Cable TV Becomes the New Model for Games
Turner Broadcasting’s GameTap revives past hits and looks to the future with episodic play
For years, Hollywood has been a source of inspiration for video games, which increasingly feature dramatic soundtracks, titles, multimillion dollar production values, and larger-than-life plots and characters—not to mention advertising campaigns. But Turner Broadcasting’s year-old GameTap, a broadband, subscription-based online distributor of classic and contemporary video and PC games, is increasingly looking to the cable-TV model instead to find new ways of approaching game design, production, and sales.
On Oct. 16, GameTap’s first anniversary, the company will announce two new exclusive offerings that suggest its two-pronged adoption of the cable-TV model: one, to revive canceled or discontinued games, and two, to develop episodic titles. Here, preview the two newest GameTap offerings: the first episodic game, based on the Sam & Max comic franchise, and the rebirth of Uru Live, a discontinued online game, part of the popular Myst game franchise.
By Reena Jana
On Oct. 16, GameTap’s first anniversary, the company will announce two new exclusive offerings that suggest its two-pronged adoption of the cable-TV model: one, to revive canceled or discontinued games, and two, to develop episodic titles. Here, preview the two newest GameTap offerings: the first episodic game, based on the Sam & Max comic franchise, and the rebirth of Uru Live, a discontinued online game, part of the popular Myst game franchise.
By Reena Jana
