Internet Archive is one of the most important platforms we can find on the Internet. Although many do not know it, this platform works to prevent time from disappearing all kinds of content, from audio and video to software and games
One of the best-known projects on the Internet Archive is Wayback Machine, a time machine that allows us to see what any website was like years ago and the evolution from its birth to today. Now, Archive has just safeguarded one more part of the history of computing: DOS games.
Although most users want to be up to date in order to play the latest versions of FIFA or Call of Duty with Ray Tracing and DLSS, 30 years ago the games were very different (and often even more fun). Before the Windows era, and even in the early years of the operating system, video games were running on MS-DOS, Microsoft's terminal operating system.
These games have been very important to shape the current video games, and even to allow the industry to continue evolving to the games we find today in stores. The problem with these games, like many other types of software, is that over time they fall into oblivion and the task of finding, downloading and playing them becomes very complicated. And so, in a few years they could even disappear completely from history. A pity
DosBox allows us to emulate MS-DOS on any computer to run software and these games over Windows. There is even FreeDOS, an operating system that we can install on any PC. However, the Internet Archive has wanted to go further and has brought us more than 2500 classic DOS games directly to the browser.
How to play Internet Archive DOS games
Internet Archive not only wants to save this type of content for the future, but to facilitate its use to any user. Thus, in the following link we can find a list with all the DOS games that this platform has compiled under the category «Software Library: MS-DOS Games«.
This collection consists of 2541 classic games released for MS-DOS (number that grows day after day) and we can see all these games in a list. This list, in addition, we can sort it in different ways, such as by name or by creator, title or by visits, to know the more or less popular games of the DOS era.
When we find the game we want to play, we just have to click on it and we can launch it from the new page that will open.
Internet Archive uses a DosBox emulator that runs on the browser to allow us to play these video games. The controls of these games are the original ones, and they all pass through the browser until they reach the game. Although we will not experience delay or input lag, we must take into account the limitations of playing the heaviest games from the browser.
Some problems with Internet Archive emulation
Most games will run smoothly and surely thanks to them we can return to entertain hours. And although the idea of the Internet Archive is appreciated, there are some serious implementation problems.
The first of the problems we have encountered has been with the DRM. Although most games are almost 30 years old, companies refuse to allow users to play them for free. And they also do not offer the possibility to play paying. They simply want these games to go down in history.
If we try to play, for example, the Lion King, we will find that to open the game we must pass the DRM. And this DRM is nothing more or less than entering a specific word from the manual. Unless we have the game at hand (or try a random word), we cannot play.
Another rather serious problem is that some games take up a lot. But much. We remember that we are talking about the era of the CD, so some games, such as Destruction Derby, occupy about 600 megabytes. And in order to play you have to download the entire game, something that takes several minutes and that we cannot avoid.
Once the game is downloaded, it will start and we can play (as long as there is no DRM in between that prevents it). Although we can download some games to play in an MS-DOS emulator, this function is not available for many of the games (at least for now), appearing these with the tag "Stream Only".
If the games could be downloaded, the problems of endless downloads would end and, in addition, running them in an emulator outside the browser would improve performance and reduce keyboard problems. Of course, the DRM problem would still be present.
Date update on 2019-10-15. Date published on 2019-10-15. Category: Internet Archive Author: Oscar olg Fuente: softzone