Epic Games made Unreal and Unreal Tournament installers and disk images available for free (1999) via the Internet Archive. The news was announced by UnrealGGecko, a representative of the community of fans who still follows the series.
This choice represents an important step for the preservation of the two classic shooters first-person games that have marked the history of video games. Unreal was known for its cutting-edge graphics and advanced enemy AI, while Unreal Tournament was one of the first FPS to focus exclusively on multiplayer. The two games had practically disappeared from all stores and it was impossible to recover them (in reality even the successors are still almost impossible to find today).
Users can now download legally Unreal Tournament – Game of the Year Edition e Unreal Gold Edition without running into piracy problems. Currently, the installers support Windows 7 and later, but they should soon be available for Linux and macOS as well.
This decision by Epic Games gives important recognition to the community that has kept these games alive over the years. Enthusiasts can now continue their preservation and modding work with greater peace of mind and official support.
The availability of hash of the ISO it also allows you to verify the authenticity of downloaded files, guaranteeing the integrity of the original games. Who knows, maybe this initiative could encourage other companies to follow suit, contributing to the preservation of gaming heritage. Already Xbox (console available for purchase on Amazon) and Nintendo are trying through almost complete backwards compatibility of their own consoles, we look forward to Sony also succeeding (not obviously with current streaming).
Preservation is key to keep alive the video games that have made the history of this medium, without offering remastered or absurd editions that no one actually wants. Well done Epic Games, but now bring us the others too.
Source: www.tomshw.it
