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[PC] Classic Blizzard Games for Free: Blackthorne, Lost Vikings, Rock N' Roll Racing @ Blizzard

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[PC] Classic Blizzard Games for Free: Blackthorne, Lost Vikings, Rock N' Roll Racing @ Blizzard
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AAA-A on 14/09/2020 - 17:19 blizzard.com (6424 clicks)
Last edited 14/09/2020 - 19:28 by 1 other user

Blizzard has made available some classic games for free for WIndows and Mac OS.

Refer to the article below from PC Mag for details.

https://au.pcmag.com/gaming-4/68019/the-best-free-pc-and-con…

"Some require you to connect with Battle.net and set up an account with Blizzard, while others may simply download to your computer and play locally. Here are the classic Blizzard games you can now play for free:

  • Blackthorne

  • The Lost Vikings

  • Rock N' Roll Racing"

PC Mag article doesnt seem correct as only the games above are free to play

Gaming Blackthorne PC Game The Lost Vikings Video Game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

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Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment

Comments

  • Mel-waukee on 14/09/2020 - 17:22
    +5

    Diablo 2, et al! Awesome

    • AAA-A on 14/09/2020 - 17:30
      +3

      I loved playing Diablo II in the past.One of my favorite old games years ago. Once I've done downloading Warcraft III I'll try and and if I have time I'll try and download and test others.

    • incipient on 14/09/2020 - 17:38
      +2

      Add the median XL Ultimative mod to it, and it's a PROPER challenge, and very interesting. Many more mobs, items, spells, rune words. It's incredible.

  • Telios on 14/09/2020 - 17:28
    +8

    I thought they killed Warcraft 3 with that bizarre re-release that ruined it?

    • scrimshaw on 14/09/2020 - 17:29

      indeed the executable file being downloaded is the Reforged version. rejoice!

      edit: actually if you scroll down further the classic version is still there.

      • snackerjoe on 14/09/2020 - 18:14

        What is the difference? I had the original W3 from when it came out on CD (or was it DVD) plus the expansion so I'm curious.

        • Telios on 14/09/2020 - 18:18
          +9

          They killed custom maps was what made me mad.

          But as per Reddit:

          In 2018, Blizzard announced the development of Reforged, an improved edition of Warcraft 3 that retained the original gameplay while adding new features including a re-haul of the game's visuals. Their multitude unfulfilled of promises include:

          Improved Visuals and New Animations- There are no new animations, and the new visuals are not much of an upgrade. In addition, to get most of the cool new multiplayer models, you have to buy the more expensive edition.

          4 Hours of Reforged Cutscenes- Only minor improvements were made to the cutscenes. In fact, Blizzard went as far as to remove a premade cutscene shown at Blizzcon 2018 from the Reforged release version.

          Updated UI: Undelivered

          Balance Changes: Undelivered

          Matchmaking Ladder System: Undelivered

          Quality of Life Improvements (such as selecting more than 1 page of units in campaign): Undelivered

          As if it wasn't bad enough that Blizzard basically scammed some of its oldest fans who had waited 2 years for the release of Reforged, there are a number of things that are objectively worse than they are in the original. I'd like to preface this by noting that Blizzard removed the option to download the Classic client from Battle.net, and forced owners of Classic to update to the Reforged client. Here's a couple of other things that Blizzard broke:

          Matchmaking no longer works half the time. Games are found but not started, forcing a client restart; game wins are occasionally not recorded.

          Campaign missions will occasionally not load, immediately give the player a 'defeat' upon loading, or delete savefiles from Classic completely.

          Custom games seem to be broken, with people unable to create lobbies, and games randomly disconnecting quite often.

          For what it's worth, the forced update removed the Classic Frozen Throne title screen, which upset a lot of people.

          The great thing about the new title screen is that the background process for the title screen, which seems to be continually running, takes up >300mb of RAM and uses more than 5% of an i7's cpu load, completely ruining performance on older computers.

          Speaking of performance, it seems they tried to improve it by completely removing shadows from the game for people who don't own the Reforged 'upgrade.'

