So they have the 4th of July Game Lounge Free Preview. I have been playing around with this thing a little bit on both my HR-21 boxes.
First off... it is slow... it could very well be that so many people are trying it out that it is bogged down. I don't know for sure, but it is slow.
Second- the games are crappy.... reminds me of the Sega Genesis online service back in 1996, offered briefly by Paragon (Time Warner) cable and other systems. Oh wait, The Sega system was more fun.
Third- it locks up, but it only locked up on one of my receivers, so maybe my receiver is messed up.
Fourth- I own two Xbox 360s, a wii, a PSP, a gameboy, a PS3, and a boatload of games. I also have a ton of boxed product computer games that are fun (Civ4/Beyond the Sword for me, Sims2 for my older son). Not to mention online games like pogo.com for free.
Fifth- The DirecTV remote control makes a crappy "joystick"
Sixth- Looks like all games are not available all the time. Not sure why, other than they don't have enough servers to meet the demand.
Seventh- I am not sure if it is downloading the game to my receiver or playing it off a server at the DirecTV end. Maybe a combination of using the dish and my Ethernet over the Internet. Not sure what it is doing, but back to #1, it is slow.
Verdict-
I could see no reason for anybody to subscribe to this outdated game service. The games are just too 10 years ago looking. And a lot of this stuff is free on the Internet. The only person I could see paying for this and enjoying it are people that don't have other gaming systems or a computer with Internet. You know, those sophisticated baby boomer types that think videogames are for kids and would have to be pushed to admit to playing games like game lounge. They would probably be as ashamed to have you find it on their DTV guide as a working service, the way they'd be ashamed to have you find their Playboy subscription.
There is no reason to be ashamed. Adults can play video games too. I am 33 and have played video games all my life (loved my Colecovision in the early 80's) You want games? Get a wii, Baby Boomers! Get a broadband Internet connection and head over to Pogo.com or one of those services. Don't pay for Game Lounge!
I will spend some more time playing with this over the weekend. I subscribe to the Premier package. This stupid Game Lounge should be included in my package. It is not worth an extra $8 or whatever they want. At least if it was on there, free, my visitors may actually get some use out of it. Or maybe it will get better. Who knows.
Does anybody see value in this service? Anybody already a subscriber? Anybody going to sign up now that they have played the free preview?
First off... it is slow... it could very well be that so many people are trying it out that it is bogged down. I don't know for sure, but it is slow.
Second- the games are crappy.... reminds me of the Sega Genesis online service back in 1996, offered briefly by Paragon (Time Warner) cable and other systems. Oh wait, The Sega system was more fun.
Third- it locks up, but it only locked up on one of my receivers, so maybe my receiver is messed up.
Fourth- I own two Xbox 360s, a wii, a PSP, a gameboy, a PS3, and a boatload of games. I also have a ton of boxed product computer games that are fun (Civ4/Beyond the Sword for me, Sims2 for my older son). Not to mention online games like pogo.com for free.
Fifth- The DirecTV remote control makes a crappy "joystick"
Sixth- Looks like all games are not available all the time. Not sure why, other than they don't have enough servers to meet the demand.
Seventh- I am not sure if it is downloading the game to my receiver or playing it off a server at the DirecTV end. Maybe a combination of using the dish and my Ethernet over the Internet. Not sure what it is doing, but back to #1, it is slow.
Verdict-
I could see no reason for anybody to subscribe to this outdated game service. The games are just too 10 years ago looking. And a lot of this stuff is free on the Internet. The only person I could see paying for this and enjoying it are people that don't have other gaming systems or a computer with Internet. You know, those sophisticated baby boomer types that think videogames are for kids and would have to be pushed to admit to playing games like game lounge. They would probably be as ashamed to have you find it on their DTV guide as a working service, the way they'd be ashamed to have you find their Playboy subscription.
There is no reason to be ashamed. Adults can play video games too. I am 33 and have played video games all my life (loved my Colecovision in the early 80's) You want games? Get a wii, Baby Boomers! Get a broadband Internet connection and head over to Pogo.com or one of those services. Don't pay for Game Lounge!
I will spend some more time playing with this over the weekend. I subscribe to the Premier package. This stupid Game Lounge should be included in my package. It is not worth an extra $8 or whatever they want. At least if it was on there, free, my visitors may actually get some use out of it. Or maybe it will get better. Who knows.
Does anybody see value in this service? Anybody already a subscriber? Anybody going to sign up now that they have played the free preview?
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