Psychonauts on GameTap

If you haven't heard me ramble on about GameTap, the you probably haven't been paying attention. If you haven't heard of GameTap at all, then you need to check it out. Turner Broadcasting has, for more than a year, been serving up a great big heap of PC, emulated, and old skool gaming via a subscription game service. This month it shifted into high gear as they released version 3.0 of their client. And a whole new subscription plan.

This last year has been a big shift in GameTap. In October they opened their service to Canada. They have been serving up some of the best episodic gaming to hit the internet, by co-producing Sam & Max Season 1, and they continue to show a dedication to episodic gaming by having two more announced episodic games on the radar for the next year (Galactic Command & Grimm). They have revitalized the Myst Online community by giving it a legitimate home, and money to create new active content.

In the last month they released a free to play, ad-supported version of their service. You get access to GameTap TV, which is a variety of game news shows, short cartoons, and GameTap self-promotion, via your browser (for certain values of browser). While much of the content is throw-away, they do have the original Sam & Max animated series, and are going to be hosting the Re\Visioned Tomb Raider Animated Series. You can also download their Lite Client and get access to a small rotating selection of their game library. Free.

I've been constantly impressed by both the selection of games, and the commitment of the GameTap team to bringing new content to their users on a very regular basis. Every month they release at least 5 new games into the library. Some of them are old games. Some of them are classic games. Some of them are obscure games. And some of them are great games.

Just released: Psychonauts. It's not currently available to Lite Players, but it is there.

If you have the time, I'd encourage you to go and browse their library. Chances are you'll find at least a handful of games you'd like to play, or play again. Try the Lite service, at least it's free. Everything I've seen GameTap has shown me that this is subscription gaming done right. Or at least done enthusiastically.

-----
Disclaimer - I have not been asked by GameTap, or anyone affiliated with it to promote it. I have not been paid to write any of this. I do have a GameTap subscription, that I paid for, which was mostly to play Sam & Max, and Uru Live. As far as I'm concerned, I got my money's worth.