Source: videogamesblogger.com

Turner Broadcasting System and Metaboli have partnered to create a Global Online Gaming Service under the GameTap brand in the U.S. and Metaboli brand in Europe, the companies announced. GameTap will continue to offer arcade, console and PC games from a library of several hundred titles to broadband users in the U.S. The GameTap/Metaboli combination brings together two established leaders in the online gaming space that creates a global gaming brand with a presence on two continents.

Under the new agreement, Turner Broadcasting will continue to manage GameTap operations and provide technical and migration support through a transition period to conclude in early 2009, at which time Metaboli will assume direct management of the GameTap business and brand.

Launched in 2005 by Turner Broadcasting, GameTap delivers more than 1,300 authentic versions of console, computer and arcade games, including original and exclusive episodic titles such as Sam & Max, Seasons One and Two and American McGee’s Grimm.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

The first Fallout game from 1997 can now be played for free online via GameTap’s “play free” section.

Here’s what you do in the RPG that’s rated M for Mature with Animated Blood & Gore. “It’s the year 2161, 84 years after a two-hour-long war that destroyed most of civilization. Mankind soldiers on, living out a hardscrabble life on the surface or holing up in great Vaults built inside caves. You’re a member of Vault 13 somewhere in Southern California, and the Vault Overseer’s got a job for you: find a replacement water purification chip within 150 days, or your home is doomed.”

With Fallout 2 from 1998 also recently having been added to the service, you can play both futuristic RPG adventures to your heart’s content until Fallout 3 arrives on October 28th, 2008.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

The first trailer for American McGee’s Grimm has been revealed. Grimm is an upcoming 24-part episodic gaming series that will debut exclusively on GameTap starting July 31st, 2008. Based on “Grimm’s Fairy Tales”, the game is developed by Spicy Horse and is done in the same warped fairy-tale style as American McGee’s Alice and is written and executive-produced by the same person, R.J. Berg.

American has expressed interest in releasing the game on Xbox Live Arcade, but there are no details or announcements at this time. He has also expressed interest in releasing a retail (likely PC) version.

There are currently 24 episodes planned for Grimm and it has been announced that they will be approximately half an hour in length. The game has been referred to as “highly accessible” and American has commented that the game experience shares a similarity with Katamari Damacy.

The current list of upcoming episodes are:

1. A Boy Learns What Fear Is (July 31)
2. Little Red Riding Hood (August 7)
3. The Fisherman and His Wife (August 14)
4. Puss in Boots (August 21)
5. The Girl Without Hands (August 28)
6. Godfather Death (September 4)
7. The Devil and His Three Golden Hairs (September 11)
8. Beauty and the Beast (September 18)

See the game in motion in the first trailer.

Personally I think the trailer is pretty cool looking. I’m digging the art style and the whole theme of the game, even though it doesn’t reveal enough actual gameplay.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

GameTap released three new Premium Games (for subscribers) and one new free game (for anyone) today. To show what PC and Mac gamers can now play, we’ve included vintage videos of each of the games below.

But first up, GameTap has also signed a new deal with THQ to bring top titles and franchises from the publisher.

The deal is for a long-term partnership between GameTap and THQ that includes worldwide subscription play and digital download rights for a wide selection of THQ’s PC games. Certain THQ games will also be playable for free via GameTap.

As part of the agreement, GameTap now features games from the THQ and ValuSoft catalogs including Company of Heroes, Warhammer 40K, Red Faction, Supreme Commander, Titan Quest, Saints Row 2, PuzzleQuest: Challenge of the Warlords and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl.

Premium Games on GameTap today include:

Fallout
It’s the year 2161, 84 years after a two-hour-long war that destroyed most of civilization. Mankind soldiers on, living out a hardscrabble life on the surface or holing up in great Vaults built inside caves. You’re a member of Vault 13 somewhere in Southern California, and the Vault Overseer’s got a job for you: find a replacement water purification chip within 150 days, or your home is doomed.

Aveyond 2: Ean’s Quest
Ean has lived carefree in the Vale, the land of the Elves, without fear or pain all his years. Until the snow came, and with it came loss. His best friend Iya, missing; all memory of her erased, save his own. Now he must travel to the Land of Man, and face challenges and dangers beyond his young ability to imagine. But if he fails, Iya is lost forever…and the snow will fall across the world.

Battle Chess
Admit it — you’ve always wished chess were more violent. The knights carry swords, so they should use them. In Battle Chess, you get your wish: a faithful recreation of the ancient game, plus a whole bunch of hilariously brutal cutscenes. Blast computer opponents or humiliate a friend, then create your own versions of the game for customized combat!

Free Games (available July 23rd) include:

Knights of the Round
Knight-in-training Arthur Pendragon has pulled the legendary sword Excalibur from its stone, and now it’s up to him and his partners Lancelot and Perceval to bring peace to the land by beating down anyone who gets in their way. Enjoy three-player mayhem in this medieval brawler.

And here’s this week’s list of 142 free games on GameTap.

