Classic Gaming Arena Supports WC Armada Internet Play

Does anyone out there use Classic Gaming Arena? We've seen it come through Anatoly Shashkin's DOS Nostalgic feed in the past, and it supports DOSBox and Wing Commander Armada's IPXNet/NetBIOS protocols. Looks like it's another great option to get some online dogfights (or sector-wide domination) going. They have detailed instructions on how to get things set up here. Stop by the #Wingnut Discord if you're looking for fellow pilots to compete against!

Classic Gaming Arena is a website based portal to link up with friends, family or just random people to play DOS based IPX network games over the Internet via the use of DOSBox and out small client program, the CGA Client. The CGA Client is installed locally and the website uses it to launch DOSBox and get you connected to your networked game. The website essentially passes off all the required information about the game you want to launch and the person or server in which you will be connecting and does it all for you.

You may ask, "really? that easy huh?"...yes, it is that easy. The CGA website functions much like MPlayer.com or heat.net from the days of yore. The combination of CGA and DOSBox actually functions more like the software Kali, however we are providing dedicated server software so that the player community can host their own servers instead of all the servers being hosted by us.

The dedicated server software communicates with the website so that players can use it when setting up their games. Players will also be able to connect up via a peer-to-peer mechanism since DOSBox has a built-in server as well if they do not want to use a dedicated server. Players are required to create an account (for free of course) and through the website configure their DOSBox and game settings (ie: local paths and CD information if needed). Once that is all setup they will then be able to setup game rooms which will use either a dedicated server or themselves as the server and allow others to join the room and get connected.

We have tried to make the process as thin and streamlined as possible so as to create a great gaming experience for the players. (one of the things that killed the services of the past was bandwidth issues and lag) We have done quite a bit of testing over the past several months with different platforms (Windows and Linux) and network scenarios, including wireless, desktops and laptops and any combination there of. So far it has all been very successful.