Downloadable console games........

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I'm just curious what Wii/360/PS3 owners think of the newest addition to console gaming. I'm kind of 50/50 on the whole downloadable game thing.

I have a PS3 and I have purchased most of the new games that are available on the Playstation Store. I have 'Cash Guns Chaos', 'Blast Factor', and 'Lemmings'. While none of them are extremely deep, they're good games that have very good graphics and are fun to have around for those 10-15 minute gaming spaces where I just want to get a quick gaming fix when I don't have time to play a more in-depth game. For $8-10, I've had a lot of gaming bang for my buck. I can think of $50 games on the PS2 that weren't as fun as these games.

On the other side, I haven't even considered purchasing any of the retro PS1 games that they have released. I honestly have no interest in playing old games on a new system and paying money for them. I could honestly probably even get the games used at my Gamestop for cheaper than what they are asking for a download of that old game.

I know that the 360 and Wii are also offering the old arcade games and Nintendo games. For similar reasons, I'm not interested in those games either. Paying $8 for a game like Root Beer Tapper that I can pick up with many other arcade games for much cheaper used on a PS2/Xbox game is a much better option IMO.

In summary, I'm good with the new games, but not so much with the old games. Thoughts?

[Pumpy Tudors]

I agree with you. My reasoning for not buying the older games is that I have a GameTap subscription, so I have no shortage of older games at my fingertips. GameTap doesn't have every older game I'd want (can we get some Cyberball up in here?), but the selection is huge. I really don't enjoy old games enough to pay for them individually.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I agree with you. My reasoning for not buying the older games is that I have a GameTap subscription, so I have no shortage of older games at my fingertips. GameTap doesn't have every older game I'd want (can we get some Cyberball up in here?), but the selection is huge. I really don't enjoy old games enough to pay for them individually.

I've heard good things about GameTap recently. Sounds like they've really improved the library of titles over there in the past few months.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I've heard good things about GameTap recently. Sounds like they've really improved the library of titles over there in the past few months.
They have improved the library. Their website shows that they're up to 817 games now, and while there are a few dozen complete dogs in their library, there are still hundreds of games that are decent enough to try for a little while.

I was surprised by their PC game selection. When I signed up for GameTap, I thought I was just going to get arcade and console games. There are quite a few PC games that are accessible through it, though, and they're not all ancient games. There are a couple of games from the Age of Wonders series, both Deus Ex games, at least one Command and Conquer game, and lots of others that I overlooked when they were new.

I didn't mean to threadjack here, but I'm finding GameTap to be a good value for the $10/month or whatever I'm paying for it.

[Fidatelo]

I downloaded Bomberman '93 for my Wii and had a great time with my friends. I'll also likely get a few other games during 'lulls' in new-game releases. I think it's a great thing.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I didn't mean to threadjack here, but I'm finding GameTap to be a good value for the $10/month or whatever I'm paying for it.

Certainly not. It's a good example of the $10 well spent that I was referring to. You certainly get good bang for your buck there. As I said in the initial post, my real hang-up is the arcade games that you can get for much cheaper on old media or even free in an emulator.

[dawgfan]

I don't have a 360 at home, and the dev kit at work won't play retail game disks, so the vast majority of my 360 gaming has been from downloadable games. From what I've been able to download, there seems to be some variety of games you can get through Live - a number of classic arcade game ports like Galaga, Pac-Man, Defender, Frogger, etc.; quite a few PC puzzle game ports like Bejeweled, Jewel Quest, Zuma, etc.; and some new games like Geometry Wars, Alien Hominid, Cloning Clyde, etc.

I'm enjoying them a great deal FWIW.