In one of today's
continuing features from last week's DICE Summit in Las Vegas, Gamasutra sat down with GameTap's vice president of content, Rick Sanchez, at DICE to get the details on how Turner Broadcasting's broadband entertainment network, which pioneers a monthly $14.95 subscription for ‘all you can eat' classic games for your PC, came about.
When asked about whether these seminal early games hold up to contemporary scrutiny, Sanchez talks about Pong as an artifact not dissimilar to D.W. Griffith's film Birth of a Nation in terms of being pioneering, commenting:
"I'm not going to say Pong is Birth of a Nation – but if you look at a game like Pong, it's very rudimentary. There are two paddles and a blip. But that gameplay was the foundation for so many titles, even new games that are being made today. It's interesting to go back and try it, to see what it's like. And while that might not be a title that does extremely well for us on GameTap, it's great to have it so you can see what it's like.
But let me take a different example. One of my favorite movies is Gaslight. I love that film. But even the best copies I've seen of it are very degraded. The sound quality is poor. But it's still a phenomenal film to watch. It's still great after all these years. My analogy in games would be Yars' Revenge on the 2600 - my favorite game as a kid.
If you plug in Yars' Revenge today, the play mechanics are still a lot of fun and the graphics aren't detracting. The quality and craftsmanship that went into Yars' Revenge in the first place has held up over time. Some games haven't. But that one, I think, really has."
You can now
read the full Gamasutra feature on the subject, including more information on GameTap's formation and plans (no registration required, please feel free to link to the article from external websites).
