Announcement: The New GameTap

Nice! It’s about time we got desktop icons! Also, can I say how much I appreciate you guys supporting multiple computers? It’s nice to be able to share my account with my brother without being treated like a criminal.

sound great, so will daily gaming events be put on hold till the kinks are worked out?

Also, I noticed you mentioned mac osx, anyword on this helping out vista?

@Egrutt, The leaderboard tournaments will be out of action for a little while, but the other events will still be running. As for Vista, we already have support for it. If you’re referring to 64-Bit Vista, games for Windows will not gain 64-Bit compatibility in this update, we will have a 64-Bit subscription option that I will detail later on in the week.

I miss the nice comfortable shell that GT had prior to giving GTTV the kick.

I’m not required to use shortcuts on my desktop to launch my games am I? I play a lot of different games on GT and maybe ONE i’d enjoy a shortcut.
Hopefully this will fix the problem I have with my player that will not show any tournaments after 01/01/2009.

“we will have a 64-Bit subscription option that I will detail later on in the week.”

I truly hope that this is included with the gold membership. I picked up a membership last week… and paying extra just so that Gametap runs on my 64-bit Desktop would be anger inducing…

@Jenge I don’t want to give out the wrong impression, we will not be adding 64-Bit compatibility to Windows games in this update. But there will be a subscription option that only includes current 64-Bit compatible game, Console, Arcade and DOS.

Thanks LC, that’s an improvement over the current system and a bit more clear. I would recommend giving users much more warning when signing up exactly how much doesn’t work on a 64 bit desktop.

BTW, I love your nick

As long as the tourneys/leaderboard come back, all good. Maybe next update you guys could expand the leaderboard titles? Even when they aren’t for tourney points, leaderboards breathe real new life into some old titles. I actually have started to play them more than the Windows games! And the tourneys are priceless, I’ve never had so much fun!!

GT is great, always improving!

@Jenge,

This seems to be a common complaint, but it is listed on the Gold purchase page now.

Honestly, I think I’ll miss the GameTap Player. This sounds like a step closer to Steam, and I’ve always preferred GameTap’s interface, by a long shot. The GameTap player is more reliable than my web browsers…

Lack of customizable controls worries me greatly. I have four different game controllers I use for different types of games (only two are in active use, I admit), and Gametap almost never gets the defaults correct. Please prioritize customizable controls as “fix immediately”, as it will make several games nearly unplayable for me if I have to use the defaults. I’m self-centered, but I may not be the only one. Your XBOX 360 controller defaults are decent, though, so I can unplug my Saitek Rumble Force and plug in one of my wired 360 controllers- but the Saitek has a better D-pad and a better layout for Genesis games.

I liked the first GameTap Player the best. GameTap 3 felt like a step backwards, but I accepted it. This seems like it’s going to go even further in that direction, and it’s really not what I’d like. GameTap is more about the games than the presentation, so I’m not likely to drop my subscription over this- unless they haven’t fixed control configuration by the time it’s up for renewal, since I’m on annual.

While some of the changes are nice to hear, I am disappointed to hear that there is going to be a bigger push to the browser. I certainly hope that the “All arcade and console games play right in your browser” doesn’t mean that I will be stuck with a lame little window in a browser for my arcade and console gaming. If I cannot play full screen, I am not interested in playing. There are other options for gaming that will let me play full screen, so please, tell me you are not breaking all of the arcade games.

how to download it?

@Kistaro, Any customized controls you have currently setup will still be used, you just won’t be able to edit them for the time being.

@Tukang Nggame, It will be an automated process when the update goes live, I’ll have some more details for this process later today.

I quit a year ago because of the poor 64-bit support. Its simple: Make the 32-bit / 64-bit experience the same and I come back. Keep it gimped and I stay away.

@HoverBoy
64-Bit Support is because Exant, the encryption provider is apparently full of lazy bums who refuse to add 64-bit support. Guess who else uses Exant? Basically every other similar service out there(Including Metaboli). Basically, if I had to guess, they have a monopoly, they know it would cost their clients tons of money to re-encrypt and re-test every game if they switched to a new encryption provider and they won’t switch because of that, so they do the bare minimum to survive.

crud.

