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Weekly Gametap-Age: Grimm 2x03, Space Hack and New Online Browser Games

Shard

XBLAnnoyance
Special Feature: Upcoming Games Update


Turning Point: Fall of Liberty: If you guys would like some insight, I'll tell you a little bit about why it's delayed. I try to have a pretty open dialog with the forums, so I don't mind revealing some of the "secrets."

The game was announced as "coming soon" quite a bit earlier than we could have possibly released it (in fact, three months before it was released at all) as part of a marketing decision - we wanted to look impressive and show that we have new games, and we put our best face forward (so to speak) right before the holiday season of 2007. Whether that was a good or bad move is up to interpretation, I'm personally of the opinion that, given the limits of our website and Player, it was the right thing to do, as we really had no better way of showing that the game was coming. Sure, I could have simply announced it in the forums, but only a small percentage of our users would have noticed, and we wanted EVERYONE to know that we would have a brand new game coming out at the same time as it was in stores. At this same time we announced Hei$t and Kane & Lynch, and we were just announcing Grimm as well, so it was a pretty impressive showing.

We had planned to release it on or around its actual in-store launch date, which was late February of this year, a little over three months after the "Coming Soon" announcement. Three months might be pushing it, as far as what coming "soon" means, but we were willing to announce it a little earlier than usual, given that it was a brand new game.

Flash forward to February of 2008. It turns out that the game does not behave well with GameTap, and requires some tweaks to get working reliably. Had we known this ahead of time we would not have announced it as Coming Soon but, being that the game wasn't even done yet, we didn't have a copy to test with, so we had no way of knowing it would have been problematic. I'm not on the tech side, so I don't know the exact nature of the problem, but needless to say it has not been resolved (and yes, it is still being worked on).

So what do you do, in our situation? Do you remove the game from Coming Soon? I say no, doing so would imply that we're not releasing the game, which we still hope to do. Do we clarify the situation in the forums? Well, yes, I should have done that a long time ago, my apologies for that. But still, a very small percentage of GameTap users read the forums (which is a shame), so that would not have pleased everybody.

It's a problem that we haven't found a solution for yet, maybe you guys can think of a way for us to be more clear in the future?

For the record, I'll share what I can about the other problem children on the coming soon list:

Culpa Innata: From what I understand, this is a paperwork situation; I can not publicly discuss the exact nature of the hold-up, but it's one we hope to eventually resolve. Again, like Turning Point, we announced the game without knowing there would be issues, and now we're in the awkward situation of not knowing what to do about it.

Freddi Fish 2, Freddi Fish 5: These, along with a handful of other titles, became incompatible with a GameTap client update. The rest have been fixed, but these two are being problematic. We don't know how severe the problem is as, honestly, these titles are not the most popular among you guys, so we haven't exactly prioritized fixing these (over, say, Turning Point).

Hei$t: This game has not yet been released and was, in fact, severely delayed by its publisher. We announced it with the good intent of releasing it this year, but the release was pushed back. So, we again find ourselves in the awkward situation of not knowing what to do about it being "coming soon" on GameTap. My suggestion was to very clearly say "Coming 2009," so that expectations weren't high. I haven't heard complaints about it yet, so I guess that solution worked well (but for how much longer???).


New Premium Games Available November 13, 2008

American McGee's Grimm: King Midas
AMGrimmKingMidas_WIN_MIECo_250_c51f3.png

Most everyone is familiar with the tale of King Midas and his accursed golden touch, but how might Grimm's unique view change this classic tale? There's only one way to find out!

Space Hack
SpaceHack_WIN_StratFirst_250_34921.png

Developed by Rebelmind, Space Hack is a Diablo-inspired action-RPG set in a science fiction world. Taking on the role of a warrior, players must hack their way through a spaceship full invading alien creatures in a desperate attempt to reach emergency transportation and escape their cruel fate. The game offers a diverse level of character development, allowing the player to solve problems in a variety of ways.

New Browser Play Games Available November 13, 2008
You can play these games right in your web browser (note: only Windows Internet Explorer is supported at this time).

Cyberbots: Fullmetal Madness
CyberbotsFullmetalMadness_ARC_Cap_205_e8270.PNG

Four factions battle for control of Earth and its outer space colonies in this futuristic fighting game from the creators of Street Fighter II. Choose from one of eight combat robots, then fly into the warzone with your fists swinging and your guns blazing. Will you come out on top, or find yourself resting at the bottom of a scrapheap?

Grand Prix Simulator
GrandPrixSimulator_C64_Code_205_f0ac0.PNG

Head-to-head racing action for one or two players, Grand Prix Simulator lets players race each other in top-down, arcade-style action around 14 tracks. Pick up point bonuses to boost your score and watch out for the oil slicks scattered around the track. First one to the finish line wins!



