this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2024
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There hasn’t been a lot of good news out of EA lately, but here’s some: the company just launched a bunch of classic games on Steam. The new (old) releases include nine games in total, spanning franchises like Dungeon Keeper, Populous, and SimCity.

Here’s the full list:

Command & Conquer The Ultimate Collection

SimCity 3000 Unlimited

Populous

Populous II: Trials of the Olympian Gods

Populous: The Beginning

Dungeon Keeper Gold

Dungeon Keeper 2

Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack

The Saboteur

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It sort of seems like another shot across the bow at abandonware archiving.

I just picked a title at random- https://archive.org/details/DungeonKeeperGoldEditionUSAEnFrEsNlSvPl

As long as companies think they can keep making money from old games, they will keep trying.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm OK with them wanting to keep making money from it as long as they update it for compatibility with newer operating systems. Selling something they have completely abandoned us not cool.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Sure, but the abandonware version should still be archived and playable and the goal here is to make that impossible.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What makes you say that this is aiming to make that impossible? I picked up RA2 because it was cheap and I figured if I didn't like the port (doesn't work well, forces you to play on their application, etc) I'd just return it and so far it's been good enough for me to use. The installation process was a lot easier than the original game and I was able to hop straight in and play. Haven't had any issues with it yet.

So far I haven't seen anything to suggest that this is anything but them catering to a different market that being the steam community.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

There's a reason why Nintendo keeps suing companies making emulators out of existence.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Yes I both am aware and agree that that would be acting against archives and the like. EA making these games available on Steam however is not the same as Nintendo suing emulators.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Where is Themen Park™ Manager?

I want to play that again so badly and its not even in GoG (unlike another Theme Park, I didn't play back then).

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Simcity 3k unlimited on sale for 2 bucks?

i was just searching for my cds this morning! Fuck yeah i'll buy it for 2 bucks!

edit

So excited over SC3KU for 2 bucks I missed Alpha Centauri, which is also two bucks! bought that too :D

edit again

Command and Conquer games are still way to expensive for how old they are, though. To bad.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You can get the whole ultimate collection for below 10 bucks

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Huh, isnt showing up for me, had to view an individual games store page and just click add bundle to get it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Yes it looks like each game is 10 bucks if you look at it from the store browser.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Used to play the crap out of some Populous (all of them) was a great game. Not giving EA any money though. Just get them on GoG so you don't rent them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Yeah I'd forgotten about Populous, used to play it on my Amiga back in the day. It was the first. RTS type game I played iirc.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago (1 children)

If it needs origin I'm not interested

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago

It does not

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Holy shit! Will DK1 and 2 run on Windows 10 now?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

From what the steam reviews say, it's using Dosbox for the former.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago

Now do Black and White, please....

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

Oughh, Dungeon Keeper... That was one of my favorites as a child, the Swedish voice acting was top notch!

[–] [email protected] 38 points 8 months ago (3 children)

EA's launcher still requires internet access though, right? If so, you're probably better off sticking to the GOG versions. I booted up Jedi: Fallen Order on a train, and EA told me "no".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

I don't know about these newly added games but I can launch Sim City 4 from Steam without Origin.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I don't think these games require the EA launcher.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Maybe not. The disclaimers on the side of the store page appear to be different between these and some other EA games. I hate how hard it is these days to discern if a game has a stupid always-online requirement.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Can confirm at least on the C&C bundle there is no EA app requirement

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That is so fucking annoying. How they gonna say you can't play a game that you bought.

Ffs.

I was having similar issues with Red Dead Redemption 2 on Steam. Like RDR2 is still a great game but that DRM bullshit can go fuck itself.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Just FYI, it generally seems that none of these require origin or the EA app or any more than Steam as DRM.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I always loved SimCity 3000. It was the first city builder I'd ever played.

I can still hear that smooth jazz playing and the sound of screams when I sent a robot and a tornado barreling through the city.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I honestly had no idea there was a SimCity 3000. Last one I played was SimCity 2000

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Don't skip over SimCity 2001-2999, you'll be totally lost...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I really want a modern old school style city builder. I tried cities skyline but it was too complicated. Like parkitect is to planet coaster.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Skylines is complicated?!?

Fair enough I guess, have you tried citiesXL? Older and dead but even more of a city painter I believe.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Compared to Sim City 3000 and Sim City 4, Cities Skylines’ UI feels really convoluted to me.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Same here, Sim City 3000 and The Sims were my jam and I still listen to their soundtracks every once in a while, they're so good. There was something truly magical about Maxis back then.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Added but not updated to work well on modern systems. Can't play one of my favorites games (red alert 2) because it just isn't built for it.

Like they could of invested some time to update it a bit so I can play games that's not 640-480.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

There is OpenRA. An open source engine to get those classic C&C games running on modern machines but it only supports C&C, Red Alert 1 and Dune 2000.

They are working on the next engine with Tiberian Sun currently under development.

If you're interested in Dungeon Keeper, I highly recommend a similar project called KeeperFX. Play the game on modern systems, in higher resolutions, with game fixes as well.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Populous was so much fun back in the day

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

I wish there were more god games, especially more complex / ambitious / large scale ones. Like a mixture of god game, 4X, and cult simulator.

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