1. 2020 Super Baseball
2. 1942
3. 1943: The Battle of Midway
4. 1st Division Manager
5. 3 Count Bout
6. Art of Fighting
7. Astrosmash
8. Bagh Chal
9. Ball 7 Deluxe
10. Baseball Stars 2
11. Baseball Stars Professional
12. Battle of Europe
13. Bee 52
14. Black Tiger
15. Blast Miner
16. BloodRayne
17. Brian Lara Cricket 2007
18. Bubble Bobble
19. Buku Kakuro
20. Buku Sudoku
21. BurgerTime
22. Burnin’ Rubber
23. Bust-A-Move
24. Bust-A-Move Again
25. Cannon Fodder
26. Capcom Sports Club
27. Captain Commando
28. Captain Dynamo
29. CJ in the USA
30. Cj’s Elephant Antics
31. Colin McRae Rally 2005
32. Colony 7
33. Commandos 3: Destination Berlin
34. Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness
35. D.N.A.
36. Daikatana
37. Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors
38. Defender
39. Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition
40. Disciples II: Rise of the Elves GOLD
41. Dj Puff’s Volcanic Capers
42. Dracula Twins
43. Elevator Action
44. Fast Lanes Bowling
45. Fast Lanes Pinball
46. Fatal Fury
47. Final Fight
48. Five Card Deluxe
49. Flip Words 2
50. Football Frenzy
51. Futoshiki
52. Ghosts N’ Goblins
53. Ghouls N’ Ghosts
54. Grand Prix Simulator
55. Grell and Falla
56. Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
57. Hitman: Codename 47
58. Ikari Warriors
59. Ingenious
60. Jaws Unleashed
61. Jewelcraft
62. Joust
63. Kamikaze
64. Karate Champ
65. King of the Monsters
66. King of the Monsters 2
67. Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle
68. Knights of the Round
69. Lara Croft’s Tomb Raider: Legend
70. Lazer Force
71. Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2
72. League Bowling
73. Liquid Kids
74. Little Puff in Dragonland
75. Lunar Rescue
76. Magical Drop III
77. Marine Park Empire
78. Mean Machine
79. Mega Man: The Power Battle
80. Mercs
81. Metal Slug
82. Metal Slug 2
83. Miami Chase
84. Mig-29 Soviet Fighter
85. Motocross
86. Mr. Robot
87. Murray Mouse: Supercop
88. Mutation Nation
89. Nemesis of the Roman Empire
90. Neo Turf Masters
91. Olli & Lissa 3
92. Poltergeist
93. Pop-A-Tronic
94. Prehistoric Isle in 1930
95. Prince Clumsy
96. Pro Boxing Simulator
97. Pro Skateboard Simulator
98. Psychonauts
99. Puzzled
100. Qix
101. Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2
102. Rally Cross Simulator
103. Rampage
104. Rastan
105. Real MYST
106. Restaurant Empire
107. Return of the Invaders
108. Robotron 2084
109. Rogue Trooper
110. Root Beer Tapper
111. Sam and Max Season One: Episode 4: Abe Lincoln Must Die!
112. Samurai Showdown
113. Second Sight
114. Sensible Soccer
115. Sensible Soccer 2006
116. Shark! Shark!
117. Shock Troopers
118. Slightly Magic
119. Son Son
120. Space Invaders
121. Street Fighter II: Champion Edition
122. Super Qix
123. Stuntman Seymour
124. Super Seymour
125. Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers
126. Surakarta
127. Texas Hold’ Em Poker
128. The King of Fighters 95
129. The King of Fighters 96
130. The Last Blade
131. The New Zealand Story
132. Thief: Deadly Shadows
133. Tilt
134. Tube-It
135. Twinkle Star Sprites
136. Vampire Savior: The Lord of the Vampire
137. Vulgus
138. Warlords Battlecry 3
139. War and Warriors: Joan of Ark
140. X2: The Threat
141. Zoo Empire
142. Zoo Keeper

Source: videogamesblogger.com

GameTap today released two new games for Gold account subscribers. To show what PC and Mac gamers can now play, we’ve included a vintage video for Descent: Freespace, so you can see how it looks.

Descent: Freespace
The Galactic Terran Alliance and the Vasudan Empire have been at war for nearly two decades. But the arrival of the nightmarish Shivans has forced old enemies to put aside their differences and unite against a bloodthirsty and technologically superior foe. As a fighter pilot in the GTA carrier fleet, you’re on the front lines — and facing deadly interstellar dogfighting.

Off-Road Redneck Racing
Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! See a group of ill-mannered rednecks go doorhandle to doorhandle over some of the most grueling off-road courses on Earth! Thrill to fantastic barrel rolls! Boggle at finishes so close it’ll make your razor jealous! If you miss this you’d better be dead, or in jail! And if you’re in jail…break out!

Source: videogamesblogger.com

GameTap is an online “broadband gaming network” for PC users that’s subcription-based, but also makes certain classic (gold) games available for free-to-play from time to time. Next week Deus Ex will be added to the free games rotation. All you have to do to play it is be connected online and download GameTap’s launcher program, reports Shacknews.

