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GOG.com closure a gag

Digital distribution outfit's shutdown hoax to end with site coming out of beta; Baldur's Gate: The Original Saga to be added to catalog.

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Earlier this week, the Web site of online retailer Good Old Games apparently shut down. Visitors to the DRM-free PC game site were greeted by a note thanking them for their business and saying the site's slightly less than two-year tenure "was a great adventure for all of us and an unforgettable journey to the past, through the long and wonderful history of PC gaming."

Baldur's Gate: The Original Saga will be added to the GOG.com site when it goes back up.
Baldur's Gate: The Original Saga will be added to the GOG.com site when it goes back up.

In a video conference today, two GOG.com representatives dressed as monks revealed the shutdown to be a hoax when they announced the site was relaunching Friday at 1 p.m. GMT (5 a.m. Pacific). The conference, which logged nearly 1,000 concurrent visitors at various points and lagged heavily, touted the new site's recommendation engine and a GOGmix feature that allows users to make their own suggestion lists for others, with one monk suggesting a list of games featuring hot women.

Once the video conference was over, the hoax version of GOG.com was replaced with a countdown timer and a new message apologizing to "everyone who felt deceived or harmed in any way by us closing down GOG.com without any warning and without giving access to your games." To mark the relaunch, GOG.com is also adding an oft-requested title to its catalog with Baldur's Gate: The Original Saga. Combining the original game along with the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion, the bundle will sell for $10.

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