Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
Remember when the good folks at the Internet Archive added more than 2,000 playable MS-DOS games to their growing collection of software and other media earlier this year? This week, some intrepid individuals have discovered that those titles are now playable on Twitter.
As reported by Endgaget, Wired, and elsewhere, all 2,400 playable MS-DOS titles (yes, including The Oregon Trail) can be played directly though the popular social media website, without even having to leave your own news feed. Simply paste the URL to the game of your choosing into a tweet, view it on the Web, and you can start playing.
This feat is accomplished through the magic of Twitter’s Cards platforms, according to reports. All you have to do is tweet the URL and the game you want to play and the system automatically handles the complicated stuff. The tweets can even be embedded into a webpage, making it so that the game can be played while you (pretend to) read science news.
Not as good as the real thing
The MS-DOS games in question were added to the Internet Archive back in January, joining a collection of software titles that already included co-op arcade games and Atari 2600 software. Among the games added were Castle Wolfenstein, Prince of Persia, Leisure Suit Larry, the Bard’s Tale, the Carmen Sandiego series, and many others.
At the time, the curators of the Archive revealed that interested gamers could play their preferred games directly through their Web browsers, but warned that some of the games could have a few bugs in them. In addition, they warned that gamers would not be able to save their progress, and that some of the titles may eventually be pulled, changed, or replaced by others.
While the Archive’s efforts were hailed by media outlets as a consumer-friendly way to enjoy these classic games, there were also concerns over the legality of the project, and whether or not gaming companies would allow it to remain. While some of the MS-DOS titles are considered to be abandonware, and are thus in an emulation-related grey area, others were still actively being marketed by companies, but thus far the collection appears to be largely intact.
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