Retro PC Gaming

EA and Ubisoft are giving away free copies of Red Alert (1 and 2) and Far Cry (the original) as promos for preorders of RA3 and FC2.  Here’s a question for you: why the different attitudes towards older titles between PC gamers and consoles?  I doubt you’d see a console giving away older games for free - they’ve discovered that those games can easily be resold, often for fairly exorbitant prices, to gamers as part of the retro gaming craze.  Yet here we are.

The more I thought about it, the more it seemed odd.  I’ve often wanted to play older PC games again, and I’d love for someone to hand me a nice, shiny package that would let me do that without the need to worry about things like DOS compatibility, game speeds, and so on.  (Look at the recent remake of Quest For Glory II, which was an entirely freeware effort and involved a complete graphical overhaul.)  So why are PC game makers so loathe to provide this?

I can think of a few reasons - IP is probably harder to trace through the maze of PC games, whose developers fold, merge, and acquire other companies faster than, say, Nintendo.  Also, there’s no pre-ready install base of hardware to sell through to.  And more people probably have fonder memories of their old Genesis or NES than of their PCs.  But still.  It seems like a missed opportunity - or am I missing something?