GameTap: No Go (for me)
June 14th, 2008 Posted in GamesI checked out GameTap last night, pretty much straight after I finished that post. Turns out it’s pretty much XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade) for a PC. Of course, it doesn’t have the same games and is not produced by Microsoft, but it’s the same principle. Download games that you can play on that platform. And they aren’t crappy games that nobody knows, either. Deus Ex is actually available, as is Sam and Max (strangely only Episode 4… What about 1-3?). So it’s a nicely implemented idea. I decided to look further into it.
There are two subscription options — Green and Gold. Sounds good for Aussies? Well, it’s not. Green is the free subscription, with access to only about 10% of the games (although it’s not necessarily 10%, it just happens to be about that much by chance). Deus Ex and Sam and Max are actually two of the free games available. Just download the GameTap platform, choose your game, and away you go! Or so it would seem.
Gold is the fee-based subscription. And is only available for North America and Canada. Sad Panda. As far as I understand, American McGee’s Grimm will be available only to Gold subscribers (although it will likely eventually be opened up to Green subscribers, is my bet — one at a time, probably, which may explain why only Ep4 is available for Sam and Max). Subscription is on a monthly or yearly basis, I think yearly was US$59.95, but I have forgotten, due to my depression… Sigh. The site suggests that they are working on offering Gold subscription internationally, but there’s been no news on that front in about a year. Lame. Means the rest of the world misses out on the Grimm-meister. Will cry, if that is the case. Well, I’ll be a little sad, at least.
Anyway, stiff upper lip. Thought, bugger it, I would try the Green subscription, and see what the service is like, as the Green subscription is available to anybody, worldwide (although not all the games are available in every locale). So I spent the time, downloaded the platform, started installing… and was prompted by an error. My puty lacks the minimum requirement of a video card that doesn’t suck anus(es). So please, feel sorry for me, as my secret is out. I may play a lot of games, but my PC is a pathetic little bi-atch. Such is life. Looking forward to trying out GameTap and Grimm in a years time, when I finally have a puty that works!
Jerks. Laugh it up.
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