GameTap Review

Gametap is pretty simple in concept. You go to the website, sign up, pay a small monthly fee, and play many, many games. The cool thing about this subscription is that it's completely online, unlike other game subscriptions that work through the mail.

The service was founded in 2005 by Turner Broadcasting System. At the time of this writing, the GameTap system has over 650 games available to play. There is a healthy mix or AAA titles, retro games, and a few developed by GameTap themselves.

Those of us who lost hours of our youth playing the old Atari or Commodore games while other kids were riding their bikes outside will find many of those old games available on this system. This is a great thing as we can now waste even more of our lives reliving the other lost hours of our lives. While the retro-games are certainly cool, there are also many newer titles available to play as well. Many of these are current AAA titles from new publishers.

While this system is certainly cool and pretty cheap compared to buying individual games, there are some current caveats. First, the service currently has an F rating by the Better Business Bureau of Atlanta. The reasons are mostly related to customer service and issues with cancellation policies. Luckily, these things are often correctable, but as of the time of this writing, they are outstanding and need to be addressed.

Another point of contention for certain users is that the system is Windows only, so Mac users can use this through bootcamp or similar software, but require Windows to run it. That sucks, but it's worth knowing going in.

All in all, we applaud the adoption of new media by a large old media company, and are watching this evolution closely. We'll be adding to this site as more information unfolds in the evolution of GameTap.

You can check out GameTap Here.

Some other notable reviews, although a bit older are here:

http://www.electronista.com/reviews/gametap.html

http://adultgamingenthusiasts.com/entry.php?95-Gametap-Review

http://forums.allgames.com/showthread.php?t=16566

Here's a link to the Better Business Bureau of Atlanta: (sorry GameTap, we love you, but please address these issues. We have to be fair and non-biased.)

http://www.bbb.org/atlanta/business-reviews/games-and-supplies/gametapcom-in-atlanta-ga-18000930