          • snackerjoe on 14/09/2020 - 18:20
            +3

            @Telios: Oh, wow! Have they fixed anything at all yet? This is so unlike the Blizzard of old.

            • smogg on 14/09/2020 - 18:26
              +6

              @snackerjoe: They've slowly been adding things the past few patches however it still doesn't feel like a finished product. Rumors are that a team of <5 are working on the game which would be quite sad… Blizzard has unfortunately left this game and its community in the dirt due to their greed. What's even more saddening is that one community member was ability to deliver a quality matchmaking ladder system few months after release which Blizzard is yet to deliver (9 months after release…). If you still want to get back into it, Patch 1.33 is very close to release and should finally introduce a whole bunch of features including a functional ladder system and clans.

            • w37hsyea on 14/09/2020 - 19:20
              +2

              @snackerjoe: So true, Blizzard of old is long gone since SC2 got released circa 2010.

              • jkim on 14/09/2020 - 20:15
                +1

                @w37hsyea: Bliz has been getting worse and worse since Vivendi sold them off to Activision in 2007.

          • xecutor on 14/09/2020 - 18:27
            +5

            @Telios: https://www.warcraft3refunded.com/

            ^ This explains so much :)

            • Telios on 14/09/2020 - 18:39

              @xecutor: Yeah I just realised I've actually deleted my blizzard account so lol can't even login to see how bad it is

              • snackerjoe on 14/09/2020 - 19:36
                +1

                @Telios: Thanks everyone for the replies. Blizzard used to be the industry standard, "we'll release when it's ready", so sad to see how far they've fallen.

          • T Man on 14/09/2020 - 22:23

            @Telios: I bought this, played it once, had a nightmare of a time trying to setup up multiplayer with some mates. One week later I went through their support and they refunded me through an automatic process. They obviously got a lot of 'returns' on that one.

  • Serathis on 14/09/2020 - 17:33

    Ah the good old days!

  • Godric on 14/09/2020 - 17:34
    +18

    I miss WC3, playing on Bored Aussies Server.

    Pretty sure i ended up with close to 1000 custom maps in my folder, (Including updated versions)

    • DarkNexy on 14/09/2020 - 17:35
      +5

      Ahhhh good old BA servers <3

      • iChopstick on 14/09/2020 - 18:11

        The days of abusing BA bot and getting jailed

    • iChopstick on 14/09/2020 - 18:30
      +3

      All them tags, arenas, mazes and TD maps in between Dota games..

      • smogg on 14/09/2020 - 18:35
        +6

        Pudge Wars, Tree Tag, Green Circle TD, Uther Party, Ice Escape, Vampirism Fire & many more… classic custom maps.

        • danzha on 15/09/2020 - 03:01
          +2

          Good times, don't forget Dark Deeds and NOTD :)

    • nomoneynoproblems on 14/09/2020 - 19:42
      +1

      What ever happened to Bored Aussie?

      • Godric on 14/09/2020 - 20:20
        +3

        Dota 2

  • Mel-waukee on 14/09/2020 - 17:35
    +2

    Diablo II is 1.49 GB.

    Lightweight game downloader executable that will eventually download the entire game. Will update this comment for the size of Lord of Destruction when I start it.

    • HD9990 on 14/09/2020 - 19:56

      508 MB…. something could be wrong here…

  • Jugganautx on 14/09/2020 - 17:35

    Diablo 2 still says $12.95?

  • Adoses on 14/09/2020 - 17:35
    +2

    Are these free permanently?

  • starburstyellow on 14/09/2020 - 17:37
    +11

    Dota All stars anyone? -APEM!!

