TPG Cast Episode 9: GOG Interview With Trevor Longino

Posted on Aug 1, 2012

PC Gaming Podcast

Adam Ames and Phil Cordaro talk with Marketing and PR Manager for GOG.com, Trevor Longino about all things digital distribution. Trevor also speaks on his discomfort with massively discounted PC gaming sales and how GOG researchers deal with finding info on old titles. Adam asks about the difficulty convincing developers to embrace DRM-free while Phil brings up why GOG seems to be alone in global flat-rate pricing. In addition, Trevor talks a bit about the shift in bringing indies and modern titles to GOG. Plus much, much more. Oh yes, according to Trevor, Carmageddon is still coming to GOG soon.

Show Notes:

System Shock 2

System Shock History

Do you remember when PC games came in big boxes?

DRM: Why Can’t We Be Friends?

CD Projekt

GOG “Shuts Down”

Running Time: 1 hour, 22 minutes

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http://www.gog.com Trevor Longino
My word; you left the entire talk unedited? That’s a lot of listening to me ramble!
- http://truepcgaming.com Adam Ames
  This is edited. It was over 90 minutes before I finished up. There are a lot of great things here I did not want to delete. No sense in doing an interview and having to ditch half of the content.
  Plus, you were fantastic.
- JoJo
  I love these casts very much. I want to thank you for making these games available again. I am in my early 40s and replaying these games is a treat.
Steven S
Great interview! That guy is awesome. He even managed to get a cooler looking “digital octopus” avatar than me. Although he brought 700 games with him but GOG only has 430 as of right now. Someone has dropped the ball there. I’ll blame Adam.
And was Trevor doing dishes in the background?
GOG has definitely become my GoTo place for games. I sometime feel like one of those Steam zealots because I see a game somewhere and I think “Should I get it now, or wait until it comes to GOG?” Although the bulk of that indecision is for the GOG support, I know that buying from GOG means that it will work on my system. Even though there are titles I want that are sold elsewhere I’m always weary about getting stuck with a game that won’t run because I have the wrong combination of video card and OS. It’s not so bad with newer titles but for anything made in the pre-64Bit era I would feel better about getting it from GOG.
Oddly I don’t think I am “that guy”, in looking at my GOG collection I think only 3-4 I bought while on sale. Mostly I go into it with a few games in mind to buy and if it happens to be on sale then I’ll still get it, but that’s not really a deciding factor. Although I did just have my first impulse buy on GOG recently. I had been eyeing Alan Wake since it was in development years ago, and was crushed when it went XBox only. Then it came to PC, but was Steam Only. Then it came to GOG, but I had some major bills hit right before and had no money. Finally I was all caught up, had everything ready to buy Alan Wake and after years of waiting I went to GOG and.. Oh Wow! They got Chronicles of Riddick? <>
Wait, Alan who? Eh, I’ll pick that one up later.
I regret nothing!
- http://truepcgaming.com Adam Ames
  Sigh…. it is a pixelated octopus….
  That is the awesomeness of Trevor. He was doing dishes and interviewing with us at the same time. If he is married, I am sure he got double bonus miles for that.
  If I had the choice between a title available on Steam or GOG, I would naturally choose GOG. I can download the install files and burn them to a DVD for later convenience in the event my internet connection goes down or other unforeseen issue arises.
  Chronicles of Riddick is such an underrated game. Even more spectacular is the fact that it was critically acclaimed by users and reviewers alike. Yet, nobody seems to mention the game when talking about good overall shooters.
  - Steven S
    Digital, Pixelated; I’ve heard it both ways.
    Admittedly I’m also a bit spoiled by the GOG definition of DRM Free and have to read a lot of the fine print on other sites that claim the same. GamersGate for example sells “DRM free” games but the installer itself has to connect to their website. I’m still researching GreenManGaming and DotEmu, but if GOG started releasing some of the games I’m wanting from those sites I would hop back over to GOG to get them.
    Hearing the dishes in the background is one of those great unscripted things that always add to TPG casts.
    - http://truepcgaming.com Adam Ames
      The good thing with GMG is, on some titles, they offer the ability to sell the game back to them for “store credit”. You can read more here.
      The downside is if you do not like Steam for the same reasons, GMG does require their client, Capsule, to launch your game.
  - Steven S
    Thanks for the heads up on GMG. I knew there had to be some sort of client catch with their buy back/trade in gimmick. Ironically the games I was looking at all said that they cannot be traded in. I’ve been a PC gamer for over 30 years and have never needed any type of client/dashboard/overlay before, and I don’t feel I need one now. Although I do suddenly feel a strong urge to run outside and tell the neighborhood kids to stay of my lawn and to turn their music down.
    - http://truepcgaming.com Adam Ames
      I did that a few hours ago. Although I do not have a lawn.
      I get what you are saying about the need for a client. I feel that way sometimes as well. I would rather we still live in the day of boxed copies.
- http://www.gog.com Trevor Longino
  My wife was doing dishes; with the headphones on, I couldn’t hear well enough to tell that she was doing it. Sorry that it got picked up in the interview. :”>
  - http://truepcgaming.com Adam Ames
    No problem at all. People have to live their lives. We understand. Maybe next time you can pick those bonus miles.
Anon
Great interview. I love me some GOG.
paulcze
Damn, what a fantastic interview. GOG has been the number 1 choice in buying games for me ever since they started. They should post a link to this podcast on gog.com though
- http://truepcgaming.com Adam Ames
  Thanks for the comment. We appreciate the sentiment. Trevor is a great talker so it was easy for us to throw out questions and let him hit the home runs. If a link ended up on GOG, we would be thrilled.
  - http://www.gog.com Trevor Longino
    We’ve already tweeted it once; we’ll be posting it a few more times over the weekend on Facebook, G+, and Twitter as well.
    - http://truepcgaming.com Adam Ames
      Man… that was quick! You are everywhere.
      Now get back in the kitchen and finish the dishes! Your wife covered for you last time.
  - Phil
    You heard the man, Trevor. Back to work!
    I notice Odium is on sale this weekend, so I expect you to really hype it up huge so it sells a billion copies and they resurrect the franchise.
  - Phil
    Also Trevor make it work on Windows 7, thanks in advance.
  - Phil
    EMERGENCY EDIT: holy crap, it turns out they ARE making a sequel! I’m markin out, bro!