A few days ago, superstar editor and sometimes gastrointestinal specialist Aaron Linde said to me, "You know, I want to check out Myst Online: Uru Live and Gametap is having an introductory special where the first month is 99 cents." I am a longtime Myst fan myself and even have been caught listening to the Riven soundtrack on occasion (translation: constantly), so this piqued my interest equally. Not to mention, it's cheaper than crack. So it was then that we decided to forage bravely forward and waved our crisp George Washingtons in the air with wild abandon.
Hit the jump to see where our adventures lead us.
We explored Uru's mysterious landscapes for many hours and discovered it had many ups and downs, but overall we both liked the experience enough to try again. For those of you curious about the Uru experience, you can expect a more in depth synopsis later this week courtesy of Mr. Linde. It was a few hours later when we decided to take a break from Uru and start nosing around Gametap itself that we started to shit our figurative pants, so to speak.
I knew to expect games like Sam and Max and the rest of the Myst series. What neither of us knew was the eccentric selection of other games we would have to pick from for our downloading pleasure. I uttered shrieks of delight over such jewels as Leather Goddesses of Phobos and Zork III, which I hadn't touched since I'd been about 7 years old. Gametap has everything from Intellivision to the Sega Master System. When the Virtual Console was first released, it was something like this that I envisioned, not a roleplaying game with myself as a dog while Nintendo threw me copies of Ice Climber.
On the downside, Gametap's multiplayer for older games suffers the same disease that prevents the Virtual Console from incorporating online multiplayer. Basically the platform assigns two player control over a network protocol and desperately hopes that the games sync up. As we all know, sometimes wanting something just isn't enough to keep hope alive. Our attempt at Bubble Bobble yielded laggy play and laggier music. I know the soundtrack isn't exactly Wagnerian Opera, but it's kind of unnerving to listen to the bleeps all chopped up and out of order, no?
So all this thoughtful research merely begs the question: Is it worth the monthly fee? I suppose you'll have to decide for yourself, but whether or not Gametap will win you over depends on what type of gamer you are in the first place. For gamers like Aaron and myself, having all these old school titles at our disposal is cause for an immediate money shot. Aaron, I guess you could fire it and I could live vicariously though you? On the other hand, the NES and Dreamcast categories are begging for more entries. I could go for some Maniac Mansion action, and for the love of all that is holy, will someone PLEASE put Nights into Dreams on one of these virtual services so I don't have to buy the Sega Saturn for one game?
If you're already a part of the Gametap crew and want to run with the robots, toss your username in the comments and we'll add you and stomp on you Gradius style.
Want to stalk me on GameTap?
Hit me up.
GameTap Username: Sayonara
URU Live Username: Sayonara
I will join you as soon as they realize that Mac pwnz.
Yeah, Gametap is great. Especially for some old school gaming. Timber, root beer tapper oh man. I had trouble with games not playing but their customer service was top notch. They gave me an extra month for free just for the trouble. Look for Broktune on the leaderboards of some of those games...that's me :)
GameTap: Taifusu
Uru Live: Tiefooz
Also, everybody: the official Dtoid neighborhood for Uru Live is mine, publicly operated and labeled "Tiefooz's Neighborhood". Until we can rename it DTOID HOODZ or somesuch, that's the official place.
So delete your Hood books and Nexus to ours so we can all go Age explorin' together.
That message is geared toward anyone in the community. I guarantee that there isn't a single person out there that can best me in a multiplayer Galaga lag-fest. Heh.
But seriously, anyone can add me. Drop me a line. :)
The only issue I'd have with a service like GameTap is that I want to actually own the games, not just pay to rent all of them. Oh well.
*Accepts Mike's Galaga challenge*
I think Gametap would be better if with each rental you got sent a piece of junk food was included just to make sure your ass becomes astronomically huge from playing game after game after game. If I had this service I wouldn't leave the house....
Santa?
oh golly!
Welcome to 50% of America folks.
@aetsen
lmfao
I can also make the games.
hellloo
Gametap: warchiefgrim
Just the other day I was wondering if anyone else had gametap.
Sudoko is a renowned game.Can it be included?
Sudoko is a renowned game.Can it be included?
Sudoko is a renowned game.Can it be included?
Who needs gametap when you could download games from the ps3?
Apply directly to the forehead?
"superstar editor"
DONT KNOW ABOUT THAT :)
Gametap sounds great, but my home "pc" is a macbook and I can't get away with it at work.
To their credit, gametap site does say that they're "working" on mac compatitbility. So I can't wait to sign up next decade!
dude just install bootcamp on your macbook. it's easy as hell. I barely use my mac partition. and Dick J. Coleman needs to keep it in his pants
Bahamut: Thank you. I'm an idiot.
Truth is, I figured that I could do this, but never really looked into it too hard. I spend enough time on my 360 as it is.
Of course now it doesn't seem like I have much choice. The girlfriend is going to love this.
it is a renowned game.
it is a renowned game.
Damn you bastards! I've been wanting a reason to play Uru... and now I have it... GRRRRR
:) Anyway I'll hopefully see some of you folks tonight!
Gametap id: Mxyzptlk (surprised?)
Gametap is awesome, especially for only $10 a month. Besides the tons of games, there's some pretty cool video content on there... and some pretty suck stuff too. I haven't actually noticed much lag with the challenge games myself so far. I've been meaning to check out Uru Live, now I have a good excuse too. See you guys on there.
Times of india has provided the reward to the winners of sudoku recently.
Times of india has provided the reward to the winners of sudoku recently.
Times of india has provided the reward to the winners of sudoku recently.
Times of india has provided the reward to the winners of sudoku recently.
GameTap is a great value and I'm glad other people are checking it out.
BTW, for all of you current members, there is a new GameTap message board at http://www.gametappers.net.
Umm say is the hood still public because I can't seem to find it...
Gametap: Dorock
Uru: Dorock