About OldGames.sk
The pages on
www.OldGames.sk serve as a source of information regarding the history of computer games, primarily for the
PC platform with
MS-DOS operating system.
It naturally also offers download of these games, so old-timers may nostalgically recall the times long gone, and the young players can try how the games were played back then.
The history of computer games is also inextricably linked to magazines, and this site will provide you with the possibility of browsing the gaming magazines from the early 90s Czech Republic and Slovakia, like
BiT,
Excalibur,
Score,
Riki, and perhaps more in time.
The period from which we bring information and games is the "
golden age" of computer entertainment, i.e. the period when the games for PC began to emerge, slowly becoming part of home entertainment for a handful of fanatics, until the time they have become a driving force behind a huge business, like movies. More precise span of years would be 1980 - 1996, mainly because the focus of the site is on games for MS-DOS operating system, and after 1996 (with the arrival of Windows 95) very few DOS games have been created. It's obviously also due to the fact that most of these games have an unofficial status of
Abandonware, which will be discussed below.
For those of us who enjoy playing these oldies, since 2003 there's a great free MS-DOS emulator called
DOSBox, after installation of which we'll obtain a comfortable old computer under our new OS, where the screen is lit by familiar
C:\>.
Another excellent way to run old adventure games is a program called
ScummVM.
Meanwile, this article will serve as a
FAQ, here you should find the answers for your frequently asked questions:
What is Abandonware?
Abandonware, which stands for "
abandoned software", is a term that refers to software, but most often computer games, which the manufacturer and the owner ceased to support, and sell for the most part. This means that such game can never be officialy bought anywhere, and generally (even if you buy second-hand) doesn't work on commercial and accessible hardware or operating system. Such games, of course, are not freely available, until the owner officialy releases the game and it's granted freeware status. Abandonware as such is illegal, and essentialy means only more benevolent access of the original owner to his original software, which usually only fans are able to run successfully.
Recently howewer, a number of excellent freeware projects like
DOSBox or
ScummVM appeared, which make the playing of old games very comfortable.
An organization named
ESA also came into being, to bring together the owners of copyrights and watches the so-called copyright infringement, such as the free distribution of Abandonware. Although lately several development companies (e.g. LucasArts) cancelled their membership in the organization - perhaps the ESA charges far exceeded the profits from won court processes, or official sales of old games. ;-)
My favorite game is not yet on the site, why?
The reason is simple, it is not in my powers to update all the information about old games I have in my collection (about 3400 pieces). Therefore, they are added over time, at first it was only a few of my favorites, then I went alphabetically, then by category, and now I add the games most desired by visitors of the site.
At the same time I'd like to notify you not to send me games that are not on the website by e-mail, because there's a 99% chance it's already in my collection, and if it weren't, I'll report that in a news-feed of a "looking for game..." kind.
If anyone is interested in an
old game, which is not yet on this site,
please register and leave a
message in the discussion and I will try to put it on the pages as soon as possible.
slovak
