Gold Games
Gold Games is a collection of computer games that appeared in nine editions from 1996 to 2006. It was first published by TopWare Interactive ; after this company had to file for bankruptcy in the spring of 2001, Ubisoft was responsible for the selection of the games.
A characteristic of all editions is the fact that quite well-known game titles of different genres , which were published in the years before the edition were published, are offered together at a comparatively low price. Most parts of the series have so far been released in October or November in order to be available in retail in time for the lucrative Christmas business.
The terms
Gold Games (1996)
The first edition was published in 1996 and comprised 43 games from 1990 to 1996, which were accommodated on 15 CDs. Previous game collections contained fewer titles and were mostly published at higher prices, for example the MegaPak series from Megamedia and Koch Media , which offered ten relatively current titles from various manufacturers at prices around DM 80. Was offered gold Games from autumn 1996 by TopWare at a price of 49.95 DM. The manuals of all titles were in PDF format on the CD, as was a copy of Adobe Reader at. In addition, there was a printed booklet with brief instructions on how to install the games in the pack.
Gold Games contained a high proportion of games from German or Austrian production by companies such as neo Software , Attic or Blue Byte . It contained several parts of the continuing game series. Apart from Larry VI and the Flight Sim Toolkit (for Windows 3.x ) and the only from Windows 95 executable Virtual Corporation were all games exclusively for MS-DOS programs.
The package of the first issue advertised with a recommendation by the magazine PC Player , whose editor-in-chief Boris Schneider judged that the collection offered “an unbeatable price-performance ratio” and was “a fantastic game collection with a number of editorial hits” Roland Austinat published the collection in issue 12/1996 and found that Gold Games could "be quite impressive for less than 1.20 marks per game." Although the games were "with a few exceptions [...] a bit older", however the "covered range of genres [...] really offers something for every taste." The highlights highlighted were the games in the series Alone In The Dark and Das Schwarze Auge as well as Leisure Suit Larry VI and Oldtimer ; Virtual Corporation , on the other hand, was called the "real cucumber".
Gold Games 2 (1997)
After the success of the first part, a second part appeared a year later. This comprised 24 games on 22 CDs, which were much more current than those of the first edition. Therefore, many games were for 32-bit Windows, and it is also the last part of the series in which several games were accommodated on individual CDs. Gold Games 2 contained more games from international manufacturers than its predecessor.
The following statements from specialist journals were given on the packaging:
“What TopWare has to offer in terms of top titles is unparalleled. For around 50 marks you are provided for for months. "
"The second edition of the GOLD GAMES shines with an unbeatable price-performance ratio."
“A lot of fun for the money. This concentrated load of game hits blows everything up to now. "
In fact, the PC Player tested the collection in issue 12/97. Alex Brante called the collection “(almost) too good to be true. There are hardly any cucumbers among the 24 games, and the price of less than 50 marks makes this collection an absolute bargain. "
Gold Games 3 (1998)
The third part increased the offer again and offered more games that were released soon (almost exclusively in 1997), namely 23 on 24 CDs. This part competed with the series Play the Games! who have favourited many titles from u. a. Electronic Arts included.
Gold Games 4 (1999)
After the Play-the-Games series broke the supremacy of the Gold Games series on the market , TopWare had to cut back on the number of games in the fourth edition in 1999, although several hits that were quite current at that time were still included .
At the same time, at the time of publication, such compilations received more attention from the specialist press than before. The PC Games, for example, criticized the two collections in an article, and the publishing companies placed double-sided advertisements in magazines.
Gold Games 5 (2001)
After Topware went bankrupt , the Gold Games series was continued by Ubisoft . The first issue produced under this direction was number five and appeared in October 2001. With this part, Ubisoft also introduced a uniform pricing of 29.95 € (RRP) for each part of the series.
Again, quite up-to-date games are on the program, even if the majority of them came from the Ubisoft fund. Activision , SSI and Blue Byte made further investments . Overall, however, the number of games fell to 15, but some of them were also very well-known series.
