Archive.org has uploaded a software library of classic MS-DOS games which you can play right out of your browser. When I say classic games, I don’t mean Pokemon games, I mean Scorched Earth, Prince of Persia, SkyRoads, Commander Keen and Lemmings 3D. This means future generations can feel the oppressive horror of attempting to fight their way across the Oregon Trail on a steady diet of squirrel meat with only an axe, some rope and frequent bouts of dysentery, pausing in their manifest destiny only long enough to etch grandma’s epitaph on a makeshift tombstone on the side of trail. Fun, right?

I really worked hard to have only fully-functioning programs up, or at least, programs that gave viable, useful feedback. Some of them will still fall over and die, and many of them might be weird to play in a browser window, and of course you can’t really save things off for later, and that will limit things too. But on the whole, you will experience some analogue of the MS-DOS program, in your browser, instantly.

As for the software library itself… many titles will stick around—some will go, or change, or be replaced. This is still brand new territory, and with the addition of the MS-DOS programs so far, this no-plugin in-browser experience is one of a kind in the world. I’m working just as hard as the V2 devs are to make everything work, and it wouldn’t be worth my time if I didn’t have people trying it out, commenting on it, and making use of it.

So please, let’s start 2015 right—in CGA and with a brand new way to use the Internet Archive.

Now to figure out the keys!