"For many of us, old-school gaming has always been where it's at. While I love new games with uber graphics and super-smooth gameplay, classic games still hold that certain charm that few, if any, games nowadays can capture. And like all things that were once good, the time of pixilation passed (for the most part) and people moved on, leaving those who once reigned supreme in the days of Joust and Pitfall with little choice but to move on with the herd. However, after years of waiting, someone has finally heard our call and has granted us a doorway back in time. Enter the world of GameTap, a downloadable application for your PC that lets you download hundreds of the greatest games ever made.

Getting the app up and running is simple as could be. Just register on GameTap.com, start the download, and install. If you have a relatively new PC, the only other requirement for the service is a broadband internet connection. After installation you can immediately start playing any game from the library of just over 300, with constant additions promised for the near future. You can select games from a variety of systems including Atari 2600, Commodore 64, Genesis, Game Gear, Master System, Arcade, DOS, Windows, and even a few titles from the 32X and Dreamcast. Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, no old-school Nintendo titles were to be found; these are being saved for download onto the Revolution.

When you select a game to play, most older games will launch within seconds. Other games, such as those for Dreamcast or newer Windows games will take a lot longer; often up to half an hour, giving the game time to download onto your hard drive. The good news is that once you download a game, you don't need to download it again whenever you want to play it. That is as long as you have allotted GameTap enough disc space to save it. Also, once you decide to download a larger game, you aren't stuck staring at a loading screen for what feels like an eternity. Once the download begins you are free to go play other games while your download continues in the background." [more]