gametap posts

As 2010 draws to a close, we look back and marvel at how far PC gaming has come over the past decade. The start of the new millennium brought technology and trends that will resonate for years to come. So we take this opportunity to examine some of those technology trends and see how they might grow over or fizzle out over the next ten years. Here are our predictions of what PC gaming might look like in 2020.

Earlier this week, our sister site Joystiq reported that GameTap, the PC download-subscription based service, was not closing down its US operations. As it turns out that's just partially true. Joystiq is now reporting that GameTap is in fact closing its Atlanta offices where its "technical and support team" is located. The shut down, according to a company rep, is expected to happen by the end of October. GameTap's tech operations will now be based in France, the home of the company's parent Metaboli which purchased GameTap in 2008. There's no word on how many people will be affected by the closing of the Atlanta office.

GameTap is preparing to launch a new tech update by the end of the month that will add a new download technology to the service. It also has plans to hire 10 people to its San Francisco offices in order to "strengthen [GameTap's] presence with major U.S. partners, distributors or publishers." GameTap also plans to offer a wider range of more recent PC games to its service.

It looks like users of the GameTap PC game subscription-download service have been having some issues getting some of the service's library of titles to download correctly. Posts on the GameTap message boards have stated that a "Error 4100" message pops up when certain games are downloaded.

Our sister site Joystiq contacted GameTap and a rep for the company told them the issues were due to the fact that the games in question use technology "that is no longer in use when packaging new games". It added, "We have also started during the summer to upgrade our back catalog with the new technology." That process should be completed by the end of this month. Some speculated that the tech issues were due to a possible shut down of GameTap but the company rep denied this, stating "We are not ceasing our operations in the US."

It's been a few weeks since we have mentioned GameTap's new updates but the subscription-download PC game service has been busy adding titles. This month they have put in two first person shooter games from publisher Ubisoft. One of them is Rainbow Six Vegas, a game that GameTap has been planning to add for quite some time but has held off due to technical issues.

The other Ubisoft FPS is the more recent Far Cry 2, the 2008 open world themed shooter. Both titles can now be played in full when you subscribe to GameTap's monthly service. Unfortunately it looks like GameTap has suspended its weekly free game schedule at least for now.

As they did during the Thanksgiving holiday, the GameTap PC game subscription service has decided to activate an update early in the week before Christmas. This week subscribers to the service's premium tier can add Civilization IV: Colonization to the games available to play for free via a monthly fee.

The game itself, released in 2008, is a kind of stand alone mod for the Firaxis-developed strategy game focusing on the colonization of the New World. Also, GameTap's free title is still Rogue Trooper. Anyone who signs on can play that Rebellion-developed action title on their free portion of the subscription service.

Today was a fairly slow day in terms of new PC game sales:

• Direct2Drive posted up their latest one day sale today. From now until 1 pm Eastern time on Friday you can download and purchase Resident Evil 5 for just $24.95, a 50 percent price cut from its normal price. They have also discounted Borderlands for one day only; you can grab it for just $32.95.
• GameTap has put three recent EA games (Dragon Age: Origins, Need For Speed Shift and The Sims 3) on sale for $39.99 each, a 20 percent cut from their normal price. They have also added the RTS game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade to its list of games available via its paid subscription service.

The GameTap download subscription PC game site has put up its weekly update and has added a new casual game, 4 Elements, to its paid subscription line-up. Which is nice, we guess, except that GameTap had planned to add Rainbow Six: Vegas this week. However technical issues prevented that from happening so we will have to wait another week. However, they did add Rebellion's action game Rogue Trooper to their free subscription plan. Players can check that game out for the next week.

In related news, GameTap's blog site has posted word they will be removing a number of Lego-based PC games from their roster on December 17. However the site hinted that new Lego-based games will be added to GameTap in the near future.

After updating its site early last week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, GameTap has now resumed its regular time period for adding new games to its paid subscription service. This week the site has added Rollercoaster Tycoon III, the 2004 released amusement pack sim game from Atari. GameTap has the Platinum version of the title; it contains the original game as well as its two expansion packs, Soaked and Wild.

In addition, GameTap continues to add more 64-bit supported games to the service. The latest is the original Fallout RPG from Interplay. Finally you still have a few more days to play the original Just Cause for free on GameTap.

We know that Black Friday is the most important shopping day of the year. Excellent discount prices on all sorts of merchandise intended as Christmas gifts is the tradition of the day. We also know that it can be a little intimidating for new or inexperienced PC users to decide between the different digital distribution (and community) platforms. We certainly were when we first heard about all the different services available. However, we've evaluated these services, from those that can barely be called such a thing to the juggernauts that dominate the industry, and all of our research has been compiled it all into this comprehensive, handy-dandy guide. You may not know what game to get your friend for Christmas, but you'll definitely know where to buy it!

Those looking for a quick guide to the services covered and what we thought of important features, check out our downloadable chart!

The PC game subscription-download site GameTap is updating their site a little earlier than normal this week thanks to the US Thanksgiving holiday. This week the service has added the recently released island dictator sim game Tropico 3 to its paid subscription game line-up which means that folks who pay the monthly fee can be an oppresive island leader for as long as they like.

On a related side note, GameTap also has the full version of Infinity Ward's first person shooter Modern Warfare 2 available to purchase and download for $60. You may remember that other PC game download sites like Direct2Drive, GamersGate and Impulse have refused to offer the game for download from their services because of their objections to the game's required use of Steam to play. Apparently, GameTap doesn't share their concerns.