I read an interesting Reuters article on a new service being developed by Time Warner's
Like I said, this is definitely geared toward me. OK, let's see a show of hands. How many of you reading this have powered up one of those joystick controllers put out by Jakks Pacific
Since I'm into the whole nostalgia trip with these games, I can see why Time Warner wants to dedicate a business plan to consumers like me. I also like the quote found in the Reuters piece, attributed to Blake Lewin, who is GameTap's creator as well a vice president of product development at Turner Broadcasting: "We want to program games as if they are TV shows." I can see what he means. Think TV Land. Maybe you want a fix of Jack Tripper dressing in drag to win a cookie-baking contest. Or you want to see the episode where Gilligan is stalked by a maniacal hunter (that actually was a pretty dark episode, come to think of it). That's where you go. Those in need of a fix of an old Nintendo game will have a similar service in GameTap.
Users will pay a monthly fee to download and play the games; if they cancel, the games will cease functioning. Activision
I can't see any reason why this initiative shouldn't be tried, but I will point out that I am wondering in the back of my mind how long the fad of classic gaming can last. Also, how many people have already got copies of Pac-Man and its brethren on previous anthology releases?
The key here is that GameTap is shooting to have a huge selection of games (more than 1,000) at the subscriber's eventual disposal. An Associated Press article reports that a few hundred games will be on the menu when the service makes its debut. That should attract people, but will it attract a mainstream audience, or will all of the lesser-known classics only appeal to an insider niche of hardcore nostalgia freaks?
The video-game sector is not one to be underestimated, though. I believe Time Warner's experiment is justified.
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Let us know what you think on our Time Warner discussion board.
Fool contributor Steven Mallas owns none of the companies mentioned. He also thinks that Eugene Jarvis is a genius. The Fool has a disclosure policy.