I used to be a subscriber and had to quite when I went 64bit vista. I won’t go back to 32 bit as I now have 8 gigs of ram and the only software I can’t use is gametap. I own some of the gametap games and my versions run great, yet the gametap versions don’t run at all. Walking through bestbuy, the majority of the machines are vista 64bit with 4 gigs of ram minimum. Seems to me, not fixing your 64 bit problem is limiting your customers. Time to catch up to the future, until you do, you have lost my family’s buisness as well as my friends.

If anything is going to cause me to unsubscribe it might be this update. The gametap shell was perfect for my kids and they used it almost exclusively for their computer gaming. If what replaces it is less kids friendly, It will be very easy for me to cancel after 3+ years. Just a bunch of icons on the desktop is not kid nor computer friendly.

I am also a person that quit once I upgraded computers to have Vista 64bit. I don’t feel like offering a separate subscription with limited functionality for 64bit users really solves anything. There are plenty of other options for the older non windows games, the Wii for example. I will not be resubscribing until all the Windows games are 64bit compatible.

Seriously, GameTap should be looking at trying to get many of their games running on Wine and or ReactOS. At some point, all of the Windows games are going to need to be run in a VM just like the console games are now. This would solve the 64-bit problem today as well as prepare for the inevitable future.

I think adding desktop shortcuts would, in fact, be great from kids. Esp with smaller children. And i would rather have shortcuts myself for my favorite games.

However, since moving my PC to 64bit, i’m on the fence on continuing my subscription after the current year is up. I guess we’ll see.

Add me as another 64bit user who is demanding 64bit support.

I too won’t resubscribe until they fully support vista 64-bit.

“I quit a year ago because of the poor 64-bit support. Its simple: Make the 32-bit / 64-bit experience the same and I come back. Keep it gimped and I stay away.”

Ditto.

I’m still on 32 bit XP, but I think that 64 bit is definitely the way of the future. Not allowing windows games to run in 64 bit seems shortsighted. I admit I’m also not thrilled with the idea of gametap going to a browser plugin, but I’ll reserve judgment until after it launches.

I’m canning my subscription as well because there’s no 64-bit support for the games I’m the most interested in playing. 90% of the games I had on my old 32-bit system won’t work anymore on my new desktop. I had been a real evagalist for GT up until this point. I will be again if they can address the 64-bit issue.
I feel hopeful that market pressure will eventually drive support for it, since (as Exe973 said) all most all the new PC available at regular commercial outlets are running 64-bit…

This update doesn’t exactly fill me with the warm fuzzies. I like the gametap player and generally hate a lot of these browser based game launchers. They’re usually really slow and a pain in the ass. Plus the player keeps everything in one nice and easy spot, it’s only one icon (I don’t want to have 20 new icons to worry about), and is pretty fast. So based solely on the description, I don’t like the way this sounds at all. I really like the service the way it is, and I’m not adverse to change, but this doesn’t sound like a good change to me.

What I really want is offline support. I fly a ton. Why can’t I play my games on a plane? There has to be a way to put a cookie or something on my laptop so that if I try to play a game outside of say, 2 weeks from last log on, it tells me the game is unavailable and I have to log on to get a new certificate…something. If I’m inside that window, it’s game on. That would really make me happy. This isn’t technically difficult to do, and it would really enhance my GameTap experience.

@Korolev, The “My GameTap” page will act as hub for all your downloaded games. Desktop icons are just an option for folks who prefer that.

Hmm.. I like the idea of updating everything, but switching to icons for individual games? MY desktop is allready cluddered with other games as is. I personaly like the player, i just think it needs tweaking.

we should still have our old play lists

I currently am subscribed but will soon be ending my subscription also due to the 64 bit problem. It seems that Gametap believes they do not need to have 64 bit available, yet, logically, it would seem that this would be the only way to get new customers. People buy new computers and then want to play old games/new games they couldn’t play before because their computers were outdated. Here is Gametap, this service that offers over 1000 games at a cheap price, but too bad, your new computer that you could use to play all these old games/newer games will not work with it. So instead of having a place where you would gladly pay a subscription to play all these game, you have to buy them individually. Seems that Gametap is going to be 32 bitting themselves to death. Very poor marketing. Just my opinion.

