[Sysgen]

Free Games




[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource GamesPress.]
Stockholm, Sweden - May 22, 2012 - GamersGate is set to officially launch its ad-supported free gaming service VOID on May 28, 2012. Over the past year, GamersGate has been working on the service, which will run parallel to the digital retailer’s usual business. After a long period of testing, VOID – the first ad-supported free gaming service of its kind – will be released in Scandinavia, the United States and Canada followed shortly by a UK launch.

IWAG, the media partner handling ad space sales in Scandinavia, has successfully sold out the entire inventory through July. “The ad inventory has been sold out for a few weeks and naturally we’re thrilled. It shows the power and interest in the format. We’re constantly looking at ways to further separate GamersGate from the competition and VOID is clearly a massive market differentiator,” says Theodore Bergquist, CEO and majority owner of GamersGate.

In the testing period, many brands tried out the service, including several represented by 360 Solutions, a media buying company that represents several large brands. “We’ve been waiting for a service that brings the successful business concept of Spotify into the gaming industry. The business model is great, the target audience is high in demand and the advertising possibilities are infinite. This (men age 20-45) audience is hard to reach in traditional media and VOID gives us the opportunity to do so,” says Andrei Zidaric, CEO at 360 Solutions. “The tests we have run have surpassed all expectations. The results from the beta testing have been astounding.”

VOIDs various advertising formats are a mix of modern interactive advertisements and newly developed video formats, fitting advertisers who normally buy TV ad space. For more information, please visit http://www.gamersgate.com/void.

About Gamersgate

GamersGate is the leading digital distribution platform for PC and Mac games creating easily accessible gaming experiences for gamers worldwide– anytime, anywhere. Offering a“client-free” experience that eliminates the need for a bulky client interface, gamers anywhere can now access their games without any third party involvement. With the largest catalogue of games available for download on the web, GamersGate offers a strong selection of AAA publishers (including EA, Ubisoft, THQ, Sega and more) and a dynamic variety of niche and indie publishers. GamersGate continues to redefine the download industry with the recent introduction of its Void service. For additional information, please visit www.gamersgate.com.

[Alextended]

Sounds cool. But they're doing it by country rather than region so I doubt they'll ever support mine specifically.

Risen is a nice game to start it with too. I guess they won't ever have the latest/greatest releases under this program but it should allow people to try games they otherwise wouldn't and maybe help with their popularity. Well, I guess it could also make people on the fence not buy them and instead play them over this but... I dunno.

It's not streaming like OnLive yeah?

I wonder if it will remain this "friendly" or it's just to entice people. Just watching one commercial before a session sounds good.

[Sinatar]

Quite a few cool games there, I'll have to give this a look when I get home.

[Alextended]

What do they have? I can't see since it's not available here.

[Sinatar]

Some noteworthy stuff:

Risen
Majesty
Jagged Alliance 2
Kings Bounty
Men of War
Dark Void
Fantasy Wars & Elven Legacy
Painkiller
Disciples 2
Death 2 Spies
Hearts of Iron 2
Crusader Kings
Europa Universalis 2

[Clevinger]

Not bad. I think I'll try this.

[g.r.e.]

Coming Soon To Your Country

It's always like this. ;;

[Plexirvones]

What do they have? I can't see since it's not available here.

