What do you think of Gametap?

[Lacan]

I think its cool to play all the retro games legally, except that I can't keep paying 15 dollars a month on it. Oh well at least I got the Atari 80 game PC CD disk and the Taito Legends 1, plus other classic collections.

[dalton4life]

I think it's a cool concept for the general public, but it's a bit a hard sell IMO to those who have been doing emulation on their PCs for years for free albeit not legally. No one's really cared about the legality of emulating old games because no one was selling them until now.

[Artlover]

No one's really cared about the legality of emulating old games because no one was selling them until now.

1003520[/snapback]

Oddly because they see so many people into emulation that they realised there was money to be made. Shame they seem to be over estimating how much. $15 a month for what they offer is, dare I say it, pathetic.

[jetset]

For $15 a month, within half a year you could just buy those older systems, plus a ton of games and play them whenever you wanted.

[Dones]

People pay as much or more on online fees for a single MMORPG.

[Hydian]

The difference is that MMORPGs aren't playable without the monthly fees. The games offered on gametap are.

 

I'm sure that gametap will appeal to those people who have no idea that the classic games are still easily obtainable or that don't want to bother. There are plenty of those people out there. That said, $15 a month is high for what you get and I doubt most people would pay that much.

[davepesc]

I think $15 is a reasonable price, but I would need a lot more content to make me even consider the service.

[sku_u]

It serves its purpose for people not in the know or don't want tons of old game systems lying around.

[MacbthPSW]

I'm intrigued by the technology/code behind it. I tried to get the free trial, but it stopped me, saying "USA Only!!!" or something.

 

A bunch of questions:

 

Anyone know what's happening behind the scenes?

 

Is there just a front-end client with a bunch of emulators built into it, that download disk images/roms from gametap on demand?

 

Any idea what C64 emulator they're using?

 

Are the disk images/ROMs stored on your hard drive somewhere so you could use them in other ways?

 

Do the C64 games have crack screens/intros on them like the images Tulip or whoever was trying to sell online a year or two ago? If not, I wonder where they got those images from?

[Room 34]

I would like to know more about how it's working, too, but there's no friggin' way I'd pay 1 cent for it much less $15. (Well, OK, I probably WOULD pay 1 cent for it, but let's be realistic.)

 

It's my assumption that it's strictly online, probably done via Flash or Java. Anyone here actually using it (or better yet, WORKING on it)?

 

*EDIT*

 

OK, I just took the 5 seconds to actually go to their site. I see you DO download an app. Of course, no Mac support. ("We're working on it." Whatever.)

 

I'm guessing you're running a customized emulator that doesn't actually download the ROMs to a file that's stored on your hard drive, but grabs the ROM over the Internet (hence the need for a broadband connection) and just loads it into memory with no way of saving it to your disk.

 

I guess this is cool, in that it's legal. But it just doesn't seem cool ENOUGH to justify the price.

 

Besides -- isn't it still 100% legal to play ROMs in an emulator if you own a physical copy of the game?

Edited January 20, 2006 by Room 34

[J.Max]

I hate to say this, but unless they offer games that aren't already emulated, I don't see this thing succeeding. The hardcore gamer already knows about emulation, and likely has a lot more than what they are offering, and the casual won't pay that much. Plus, throw in the fact that the emulation isn't particularly good from what I understand, and this doesn't seem like a great deal. They have to provide something that is different or better than the emulators that are already out there, and they haven't done that yet.

 

Legal or not, the emulation scene has been around for more than 10 years now, and it's very difficult to fight against that kind of history.

[yuppicide]

I would never subscribe to Gametap and I hope it fails. I don't think it offers enough for the price it costs.

[Jess Ragan]

Thanks for the votes of confidence, guys.

 

JR

[Room 34]

OK, so clearly Jess you work for GameTap. (Having perused the other threads on the topic.)

 

Sorry man... still doesn't make it any better of a service. Making a legal way to play emulators is a good idea in principle, but this just seems like too much money for too little game (especially for us Mac users)!

Edited January 21, 2006 by Room 34

[Dones]

Some complained that $15 is too much for what they offer. Yet I see people gladly paying $35 for a Mega Man Collection for 15 or so games or about $20 for a Midway Classics Collection" (and those collections are emulated too). If paying $15 for a 100+ library is too much then there is a definite double standard here.

Edited January 21, 2006 by Dones

[Artlover]

Some complained that $15 is too much for what they offer. Yet I see people gladly paying $35 for a Mega Man Collection for 15 or so games or about $20 for a Midway Classics Collection" (and those collections are emulated too). If paying $15 for a 100+ library is too much then there is a definite double standard here.

1004156[/snapback]

You're not paying $20 EVERY MONTH for that Midway Classics Collection, or $35 EVERY MONTH for that Mega Man Collection.

 

Thats the difference.

[Flojomojo]

Some complained that $15 is too much for what they offer. Yet I see people gladly paying $35 for a Mega Man Collection for 15 or so games or about $20 for a Midway Classics Collection" (and those collections are emulated too). If paying $15 for a 100+ library is too much then there is a definite double standard here.

1004156[/snapback]

Not really. Gametap is a rental system. When you buy a collection on disc, you get to keep it forever.

 

It's way too much in my opinion, but would be a nice add-on to another subscription service. $15 per month = $180 per year just to play ROMs that could be downloaded illegally or purchased used on Ebay. A flat fee like $50 per year would be a better deal IMHO. Then again, maybe that's why I don't subscribe to fancy cable channels ...

[Dones]

Still people pay about the same or more for similar services. People gladly pay similar fees for MMORPG's and that's only a single game. For $15 you get a one-game at a time subscription at Gamefly.com and that's a rental service too.

[Artlover]

Still people pay about the same or more for similar services. People gladly pay similar fees for MMORPG's and that's only a single game. For $15 you get a one-game at a time subscription at Gamefly.com and that's a rental service too.

1004217[/snapback]

Dont ask me what I think of those people.

[Room 34]

Still people pay about the same or more for similar services. People gladly pay similar fees for MMORPG's and that's only a single game. For $15 you get a one-game at a time subscription at Gamefly.com and that's a rental service too.

1004217[/snapback]

Dont ask me what I think of those people.

1004219[/snapback]

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=81775&hl=

[Dones]

Dont ask me what I think of those people.

[Xizer]

I find Gametap to be entirely ridiculous, when you could just buy the originals. Or download them. For free.

[MacbthPSW]

I find Gametap to be entirely ridiculous, when you could just buy the originals. Or download them. For free.

In addition to games, you can also download music, books and movies for free - why buy anything?

[dalton4life]

I find Gametap to be entirely ridiculous, when you could just buy the originals. Or download them. For free.

In addition to games, you can also download music, books and movies for free - why buy anything?

1004394[/snapback]

 

One reason is many people like putting the media they buy on display whether it's books, music cds, dvds or video games. Many like actual materials that have packaging, art and maybe other extra. Itunes is an exception. On a side note I think most people who know how to download stuff they are somewhat interested in but have no passion for download it instead or buying or renting it. The good news for Gametap though is most people don't know anything about downloading emulators and ROMs.

[jetset]

I find Gametap to be entirely ridiculous, when you could just buy the originals. Or download them. For free.

In addition to games, you can also download music, books and movies for free - why buy anything?

1004394[/snapback]

 

Because owning the real thing is entirely different altogether than just downloading a file onto a computer.