I’ll put my support behind the push for Vista-64bit support. I used to use gametap all the time. Upgraded to Vista 64 to use all my ram and lost gametap ;(
Glad to see Desktop Icons, my Daughter still using gametap for games in her age range and will be nice to simplify the experience for her.

I concur if something isn’t done with the 64-bit support soon i will drop my subscription.

Just want to echo and succinctly list alot of good complaints already noted:
1. MUCH prefer dedicated, full-screen player to browser,
2. MUST have controller customization,
3. Don’t like idea at all of multiple desktop icons,
4. I’ve rued each new iteration of the Player,
5. Would like offline play option

Not sure what kind of test-marketing or focus-group study you guys did but you’re going to seriously lose LOYAL PAYING subscribers with this transition. Not that it’d really matter but it might be helpful to our understanding if you explained WHY you’re making such drastic changes, besides the marketing hype listed in your post. Were you receiving complaints ? Did some licensing for the player expire ? New management that wants to make silly changes ? Seriously, what’s behind all this upheaval ?!

I’m sad to see the Gametap player go, I’ve come to like it. I guess the “my gametap” section will have to do as I do not wish to clutter my desktop with icons. Any chance that those of use who still like the player will be able to go on using it?

Hmmmm….Do not like this one bit. Very very disappointed about the 64bit issue. I’m yet another customer who will be canceling due to this. as for Browser and desktop/startup menu options….HATE IT!!! Maybe the next time there is an update you should poll your customers prior to see what THEY want, not what you THINK they want.

I agree with the others about 64 Bit support, being 64 bit is becoming more mainstream. I don’t own a 64bit OS yet, but will be getting one in the future. However, I am patient and besides on the windows and DOS side I own them on CD being had collected many games from the DOS days. But having GT is a plus because you take all the work out of trying to get old DOS and Windows programs to work, I look at GT as the perfect emulator.

People will always whine when something is updated and changed. To me the changes sound great. My guess is they just need time to fix the emulators within the plugin to adjust for the save states, control config, and all that. There’s no technical reason it couldn’t still play all the emulated games just as well as the GT player. The whole player idea is as outdated as AOL. A web interface adds flexibility, speed, and stability.

Do we have a choice on multiple desktop icons, or did you take out GT launching altogether? PLEASE tell me I’m wrong! Other than that, this is going to be cool. I liked the GT player, but it’s getting a bit old, glad to see a revamp.

I sincerely hope that the new update will stop me from having to reboot when the Gametap launcher decides it would rather send 3011 errors than letting me play a game.

Would like to see customizable controls come back ASAP. I’m playing Gametap on a custom arcade cabinet & mappable controls is a must for me to continue my subscription.

Wow… I think this is a terrible move, I think the player is gorgeous. Such a cool little arcade addon for my computer. I despise browser games. Ugh, heres hoping you open your eyes, and give us back a player.

with this new update, will you be adding more fighting games. if so, can you please tell me if marvel vs. capcom 2 will ever be on gametap

I generally like the current GT interface with some exceptions. Hopefully the new website will have a slick interface and not the current page based model.

I use OSX and Linux often so it would be great to add support for Linux, and also older Windows games on both operating systems. I’m looking at a Mac Mini for my entertainment system and it sure would be nice to have nearly full gamelist without running Windows.