AC-130 Operation Devastation
Action Ball Deluxe
Adams Venture 3 Revelation
Against Rome
Airport Control Simulator
Alex Gordon
Ancient Taxi
Aquaball
Astro Fury
Back to Earth 2
Ballz 3D
Battle for Troy
Beezzle
Besieger
Birdies
Black Mirror
Cold War
Cold Zero - The Last Stand
Cops 2170: The Power of Law
Crime Stories
Crusader Kings
Crusaders: Thy Kingdom Come
Cursed Mountain
Dark Fall: Lost Souls
Dark Horizon
Dark Void
Dark Void: Zero
Darkness Within 2: The Dark Lineage
Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath
Death to Spies
Disciples 2 Dark Prophecy
Elven Legacy
Europa Universalis
Europa Universalis 2
Europa Universalis: Rome
Fantasy Wars
Fate of Hellas
Flatout
Flock!
Forever Worlds
Freight Tycoon
Galactic Dream - Rage of War
Gods: Lands of Infinity Special
Hazen
Hearts of Iron
Hearts of Iron 2
Hunting Unlimited 2009
Jagged Alliance 2
King's Bounty The Legend
Konung 2
Korea: Forgotten Conflict
Majesty Gold Edition
Men of War
Miasma 2
NeverEnd
Next Life
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
Outcry
Painkiller
Perimeter 2: New Earth
Poker Simulator
Puzzle Kingdoms
Risen
Scorpion Disfigured
Secret Files: Tunguska
Seven Kingdoms Conquest
Silent Heroes
Soccer Manager Pro
Space Empires 4
Space Rangers
Star Wolves
Starpoint Gemini
Take Command - 2nd Manassas
The Great White Destroyer
Tibor: Tales of a Kind Vampire
Traffic Giant Gold Edition 2012
Transport Giant Gold Edition 2012
Twin Sector
UFO Extraterrestrials
Valhalla Chronicles
Vivisector: Beast Within
Wars and Warriors - Joan of Arc
You Are Empty

[Alextended]

Cool, thanks. Some good stuff everyone should try, now with no excuses.

[nincompoop]

I decided to install Risen, but Avira is identifying it as a trojan. Should I be worried?

[Baha]

Looks like I'll be trying out the Darkness Within series.

[Sysgen]

I decided to install Risen, but Avira is identifying it as a trojan. Should I be worried?

I've played Risen off of Gamersgate and it's fine :)

[Zoc]

So you download the entire program, but can't launch outside of the launcher, which shows you ad before you start? Not bad, but I would have liked it a little more if it had used that technology that dynamically streams game content (not like OnLive, but the one where you download the executable, and then stream geometry, textures, etc).

If the data lives on my hard drive, I feel like I should have free access to it. Quibbles, I know.

[zkylon]

Kinda ridiculous that I've been using this for months in beta mode and now that it's officially launched, suddenly it's not available in my country.

[Rufus]

I decided to install Risen, but Avira is identifying it as a trojan. Should I be worried?

You should ditch Avira for MSE.

[Haunted]

I decided to install Risen, but Avira is identifying it as a trojan. Should I be worried?

Absolutely.

Still using Avira in 2012 is quite worrying.

[vazel]

I've been using their free service for months now. I guess it must've been beta.

They have Dark Void on there. If you're a fan of Stargate(1994) and Rocketeer you should definitely play that.

[maquiladora]

This is a great idea. Wish I could try it.

[Karak]

Holy shit. This is awesome. Thanks for the news.

[oatmeal]

Anything work on Mac?

[Clevinger]

Absolutely. Still using Avira in 2012 is quite worrying.

What's currently the best free one?

[Rufus]

What's currently the best free one?

Microsoft Security Essentials.

[zkylon]

What's currently the best free one?

I like MSE and AVG (MSE more). Avast and Mod32 just fell down from grace.

[DiscoJer]

I'm a bit confused as to how this works - the "slots". How long does it take for you to re-use a slot? It just says "days"?

Because it seems to cost $10 for an additional slot, and frankly, most of those games are not worth $10 (some, like Disciples 2 and SEIV are on sale right now as part of a $4 indie bundle, and I got about 10 of these from this list from a deal by Strategy First last year for $9.99 total with about 10 other games. And 1C games are usually on sale, or frequently).

[I H8 Memes]

Tempting for Risen. But still I think I would prefer to pay $5 on Steam and have it forever and commercial free.

[TaroYamada]

I grabbed FlatOut, been wanting to try the series for a long time and a tad too busy for an RPG so Risen will need to wait.

[shagg_187]

Isn't this what Sony patented? Interesting.

Wearing tinfoil hat, this might be the rumored service? Who knows.

[I H8 Memes]

I don't think these games are streaming. They are downloaded to your PC. Unless I am reading it wrong.

[Jomjom]

Any way to add these games to Steam as non-steam games for launching or do you have to use some GG or Void program to launch the games?

[EatinOlives]

I don't think these games are streaming. They are downloaded to your PC. Unless I am reading it wrong.

Yes, you download and install to your PC. Every time you start the game you're shown two 30-second ads before the game proper launches. Afterward there are no ads of any kind.

