Rom rental service

[SirPoonga]

http://games.slashdot.org/games/05/09/27/1634240.shtml?tid=95&tid=10

since their main page is just marketting made to make you "signup" it is live.
http://www.gametap.com/launch/Home

[Howard_Casto]

While I think this is great and all, what worries me is the lack of specifics on how these games are presented.  Are they emulated or crappy re-works hacked to run on their system? Or even worse, are they running on a crappy flash/java/ect "online" emulator? What about input and display options?  Are we going to be able to play these games on our cabs?  How about on a simple television display?  Is the resolution even selectable?

If it's 14.95 a month, I'm assuming that it's one of those "rental" services similar to napster in that you can play all your want, but once yoru subscription is cancelled, everything goes away.  But if that's the case then why the heck do the system requirements ask for 5 gigs of harddrive space?  Think about it, how many classic games do you know of that use more than maybe 5 megs of space?


If your wondering why I don't just sign up and find out for myself, note their help page and the utter lack of any info on how to unsubscribe.


Somebody get me that data and I'll be willing to be byoac's "lab rat" for the service. 

[Howard_Casto]

Just did some more research...... apparently snk, nintendo, midway and capcom aren't willing to participate. 

So it's almost exclusively atari namco and sega games. (and a few pc games, usually by teh same manufacturers)  And all of the atari games appear to be 2600 games.  The arcade games they show in their promo are nowhere to be found. 


If this service had come out about 2 years ago it would have been great, unfortunately, on the verge of the release of the nintendo revolution, nintendo is gobbling up every classic property they can find.  This means your donkey kong, your crusin usa, your street fighter and even your mortal kombat are going to be on the revolution and probably not on this service. 

[2600]

How do I cancel my GameTap subscription for the trial period I am currently in?

To cancel a subscription, please contact GameTap Customer Support at 1-866-722-5295 during the hours of 10am to 3am EST.

You may be asked to provide the primary account holder's screen name and the last four digits of the credit card used to register the account.

Lab rat away.  Let us know how the presentation is.

Some info in the Help.  They require a broadband connection, I imagine you have to be on to play.  Some Taito games as well.  Good selection for a first start.  Sega Consoles, Arcade, Atari.  Definitely emulated. 

Remember, the Revolution is only going to have classics from Nintendo's Console, which definitely perks my intrest and isn't a bad thing.

[SirPoonga]

So it's almost exclusively atari namco and sega games. (and a few pc games, usually by teh same manufacturers)  And all of the atari games appear to be 2600 games.  The arcade games they show in their promo are nowhere to be found. 

Are you not look at the list of games
http://www.gametap.com/launch/game_titles/index.html
I see asteroids for both 2600 and arcade.  They are the usual atari and midway titles.

[RayB]

I noticed Namco and Taito titles in there too. That's good.

While I have not tried this, and many are skeptical about a ROM service, there can definitely be an advantage to a commercial service.

For example, an end to "version" problems where you need to use complicated freeware programs to convert rom sets. In a commercial service, you should be able to click a compatibility option and Presto, you get the ROM that works with the emulator you want.

But like I said, there is no guarantee GameTap or any other rom service would go to this length. (They should, but I don't know if they will).

[Howard_Casto]

Lab rat away.

[SirPoonga]

Now that I see the cancellation policy, I'm skeptical about trying it.  11 to 3 is a small window and it's an 866 number. I probably will it's just I don't like subscription plans that don't allow you to cancel online as the call-in ones always find a way to cheat you out of a few bucks. 

866 is toll free
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/tollfree.html

[Crazy Cooter]

http://www.gametap.com/launch/how_gametap_works.html
"Console games, PC games, even arcade games. GameTap plays them all; the original games

[Howard_Casto]

I saw that quote and promptly ignored it.  Ever looked at the promo material for those jakks tv games?  They say roughly the same thing, and as we all know those games definately are NOT direct dumps. 

[RayB]

You know what guys... I seriously doubt they use ROMs and an emulator. At least not in the normal sense we are accustomed to. I would bet money that they created a unique EXE for each and every arcade game (ROM + Emulator built into one file).

[SirPoonga]

Of coarse that is what they did, ever have Microsoft Arcade.  That's all those games are.

[2600]

You know what guys... I seriously doubt they use ROMs and an emulator. At least not in the normal sense we are accustomed to. I would bet money that they created a unique EXE for each and every arcade game (ROM + Emulator built into one file).

Oh, that's to be expected unless they are just dumb and insecure, although I imagine the packaging is a bit different then how you imply.  When I say ROMs and emulation I just mean that they are using the actual game data and obviousily emulating that.  When they say Arcade or Genesis version I expect that version of the game.

[Crazy Cooter]

The easiest way would be to use emu's & the actual ROM images.  If I were them, that's how I'd do it.

[SirPoonga]

Not if they want to have the subscription end.  It'd be easier for have emu and rom as one exe.  It's been done before.  Look at microsoft Arcade and That Atari collection with tempest and asteroids.

[RayB]

+ a little encryption....

[Crazy Cooter]

[hypothesis]
So would the exe "expire" then?  If you wanted to play the next 30 days you'd have to redownload the key for it?  That would explain the 5 gig req.  Only the key would need to be downloaded each time.
[/hypothesis]

[Howard_Casto]

I'm guessing it's more like a 5 gi buffer. The roms they offer don't take up a lot of space, but some of the pc games are anywhere from 500 megs to a gig or two. 

I would say that the interface itself decides what stays on your harddrive and what gets overwritten based on how often the games are played. 

[rampy]

looks like it's opening up today...  might be worth the 2 week free trial to scope it out, eh?

*shrug*

[SirPoonga]

It's been open for awhile.  Their site is stupid.  The main site makes it look like it isn;t ready and you can join the newsletter to let oyu know it is ready.  Then you get hte newletters saying it's released.

[Abomination]

Why not just use www.consoleclassix.com.  Ive been with them forever now so I can play games while at work.  I love it.