I won’t be canceling, but I have 8gb ram because I do video editing and software development, as well as virtualization. Something of the likes of dosbox should be licensed so you stop depending on 3rd party licenses… it’s fine if you use encrypted images once you get that issue dealt with, but the emulators themselves are an issue since they are yet another hurdle to deal with. I maintain a system, and XP is fine, but dated and ill suited for quad core and CUDA engaged programs due to scheduler and I/O prioritization gains in core algorithms of Vista and Windows 7. Many of us use our systems to double for professional work and lack the space, patience, time and financial ability to perpetuate OS licenses, so please just take the risk and seek us, your loyal customers as beta testers if you can’t qualify in-house. I don’t mind signing some fancy NDA either if I can play just a few of the top-tier Windows-based games.

This browser non-sense is maddening, but so is your usage of Cider to provide OSX users a gimped experience, when standalone all DOS games at least can legally be played with a native Cocoa GUI with DOSBox. I understand some games have a dependence on old Visual Basic and Visual C/++ runtimes, as well as NTVDM hooks as is the case with Win9x games, but anything post 2001 from my experience, at least when up to date works fine with 64-bit versions of Vista, baring a few in between.

This draconian control you employ is expected, but it certainly is giving us customers a bad taste given who you’ve chosen to make it happen. You spend all this cash obsoleting the player, but not supplicating all popular features, and probably would had been better off spending the money hiring contractors to improvise a new encryption scheme in-house. Publishers want their titles protected, and I’m not one to expect any less, but it is a certainty that with a quality base with original design for cross-platform native integration such in-house encryption mechanism would satisfy such publishers.

Clearly you need to sack your marketing folks for coming in late to the Web 2.0 era. Most users are fed up with AJAX driven web applications, and many users can be found clinging on to their desktop companions because the fact remains the integration, performance, and polish can’t be delivered in a browser like it can be with a standalone player. At extreme cost, forcing us to use invasive and nasty plugins which break due to shoddy programming without inherent ability to mesh with updated browsers is an area of contention.

I hope this sudden change hopefully won’t require us to re download dozens of gigabytes of data. With the change of ownership going away from Turner Broadcasting, I expect an eventuality that my European friends can subscribe, because many are interested, but just like us topics such as DRM and 64-bit compatibility are a priority, though most will forgive aspects of both given the publishers themselves being at times responsible for not working on the legal end of the spectrum with patch integration as is the case at times with 3rd party games sold through the Steam store (Armed Assault and Atari for example).

The disappearance of all Sierra games is maddening, since they are probably the second highest quality publisher, plus there’s still lingering indicators all throughout the website pitching such games, which we certainly want to see back on GameTap, even with sacrifices.

ahhh… yeah what he said.(James Cornell)Anyway, to put it plain and simple” GET WITH THE PROGRAM”
So far from what I’ve read this just doesn’t look good.I am in the process of building a
new rig and planning to go 64 bit, so it looks like if that is not addressed by the time my subscription runs out I’m gone.

It’s going to have fewer features/benefits for the same money.
Just like at the store where product sizes shrink and price stays the same (or goes up)

I do not like this new in browser player idea either. I too also want FULL 64 bit compatibility for all gamees on Gametap. Come on, can’t someone make an emulator that will run non-64 bit games on 64 bit systems??? Was going to continue my subscription but this new player setup has changed my mind. What’s this about the Sierra games goinfg away??? They just loaded up The Original DOS The Incredible Machine by Sierra. I haven’t played that game in over 13 years, it comes up on Gametap, I’ve only played it a few times, and now it’s going to go away??? Pardon my french, but that s–ks!!!

Wake up Gametap, and get with the 64 bit program!!!

What!? Does this mean that, as of the time that the patch goes live, that Mac OS X users won’t be able to play any games at all? This will be a major disappointment to those of us OS X users that had become accustomed to *barely* being able to play any games at all?

In all seriousness, PLEASE help us Mac users out a little, will ya? I mean, you could easily use something like what Crossover for Mac does, and hell, it’s frigging free! And before someone flames me for trying to play games on a Mac, that’s exactly my point. I don’t know even one male Mac user between the ages of 16 and 39 who wouldn’t trip all over each other just to HAND you money. It would be a small expenditure of money, and a moderate investment of time and labour, but you’d make a MINT!

Anyway, back to the topic at hand, I actually really liked the Gametap Player. It had a cool interface (not that it couldn’t use improvements), and it generally worked very well. I’m going to miss it.