Gold Games 6 (2002)
For the sixth edition, published in October 2002, Ubisoft was able to gain another important partner in the games department of Microsoft . The number of games compared to its predecessor remained the same. The sequels to three titles of the previous edition can be found here, namely The Settlers IV , Warlords: Battlecry II and Rally Championship Xtreme (sequel to Pro Rally 2001 ).
| Game title | Manufacturer | Publishing year | genre |
|---|---|---|---|
| Battle Realms | Liquid Entertainment / Ubisoft | 2001 | Real time strategy game |
| Conflict Zone | Ubisoft | 2001 | Real time strategy game |
| Evil twin | Ubisoft | 2001 | Action adventure |
| The Road to El Dorado | Revolution / Ubisoft | 2001 | Adventure |
| Gothic | Piranha bytes | 2001 | role playing game |
| Grandia II | Ubisoft | 2001 | role playing game |
| Motocross Madness 2 | Microsoft | 2000 | Racing game |
| Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor | Stormfront Studios | 2001 | role playing game |
| Rally Championship Xtreme | Warthog / Ubisoft | 2001 | Racing simulation |
| Rayman M | Ubisoft | 2001 | Jump 'n' run |
| Rail & Road: The 3D Transport Manager | Ubisoft | 2002 | Economic simulation |
| Silent Hunter II | Ultimation / Ubisoft | 2001 | Marine simulation |
| Starlancer | Digital Anvil / Microsoft | 2000 | Action game |
| The settlers IV | Blue byte | 2000 | Building strategy game |
| Warlords: Battlecry II | SSI | 2001 | Real time strategy game |
Gold Games 7 (2003)
The seventh part appeared in November 2003 and reduced the number to just ten titles, again reaching the maximum number of collections against which the series had initially positioned itself with its up to 43 titles. However, this part featured mostly very well-known, current and commercially successful titles, alongside some second-rate games.
For the first time in the history of the series, Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast was a well-known game from LucasArts . Conversely, there were no more games published by Microsoft in the collection.
| Game title | Manufacturer | Publishing year | genre |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duke Nukem : Manhattan Project | 3D realms | 2002 | Jump 'n' run |
| Ghost recon | Red Storm Entertainment | 2001 | Tactical shooter |
| Il-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles | 1C: Maddox Games / Ubisoft | 2003 | Flight simulation |
| Largo Winch | Ubisoft | 2002 | Adventure |
| Racing simulation 3 | Ubisoft | 2002 | Racing simulation |
| Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast | LucasArts | 2002 | Ego shooter |
| The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind | Bethesda Softworks | 2002 | role playing game |
| The Partners | Ubisoft | 2002 | Economic simulation |
| Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3rd | Activision | 2002 | Sports simulation |
| Will rock | Ubisoft | 2002 | Ego shooter |
Gold Games 8 (2005)
After the previous edition, the eighth part was published for the first time outside of the Christmas business in February 2005 and again comprised ten titles. As the first part of the series, it appeared exclusively on DVD ; for all ten games a total of 4 DVDs were required.
In contrast to previous collections, this time almost exclusively Ubisoft titles were included. From the side of the trade magazines, the entire range with top titles such as Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was praised, but below-average titles such as Biathlon 2004 and the licensed game for the film Pirates of the Caribbean were criticized as filler material .
The PC Games devoted Gold Games 8 in Edition 03/05 a double-sided special report, the collection even called "the best Gold Games of All Time" and calculated a savings of 130 € compared to single purchase.
