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Gametap is cheap and easy, like a good whore should be photo

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. 

 








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Colette Bennett is a Destructoid features editor from New Orleans, Louisiana. She is also a founding member of Destructoid's sister sites Tomopop, a toy lover's blog and Japanator, our anime site. Likes Nintendo DS, NES, Silent Hill series, Rhythm games, RPGs Meet the rest of the team



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34 comments | showing # 1 to 34
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Savant's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 00:11
Savant
Want to stalk me on GameTap?

Hit me up.

GameTap Username: Sayonara
URU Live Username: Sayonara
Topher Cantler's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 00:11
Topher Cantler
I will join you as soon as they realize that Mac pwnz.
broham's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 00:13
broham
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 :)
Aaron Linde's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 00:14
Aaron Linde
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.
Savant's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 00:15
Savant
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. :)
Bob Muir's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 00:27
Bob Muir
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.
Topher Cantler's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 00:28
Topher Cantler
*Accepts Mike's Galaga challenge*
bleep's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 00:55
bleep
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....
Aetsen's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 01:11
Aetsen
Santa?
lAboMbA's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 01:35
lAboMbA
oh golly!
Milofo's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 02:41
Milofo
Welcome to 50% of America folks.
ta0cha0s's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 03:02
ta0cha0s
@aetsen
lmfao
guykendall22supernerdiocom's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 04:43
guykendall22supernerdiocom
I can also make the games.
Jordan Devore's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 05:52
Jordan Devore
Gametap: warchiefgrim

Just the other day I was wondering if anyone else had gametap.
richardjcoleman's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 06:10
richardjcoleman
Sudoko is a renowned game.Can it be included?
richardjcoleman's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 06:55
richardjcoleman
Sudoko is a renowned game.Can it be included?
richardjcoleman's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 06:58
richardjcoleman
Sudoko is a renowned game.Can it be included?
Snaileb 's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 07:40
Snaileb
Who needs gametap when you could download games from the ps3?
Detry's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 07:43
Detry
Apply directly to the forehead?
JamesSorensen's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 08:50
JamesSorensen
"superstar editor"

DONT KNOW ABOUT THAT :)
KilgoreTrout XL's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 09:00
KilgoreTrout XL
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!
BahamutZero's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 09:06
BahamutZero
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
KilgoreTrout XL's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 09:10
KilgoreTrout XL
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.
kashagamble's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 09:19
kashagamble
it is a renowned game.
kashagamble's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 09:19
kashagamble
it is a renowned game.
dorock's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 09:41
dorock
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!
Aaron Mxy Yost's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/22/2007 13:47
Aaron Mxy Yost
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.
michellekhan's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/23/2007 07:41
michellekhan
Times of india has provided the reward to the winners of sudoku recently.
michellekhan's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/23/2007 07:48
michellekhan
Times of india has provided the reward to the winners of sudoku recently.
michellekhan's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/23/2007 07:56
michellekhan
Times of india has provided the reward to the winners of sudoku recently.
michellekhan's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/23/2007 07:56
michellekhan
Times of india has provided the reward to the winners of sudoku recently.
Legolas813's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/23/2007 14:10
Legolas813
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.
dorock's Avatar - Comment posted on 02/23/2007 19:50
dorock
Umm say is the hood still public because I can't seem to find it...

Gametap: Dorock
Uru: Dorock
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