Sincerely,
The only Mac-using Gold subscriber you have.

I’m yet another 64 bit user who is about to cancel my subscription. I’ve been waiting for almost a year now to get at least SOME support for the games I want to play. As much as I enjoy incredibly old titles that use all of 5 pixels, I’d enjoy playing the Windows games I got Gametap for in the first place. I’ve been patient, I’ve been a paying customer from day 1, and frankly I’m tired of it at this point. It’s unacceptable to consistently offer new product and never even consider updating the core experience to adapt to the future. This alternate subscription better be awfully close to free, as in under a dollar a month, or my money is going elsewhere. Gametap pulls in a lot of cash, they can certainly afford to offer a workaround for 64 bit users. GoG does it and does it well.

Pretty LAME I gotta pay EXTRA now your saying for x64 support in the future? You seriously gotta be ******* me. I’ve been unable to use practically all the games for awhile because I have a 64bit os but your still getting money and now you want more??? Ever since you got rid of URU I haven’t been able to play anything on x64 but I’ve awaited support for it, check my account and you’ll see I haven’t been able to download a thing even though the retail game will run fine, its just your mounting software which is at fault here.

its nice to see you guys are finally doing SOMETHING for the 64bit cista users although is this a bad place to mention that all dos console and arcade games can be found as freeware on the web?

with that in mind i hope you dont decide to charge us for games we can get ffree elswhere…….

what would be really nice is to see exant do something about the encryption…. but anyway enough of my ranting i cant wait to see the new set up

It’s been mentioned several times in the comments and I’m not sure where the info came from, but we are not losing Sierra games.

For all those of you complaining that GT has issues with 64bit windows. They are not the only ones (Ask Adobe - try getting flash to work in 64 bit correctly or trying installing a printer that is more than 2 yrs old or a scanner thats more than 2 yrs old and see if you can get drivers for those). As a long time user with a child who uses GT daily, I will reserve my judgement until I see the changes. I appriciate the fact that GT has told us ahead of time (As they have not always done so) that we have changes coming. I may or may not like the changes, however, I will try them before I start complaining or praising. I do have requests if anyone at GT wants to read them
- Offline playing (I as well travel often and would enjoy playing games while waiting at airports or when on cross country flights)
- If your going to the plugin model - maybe you can give it as a choice, GT play or Plugin (Ya I know that means you will have 2 things to support but hey I thats tech support)
- Also if your going to plugin mode, please make sure that your plugin doesnt break every time we load or unload a Non-GT plugin). Some of us have pc’s where plugins and software have to be installed and uninstalled on an hourly/daily basis because of the type of work we do. I would not enjoy having to deal with breaking GT plug in because of it….here is an example of a known plug in issue for adobe’s plugin, i wouldnt want GT to go thru that.
******Example - I do not use adobe acrobat (as I prefer the foxit reader) but applications have an annoying way of automatically installing acrobat when you install them, and when you remove acrobat, it now breaks Flash 10 requiring Flash to be reinstalled. If you want to know what I’m referring to do a google search for “you do not have the latest flash player installed error” and you will see.

Why are you dropping Mac support?????

I’m a Mac user and I enjoyed playing the old arcade games on Game Tap. But, as soon as I heard that Mac support was going away, I cancelled my subscription. Don’t tell me that I could use Boot camp, VMWare or Parallels. If I wanted to run Windows, I would’ve bought a Windows machine. Nothing against Windows, I just prefer OS X.

oh i just cant wait to see which new publishers you have instore for us

Have any of you considered multi-booting? Plenty of OC’ers do it and I’ve even seen systems that run 4 OS. I’ve heard their are stability issues if not done right, but that’s anything. I don’t know much about it, just offering a workaround for the Mac and 64 bit users.

Another GT subscriber who recently purchased a 64-bit system and will be canceling due to the lack of support…

Zappa,
Dual booting is not a real answer. I’m not going to go through the trouble of installing multiple OS’s on my machine to run one application, especially when Vista supports emulating old 32 bit versions itself. I refuse to pay money to a service I have to bend over backwards just to use.

