreciate an impromptu visit by us in order to rifle through their stuff :)
Posted January 31, 2014
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JudasIscariot: Well, CDA is the next best thing that we can access in order to get the best audio quality. I highly doubt those musicians and studios would appreciate an impromptu visit by us in order to rifle through their stuff :)
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evilnancyreagan: it is good but, not lossless. They chop off all the low-end frequencies to compact it onto the disc and it's that spectrum they remove that makes vinyl sound 'warmer' in comparison to listening to a CD. If you going to call something lossless when it isn't be prepared to quell the riotous (albeit tiny, emaciated and vegan) mob of audiophiles.
We are ready for them...we have 5500 Power Liches :)

But yes, I totally understand what you're saying but again, we can't be expected to go to every artist that ever made a song in our soundtracks and ask them for the original DAT (or the equivalent thereof) recordings.
Posted January 31, 2014
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JudasIscariot: We are ready for them...we have 5500 Power Liches :)

But yes, I totally understand what you're saying but again, we can't be expected to go to every artist that ever made a song in our soundtracks and ask them for the original DAT (or the equivalent thereof) recordings.
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evilnancyreagan: alternately, simply strike the word lossless from the OP and replace it with CD-quality (a term which almost sounds derogatory in the context of this dialog.)
Then we'd have to strike FLAC as well since it contains the term "lossless" :)
Posted January 31, 2014
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emil2796: the King of Dragon Pass soundtrack is really fantastic, or should i say FLAC-tastic? No, it's FLAC-king amazing!
So glad you like it :)

Are the tags to your liking as well? We are trying to improve our tagging as well, so do feel free to leave feedback regarding tags as well :)
Posted January 31, 2014
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JudasIscariot: Then we'd have to strike FLAC as well since it contains the term "lossless" :)
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evilnancyreagan: Really, this is how we're going to tango? I hope you are prepared for some fisticuffs goodsir!
And why do we need to tango? Because we, as a company, can't access the original recordings as they were being made by the original recording artists? What would satisfy you so that we can use the term "lossless" with your blessing? This is a serious question.
Posted January 31, 2014
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evilnancyreagan: If you're going to use FLAC then it better be the absolute definition of lossless and not simply "high quality" as lossless is a clearly defined state not open for speculation.

Providing a FLAC soundtrack is worth a fart in the wind only if you manage to get your grubby mitts on a lossless version to source it from, otherwise it's simply file extension hokey-pokey. Typically, the only place to find a truly lossless version is on hard drives of the actual musicians who authored the damned things, everything else is compressed in some way since it was intended to go in a game on a disk. If you managed to accomplish this improbable feat then I tip my hat to you goodsirs at gog. Nice work.

Also, thanks for bringing back This Week on GOG. I guess it's time to mosey over to Tumblr and start rolling up an account. i have no idea what they are even about other than not being able to spell words properly but hey, what the hell, right?. Couldn't be any worse than curse...
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skeletonbow: You seem to be assuming that these are just conversions of MP3/OGG audio to FLAC, which would indeed be pointless. There is no evidence to suggest that that is what is being done, and I think the people at GOG are skilled and professional to understand that FLAC files are useless unless they are created from original CD audio tracks or original .WAV files or some other lossless format. I don't think they need to state in their press release something like "Oh by the way, we created or obtained these from legitimate original non-lossy sources because we're not stupid." ;o)

If someone can decode the original MP3 or OGG audio and compare it with the decoded FLAC audio of a given soundtrack and find they're identical and thus the FLAC was generated from a lossy source then that's a reason to say something about it being bogus, but in lieu of any such evidence I believe GOG deserves the benefit of doubt that they know what they're doing.
If you ever want to easily analyze any given file of ours, use Spek ( http://spek.cc/ )

Thanks go to IAmSinistar for the tool :)
Posted January 31, 2014
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JudasIscariot: If you ever want to easily analyze any given file of ours, use Spek ( http://spek.cc/ )

Thanks go to IAmSinistar for the tool :)
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skeletonbow: Naw, I trust you guys know what you're doing. ;o) But I wasn't aware of that tool and I'm a musician myself so it could be rather useful! Thanks to you and IAmSinistar for sharing that as well. :)
Thank you for the kind words as I am one of the folks responsible for bringing the FLACs here but I encourage you, or anyone else, to analyze anything you wish and chew me out if something is amiss :)
Posted January 31, 2014
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JudasIscariot: It was a late addition, courtesy of 11bit studios releasing their OSTs in FLAC form :)
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skeletonbow: Awesome! I hope the audio is 16 bit though and not 11 bit. LOL
I can assure you that the tracks are 16-bit :)
Posted January 31, 2014
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G-Doc: snip
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IAmSinistar: Just in case, here's the list of current GOG titles I have in original commercial CD form, on the rare chance you should need anything.

[...]snip[...]
Cool! That's highly appreciated :-D I'm sure Judas Iscariot will be quite excited with your list :-)

Of course, we need to confirm things with the rightholders first, before adding anything.
Posted January 31, 2014
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evilnancyreagan: Also, thanks for bringing back This Week on GOG. I guess it's time to mosey over to Tumblr and start rolling up an account. i have no idea what they are even about other than not being able to spell words properly but hey, what the hell, right?. Couldn't be any worse than curse...
As a matter of fact, signing up for Tumblr is 100% optional here. You can access all the posts without an account, share them via social media, and follow the blog via the RSS feed. We wouldn't have chosen a platform that offers limited blog usability to people who don't wan't an account. The experience is just as full without one, although getting one brings in a little more fun :-)
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G-Doc: Cool! That's highly appreciated :-D I'm sure Judas Iscariot will be quite excited with your list :-)

Of course, we need to confirm things with the rightholders first, before adding anything.
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Wurzelkraft: What's your position on adding more languages to games? For example: I own the original German versions of Desperados and The Guild but they are just available in English on gog. Would it be possible to add other languages if I send in the discs or, even simpler, the disc images?
Sadly, that question is beyond my area of expertise, but as far as I know language versions are a lot more tricky than bonus content, copyright-wise.
Post edited January 31, 2014 by G-Doc
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionUpdate: GOG.com Blog + FLAC Soundtracks(34 posts)(34 posts)
(34 posts)