Don’t let your sleeves dangle. Don’t stand up too fast.
No, not the book by Gregory Maguire (which is fantastic, by the way, as is everything he writes). Nope, this is another kind of wicked. This is Wicked GameTap.
Gotta say, it’s fun to inspire a post like that. Thanks, VanD. Keep on playing!
[via WDIK.]
From the Suggestion Box
GameTap defaults to 800×600 running in full-screen mode — full-screen for that immersive gaming experience, and 800×600 for maximum performance. But, what if you want to multitask between games? Or you’ve got a new widescreen monitor?
Every month, the suggestion box contains a few questions just like that. Here’s a how to:
To toggle between full-screen and windowed mode at GameTap’s current resolution, the quickest way to use the button in the top toolbar:
If your windowed mode button is disabled, it means your desktop isn’t running in 32-bit color. To change that, right click on your Windows desktop, choose the Settings tab, and set your color depth to 32 bit.
Okay, so that’s toggling. But, to get the most out of GameTap’s display options, go to My GameTap, choose Account Settings, and then Display.
Select the radio button for windowed or full-screen mode. If you choose windowed mode, you can select from a dropdown or roll-your-own by entering custom dimensions. If you choose full-screen, the dropdown will populate with all the display sizes your video card can support.
Personally, I like running in a widescreen window, just because I like the way the space opens up. Click a thumbnail, make it grow. See what I mean? Ahhh.
My GameTap
The GameTap Vault (Warrior Within!)
And GameTap TV.
And that’s it. Just about whatever display mode you desire (and that your video card can handle), we’ve got it.
We check the suggestion box regularly, so if you have a question or a suggestion about how the GameTap UI works, post it there, or send it to us here.
Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the States, it looks like the big content update is happening a day early this week. The update appears to be, umm, stuffed with delicious new games? We hope you go back for… seconds? Would you like some cranberry sauce with that controller? Sorry. On with the update.
First, we’ve got a nice collection of family-friendly games from Humongous. Those be good for little three-year-old xamount jr. He already plays a lot of Reader Rabbit. (And Time Pilot, actually. But he mainly just crashes into the enemy and laughs.)
Then we’ve got one of my favorite childhood arcade games, Ikari Warriors. Consider this one a crucial part of the xamount Safeway collection: the games at the grocery store that was only a bike ride away. Man that control scheme was revolutionary — it felt miles beyond Commando (even though they were released only a year apart). I had no idea there were Ikari sequels, but we’ve got ‘em.
I still need to finish Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, but it’s nice to know that 2004’s Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within is waiting for me when I’m done. Gotta love that wall-running stuff.
Finally, oh yes. Here we go. My favorite Sealab 2021 episode of all time: All That Jazz. It gets no better than this one, folks. Mingus Dew! And I say to myself, I need exact chaaaaange.
In between turkey, football, and napping make sure you check out the full list:
New games:
Now with Challenge! multiplayer support:
New on GameTap TV:
Last time we looked at an example of a feature that went largely unchanged between the whiteboard and reality. Here’s an example of something that ended up changing quite a bit as we worked through it.
The GameTap catalog has over 70 (at current count) online multiplayer games. When we launched with multiplayer (called Challenge! games), we wanted to make sure people didn’t have to choose just one of them to play. You know, to have to hang out in the lobby and challenge whoever came in. So we created this concept of registering as a Contender. That way, you could be challenged to play a match any time you were in GameTap, no matter where you were (unless you were already playing), for every multiplayer game you’d registered as a contender in.
To register as a contender, you go to the game, pop into the challenge lobby and select “Be a Contender”. And, if you wanted to de-register, you’d just go back to the game and reverse your steps. Simple, huh?
Well, maybe not. What if you’re really into the Challenge! games and you’re a contender in a lot of them? You’d get a lot of challenges. And while you might be able to accept a good majority, there were going to be some you missed — and there were going to be times when you wanted to dial back your challengeability so you could kick back and watch some GameTap TV. Sure, you could go back to each individual game and cancel your contendership (if you could even remember them all). But, yuck. Tedious and time-consuming. Eventually, you’re gonna risk missing some challenges and potentially coming off as a deadbeat contender (the worst!).
So we set out to make it easier for the nice guys to manage their challengeability. The initial whiteboard sketch was an updated incoming challenges panel. While the existing panel allowed you to see and accept incoming challenges, the updated panel was to do the following:
Quickly manage contender status for any game? Check
The ability to turn off your contender status across all games at once? Check
The ability to see and accept incoming challenges? Still there
In fact, most of the concepts represented in the sketch survived intact — they just ended up spread around a little bit.
We realized that we were putting a bit too much management burden on what was really all about receiving and accepting challenges. And we weren’t doing everything we could to assist folks who might still have missed a challenge or two. So, why not have the panel simply maintain a list previously received challenges, even if they’d expired? That way you could at least IM the other person and set up a new game with them, or add them to your buddy list for a later match. Either way, at least now you KNOW who might be thinking of you as that dreaded deadbeat contender cause you’ve got a handy list:
And that “All Challenge! Games” button in the upper right? Along the way we realized that we needed to start using My GameTap for more than just display settings and parental controls. Why not use My GameTap to manage my contender status as well? With the new Leaderboards section being designed in parallel, a Challenge! games manager fit right in.
One of the problems with that initial whiteboard sketch was that we divided the games you’d downloaded from the full list of Challenge! games. It didn’t quite feel right. So in My GameTap we merged the lists back together, and put in some sort options: the game itself, whether you’re a contender in it (and if it’s downloaded and ready to play), even the lobby population so you can see where the action is. Ultimately, we ended up with a one-stop shop for managing all those fun online multiplayer games:
Okay, enough of all that. I got some Joustin’ to do!
Thursdays on GameTap mean new, fun stuff. On the game front, this week brings a bunch of new action and simulation games from NovaLogic — I’ve been wanting to play Delta Force: Black Hawk Down, the video preview for Comanche 4 looks pretty hot, and I hear folks are digging Tachyon: The Fringe as well. Can’t wait to dive in. And Defender is now a Challenge! game! Sweet!
As for new stuff in GameTap TV, I’m pretty sure that this episode of Sealab 2021 is the first one I ever saw. Talk about a twisted introduction point. Chubby Cox! Stinky Pete!
Anyway, get up in there and check out the new stuff (full list below). We’d love to hear what you’re playing.
New games:
Now with Challenge! multiplayer support:
New on GameTap TV: