GameTap Set To Launch

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. has announced today that their upcoming gaming service, GameTap, has finally been made available. Announced last April, the service has been shown several times, but has only now been made available to the general public.

Characterized as “somewhere between a TV channel and a Game-on-Demand service”, the online subscription based product is now available at a rate of $14.95 a month. GameTap is being made available for the average price of a standard online PC game, but will feature over 300 titles to choose from.

In total, 24 publishers have pledged to support the service, and TBS has programmed several of their own games available now at www.GameTap.com.

“We’ve taken GameTap on the road and hosted a few thousand gamers through our experiential marketing programs, and now we’re ready to take GameTap to a mainstream audience,” said GameTap General Manager Stuart Snyder. “GameTap puts an entire library worth of games-both current and classic -at your finger tips. The game community, and for that matter the Internet itself, has never seen anything like it.”

GameTap will feature titles from as far back as “old school” arcade games, as well as recent PC, Sega Genesis and Dreamcast titles. The service will also allow its subscribers to access games from both the Atari 2600 and the Intellivision gaming consoles.

Publishers such as Activision, Atari, Capcom, Cyan, Codemasters, Eidos Interactive, Electronic Arts, First Star Software, G-Mode, Intellivision Lives, Ironstone, Knowledge Adventures, Midway, Namco, SEGA, TAITO, Take-Two, Taurus Media, Team 17, Telegames, 3000AD, Ubisoft and Vivendi Universal Games are already supporting the platform.

“GameTap subscribers will have access to an ever-expanding selection of their favorite games, from the early arcades all the way through console games and PC titles,” said Snyder. “Our goal is to create the ultimate gaming network – a one stop shop – for everyone from the casual gamer to gaming experts.”

To access the service, gamers should download the GameTap client available at www.GameTap.com. Once the client is installed, fans will have access to the entire vault of over 300 games. Once activated on the network, gamers can download these titles avoiding any slowdown due to internet traffic.

Currently, TBS has promised weekly updates for their service that will bring both new games and original content such as game trailers, interviews, celebrity features, and even an original web based TV show.

Be sure to stick with the Advanced Media Network for continued coverage regarding any changes made to the service as further announcements are sure to be made in the coming months. nkjh