I’ve lauded GameTap many times in the past because it brought back several beloved and nostalgic games from the eighties and nineties as well as games from only a few years ago. Seeing as how I like to revisit Galaga, Pac Man and Joust and then try out the newer games I never wanted to pay the box price for the GameTap setup was ideal.

So I just logged in to play a little classic arcade inbetween drawing and they prompted me to update. Not to worry, I’ve done updates with them before. The prompt pops opens my Firefox browser…why?

Because the new update puts GameTap into a browser window. The games can no longer be played full screen. Galaga is reduced so that a blind person like myself with tired eyes from working on the computer has to squint to see the white bullets. GameTap, what the hell did you do?

GameTap is now like any other website with a dull gray blog-template like interface and banner ads you’re required to see–I’m looking at one for H&R Block. When you subscribe to a premium cable channel do they show you ads? Was GameTap hurting that much for money? There has to be some better ways to improve revenue than tearing down the concept that was such a refreshing winner with gaming enthusiasts.

Originally it was this beautiful program that opened up on your desktop and took over your screen, much like a boxed game would. You had all the options you needed to find the games you wanted and install them. And all the games were full screen! Classics like Galaga showed up like they were on the original standup arcade console monitor. Hit enter for your quarter and you’re ready to go.

I visited the forums to make sure there wasn’t a full screen option and someone beat me to the punch with “Can I have the old interface back?” and “How do I play Pac-Man, ZORK, etc, in a full screen? I have to play in a little window? You’re kidding right?”

Answer: Fullscreen is not supported at this time.

To be fair newer games will jump to full screen because they are “Window Titles” and use Direct X as told by one response.

But ultimately GameTap went from something special to business as usual. I understand having to make money, but this model does not work. Popping the games into the browser reminds us that we’re playing online and not the original arcade game. It’s like playing in some Joe Schmoe’s blog system and why pay for that?

Stupid move, GameTap. Did anyone test this idea first? Did marketing survey the players to understand why they were subscribing and hanging out. Or did marketing want to start targeting the youth market only and forget that game players now range from the teens to the fifties. GameTap is for archiving and rescuing older games, that’s the theme. Don’t drive away your fan base.

I put in a request to cancel, which was very convoluted due to a missing order number on my account. I’ll have to see if it goes through. What a disappointment. And the sad thing is no one else can come along and compete with GameTap to reinstate something close to the original design. They have the license to the games and I’m sure it’s exclusive.

I think I’ll have to invest in a stand up arcade machine for Galaga. Browser windows don’t do it justice.

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