OK, so
Gametap itself is not necessarily new, but after exhausting myself with all my current games, I gave in and checked it out. I'm currently in Gametap's first two week freebie period and I must say, I'm impressed. I went to Target and picked up
Logitech Precision controller for 10 bucks and the gaming was on. I started with a little Altered Beast and moved into Burger Time and so on. All the games are faithfully ported and respond well. From Street Fighter to Splinter Cell to Beyond Good and Evil, the games played completely identicaly to the original versions and were easy to move to and from. Hit the green meanie for more info...
The interface, shown above in beta status, moved fluidly and was extremely easy to work with. The downloads didn't take long at all and I was playing through all my old games like Kid Chameleon and one of my all-time favorites (that I now apparently suck at) Eternal Champions in no time. The list goes on for what seems like an eternity with over 500 games to play. Granted, they are older games, but the games chosen are fun and easy to pick up. It's essentially a home arcade to play between serious gaming and everything else... If you can still appreciate old school with a pinch of new school in the interface, this is certainly for you.
The systems supported are 32X, Arcade, Atari 2600, Commodore 64, DOS, Dreamcast, Game Gear, Genesis, Intellivision, Sega Master System, Neo Geo, SG-1000(?), and Windows. I'm sure more systems will come as they get older, but there is already quite a choice. Now I'm probably not going to get into the Atari 2600, SG-1000, or Intellivison games, but that's certainly a small percentage in the big picture.
What I see mostly in Gametap is an entity that shows the future of gaming. Fileplanet already provides Direct 2 Drive downloads of new games, but soon, I'm sure, an interface similar to Gametap's will surface providing new games. The possibilities are endless. Each company could have their own interface and shoot it straight to you with no wait and the easy option of demo play and/or a subscription system to play any of the games... While I think this could become unhealthy, I'm sure something like this is already in the works...
Contest:
8:02 AM on 07.22.2006
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