Full List of Free Games

1. 2020 Super Baseball
2. 1942
3. 1943: The Battle of Midway
4. 1st Division Manager
5. 3 Count Bout
6. American McGee's Grimm: A Boy Learns What Fear Is
7. Art of Fighting
8. Astrosmash
9. Bagh Chal
10. Ball 7 Deluxe
11. Baseball Stars 2
12. Baseball Stars Professional
13. Battle of Europe
14. Bee 52
15. Black Tiger
16. Blast Miner
17. BloodRayne
18. Brian Lara Cricket 2007
19. Bubble Bobble
20. Buku Kakuro
21. Buku Sudoku
22. BurgerTime
23. Burnin' Rubber
24. Bust-A-Move
25. Bust-A-Move Again
26. Cannon Fodder
27. Capcom Sports Club
28. Captain Commando
29. Captain Dynamo
30. CJ in the USA
31. Cj's Elephant Antics
32. Colin McRae Rally 2005
33. Colony 7
34. Commandos 3: Destination Berlin
35. Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness
36. D.N.A.
37. Daikatana
38. Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors
39. Defender
40. Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition
41. Disciples II: Rise of the Elves GOLD
42. Dj Puff's Volcanic Capers
43. Dracula Twins
44. Elevator Action
45. Fallout
46. Fast Lanes Bowling
47. Fast Lanes Pinball
48. Fatal Fury
49. Final Fight
50. Five Card Deluxe
51. Flip Words 2
52. Football Frenzy
53. Futoshiki
54. Ghosts N' Goblins
55. Ghouls N' Ghosts
56. Grand Prix Simulator
57. Grell and Falla
58. Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
59. Hitman: Codename 47
60. Ikari Warriors
61. Ingenious
62. Jewelcraft
63. Joust
64. Kamikaze
65. Karate Champ
66. King of the Monsters
67. King of the Monsters 2
68. Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle
69. Knights of the Round
70. Lara Croft's Tomb Raider: Legend
71. Lazer Force
72. Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen 2
73. League Bowling
74. Liquid Kids
75. Little Puff in Dragonland
76. Lunar Rescue
77. Magical Drop III
78. Marine Park Empire
79. Mean Machine
80. Mega Man: The Power Battle
81. Mercs
82. Metal Slug
83. Metal Slug 2
84. Miami Chase
85. Mig-29 Soviet Fighter
86. Motocross
87. Morning's Wrath
88. Mr. Robot
89. Murray Mouse: Supercop
90. Mutation Nation
91. Nemesis of the Roman Empire
92. Neo Turf Masters
93. Olli & Lissa 3
94. Poltergeist
95. Pop-A-Tronic
96. Prehistoric Isle in 1930
97. Prince Clumsy
98. Pro Boxing Simulator
99. Pro Skateboard Simulator
100. Psychonauts
101. Puzzled
102. Qix
103. Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2

104. Rally Cross Simulator
105. Rampage
106. Rastan
107. Real MYST
108. Restaurant Empire
109. Return of the Invaders
110. Robotron 2084
111. Rogue Trooper
112. Root Beer Tapper
113. Sam and Max Season One: Episode 4: Abe Lincoln Must Die!
114. Samurai Showdown
115. Second Sight
116. Sensible Soccer
117. Sensible Soccer 2006
118. Shark! Shark!
119. Shock Troopers
120. Slightly Magic
121. Son Son
122. Space Invaders
123. Street Fighter II: Champion Edition
124. Super Qix
125. Stuntman Seymour
126. Super Seymour
127. Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers
128. Surakarta
129. Texas Hold' Em Poker
130. The King of Fighters 95
131. The King of Fighters 96
132. The Last Blade
133. The New Zealand Story
134. Thief: Deadly Shadows
135. Tilt
136. Tube-It
137. Twinkle Star Sprites
138. Vampire Savior: The Lord of the Vampire
139. Vulgus
140. Warlords Battlecry 3
141. X2: The Threat
142. Zoo Empire
143. Zoo Keeper

Coming Soon to Premium:
November 13
Space Hack

November 20
Lionheart : Legacy of the Crusader
Elements of Destruction

November 25
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

American McGee's Grimm
American McGee's Grimm: Volume Two (Fall 2008)
* Nov 20 – Cinderella
* Nov 25 – The Golden Goose
* Dec 4 – Iron John
* Dec 11 – The Pied Piper
* Dec 18 – A Christmas Carol

American McGee's Grimm: Volume Three (Early 2009)

TBD:

Freddi Fish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse
Freddi Fish 5: The Case of the Creature of Coral Cove
(Both Freddi Fish games have been pulled temporarily due to technical difficulties)
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
Hei$t
Culpa Innata
Legendary
Velvet Assassin
Insecticide
Stronghold Crusader Extreme
Company of Heroes
Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War: Gold Edition
Titan Quest
Saints Row 2


Coming to Free:

Coming to Free Online Browser Play

Black Tiger
CJ's Elephant Antics
King of the Monsters
Bee 52
 
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