    • Usemame on 14/09/2020 - 17:44
      +3

      Pros Only

      • Flintz on 14/09/2020 - 19:39

        Godlike only

    • Qbagger on 14/09/2020 - 17:47

      Best

    • smogg on 14/09/2020 - 18:08

      Come join our discord for warcraft 3! Plenty of Aus dota players (we also play legends of dota, the ability draft of dota 2)

      https://discord.gg/nJBwsjd

      • iChopstick on 14/09/2020 - 18:12

        Haven't touched dota for 8 years, I miss those days

      • Telios on 14/09/2020 - 18:13
        +4

        Yeah but nothing will ever be as great as playing DotA on LAN with your mates and talking shit with no concept of whats "meta" or what "role" or "position" you are supposed to be playing

    • iChopstick on 14/09/2020 - 18:31
      +2

      -wtf
      -aremdmom

      is where it's at!

    • Menzoberranzan on 14/09/2020 - 18:48

      5.84b

  • lordelesar on 14/09/2020 - 17:39
    +3

    Beware, last time I tried, D2/LOD are not playable on the latest MacOS (Catalina) as they are 32bit.

  • matictac on 14/09/2020 - 17:40
    +3

    Are these actually free? Just finished the Diablo 2 1.49GB download and now it's asking for a CD key.

    • AAA-A on 14/09/2020 - 17:42

      Not sure what's happened there with Diablo II hopefully its corrected as according to the article they are free. I'm almost done downloading Warcraft III

      • scrimshaw on 14/09/2020 - 17:49

        Did you manage to run the game?

    • Nilfunds on 14/09/2020 - 17:58

      same here.

      installation asking for cd key

  • Dalgona456 on 14/09/2020 - 17:42
    +8

    I think these are just installers. It still ask you to enter CD KEY.

    • Mel-waukee on 14/09/2020 - 17:45

      Same here, asking for CD key. Only the download is free, game isn't :-P

    • trapper on 14/09/2020 - 18:12

      Haha ok wtf, anyone get anything working yet?

    • trapper on 14/09/2020 - 18:17

      Well Blackthorne works, so that one at least lol

  • Captain Hindsight on 14/09/2020 - 17:43
    +1

    any of these work on Catalina OS? ie 64bit

    • moorey on 14/09/2020 - 18:00
      +1

      No go for me, needs to be 32-bit it seems, at least for Diablo II anyway. Battle.net installed, Diablo III installing…

  • moorey on 14/09/2020 - 17:53
    +4

    I can hear the diablo 2 background music still, this is gonna bring back memories to life!

    • eooker on 14/09/2020 - 18:00
      +1

      That, followed up by clicking on the barbarian and hearing "HARUGHH!" and sharpening axe sound.

    • RefusdClassification on 15/09/2020 - 09:08

      I like the Diablo 2 music. I have it in lossless quality to listen it it occasionally. I might mod it into Skyrim (there are mods that let you add music into various categories for Bethesda RPGs).

  • bgbrendan on 14/09/2020 - 17:56
    +14

    these are just blizz installers. doesnt give you the ownership of the game =b
    don't waste your time

  • lostn on 14/09/2020 - 17:57
    +1

    which ones are added to your b.net account?

  • medium_tight on 14/09/2020 - 18:00
    -1

    No Star Craft???

    • Teedo on 14/09/2020 - 21:27
      +2

      Starcraft has been free for over 3 years already, you no longer need a CD key to install or play and you can download it on battle net

  • Lane Myer on 14/09/2020 - 18:01

    Yes - same here - Diablo II is asking for a CD Key.

    Makes sense considering they're still selling it on GOG.

    • ssquid on 16/09/2020 - 23:59

      GOG only sells Diablo 1. Blizzard sells Diablo 2 themselves (technically only the cd key, the installer is freely available which is why people are mistaking this for a freebie).

      • [Deactivated] on 17/09/2020 - 09:42

        And then posting pirated CD keys.

  • kenichiwa on 14/09/2020 - 18:01
    +1

    Don’t forget Starcraft 2 the Terran campaign is free to play also:

    https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/27568

    • Agret on 14/09/2020 - 20:38

      Can also play any of the custom game maps in SC2 arcade for free. Great value.

  • congo on 14/09/2020 - 18:03
    +3

    Blizzard use to be one of the best developers.
    After Activision merge they went ……

  • NedStark102 on 14/09/2020 - 18:03
    +1

    Lmao Diablo 2 still prompting for a cd-key once downloaded, won't let you go any further.

    edit: and further on this, it's asking for a 26 character cd-key - I have my original D2 case with cd-key in front of me and it's a 16 character key (mine obviously won't work). Good work Blizzard.

