Angled Whiteboards

Something we’ve seen in the suggestion box since the day we launched (and in blog posts and forums all over) was a request to make our opening splash video in the Deluxe Player a little more quiet. In 1.8, we let you bypass the intro video with the ESC key.

Today, we bring you a new, quiet intro.

Open the tap. Squeak. Play.

The latest GameTap update includes a feature that was delayed from 1.8 (#7 - video refresh rate), a new smallish feature straight out of the suggestion box, and a lot of bug fixes.

From the suggestion box

I don’t ever want to register my high scores. There should be a way to get GameTap to stop asking me after each time I play a game.

Okay, we thought, that’s cool. You don’t want to post, you should be able to tell us one time and we won’t ever ask you again - you just zip right on to the next game. On the other hand, there are lots of you who want to post every score you make and you ought to be able to tell us that once too.

See, leaderboard posting was built to support multiple people playing the same game on the same machine (you and your bud playing a leaderboard game in two player mode - both of you make leaderboard-eligible scores, you ought to both be able to take credit, right?) Anyway, that’s why our high score posting form always asked for a screen name and a password before posting. (I use that feature to UNCHECK the embarrassing scores I don’t want posted )

So, where do you find this new option? It’s right where you need it, both in the form where you post your scores (A) and in the Leaderboard tab in My GameTap (B).

And the resulting popup? There you can select:

• Never post any leaderboard scores (and we won’t ask until you change your mind)
• Always post all leaderboard scores to whoever is logged on (and we won’t ask until you change your mind), and
• Always ask what scores to post and to whom (and we’ll ask every time)

You’ll still see the notification that you made a high score (and have the button to manually open the popup to post or change your settings), but we won’t interrupt you with a popup unless you’ve told us you want us to.

So those are the two new features in this patch, what about the bug fixes? Here’s a sampling of what you’ll find all nice and fixed:

• Map button 0 on controllers not in the officially supported list (batzradio found this bug, thanks batz!)
• No more scratchy sound in arcade games
• A handful of Windows games that wouldn’t run on dual core machines now will (Tomb Raider AOD, Silent Hill 3, and some others)
• And a bunch of other Vista related things

From the Suggestion Box

“I think it would be cool to have a pulldown window with all your screen names, because I have a 4 year old son with an account and he doesn’t know how to spell very good on the keyboard, and his SN is rather long. We gave him an easy password, but I thought there was a pulldown window for some reason.”

There is indeed an option for a pulldown (or combo) on the login form, but there’s a secret to it. Here’s how to transform the screen name entry field to a combo:

1. When you log in, check the “Remember my screen name and password” checkbox.
2. Then, the next time you come back to log in, voila! A combo!

Oh. Do this at your own risk. As long as that checkbox is checked, anyone using your computer can log in as you.

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.

From the Suggestion Box

The GameTap catalog has been growing by leaps and bounds, especially with newer (read BIGGER) Windows games. So, it’s no surprise the number-one-most-requested-feature in the Suggestion Box over the last few months has been to let users see all games they’d downloaded (whether or not they were dubbed ‘Favorites’). Well, on Tuesday we released 1.7, adding a Downloaded subcategory to My Favorites.

If you want to get in quick and play something you’ve already downloaded, just visit the “Downloaded” section of My Favorites. Everything local on your machine is displayed there, subject to Parental Control and Personal filters, of course.

Feedback from our customers include:

“I made a suggestion a while back about having a downloaded game menu. no doubt many others did too, but thank you for listening …. or rather reading what the users want.”

“Thank you for adding the “Downloaded” tab to the Favorites ring, that was EXACTLY the kind of thing I was looking for in my previous suggestion. Thanks again for listening!! “

There are even more enhancements coming soon to My Favorites. Keep your eyes peeled, and rest assured that they’re all coming from the Suggestion Box to you. And, thanks for asking!

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.

-or- Hey! What happened to my Local Storage tab?

Some GameTap users have wondered recently (via the suggestion box in My GameTap) what the * happened to the Local Storage tab in Account Settings. It’s a good question.

This summer, we enhanced Parental Controls mostly in preparation for delivering M rated games, but we also added a few user requested features. One was that parents be able to stop their kids from deleting cached games — so now, access to Advanced Storage is a Parental Control feature/option.

So, if you’re a subaccount and you don’t see a Local Storage tab in My GameTap, ask your primary account holder to turn it back on for you. Here’s how they do it:

1. Go to My GameTap and select “Account Settings” and then “Personal & Family Filters”
   
2. Select the appropriate subaccount name from the dropdown menu
   
3. Select “Edit Details” from the Additional Controls section on the right
   
4. Check the checkbox to allow access to Local Storage
   

And that’s it. The next time you log on, you’ll have full access to allocate disk space and to add and delete games from your cache.

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.