[Galemp]

It's not so much the going-offline that bothers me, it's the lack of an announcement that "GOG.com will be going offline for the week of Sept 19-25 so get what you want now" that bothers me.

[Ransom]

This was just posted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDRvuKjissQ

It doesn't really seem like a 'goodbye' sort of a video. Did I see Baldur's Gate in there?

[Herra Tohtori]

Yep.

[Shivan Hunter]

* Shivan Hunter is wondering how people could have possibly caught that tiny flicker of the Baldur's Gate image. Unless they're obsessive enough to go through the video frame by frame. >.>

[Inglonias]

* Shivan Hunter is wondering how people could have possibly caught that tiny flicker of the Baldur's Gate image. Unless they're obsessive enough to go through the video frame by frame. >.>

Unless they read this article.

Says that not only was Baldur's Gate in that image, but so were "GOGmixes" which was apparently a promised feature when the site left beta.

This is looking more and more like an awful PR stunt, and frankly, if it weren't for the fact that the Freespace community owes [randomGuess]about half[/randomGuess] of their existence to the service, I'd never speak of it again.

Really, this is awful. I don't understand how else they thought people would interpret the phrase "We're closing down the service" (taken from THEIR ANNOUNCEMENT) other than "We're going away forever."

[The E]

Yeah, if they'd just said, "Hey, we're taking the site offline for a few days so that we can make some adjustments for the non-beta", everyone would have cheered.

[Mongoose]

Meh, I don't see the point in getting all angsty about it.  If it really was just a massively-stupid PR stunt, I'll gladly continue to buy games from them in the future.  Granted, I'll probably make sure to back them up to DVD as soon as I buy them from here on out, but I'll be a happy customer regardless.

[headdie]

at the end of the day if it all comes back online with the same products for the same price with the same lack of DRM what does it matter if they occasionally pull a stupid stunt like this????

has it affected your rights.???? no

so stop beating on them like some cold war communist attacking the capitalist system, if you have a beef with capitalism start a thread on it and take your hate there.

If you have a problem with the corporate culture start said thread about capitalism and rave on.

instead lets use this thread to keep everyone on hlp up to date with the latest on this situation

[Inglonias]

at the end of the day if it all comes back online with the same products for the same price with the same lack of DRM what does it matter if they occasionally pull a stupid stunt like this????

has it affected your rights.???? no

so stop beating on them like some cold war communist attacking the capitalist system, if you have a beef with capitalism start a thread on it and take your hate there.

If you have a problem with the corporate culture start said thread about capitalism and rave on.

instead lets use this thread to keep everyone on hlp up to date with the latest on this situation.

And so we have no right to be angry about this as paying customers?  This is not an innocent prank. If a PR stunt requires telling your investors not to panic then you probably shouldn't do it. There are better ways to get publicity. They would have gotten just as much press if they had done what The E had said and announced the truth, and less angry customers.

[Qent]

at the end of the day if it all comes back online with the same products for the same price with the same lack of DRM what does it matter if they occasionally pull a stupid stunt like this????

Yes. Customers were also getting peace of mind by buying from a company with integrity. If they can no longer do that, then they're only getting a game for their $6, which is less than what they got before.

[Akalabeth Angel]

This was just posted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDRvuKjissQ

It doesn't really seem like a 'goodbye' sort of a video. Did I see Baldur's Gate in there?

Looks like an ad.

at the end of the day if it all comes back online with the same products for the same price with the same lack of DRM what does it matter if they occasionally pull a stupid stunt like this????

Yes. Customers were also getting peace of mind by buying from a company with integrity. If they can no longer do that, then they're only getting a game for their $6, which is less than what they got before.

There's no such thing as bad publicity

I don't care about the company, I care about the game. Long as I get the goods I don't care who's selling it. If I did care the first thing I'd do is delete Steam from my computer, at least until those hosers at Valve make Episode 3.

[Aurora Paradox]

I'm stunned.  If it wasn't for GOG I would never have re-discoverd FreeSpace or found HLP.  While I'm not exactly wild about the possibility of GOG being bought by Steam.  I'd rather they continue to exist in some form.  Provided of course the DRM-free model is maintained.  Somehow though, I don't see Steam leaving things as they are.

[Sushi]

Pretty sure it's not just a PR stunt, since it would be such a boneheaded move. Most likely there was some sort of legal/business problem that had to be dealt with NOW... although it looks like they're planning to get past it.

[bahijal74]

For some reason I want to blame interplay...
I see their evil hand in it lol. Sad thing is i do want to yell at them for this.
On another note, I feel the integrity issue (whether or not it is ACTUALLY there) is that it felt as if they actually went that extra bit once in a while for their customers, and that to me is something (for ME at least) is not very common sometimes.

[General Battuta]

For some reason I want to blame interplay...
I see their evil hand in it lol. Sad thing is i do want to yell at them for this.=

Interplay barely exists.

[karajorma]

Doesn't mean we can't blame them for everything from GOG's closing to the fact that they forgot the peanuts in my noodles this lunch time.

[bahijal74]

For some reason I want to blame interplay...
I see their evil hand in it lol. Sad thing is i do want to yell at them for this.=

Interplay barely exists.

But they still do.
They shall always be a pain until they are gone or do something good. and there is only one deed that could make th elist.

[Inglonias]

CONFIRMED AS HOAX

They said that "As a small company we don’t have a huge marketing budget and this why we could not miss a chance to generate some buzz around an event as big as launching a brand new version of our website and even more important, bringing back Baldur’s Gate to life!"

They didn't know how much people loved them, I guess? Thats the most innocent response I can think of.

This goes WAY OVER THE LINE HERE.

Whatever. Mission accomplished. Return to base.  *Freespace victory theme here*

[Jeff Vader]

Wankers...

But yeah. I suppose the stunt being a hoax is a better option compared to them actually shutting down.

[mxlm]

Worst marketing ever? Worst marketing ever.