So, I was invited to a Gamefly gaming preview event at the House of Blues in LA. Primarily, it was to announce their upcoming PC client, but I'll get to that in a minute. The event itself was pretty alright, with some pretty good music going, and not too much of a crowd to walk around freely. They had several games available to play: Saint's Row the 3rd, Dark Souls, Starhawk, Dead Island, Resistance 3, and an upcoming basketball and wrestling game (not my thing). There was also plenty of free NOS energy drink to be had, and I drank 4. I'm still not sure if that was a good or bad decision. Correction- still not sure HOW bad of a decision.
There's was a brief set by White Boy Wasted, not someone I'd heard of or plan on hearing again, and then some presentations of Gamefly stuff and a raffle. The raffle was mostly Del Taco bucks, Gamefly subscriptions, and some neat video game paraphernalia like sound systems and carrying cases. And then there was the PC stuff.
So, Gamefly up until now has been exclusively console-oriented, since they rent out discs basically. Now they have this PC client, which is similar to Steam, in a way. It allows you to friend people, manage your Gamefly queue, and preorder or purchase PC games. It also comes with an "unlimited PC play" list, which sounded waaaay too good to be true. You can download and play any game on that list whenever you want, for as long as you want. I was stoked. I got a total of 6 codes to the beta for the client. And then I got home and booted it up.
Here's the list of games you can play for free:
Velvet Assassin
Splinter Cell (1)
Saints Row 2
Konung 3: Ties of the Dynsasty (what?)
Hearts of Iron
CSI: Hard Evidence
Atari Arcade Hits
Flock!
Wallace & Grommit in Fright of the Bumblebees
Sam & Max Episode 1: Culture Shock
Red Faction (1)
Red Faction 2
Telltale Texas Hold 'Em (not the poker game with Strong Bad in it)
D.W.A.R.F.S.
Luxor
Treasure Island 2
Jewel Quest Mysteries
Jewel Quest Solitare 2
Desperados 2 Cooper's Revenge
Inca Ball
Luxor: Mahjong
Elements (Bejeweled knockoff)
Little Farm
Mysteryville 2
Prison Tycoon 4: Supermax
Reign: Conflict of Nations
The Penal Zone
Hunting Unlimited 2010
Hector: Badge of Carnage!
Death to Spies: Moment of Truth
Garden Defense
Magic Academy
Magic Academy II
Elizabeth Find, M.D.: Diagnosis Mystery
Imperium Romanum: Gold Edition
Reaxxion
Fishdom
Elements 4
Eco-match
Farm Craft
So, if you actually read the WHOLE list, how many of those have you heard of, actually are interested by, and didn't play 5 years ago? I'm not exactly sure why I let myself get excited by news of this client, but now that I've seen it with my own eyes- there's absolutely nothing good about this.
Let's desperately hope (for Gamefly's sake) that they can actually land some interesting titles before the PC client goes live this holiday season.
-Duncan