    • buckster on 15/09/2020 - 07:45

      Read above on how to convert it

      • NedStark102 on 15/09/2020 - 14:05

        I just used the cd-keys another user had mentioned and they seemed to work fine, time to take a trip down memory lane!

  • Lane Myer on 14/09/2020 - 18:07

    Blackthorne installed and didn't ask for a key.

    • AAA-A on 14/09/2020 - 18:12
      +1

      is the game playable?

      • Lane Myer on 14/09/2020 - 18:13
        +1

        Seems to be, but it's nearly 30 years old!

  • BuyoTheCat on 14/09/2020 - 18:08
    +9

    LOST VIKING!!!!! love that game

  • Telios on 14/09/2020 - 18:09

    Ew what are all these hoops you have to jump through now to play WC3

    I used to click the icon and play Tides of blood, why do they want me to hate them?

  • AAA-A on 14/09/2020 - 18:10
    +6

    I installed Warcraft III and found it plays but after the intro gets to a screen where I'm then presented with an Error. Not sure what's up there

    • bahgsy on 14/09/2020 - 18:13

      Yup, same exact issue.

    • smogg on 14/09/2020 - 18:16
      +4

      Warcraft III classic free is not yet free as far as I'm concerned. They'd announce this in the WC3 United discord first thing if that was to happen. The reason you're getting an error is because you don't have a classic WC3 CD-Key linked to your account, an issue my whole clan experienced during the launch of Reforged.

  • Lockieasy on 14/09/2020 - 18:16
    +7

    Sounds like the author of the article just stumbled upon the classic game installers, which have always been there.

  • CheeryCheapskate on 14/09/2020 - 18:17
    +4

    Lost Vikings and Rock n' Roll Racing! They were some of the first games from 1992-93.
    I remember playing it on Super Nintendo. Blizzard takes a long time to get games out but they do create some of the best.

    Overwatch, Starcraft and Warcraft fan here!

  • AAA-A on 14/09/2020 - 18:20
    +1

    I read up and it appears the error I received whilst trying to run Warcraft III is due to not having a CD key. Diablo 2 has the same issue. Has anyone had success with any of the games listed? Otherwise it may be an error in the article as Lokieasy suggested.

  • SanatanaMishra on 14/09/2020 - 18:21

    I believe the article is just in error and they have provided an easy to find page for grabbing game installers, you still have to own the games.

  • bargainist on 14/09/2020 - 18:21

    I can't find this being announced anywhere online. Does this author have inside knowledge or is he a sham?

  • AAA-A on 14/09/2020 - 18:25

    Blackthorne works, although graphics are from the 90's. It runs standalone

  • syousef on 14/09/2020 - 18:27

    Rock and Roll Racing is a nice 20 minute distraction, but that's about it.

    • russellf on 15/09/2020 - 10:51

      Agreed, it was only a 3 lap version.
      My memory was triggered about Rock and Roll Racing the other day by some other retro top down racer on steam and came looking for it.
      Found the same article, but didn't realise that the article was so new.

      i loved the cross over in the original game, you could doing a code at the start-up screen and have Olaf from the vikings as playable character.

  • AAA-A on 14/09/2020 - 18:28

    Lost Vikings works too, however again simple graphics

  • jupiterbrody on 14/09/2020 - 18:30
    +1

    Also asking for CD keys…

  • AAA-A on 14/09/2020 - 18:32

    OP has been updated to reflect the real situation.

  • Freestyle on 14/09/2020 - 18:33

    if it was free it'd be through battle net, not like this

  • The Value on 14/09/2020 - 18:33
    +7

    In high school, on my ~33 MF Barbarian, I killed Pindle and they dropped a Grandfather.

    Life has been downhill ever since.

    • maxwellish on 14/09/2020 - 19:47
      +1

      Managed to get a perfect windforce using pindlebot. Good times.

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