Chances are that if you're on this website you've had to deal, at some point or another, with the difficulty of getting DOS games to work on your more modern system. Of course, even back in the day, these could be a nightmare, with XMS and EMS errors commonly standing in the way of getting in on the action, not to mention the problems we've had with audio compatibility. Force me to use PC speaker instead of Sound Blaster, will you?
"The Internet Archive" (CC BY-SA 2.0) by gedankenstuecke
The limitations of these older machines are naturally eliminated on modern devices, as even the most humble of today’s computers will exceed DOS game recommended specs dozens or hundreds of times over. The issue, then, comes from the environment. It has been a long time since DOS has been a workable part of Windows for gaming, and every new generation takes us further from the ease of use we had so long ago.
Since websites like ours exist to help catalogue these older games and maintain their public visibility and availability, we can rest assured that most of these won't be straight lost to annals of time. In terms of playability, though, things are a bit more complicated.
"DOSBOX 2012-01-07 16-19-50-76" (CC BY 2.0) by mrwynd
The most obvious solution to this issue comes in the form of DOSBox. The DOS emulator is designed to work on modern systems, yet can be tricky to set up, especially for newer users. Even when properly installed, users have to deal with issues like game speed and individual fixes, all of which could be better addressed if information about these games was drawn from a common central system.
In real terms, this could mean that developing a reliable DOS game access structure might rely on an entirely online system. HTML and related code, while still evolving, maintains strong backwards compatibility after all, and might make a strong basis for an online hosted and operated method. We know this works because we have seen it all over the internet in the form of Flash and Java-based games. Offerings like certain online casino games are a perfect example of this, as they cover hundreds of slots from the most recently released to those dated over a decade old. Then you have platforms such as Kongregate and Newgrounds, which host hundreds of browser games, some of which have been ported to other systems. All of these work perfectly together without fuss or even minor annoyances, and this we believe such mechanisms would be perfect as case studies into getting DOS games to work online.
This does incur issues regarding the legality of some abandonware, but as online systems could easily check these matters in advance as we do, this could be a problem easily avoided. Luckily enough, smaller versions of these DOS online systems already exist. Unfortunately, they tend to be tied to demos, and lacking the ability to upload or verify our older full games can help defeat much of the purpose.
"True to life (#51/365)" (CC BY-ND 2.0) by Sebastian Anthony
There was a point where we could easily play Quake 3 in a browser before that too went the way of the software dinosaur, and Quake 3 is far more complicated than any DOS game. Hopefully, we can count on the improving online infrastructure of modern connections and coding advancements like HTML5 to bring increased integration to the older games we love so much.
Not only would this be great for us, but it could help foster an entirely new generation of retro gamers. We'd love the opportunity to once again discuss the likes of One Must Fall and Blackthorne without receiving blank stares back, and we bet many of our readers and DOS enthusiasts would agree.
