GameTap: Nirvana For Retro Game Fans?
Posted by Harry McCracken | Monday, October 17, 2005 12:19 AM PT
In the beginning--which was 1997--there was
MAME, an utterly brilliant open-source emulator which let you play an array of ancient arcade games, perfectly emulated on a PC, as long as you were willing to hunt down ROM files of dubious legality.
The retrogaming revolution (is that an oxymoron?) has continued ever since, and it's gone legit, in a multitude of forms on every computing platform. The gameplay remains addictive, the nostalgic kick is a blast, and the price is usually right. (Consider
Atari's new Flashback 2, which packs 40 vintage Atari 2600 games into a $30 console that amusingly mimics the original's look.)
And now there's
GameTap, a new service for Windows PCs, officially launching on Monday, that's maybe the most ambitious offering yet for gamers who are stuck in the past. GameTap wraps MAME-like emulation of more than 300 games--arcade classics, old Windows and DOS titles, Commodore 64 relics, ones for an array of defunct consoles--into a slick shell with information and video programming about old games. The whole thing goes for $14.95 a month.
All in all, it feels a little like TV Land for games...and the TV-like atmosphere is appropriate, since GameTap is a service of Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting System. Despite the simplicity of most of the games, the packaging has a big-budget feel to it, and
it's going to be heavily promoted.
GameTap's 300 titles include scads of legendary games, from Space Invaders to Pac-Man to Zork to Sonic the Hedgehog to MYST, as well as many, many obscure ones. (Of course, no game that you once were gaga over deserves to be obscure, and I bet a lot of folks will rediscover lost loves here.) There are plenty of offerings from both the 1980s and 1990s, and the newest games really are pretty new: I saw one with a 2003 copyright.
All in all, it's an impressive roster, although there are holes (I didn't see arcade masterpieces Frogger, Ms. Pacman, Tempest, and Q*Bert, and the whole Nintendo library, unsurprisingly, is AWOL). GameTap says that even more games are on the way.
How's the gaming experience? For a service that aims to recreate games that ran on archaic hardware, GameTap requires a fair amount of oomph, including a broadband connection, 5GB of available disk space, and a decent graphics card. Downloading, installing and configuring the software went slowly, but once I was up and running, my jaw dropped as I saw just how much stuff there was to explore.
And the recreations of the games I've tried so far have been...mostly pretty good. I don't know anything about GameTap's technical underpinnings, but the games seem to be emulated, so the graphics, soundtracks, and gameplay are all intact. The games I played were ever so slightly blurry, maybe because the GameTap software seems to run everything at a resolution of 800 by 600, and that's not the native resolution of my LCD display. It's not a serious problem, but it does intrude a tiny bit on the uncanny recreation of gameplay past.
Of the really old games I revisited, only one was a disappointment: In Centipede, input was sometimes sluggish. (Maybe my trackball needs cleaning.) And a newer game, Tomb Raider Chronicles, just wouldn't run--I could download it, but nothing happened when I tried to launch it. It's possible that my four-year-old Athlon XP machine just isn't up to handling that title.
GameTap is, very much, a service--you've got to download games before you can play them. Early arcade titles were ready to play in half a minute or less, but newer games may take a long time to download (
Tomb Raider Chronicles took about 25 minutes when I tried). You can download in the background and leave games cached on your PC for fast access later.
I'll be curious to see how GameTap fares in the marketplace. Like I said, there are lots of cheap and simple ways to play major titles from dawn of computer gaming--if all you hanker for is a game of Galaga, you don't need to commit yourself to GameTap and its monthly fee. Who are the most obvious candidates to sign up? Folks who pine for a
lot of old games, or who like old-school gaming so much that they'd like to discover titles they never knew about in the first place. In either case, they'd have to believe that this motherlode of old titles is worth $180 a year.
GameTap offers a 2-week free trial (you've got to supply a credit card number and cancel to avoid being charged). I'm in the midst of my trial now, and I'm having lots of fun--but my guess is that I'll cancel once the fee starts. To me, at least, a primitive game that I loved in 1978 or 1981 or 1985 is a gem...but a primitive game that I didn't play back then is, most often, just a primitive game. And in the ever-morphing world of computer games, almost anything that's more than a few years old does indeed look primitive.
You may feel differently. So might I, as GameTap's library of titles grows.
Herewith, some screens from GameTap (the titles shown betray which era of electronic gaming
I'm nostalgic about)...
Funny how there are those who expect people to pay for what is already free....
