These days, if you are a PC gamer, you only have a few choices when it comes to digital store-fronts and game management: Steam, Uplay and Origin.  These services vary in quality and design, but one thing is constant: all of them require you to log in to their client in order to purchase, activate and- in many cases- play your games. Enter GOG.com and their new Galaxy client. Billed as the client of “freedom of choice”, Galaxy is a new digital alternative from the internet’s largest curator of classic games.

GOG promises that Galaxy will have all the things you expect, such as friends lists, multiplayer and automatic updates to games. Where the platform differs is in it’s gamer friendly approach. CD Projekt Red’s lovable little classic games site is going to make their client completely optional and DRM-free. If you don’t want to use it to access your GOG library, you don’t have to. You don’t have to be online to launch your games either. Its a unique take on the client based approach, and it appears the GOG is hoping to capitalize on some of the criticisms levelled at the other three clients.

Galaxy is slated to launch at “some point in 2014”, and its safe to say that all of us here at Sanitarium.fm will be monitoring it closely. In fact, we’ve taken the liberty of locking each staff member in a small windowless room and beating them with a wet noodle until they offered up a coherent opinion on GOG’s new client. Check them out below, then continue on down to see the official Galaxy client trailer. Thats right, a game service trailer.

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Digmbot (Station Manager, Indie Game Show Co-Host, Rotini Lover)

Personally, I’m really excited about this. GOG has a great library of classic and new games. And to tell me that I don’t have to always be online to launch my games? Thank you Tom Cruise! Seriously though, this puts GOG squarely into competition with Valve and Ubisoft (Origin can suck it, that client sucks worse than the Cubs in the playoffs). They’ve already made a great start on differentiating themselves, and with Steam turning into a giant mess as Valve takes their hands off the wheel as far as Greenlight goes, I look forward to something that just lets me get on with playing my games.

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PredictedCyborg (Blogger, DJ, Indie Game Show Co-Host, Cyborg)

Hmm, it all sounds pretty good doesn’t it? Optional, doesn’t have to be online to work and cross-play functionability? Sounds appealing for sure. GOG could be onto a winner here, but as always I want to watch and see how they handle the new service. There’s no guarantee of success, but it does sound like they know exactly what gamers want from an online-gaming service and how to handle the process of giving it to us. I think they’ll pull it off.

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Lonesamurai (Big Kahuna and DJ)

So, Retro gaming from the dinosaur age that Digmbot and I come from that gets games we grew up with play on modern systems?   I was sold when I found out they had Both Dungeon Keepers and the Baldurs Gate series on there and not only up to date and working on modern systems, but some also with new content aswell?   Sold!

I would totally be installing Galaxy, but strangely NOT on my gaming pc…  Dungeon Keeper and other retro games are for my work laptop, you know the one, that one I take with me to gaming events with the team and also take to all those stoopidly boring business meetings/events I have to goto as the owner of the station (yeah, I slack off in those, they suc arse!)

So yeah, I’m well up for Galaxy, even more so if I have a friends list on there and they help with multiplayer games to connect?   Dream come true on train journeys!  

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Crimsonshade ( Chief Tech Officer, Server Monkey, PHP Developer)

I have a love-hate relationship when it comes to Steam. I don’t let Steam open on Startup because it steals resources from other processes and slows down actually logging in to Windows. When I open it manually to start a game, I often find there’s been a Steam Client update and I have to wait a minute or two for it to complete before I can actually get to playing anything – and that’s even if you click a game shortcut directly, letting Steam know you want to go straight to that game rather than to your Game Library. More annoying is after these updates, Steam sometimes fails to restart itself – so you end up clicking the icon again to remind Steam of your original intention and your time is wasted.

I’ve always wondered, why can’t you have a Steam-like interface that gives you the option of loading up the full client and accessing your full game library when you want it; but when you want to play a single game and already know which, when you click the shortcut for that game, it’ll skip loading the full client and just get straight into the game with the minimal of delays. That’s why I like GoG’s “client completely optional” approach. You’ve got your Game Library if you want it, but when you want to play a game without waiting, just open it up directly and you’re straight in, no need to wait for the client at all. Of course, time will tell if the reality meets the expectations… but I’m excited by the prospect. And hey – I don’t care if all we ever get to play is classics like Dungeon Keeper. I’ve always been a retro-head at heart –  The 80s and 90s were the time when limitations in technology meant developers being creative was the only way to make a game truly great; and as such you had a greater emphasis on making games fun. Kudos to GoG for remembering that games are nothing if not fun.

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GOG Galaxy Trailer:

Microsoft has announced Forza Motorsport 5 Game of the Year edition.

Which will include the original game, plus 18 extra tracks and the Top Gear car pack featuring ten downloadable vehicles.

The game will cost £50/€70/$60 when it launches on July 22.

Do you think Forza 5 deserves GOTY edition?  Personally I do and it is the first new gen racer off the start line.

But let us know below.

The Living Story system in Guild Wars 2 is a great way to keep high level players engaged by providing them with new story content on a regular basis. Now, that content gets even more value as Guild Wars 2 is adding a system that will allow players to unlock each episode to play again at a later date…or on another character. Each episode will be live for two weeks, and during that time all you have to do is log in and that episode of Season 2 of the Living Story will be added to a new Living World Journal. After that, you can play through episodes again just by accessing your journal.