| Game title | Manufacturer | Publishing year | genre |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beyond Good & Evil | Ubisoft | 2003 | Action adventure |
| Biathlon 2004 | Infogrames | 2003 | Sports simulation |
| pirates of the Caribbean | Ubisoft | 2003 | Action adventure |
| Lock On: Modern Air Combat | Eagle Dynamics / Ubisoft | 2003 | Flight simulator |
| Lords of EverQuest | Rapid Eye Entertainment / Sony | 2003 | Real time strategy game |
| Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | Ubisoft | 2003 | Action adventure |
| Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield | Ubisoft | 2003 | Tactical shooter |
| Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell | Ubisoft | 2003 | Tactical shooter |
| XIII | Ubisoft | 2003 | Ego shooter |
| World Racing | Synetic | 2003 | Racing simulation |
Gold Games 9 (2006)
The last part appeared in October 2006 and again offered ten games on five DVDs. In addition to titles from Ubisoft, this time it also includes games from CDV .
| Game title | Manufacturer | Publishing year | genre |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beyond Divinity | CDV | 2004 | role playing game |
| Code name: Panzers - Phase One | Storm region / CDV | 2004 | Real time strategy game |
| Conflict: Vietnam | Ubisoft | 2004 | Tactical shooter |
| CSI: Dark Motives | Ubisoft | 2005 | Adventure |
| Prince of Persia: Warrior Within | Ubisoft | 2004 | Action adventure |
| The Settlers: The Legacy of Kings | Blue byte | 2004 | Building strategy game |
| Silent Hunter III | Ubisoft | 2005 | Marine simulation |
| Alpine skiing 2005 | 49 Games / NGB | 2004 | Sports simulation |
| The Bard's Tale | Vivendi | 2005 | role playing game |
| Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory | Ubisoft | 2005 | Tactical shooter |
Spin-offs
Since the name of the product series was able to establish itself quite quickly, TopWare published two offshoots, which were based on the Gold Games .
Silver Games 1 (1998)
Although the name suggested a sequel, a game collection named Silver Games was an isolated case. The only differences to the Gold Games series were the quantity of the selected games and the price. Silver Games 1 was published in autumn 1998 and offered ten games of different genres, which were roughly comparable to Gold Games 2 in terms of their manufacturer and genre combination . At 29.95 DM, the price was less than half the price of gold games parts published at the same time .
| Game title | Manufacturer | Publishing year | genre | CD no. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battle Arena Toshinden | Takara | 1994 | Beat 'em up | 8th |
| Bazooka Sue | Magic bytes | 1997 | Adventure | 5 |
| Earthworm Jim 2 | Shiny entertainment | 1996 | Jump 'n' run | 1 |
| Enemy Nations | HeadGames | 1996 | Real time strategy game | 2 |
| F-16 Fighting Falcon | Digital integration | 1997 | Flight simulation | 4th |
| Flight Unlimited | Looking Glass Studios | 1995 | Flight simulation | 7th |
| Kick Off 97 | Maxis | 1997 | Sports simulation | 6th |
| The producer | Silver style entertainment | 1996 | Economic simulation | 6th |
| Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri | Looking Glass Studios | 1996 | Tactical shooter | 3 |
| Turrican 2 | Rainbow Arts | 1995 | Action game | 5 |
Gold Strategy Games (2000)
Under the established name, TopWare published a collection of six strategy games in 2000 that the company had published in previous years. In terms of publishing, TopWare had primarily focused on games like this over the years of its existence.
It is noteworthy that the collection was published not only as a CD version but also as a DVD version, since DVD drives on computers were much less popular at the time. Curiously, it didn't only contain strategy games, but at least two role-playing games . Robo Rumble was also part of Gold Games 4 .
| Game title | Manufacturer | Publishing year | genre |
|---|---|---|---|
| Earth 2150 | Reality Pump | 1999 | Real time strategy game |
| Emergency: Fighters for Life | TopWare Interactive | 1998 | Real time strategy game |
| Gorky 17th | Metropolis Software House | 1999 | role playing game |
| Jagged Alliance 2 | Sir tech | 1998 | Round strategy game |
| Robo Rumble | Metropolis Software House | 1998 | Real time strategy game |
| Septerra Core | Valkyrie Studios | 2000 | role playing game |
Web links
- Gold Games at MobyGames (English)
- TheLegacy overview pages (German):