Bravo

I don’t see any of the Sierra titles in my GameTap player which are shown on the website, such as Kings Quest, Quest for Glory, Hoyle, Baldurs Gate and I have my account set to mature under filters, plus the buttons don’t do anything on those titles and it seems that all of such titles are hidden away and are temporarily disabled. This is just non-sense, and probably stems from GameTap borrowing old world megacorporation logic from Turner Enterprises… they use the former TrollTech Qt toolkit and are seeking to reduce costs but also want more money, just typical of large companies these days… more demand equals the same old way and cost increases even with tons of cash flowing through the door to cover expanding operations. Give me a break, and stop being so closed with what you are REALLY doing behind the scenes, I know you’re not in this game to be the good ‘ol games provider but rather in for the profits.

James, my guess would be that you are in Canada. Gametap does not have rights to publish Sierra games in Canada at this time, which is why you may not be seeing them.

@James Cornell

Are you in Canada? None of the Sierra titles are licensed for Canada. You can filter the website by “Canadian availability” or “U.S. Availability”. Make sure you’re looking at the right filter.

And. um. yes. GameTap is not a non-profit organization. That means it’s purpose is to bring in profits. Is a desire for profit mean you can’t produce a quality product though? I’m pretty sure Apple still wants to profit from iPods, Mercedes from their cars, etc.

OK everybody did you notice the price increase!The only good thing is if you already have a subscription or buy one before March 15th you can lock in the $59.95 price for the premium pack otherwise it’s going up to $79.95! Or you can buy the classic pack at $49.95.Don’t really know if it’s worth it.

While i respect and think that all the new features are cool i am slightly troubled that ya’ll are dropping mac support and i hope that you will think of picking it back up at some point since i really don’t want to use windows on my mac thank you for all the good work thus far with the mac games

It was created in Canada, yeah I know it’s questionable but that’s a matter of financial issues to begin with so my friend had to float the bill since he owes me. So it was a caching issue after I changed the billing and Sierra titles plus Fable show up. Sorry for the disturbance. Also, we don’t share the account, he just had to pay it off for me.

OK, so after reading this thread, I’ve arrived at a few conclusions:

1) Instead of listening to the subscribers, and giving people something they really want/need, (64-bit support, OS X support, etc.) Gametap has instead decided to change the player, which there was nothing really wrong with, and in fact will cause most everyone to LOSE features. This sounds brilliant. Most companies operate on a “Give them what they want” mentality, while good old Gametap says, “Well, at least 6 people weren’t using that feature, so it can be axed”. Where did you guys learn marketing, from the Bush White House?

2) I have my Mac bootcamped for the sole purpose of using GameTap. That’s right, I have NO other reason to have dedicated the hard drive space, the Windows license, and the constant frustration of updating and maintaining yet another OS other than to use this software. I do this because the Gametap staff is too lazy to write a decent version of their software for my OS. Once I think about it, I should be charging *them* to run their software.

Guys, why not get your collective heads out of your lazy butts and give us something we actually want? I know it sounds weird to actually service the customer, but I think it might just work.

How do I run gametap with my 64 bit browser. I get error message “pure virtual function call” every time.

The player is seriously going away and won’t work anymore after the 15th? My wife is going to be really really upset about that. My son loves browsing around the games in the player, also. Me? Well, I can do with or without. I have gotten used to the player. It works, it gets the job done. Someone else mentioned, why change what ain’t broke?

I am in the market for a new computer this summer. It’s going to be a 64 bit, I am sure. My GT subscription comes due late march. I will get another 4 month or so before I really need GT to support 64 bit. Hopefully they do. If not, I will just cancel my account and either find someone who can support me or go back to bargain bin hunting at the local software exchange shop. No skin off my nose either way. It’s just a shame to give up all that convenience cause the company I use couldn’t support it’s user base properly.