A blog post about the overhaul stated that:

“With this addition to the story Journal, content from Living World episodes will be a mix of new story steps and open world content. Story steps will work just like existing story steps in the game today by taking you on a journey specific to your selected episode, which ties into a broader narrative from the season’s continual story progress.  Open world content additions to Living World updates will permanently expand or change the world of Tyria and will tie to the theme and story of the episode.”

The system isn’t totally open ended though, as only level 80 characters will be able to choose between playing their Personal Story and the Living Story. Characters below level 80 will be able to see the unlocked Living Story content, but not play it through the journal until reaching level 80. And, of course if you miss an episode’s window, you can unlock them in the store for 200 gems. In addition, Season 1 is not included in the new Journal yet. ArenaNet is working on that and hopes to add it to the system at a future date.

A  few other tweaks are coming in Season 2 as well. Rewards will now come at the end of each episode’s storyline along with a variety of rewards available in the open world content that comes with each episode.  Achievements are going to be much harder than those found in Season 1 and are intended to challenge even skilled players. Of course, with the new system, you can replay each episode until you get the achievement and unlock those tasty achievement points and loot. And if you have more than one character, fear not – once on character on your account has finished an episode in the journal every other character on that account will have access to those achievement challenges.

Season 2 is shaping up to be rather exciting when it kicks off on July 1st. Let us know how many times you plan on playing through each episode in the comments section below!

We all know that Microsoft has big plans for its consoles. Specifically, they want the 360 and Xbox One to be the center of your living room- not just as gaming devices, but media players. To that end, the Xbox One and Xbox 360 are about to get a whole boatload (warthog-load?) of new entertainment apps. Its a hefty list, and the entirety will be listed below, but the standouts (at least for the Xbox One) are Comedy Central, Vevo, NBA, NHL, MLG and iHeartRadio. Apparently, MTV and VH1 still exist and are also going to be available as well. Who knew?

Full list, including country and system availability:

Antena 3. Xbox One: ES
ChiliTV. Xbox One: IT
Comedy Central. Xbox One: US
Crunchyroll. Xbox One: AU, AT, BR, CA, DE, ES, FR, IE, IT, MX, NZ, UK, US
ENCORE Play. Xbox One: US
EPIX. Xbox One: US
Filmbox Live. Xbox 360: AR, AU, AT, BE, BR, CA, CL, CO, CZ, DK, FI, FR, DE, GR, HK, HU, IN, IE, IL, IT, JP, MX, NL, NZ, NO, PL, PT, RU, SA, SG, SK, ZA, KR, ES, SE, CH, TW, TR, AE, UK, US
Fox Play. Xbox One: MX, BR. Xbox 360: MX, BR, AR, CO, CH
Frightflix. Xbox One: US
FXNOW. Xbox 360: US
Gol TV. Xbox One: ES
GoPro. Xbox One: US, CA, MX, UK, FR, DE, IT, ES, AU, BR, AT, NZ, IR
HBO GO. Xbox One: US: Xbox 360: MX, BR, AR, CO, CH
iHeartRadio. Xbox One: US
Infinity. Xbox One: IT
IVI. Xbox 360: RU
KDrama. Xbox One: AU, AT, BR, CA, DE, ES, FR, IE, IT, MX, NZ, UK, US. Xbox 360: AR, AU, AT, BE, BR, CA, CL, CO, CZ, DK, FI, FR, DE, GR, HK, HU, IN, IE, IL, IT, MX, NL, NZ, NO, PL, PT, RU, SA, SG, SK, ZA, ES, SE, CH, TW, TR, AE, UK, US
maxdome. Xbox One: AT, DE
MLG. Xbox One: US, UK, CA, AU
MOVIEPLEX Play. Xbox One: US
MTV. Xbox One: US
NBA. Xbox One: AT, AU, BR, CA, FR, DE, IE, IT, MX, ES, NZ, UK, US
NHL. Xbox One: US, CA, MX, UK, FR, DE, IT, ES, AU, BR, AT, NZ, IR. Xbox 360: US, CA, MX, UK, FR, DE, IT, ES, JP, AU, BR, NL, SE, RU, TW, PL, IN, HK, TR, BE, AT, NZ, SA, AR, NO, CH, SG, ZA, IR, DK, CO, CL, FI, CZ, HU, IL, GR, PT, SK
Now TV. Xbox One: UK
Picturebox. Xbox 360: UK
Popcornflix. Xbox One: US
ShowTime Anytime. Xbox 360: US
Sky News. Xbox One: UK, IE, US, CA. Xbox 360: UK, IE, US, CA
Sky Online. Xbox One: IT
STARZ Play. Xbox One: US
STV. Xbox 360: UK
Syfy Now. Xbox One: US
Target Ticket. Xbox One: US
TuneIn. Xbox One: US, CA, MX, UK, FR, DE, IT, ES, AU, BR, AT, NZ, IR
TV2. Xbox 360: DK
Twitter. Xbox One: US
USA Now. Xbox One: US
VEO. Xbox One: MX. Xbox 360: MX
Vevo. Xbox One: CA, US, AU, FR, DE, IR, BR,ES, IT, UK, NZ
VH1. Xbox One: US
Vine. Xbox One: US
WATCH ABC. Xbox 360: US
WATCH Disney Channel. Xbox 360: US
WATCH Disney Junior. Xbox 360: US
WATCH Disney XD. Xbox 360: US
Watchever. Xbox One: DE

Planning on using any of these apps? Lets us know in the comments below!