GOG are gearing up for a big event - time to speculate.........

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

believe me, i would love those games, but can either of them claim the title of never having been excelled in 'popular' opinion?

Basically every game has been "excelled" in popular opinion - Modern Warfare 2 was the biggest entertainment launch ever. Even if you break it down by genre there are plenty of newer games that meet at least some forms of "best" in terms of public opinions. If you mean "unexcelled" in terms of grumpy games reviewers with long memories older games might have a shot, but that just puts Shoggy or MTW back into play.

[Furunculus]

Basically every game has been "excelled" in popular opinion - Modern Warfare 2 was the biggest entertainment launch ever. Even if you break it down by genre there are plenty of newer games that meet at least some forms of "best" in terms of public opinions. If you mean "unexcelled" in terms of grumpy games reviewers with long memories older games might have a shot, but that just puts Shoggy or MTW back into play.

i mean what it says; "expect the unexcelled"

which tells me that they are talking about classics that are still held up as games which retain their status today because that in which they excelled is still considered to be a benchmark in popular gaming culture.

which is why i lean towards games like:
Deus Ex (personally think is super duper awesome) because popular culture says this is the mutts nuts
System Shock 2 (never played) because popular culture says this is the mutts nuts
Planescape Torment (never played) because popular culture says this is the mutts nuts
possibly Baldurs Gate (personally think is awesome) but it has arguably been excelled in popular culture

but probably not a game like:
Medieval Total War (personally think is super duper awesome) because it has been excelled in popular culture
Operation Flahpoint (personally think is super duper awesome) because it has been excelled in popular culture

[TinCow]

I think a lot of us are hoping that it's PS:T, simply because that game NEEDS the GOG treatment. The OOB version is horribly buggy and unstable. A proper stable version with higher resolution would be a godsend.

[frogbeastegg]

"Expect the unexcelled" is such strange wording that I wonder if it is a quote. Unexcelled is far from a commonly used English word, and in this context there are better ways to house 'never been bettered'.

I think a lot of us are hoping that it's PS:T, simply because that game NEEDS the GOG treatment. The OOB version is horribly buggy and unstable. A proper stable version with higher resolution would be a godsend.

Go to this thread, click the link I posted, and get to work. Increased resolutions, fixed bugs, restored material, a few optional tweaks - it's well worth it for Torment fans.

[TinCow]

GOG is putting up hints on twitter.

First Hint: "The return of incredible karmic awareness."

Sounds like PS:T to me.

[Husar]

most of those have been excelled, if only by their sequels.

On one hand that's you opinion and on the other hand I just didn't want you to get disappointed.

I think a lot of us are hoping that it's PS:T, simply because that game NEEDS the GOG treatment. The OOB version is horribly buggy and unstable. A proper stable version with higher resolution would be a godsend.

Did GOG ever increase the resolution or other properties of games they released?
I thought they just pack them into a wrapper that makes them run on modern systems but in the resolution and with the properties they were released with.

[TinCow]

Someone on the GOG forums noticed that the first letters of "The return of incredible karmic awareness" spell Troika. So, looks like Arcanum, VtM: Bloodlines, and ToEE.

Interestingly, Troika IP is owned by Activision now, and Activision are partnered with Blizzard. That would indicate that GOG had signed a deal with Activision/Blizzard, which would indeed be huge news. Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft, etc.? Plus the Activision catalog?

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

The Activision catalog would include MTW!

@ Furunculus - I get the gist of what you're saying, but I'm just wondering to what degree those are all still considered benchmarks. Maybe I'm just less aware of the RPG side of things and how those are considered.

[Whacker]

Someone on the GOG forums noticed that the first letters of "The return of incredible karmic awareness" spell Troika. So, looks like Arcanum, VtM: Bloodlines, and ToEE.

Interestingly, Troika IP is owned by Activision now, and Activision are partnered with Blizzard. That would indicate that GOG had signed a deal with Activision/Blizzard, which would indeed be huge news. Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft, etc.? Plus the Activision catalog?

OK, now you got me. I haven't been excited about anything PC gaming related in ages, the Mechwarrior reboot has got my hopes up but that's it.

THIS has me excited.

[Furunculus]

another clue:
http://twitter.com/GOGcom/status/8231191212
"They are two different characters, but they complement each other beautifully."

[Furunculus]

On one hand that's you opinion and on the other hand I just didn't want you to get disappointed.

it's really not, (my opinion is in the brackets), popular gaming culture really does laud those games. :)

@ Furunculus - I get the gist of what you're saying, but I'm just wondering to what degree those are all still considered benchmarks. Maybe I'm just less aware of the RPG side of things and how those are considered.

you have to be old.

Someone on the GOG forums noticed that the first letters of "The return of incredible karmic awareness" spell Troika. So, looks like Arcanum, VtM: Bloodlines, and ToEE.

VtM Bloodlines would be another example of a timeless classic for story telling reasons.