Good Old Games Beta Impressions

UGO Games Blog has cranked out some beta impressions of CD Projekt's recently unveiled Good Old Games service.
Once an item has been purchased, additional related DLC also becomes available. The game manual, MP3 soundtrack, wallpapers, a reference card and avatars are all listed as options (on Fallout at least). Navigating to the site's (My Account) screen brings up a list of previously purchased items; from here, games can be re-downloaded at no cost and any additional DLC can be snatched.

The download and installation process is extremely quick and painless. The service is currently in beta testing so empty servers are to be expected, but we saw speeds hovering between 1 and 3 MB/s. Of the two games we tested - Fallout and Giants: Citizen Kabuto - both 500+ MB setup files downloaded in less than five minutes.

Installation is similarly easy. The entire game's contents are contained within a single setup executable. A GOG-branded frontend replaces the original install screens and any software copy protections are done away with, though the games are otherwise unchanged. Setup files can of course be saved for repeated use, though the option to download them an unlimited number of times at no extra cost eliminates the need to use that added storage space.

Sounds promising so far, though we still don't know just how many games are going to be available through the service.