Calling All Joystick Junkies!

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GameTap.com is Turner Broadcasting's first-of-its-kind, broadband gaming network. It's where new school meets old school with a dash of original, exclusive titles to boot, via your broadband connected PC. GameTap launched on 10/17/05 with a galaxy of 1000 arcade, console and PC game titles (300 titles from the 1000 will be available and rotated on a monthly basis) under license, so there is sure to be a game fix for all of you joystick junkies.

Old School Examples:

  • Asteroids
  • Centipede
  • Dig Dug
  • Galaga
  • Joust
  • Pac-Man
  • Defender
  • Burgertime

New School Examples:

  • Tomb Raider Chronicles
  • Splinter Cell
  • Panzer General
  • Conquest: Frontier Wars

GameTap is definitely not your garden variety online gaming service. For an affordable monthly fee of $14.95 you get unlimited access to every single game on the site. Game play is super realistic because you are able to use practically any USB based game controller to get involved in the action. Registered users can create up to seven sub-accounts. Customizable, these sub-accounts let multiple users share one account on a PC. GameTap is all about affordability and convenience. No more multiple gaming platforms to purchase. GameTap is like having all the greatest game consoles ever wired right into your PC. You'll play all the original versions– not cheap knockoffs – sized full-screen to fit your monitor. Titles will be available from the top game developers (Activision, Atari, Eidos Interactive, G-Mode, Intellivision Lives, Midway, Namco, SEGA, TAITO, Team 17, Ubisoft and Vivendi Universal Games) of today and yesterday. Much thought was put into this new service with a solid focus on customer service which is available via email, online chat or a toll free phone call. Just in time for the holidays, GameTap has made gift cards (one month and three months denominations) available for purchase.

To run the GameTap application, your system will need to meet the following minimum requirements:

  1. Broadband service: DSL, DSL light, or cable modem (minimum 384k)
  2. Windows 2000/XP
  3. Pentium IV or AMD Athlon 800MHz or better
  4. 256MB RAM
  5. 5GB available storage (for required application download)
  6. Video Card: 3D-capable video card with 32MB VRAM or greater
  7. DirectX 8.X and OpenGL 1.1

GameTap has made test driving this cool new service a breeze with their two week free trial. Just go to www.gametap.com follow the simple sign-up procedure and application download and let the gaming begin!

by John Kelley