Sounds horrible.
Why take the best parts of the sight multiplayer and high scores
and trade them off for “game icons” I’ll tell you why,
this is the cover up for another Gametap budget cut.

Also can we still get IM’s or is THAT getting cut TOO.

Hope you can fix the 64 bit problem (I have it,too), I’ll hate saying good-bye after my subscription is up. It’s been fun!

leave all the cool games and rated m games to the free

I could care less about desktop icons ( i like keeping a clean desktop) for quicklaunching games. If this new plug in has gametap CONSTANTLY running in the background for “quicker” game launching then SHOVE IT. I don’t want it. If i want to run a game i have on gametap then i’ll launch gametap and go from there. I don’t need something clogging up my resources constantly despite claims that it’s lightweight and silent. It will be forced off like quite a few other useless background processes in my OS and if it can’t be then i’ll be cancelling my subscription with gametap Completely.

@Roy, The plug-in quits automatically after 2 minutes of inactivity.

First, @ all the people talking about desktop icons. Stop and read. They are going to be an OPTION, you don’t have to use them. People have probably been suggesting that they add that option for a while and GameTap is pretty damn good at listening to its customers.

Second, @ all the 64 bit people. I feel your pain as I just updated my gaming rig to 64 bit also. However, I am a bit surprised that don’t understand its going to take time for GameTap to get 64 bit compatibility up and running. I mean there are TONS of problems and crap from software programs with 64 bit. Hell Adobe won’t even address the fact that the ADOBE type library postscript fonts, when installed by the Windows system, won’t show up in CS3 applications. Although I finally gave up and upgraded to the new font library… maybe that was their plan all along!

If you can, do what I did and have a second rig, the computer you replaced, set up to play old school games and emulators. If your old computer died (thus your reason for the 64-bit upgrade) then cancel your subscription and make sure you NOTE that it was because of no 64-bit support and eventually the will have to take action. For now it seems that they are already addressing the problem so while it sucks waiting it looks like we must for a little while longer.

and last @ web browser interface people. Well hell, I agree with you. I like the desktop app. I kind of see how this might solve the cross-platform issues for GameTap but my kids love going into GameTap and it is soooo simple for them to pick a game and run it. I don’t have to spend endles hours setting stuff up for them. I can’t even tell you how many games they’ve played on GameTap without even once asking my help in setup or gameplay. If GameTap can keep that standard with there within the browser I’ll be happy. I’ll try to keep optimistic but its not easy.

Great. So they’re making a 64 bit subscription offer, huh? That’s great. That’s just friggin’ great. I have 64 bit vista, but I can’t afford a subscription, which means unless they plan on making it 64 bit free, I’m trashing gametap for good. Please, I really like gametap, but play for the PC games, and if I can’t get those, there’s no point in keeping it. If someone gets news about a free 64 bit update, tell me.

Another vote for please, PLEASE, ***PLEASE*** keep the gametap player as an option for those who want it.

I’m going to go through the list of things you’re adding in the OP:

-A unified browsing, downloading, and playing experience
You mean like the gametap player?

-Desktop & Start Menu shortcuts option for every game
Useful, glad it’s an option and not a requirement.

-Exciting titles from new publishers

-All arcade and console games play right in your browser
Eww, AJAX. I like fullscreen, in the player, thanks. Feature Request: Can we get access to the arcade game setup menus? As it stands, MAME is a better arcade game player than gametap. (Though of dubious legality..) Protip, guys.. never, never, make the legal way of doing things an inferior experience to the illegal way. This is what the movie and music industry has yet to figure out. Though so far, I applaud you whole-heartedly for doing so well with the emulated and older games.

-Firefox support for in-browser play
Eww, AJAX.

-Manage your download queue and favorites in your browser
Eww, AJAX.

-Faster loading times
They seem to work fine as is..

-Additional subscription options
?? Details please?

-Simplified multi-computer use
Awesome!!

-Better search and navigation tools
You’ve got an excellent search and navigation tool already, in the form of the gametap player. Why fix what isn’t broken?

-New forum software
Nifty

-Customizable avatars
Wait, what? I thought we already had that.