I agree. As much as I might like "retro" games, I am NOT paying fifteen bucks A MONTH for the privilege. There are less expensive ways to do it. This is a ludicrous idea; not the gaming itself, but trying to rape people for it!
I feel the pretty much the smae way than those 2 previous post but when you think deeply about it, what we will have to do sometime in the future is seat down and decide what should be free and what shouldn-t. Because I myself feel sometimes that they (corporations if you want) are trying to rip off from me, but on the other hand this very same games wouldn-t exist if someone hadn-t been willing to pay for them in the first place.
I'm really curious as to how broad the library is. If they've got GI Joe and Knight Games from the Commodore I might be willing to sign up for a month just to recapture the nostalgia. Same with the old LucasArts or Sierra adventure games - though considering Vivendi's recent crackdown on fan games, I'd doubt the presence of Sierra games.
there are also newer games like beyond good and evil and the first 2 splinter cells
If you are a theif - everything is free. It is far and reasonable idea for honest people!
Ever notice how repetitive these "services" get to be sometimes? If these idiots want to make money, why can't they come up with an original product or service? I'm sick of reruns. There's already too many of those on TV for free. Would you pay to see a rerun of your favorite TV show? I think not (unless you like it so much that you buy the DVDs to watch it over and over again). This is true in many places. Hey Nintendo, newsflash: stop cloning old Mario games to new platforms just to make a quick buck! We've all beaten the crap out of Mario 64 already, why would we want to buy it and play it all over again on the DS? Good grief, get off your lazy butts and come up with something original.
As for old PC games, I think there should be something in the laws that states that if a company no longer sells or supports software, the licensing restrictions have to be removed so it can be be used and copied freely without hindrance. For example, you think Microsoft gives a rip about DOS 6 or Windows 3.1 anymore? I can't tell you how many websites that try to support that classic software have gone down because some self-righteous idiot complained to MS's piracy department which made them obligated to take legal action. Microsoft doesn't offer any support whatsoever for DOS, and they certainly don't make any money on it since they don't sell it anymore, so what the heck is wrong with downloading a copy to refurbish an old 486 to play some classic games old-school style? Sometimes I think people take their software WAY too seriously.
I'm a thief if I already own the consoles and games? I shouldn't have to pay to play something on my PC that I already paid for, nor should I have to pay for software that no one sells anymore. These guys are trying to make a fast buck, and i'd bet the service isn't nearly as good as an emulator written by a college kid in his spare time.
Hey, I'm a game freak and I don't want to pay for the service to play old games like Final Fantasy Mystic Quest or Super Mario Brothers 1, 2, and 3, or Doctor Mario or Space Invadors.
But one thing: I'm not a thief. :)
Interesting idea, but too expensive. I might pay 5 bucks a month for this service, but $15/month ($180/year) WAY outstrips any interest I have in the games. Plus, no Nintendo games...great ghost of Yoshi that's lame!
You can play Root Beer Tapper at shockwave.com I, too think paying that much a month for retro games is stupid. I'm not even going to bother with the free trial.
Seems cool, but a little to expensive. I guess its the lazy man's way of getting the games. But most Lazy people don't have 15 doll hair's a month to spend. And who cares about being a thief, download music, steal satalite tv, sample the food bin, rip movies, do what ever it takes to save your money.
I'm on my free trial now, it's pretty cool. Still missing NES games as of now, but they have quite a selection of titles, 307 (to date) to be exact. It's an interesting concept, and may not be worth the $15 right now, but in time the library could grow.
I'm not going to beat around the bush i work for Gametap customer support and I know firsthand as a gamer myself that Gametap has alot of potential to be an excellent service.I hear alot of people on this site bashing Gametap you half to understand it has more to offer then just games which i agree need to be more aimed towards a hardcore gamer then a casual gamer.
Come on people who else has a mediaplex where you get behind the scenes footage of games you were dying to back in the day know about and you finnaly get to have your questions answered! GameTap also has comedic game skits. an info card about the game a gamevault that collects your favorite games right away so you dont spend any extra time searching for them.To be honest with you why purchase all the games you love for a system when you can play um right away on here. And there are so many other cool features on Gametap that arn't available on emulators.And you really half to understand the big picture in order to feel apart of Gametap. I look at it like this how can you really knock something if you wont even try it. Yes emulators rock yes it's cool to get free stuff but sometimes you get what you pay for and with tons of titles up to 5 every week and an expected close to 1,000 titles by christmas you really cant beat it. Just try it and see for yourself.
