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GameTap Rom Rental Service to Launch
Mirkon writes "Several months ago it was revealed that Turner Broadcasting was working on a service called GameTap, where a monthly subscription gives users access to an all-you-can-download buffet of games. As indicated by the "GameTap is Coming" box, the service has not yet launched - but it appears to be gearing up for a release in the very near future. An OReillyNet blog from a few days ago tells Brian Jepson's experience with the service: "Although it's not officially launched, they are letting users trickle in." But the real signs of an impending launch are from a comprehensive Web marketing campaign. You may have already seen commercials for the Institute for Additional Dimensional Adjustment Therapy, ending with the URL whatisadat.org. This imaginative site poses as an informational/educational source about and for a disorder called "3rd Demensia" and is full of videogame references. If you look closely at the banner advertisements throughout the site, you'll find that it's only one of a network of game-spoof sites (like First Person Getaways and the Department of Gameland Security), and by exploring these various sites you're bound to find semi-hidden "PowerUp" pages that allow you to sign up for the GameTap service. Unfortunately, the service requires Windows 2000 or XP, but even Mac and Linux users can enjoy the viral marketing campaign."
Just go to http://www.gametap.com/launch/Home and you can register to play today, without looking at any of the dummy web-sites. Enjoy.
Shame on you, Time Warner, for not respecting responsible copyright durations. Honestly, most of the developers of these so-called "classic" games are retired or dead -- what rights do they have to keep profiting off of games so old that they would better serve as the basis of a movie?
As a proud Linux user, I intend to continue downloading my ROM files from secure overseas web sites located in countries which respect the copyrighted-material enjoyer, not the copyright hoarder. Shame, shame, shame on you, Time Warner.
I'm not Seth Finkelstein. I still speak the truth.
Nothing to see here, then. Move along.
*Yawn*
Anyone find a list of games, and an estimate of how freequently we'll see new ones? If there's enough decent games for it, I'd be interested.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Some kind of religious organization - and it seemed plausible.
I can see there being a market for this - less-computer-savvy people who are nostalgic about past games and want to play them again. However, I doubt that those people would be willing to pay $15 a month for the privilege - especially given the somewhat-smallish list of games available. There's also the fact that when you're playing with a keyboard, you lose a lot of the feel of the original game. I think the cheap retro joystick sets are probably competitive with this service in every way.
Anyone who is knowledgable about computers, though, will probably just set up some type of emulator - you still have to play with a keyboard, and deal with intermediate software and loading the ROMs, but you have access to many many more games.
I think the only way a download service like this can work is when it's paired with the classic controllers, and there's a minimal setup/interface to deal with. If Nintendo pulls it off, the Revolution download service could be all these things (of course, only classic Nintendo games would be available, but there are a lot of those).
Actually, the fact that _all_ NES games are missing from the GameTap list makes me think that perhaps the Revolution service will have games from all NES publishers, not just Nintendo... That makes their offering much stronger.
I yearn for you tragically. A. T. Tappman, Chaplain, U.S. Army.
I looked at the list of games and they are all old titles, the most recent are from about 4 years ago. I was wondering how can they make money form such a system. Most of these games should be freeware by now, have been riped off as new flavours of a classic, or are available in public libraries. You just have to look a bit harder, so I'm not sure it's a well thought idea, unless it markets to very casual gamers, with little or no experience.
keyboard not found! press any key to continue...
So they are going to start a "legal" emulation site, charging monthly to play old video games? Legality aside, I think only the most clueless of videogame fans will be interested in this - though the entertainment stuff sounds like it might be interesting enough to watch. But I'll be damned if I'm paying $15 a month to play asteroids or double dragon in its original glory.
This should help you find something better than a keyboard.
Is this actually emulation?
Is the emulation code any good? (Is it taken from any known emulators?)
I think "powerup" (without quotes) is the code for a free month and then two months at $14.95 Not sure if it's the standard starting deal anyway but that's what I found on one of their promotional sites.
It's not all old mame style arcade games. I see Beyond Good & Evil, Capitalism(TM) II, onquest: Frontier Wars(TM), Swat 2, well....a lot of UbiSoft PC games. I don't know how good any of them are but at least it isn't just old arcade games.
My Xbox Live Gamer Card
It's just advertising and not a story. The editors are playing right into the hands of the marketing folk who come up with this crap.
It's not enjoyable, and it's only viral because the /. editors keep posting about it.
Of course it's possible - I play emulated games all the time with a gamepad (actually I recently just got a DualShock to USB converter, which I recommend), but I'm obviously not the target market for these games (since I can set up an emulator).
The casual "The last video game I played was Super Mario Bros." crowd, however, isn't going to want to have to buy a separate piece of hardware and deal with calibrating it in order to play their games. They'd much rather buy a $20 dollar "15 classic games!" joystick and plug it into their TV.
I yearn for you tragically. A. T. Tappman, Chaplain, U.S. Army.