-Improved parental controls
Always good.

-Updated digital download store with a better selection and competitive prices
Good luck competing with Steam. I don’t mean that snarkily.. Competition is always good.. here’s hoping it turns out awesome

The 64 bit issue hasn’t bit me in the arse yet, but it soon will. And honestly, everyone, that’s not as much a gametap issue as it is getting the old games to work right issue…

I love you guys. my favorite game i’ve played is probably………..Serious Sam I loved that game. I’m glad you guys come up with this stuff becase most of the time I get really bored so I just count on you guys. Thanx!!

MacOS support is not needed, these games did not play in the Mac before, so why do it now? Give up and buy a Windows box. 64 bit support is needed badly, also offline play would be a great addon.

Another former subscriber who needs 64-bit before I can subscribe again. Gametap is a great service, a great idea, great value, but is severely handicapped. I feel fixing this should have been a priority over the mentioned changes.

We fear change….

I just tried the new setup on my 64-bit computer. I do not like it. I tried to play The Incredible Machine and because the game wasn’t full screen like the previous player, I had 2 mouse pointers. One in the game, and my normal one on my computer. Every time I tried to do something in the game, my normal mouse pointer would end up pointing to something else on my screen. To make it clear, I tried to click on a machine component with the games mouse pointer. The problem was the normal mouse pointer would be near something else on the screen, such as the back button or a Gametap button, and clicking would do what the normal mouse pointer was pointed to. VERY AGGRIVATING!!! Making IE7 full screen did not help. There were no full screen options with the game instructions. I went to play Street Fighter II Turbo, and had no option of changing the game controls, or the option of doing 2 players as I could in the previous player. PLEASE BRING BACK THE PREVIOUS STAND ALONE GAMETAP PLAYER!!!

@Tbird100636:
I’d love to know how you tried the new setup since it hasn’t actually launched yet.

@tbird100636, The new site hasn’t launched yet.

I think it sounds cool…

“In just over 2 weeks, you will have access to a completely re-designed GameTap website full of new features, …”

That was March 3rd. It’s now been 3 weeks. Where’re m’games?

yea what Chalz said!!

I’ve had to many issues with games either not downloading, taking over 24hrs to download (riddiculous since, I have a 16m broadband connection), or just not working, since they started this migration. I’ve wanted to cancel my Gold membership for the past 2 weeks, but knew I had to wait for this “new launch” to finish. Now it seems GT is trying to hold off the launch as long as possible to collect an extra month in fees from people who want to leave.

This sickens me!!
How is it possible that changing the look and style of the site & launcher, shuts down account management? It shouldn’t!! Membership & billing should be in a completely different department from the rest of the site and should in no way be effected by updates!!

@annoyed, no billing is taking place during this period, no one is being billed for extra time. This update is not as simple as changing the player or website, because as you said it would not require billing being taken offline.

I’ve been a subscriber for almost three years now. What’s going on? What’s this web plugin thing? Is this place owned by the same people that own videobox.com?

What am I supposed to pay or something. Also, why can’t I play the games that I’ve downloaded when I don’t have internet access?

@Huh?, no we are not owned by videobox.com.
If you are a free member you will continue to be a free member, GameTap has always had paid subscription options.
GameTap requires an internet connection because it must verify that you are a subscriber and authorized to play the game.

This is lame! I just bought a new cpu and can’t even play any of the gold games. I was in the middle of a RPG game, and now………..I’m stuck with this BS.

I hope you guys REALLY understood what you were doing before you did this. From the looks of it, it doesn’t. I will most likely cancel my membership due to this BS.

» Macnbc said: Mar 23, 2009
@Tbird100636:
I’d love to know how you tried the new setup since it hasn’t actually launched yet.

» LittlestCthulhu said: Mar 23, 2009
@tbird100636, The new site hasn’t launched yet.

Uh, the new in-browser player did. That’s what I had an issue with. Same issues as i stated previously more than a month later. The mouse pointer issue in The Incredible Machine, and no 2 player support on Street Fighter 2 games.