Why I Signed Up For GameTap
Mostly I was curious, but I've got to agree with Ray Barton above - it's not so much about what GameTap is now as it is what GameTap can become. I think we'd all agree that GT has just scratched the retrogame surface, and as a former owner of both an Atari 2600 and 5200, I view the current choices as a good sampling but hardly a main course.
While there's a big difference between $14.95 for 307 games, and $14.95 for 1000 games, I still believe a $9.95 pricepoint would be more palitable for Joe Gamer.
My single biggest complaint right now is download time. I wasn't prepared for the length of time Splinter Cell would take to load. Now that I know, I'm ready to load - then make and eat a snack while I'm waiting.
On my wish list for the service is multiplayer. Am I the only one who'd want to play realtime two player 24/7 with over 300 selections?
Nah, I didn't think so.
Those of you who don't need a parent's permission to use a credit card owe it to yourself to take advantage of the trial so you can make up your own mind.
First of all, Ray... as a representative of Gametap, your words reflect on Turner Broadcasting, Spellcheck is your friend. It's hard to take you serious when you spell like a 4th grader.
Now as far as Gametap the service, i personally subscribed a few days ago when i saw a commercial on tv advertising the new service. I would most deffinetely call myself a hardcore gamer, and i love nostalgic games just as much as the next person, but it would have to take quite an impressive game library and the guarentee of monthly or so updates to that librabry to constitute the cost of $15 per month. In the 3 days that i've had the service, i have already played all the games im interested in to the point where im no longer interested.
Attempting to retain a recurring billing cycle per customer on games that are severly outdated in graphics, gameplay, storyline as well as other aspects is going to prove very difficult. But i think it's still a bit early to make the call whether this will be succesfull or not. Time will tell.
Turner, lock in NES games and update your game library to hold about 1000-1500 games and you might stand a chance at charging $7.99 - $10.00 monthly... Your competing with Yahoo Games On Demand, Game xStream and a ton of other G.O.D. service providers.
Gamefly, gaming's answer to Netflix, costs over 20 dollars per month.
Gametap offers far fewer modern titles, but promises to offer a vast array of classic titles, and costs at least five dollars less.
Seems to me, this would be a rather fair price point. Although 10 dollars would be more fair, given that you have to spend time downloading games.
Gametap will never carry Playstation, Nintendo or Xbox titles. This means Gametap will not carry 98% of console games from the past 10+ years. Imagine a subscription music service that did not carry 98% of the music from the last 10 years. What if Gametap were a new cable channel launching without access to 98% of all movie and series content. Gametap is a feathered fish. Casual gamers will always play for free, and there's nothing beyond a trial period curiousity visit to retain hardcore gamers. It's like launching an AOL service after everyone has figured out they don't need AOL to use the internet. I'm not saying they won't make money. If they're operating costs are low enough, they might get by with the revolving door of subscribers. I'm saying that they won't establish a long term relationship with individual customers. I'd bet the average subscription is 2-3 months. You can make alot of money if lots of people join for a couple of months. Trouble is how do you grow this business? Nobody pays $15 a month for extras like behind the scenes footage and comedy vignettes.
I have been playing Gametap for about four days now, and am extremely disappointed at the lack of certain titles. I was pleasantly surprised at the inclusion of two Space Quest games, and Willy Beamish. If they get more of these titles, and make them work with my system consistently I will pay the price. However, they have not yet managed this feat, and if my system continues to crash daily, then I will will take my chances with my own copies of such rare gems, and pitch the fancy nonsense.
Hi Amy,
We are adding new games every week. Hopefully there are more Space Quest games coming.
If your system is crashing, try calling customer service at 1-866-722-5295 and a rep can walk you through diagnosis the problems.
Are there other titles you want to see?
Thanks!
::;waving:::
Mary
GameTap
I'd like to see the games I played on the Atari 400/800 8-bit computers. Like Caverns of Mars or Galahad and the Holy Grail. Even the original Castle Wolfenstein would be nice. The $$ will keep me from subscribing, but I'll take the free 2 weeks!.
IF they get 1000+ titles and IF they drop the monthly price to <$10, then I might join. Otherwise, it is too costly and too few titles to be worth it to me.
really... there are sites out there that you can download these games... if you don't like gametap... find another program or make your own!
Whats interesting about this service is the guys behind the scenes offering tech support. There are quite a few of them in top notch facilities. A competitive wage is paid as well to those guys. Now a service that expects to fail in the first year doesnt staff tech support centers with techs to take the calls.
Consider the $$ going into paying these guys to be on call 24/7 as well as the advertising costs. I for one would love to see more old pc titles from the 90s like Dark Forces, Doom, Wing Commander, Command & Conquer etc. Anyone who plays a MMO like WoW or EQ pays about $15 a month to do so - this service isnt that different in pricing.