The only issue with this is having to restart the game multiple times for whatever reason (like changing settings that requires a restart), hey, free is free.

[TaroYamada]

Isn't this what Sony patented? Interesting. Wearing tinfoil hat, this might be the rumored service? Who knows.

Free ad-supported games? I don't think a patent like that would hold up. Also, no, I don't think GamersGate has ever or will ever work with Sony. Either way this is basically a larger version of what Ubisoft did a few years back when they released like 2 or 3 of their big PC titles free with ads. I think it was Far Cry, one of the Prince of Persia's and I forget what else.

Yes, you download and install to your PC. Every time you start the game you're shown two 30-second ads before the game proper launches. Afterward there are no ads of any kind. The only issue with this is having to restart the game multiple times for whatever reason (like changing settings that requires a restart), hey, free is free.

That's innovative, bringing bathroom breaks to gaming the same way our televisions do them.

[mjemirzian]

Elven Legacy for free? It's one of the best tactics games I've played on PC, so it's definitely worth checking out if you're an experienced fan. It's not a beginner's game, though. Fantasy Wars is pretty good as well.

[Anony]

wow, curse mountain is on here
i thought it was a wii game only
gotta try it now

added it to my 'slot'

The slot is released 12th June 03:37

looks like it expires... i dont think i'll finish this game

[James Woods]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKKK YEAH. I've been wanting to get Death 2 Spies but I am broke as hell. Going to try this.

EDIT: I think slot released means at that point you can switch it out for another.

[nincompoop]

wow, curse mountain is on here i thought it was a wii game only gotta try it now added it to my 'slot' The slot is released 12th June 03:37 looks like it expires... i dont think i'll finish this game

You can play it as long as you want, the date just tells you when you can switch it out for a different game.

[Lumination]

Cool idea. I won't ever use this as a permanent solution, but definitely a nice way to demo some games before buying.

[Ledsen]

I like MSE and AVG (MSE more). Avast and Mod32 just fell down from grace.

OT, but why? I'm using Avast.

[Flying_Phoenix]

Commercials in my video games? What the fuck? I tried this with Far Cry and I got 3 minutes of loading while the same Mcdonalds commercial kept playing.

[zkylon]

OT, but why? I'm using Avast.

Just my own experience, but both kept annoying me with false positives.

[Yasae]

Worked fine for me. Donwloaded, installed fine. My ads were -

1) A TV spot for WoW Cataclysm.... which released a year and a half ago....

2) A gamersgate Void commercial

Game (Risen) worked perfectly.

[Sophia]

The ads are hilariously bad, but it was fun playing Painkiller for free. =P

[BlueSteel]

I see painkiller is on the list. I've always wanted to play that game.

Honestly, watch ads to play free games? I'd do that.

Edit: ooh someone has the same idea as me C:

[ZenaxPure]

This is pretty cool, they actually have a few games I've always wanted to try but not enough to actually spend money on. That said, the majority of these games I've seriously never even heard of.

[SRG01]

I like MSE and AVG (MSE more). Avast and Mod32 just fell down from grace.

Off-topic: NOD32 is still great :P

On-topic: Anyone know how good GamersGate is for updating their service? Their lineup is pretty lack-luster at the moment...

[fushi]

This has to be by and far the most awful logo for something game-related that I've seen in a looooooong while.

[Barkley's Justice]

gamersgate? void? why dont they come out with a console called phantom to make their enterprise sound *extra* suspicious?

[Rufus]

"Steam" isn't exactly a confidence inspiring name, either.

This has to be by and far the most awful logo for something game-related that I've seen in a looooooong while.

The whole site design is pretty atrocious. It was better before the redesign.

[sykoex]

If you like first person puzzle games (Portal, The Ball, Q.U.B.E.) check out Twin Sector.

[shaowebb]

Interesting...you can get PSN games here for your PC like Acceleration of Suguri (vs arena bullethell game)

I'll have to browse deeper into their games list to see what stuff I can own now that I've never been able to play before.

[Uriah]

Tried playing Risen. Works as intended. Shame you only get one slot though. I don't really enjoy Risen and I can't get a new game for 13 days.