The Warren Spector and Harvey Smith designed Deus Ex game is a cyberpunk-themed RPG / shooter released back in 2000, when it won many Game of the Year awards. The story takes place in “a world where the future is always uncertain… a world where the key to survival is held by a chosen few, and where terrorism is fueled by intense desperation. As operative JC Denton, you have a difficult decision to make: do you complete your mission and ensure the safety of the rich and powerful, or do you rebel for the sake of the millions who would be doomed without you?”

Minimum System Requirements:
* CPU speed greater than or equal to 500 MHz
* OS Type equal to 32-bit
* Physical memory greater than or equal to 128 MB
* A video card greater than or equal to 16 MB video memory

PS: There are actually 124 free games available on GameTap. If you don’t mind the video commercials before each play, then there’s other classics like Thief: Deadly Shadows and Psychonauts to try out.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Sam and Max: What’s New, Beelzebub? has a release date of April 10th on GameTap, with a worldwide release the next day, and is the newest chapter in the episodic adventure saga.

Judgment day is at hand, and it’s time for a showdown with the guy downstairs to bargain for Bosco’s soul. But in the corporate wasteland known as Hell, not even the Freelance Police are safe from eternal damnation. Can Sam & Max fight free from Satan’s grasp, or have they reached the end of the line?

The exciting season two finale wants you to remember that Hell works because of you!

Source: videogamesblogger.com

With Grimm, McGee is creating a 24-episode series focused on the world’s 30 best-known fairy tales, including Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Pied Piper, Godfather Death, and Pinocchio to name a few.

Each episode is 30 minutes, is downloadable, and usually focuses on one fairy tale (though some episodes will comprise two or three shorter stories). Each also opens with the contemporary (Disney) perspective of the fairy tale, displayed in a puppet show of minimally adorned characters, narrated by “Grimm,” a rough and wonderfully despicable character. It closes with a version that’s closer to the original version of said tale, but with McGee’s touch.

In the words of American McGee himself. “I want to be the next Walt Disney, only a little more wicked,” states McGee on his blog, with his new game, an episodic collection of dark, revisionist interpretations of mostly Grimm fairy tales, clearly making the point.

“I want people to know the original fairy tales, which have been distilled,” McGee explained when GameTap caught up with him at this year’s Game Developers Conference. “Look at Pinocchio, for instance. In the original story he kills Jiminy Cricket, his conscience. Pinocchio was a real jerk in the original story. But nobody knows that because they’ve only seen the Disney version.”

They continue to say the gameplay is strikingly simple, to the point where you only need a mouse to play. Each 30-minute episode stars Grimm, who wanders through the weekly fairy tale transforming the bright, primary colored landscapes of each fairy tale into dark foreboding places. The transformation is almost instant: An invisible circle around Grimm’s feet does the work, and you can see dirt getting darker, trees turning gnarly and craggy, neat house architecture giving way to crooked angles, black smoke-billowing chimneys, and darkened rooftops. Each episode comprises several sections, requiring Grimm to transform the majority of the landscape before moving on. As each one progresses, the basic task of transforming includes more challenging platform action, powerups, secret areas to explore, hidden items, and various types of AI.

Why would anyone want to play a 30-minute game that’s so easy? Where is the challenge, you might ask? McGee feels that the short length, easy-to-pick-up-and-play quality, and humorous narration will satisfy an American public with many demands on its time. You can play one in one sitting and then play the next one the following week. The “puppet shows” aren’t just simple intros either. They’re wicked little miniplays that are often absurd and always macabre, thanks in part to snide, biting comments from Grimm, voiced over by Roger Jackson (his other work includes the voice of Abe Lincoln from Sam & Max, and the Cheshire Cat, Jabberwocky, and the Mad Hatter in American McGee’s Alice). The general quality of the voiceovers is also compelling.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Sam and Max: Chariots of the Dogs has a release date of March 13th on GameTap, with a worldwide release the next day, and is the newest chapter in the episodic adventure saga.

When we last saw the Freelance Police, Flint Paper was appealing to them for help to find Bosco, who has vanished from the face of the earth. Can you figure out what happened to Bosco, the lovable neighborhood paranoid? In episode 204, Chariots of the Dogs, Sam & Max set out to find their missing friend. But what actually happened to Bosco? Watch the new trailer and find out…

Source: videogamesblogger.com

American McGee’s Grimm is an upcoming 24-part episodic game series based upon Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Developed by Spicy Horse and distributed online-only by GameTap starting in spring 2008. Grimm will resemble the warped fairy-tale style of American McGee’s Alice, and will be written and executive-produced by the same person, R. J. Berg.

American McGee’s Grimm is a story-driven action-adventure game, where your favorite fairy tales take a walk on the dark side, including Rapunzel, Rumplestiltskin, Little Red Riding Hood, and Snow White. Watch the American McGee’s Grimm debut trailer.