Didn't Nintendo say something about releasing all their old games (or the ability to download and play them I should say) on the Revolution? I don't think Nintendo would sign over any of it's titles if this was the case, as they could lose a major selling point in the battle of the next gen consoles.
Dont forget that Eidos Interactive released a couple of Final Fantasy for PC......who has the rights to those for release on gametap? I do remember they were not too PC friendly. Im currently enjoying GameTap but their Tech support is a bit on the "I dont know anything but can I put you on hold" and their web page is a bit uninformative (no forum). The mediaplex is cool but the Atari poet is annoying. As few games they have meaning maybe 7-20 games may interest you, you would be better off buying the games for less than $15. But when they do get their 1000+ games it may be worth it. Theres nothing worse than downloading a game that doesnt work with no option to dump it unless you dump them all. That means losing all your saves on the games you do like!. I havent tried deleting game folders. Im gonna stick it out and see how it develops. I have been through many MMO's that have started out really really bad! Anyone remeber Anarchy Onlines release?
Something about media playing in the middle of a download that irks the hell out of me.
It's choppy and annoying.
The game center CONTINUES to download while you're playing the game(s). So the damn game ends up with choppy sound.
They have a LONG ways to go with this product before it's worthy of the unwashed masses.
I can't get this game to load after it was installed. I keep getting message "failed to bootstrap catalogue. I have done everything including disabling the xp firewall. I talked to two people at tech support. The provided no help.
I would be on this site every spare minute I had but for me $15 a month is ridiculous!
This would be my idea of payment structure...
Pay 19.95 a year to have access to any 10 games of your choosing then if you want to add a game to your gametap 10 then you pay $4.95 each... THEY CAN'T LOSE WITH THAT IDEA!!
For those of you who like Gametap, go for it. Me, I've had nothing but really bad experiences with it basically. Console Classix gives you Atari 2600 and NES games free. 5$ monthly gets you that plus Genesis, SNES, and Gameboy with games added averyday. Or try Console Land and pay a one time fee to play NES,SNES,N64,Genesis, and Neo Geo. Prices range from 6$ to 40% depending what package you buy. I use Console Classix personally and love it, have had trouble with Console Land's site tho:(
Just found out today that Gametap just lowered their price to 9.95 a month. I'm sure there are more than one reason to this as stated before. With tech probs, software bugs, maybe just too many people complaining about the price, who knows. Just puttin that out there. They also have an option now where you can download a free,"limited" as they call it, demo version of Gametap if you decide to back out of registering an account at the last minute. I have tried it but can't get it to run on my XP tho
sorry bout the typos ;p
guess i should stick to the music thingy hehe
I just signed up tonight - tried to play Myst - crashed the computer. Restarted - tried a simpler game like Galaga - crashed. Ok, forget it. Uninstalled the program, but then I had to call to cancel so they wouldn't just start charging my credit card in two weeks (already got burned on one of THOSE scams by freecreditreport.com)...anyway, guess what? - can't get through on the phones! So I went thru their online chat - oops...they're not allowed to cancel the accounts, sorry - gotta use the phone. I was on hold with the most obnoxious earsplitting music for 33 minutes before someone finally came on the line. This is DEFINITELY a scam now - they're trying to make it nearly impossible to cancel. DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE!
I have deep doubts that you were placed on hold for "33 minutes". Did you have a timer - or did you go by the standard "One Mississippi - two mississippi..." method?
Secondly, you did take the time to check the hours that the customer service line is open, correct?
Before throwing around "OMG SCAM!11", perhaps you should check these things out?
Also - note the subtle difference between "scam" and "reoccuring billing after trial period". You would have seen this in the EULA you agreed to before you signed up.
kthx.
I'm ok with playing games from 2000 on. Mainly the window's strategy titles like Heros of Might and Magic 4 or Homeworld 2. And sorry but you won't find full game versions with expansions out there that are free and legal. So 9.95 a month to play quite a number of windows titles I missed and actually get the full game and not some demo is not bad.
Installed pretty easily, but slight problem with starting, customer service took a long time to get on the phone but the guy was extremely helpful and very nice.
I like mountain of games they offer and they are still adding and I like the ease of how my gravis controller immediately worked. I'm not to fond of the new music section but thats ok. I think this is definitely something to check out if nostalgia is your hobbie. Other than the complaint of the "evil corporation" cliche of those who want everything for free, and think they are being mind controlled, reviews for those have tried it for an enjoyable experience are good.