Episodic gaming’s newest addition has finally hit GameTap’s online shelves, with the launch of American McGee’s Grimm, available today for zero dollars. GameTap and McGee are, indeed, providing the first of 24 twisted fairy tales free of charge — you needn’t even be a GameTap subscriber. In fact, American McGee’s Grimm offers no less than three separate pricing options towards this episodic series, which is intended to run on a weekly basis for the next eight weeks. The first episode, “A Boy Learns What Fear Is,” is completely free — even as a standalone download separate from GameTap, available here – and from there, your options are as follows:
- Each subsequent episode will be free to play for the first 24 hours of its release. This ought to work fine; have you ever noticed how gamers who are the stingiest are also the least patient?
- The new episodes will also be available for $3.99 apiece in GameTap’s online store. 4 bucks a week * 8 weeks = $32 dollars over a period of about 2 months for each 8-episode “season,” minus the first free game, comes to $92 for all 24 games.
- I’m assuming the games will be included in a regular GameTap subscription, which will cost you either $9.95/month or $59.95/year. Incidentally, this option also lets you play Fallout — I’m just sayin’. Further assuming that the game seasons can stick to their schedule of “Fall 2008″ for season 2 and “Early 2009″ for season 3, a yearly package starting now, in late 2008, ought to cover all 24 episodes.
Chances are, there’ll also be some sort of premium collection when the seasons — or series — are complete. It’s nice to see episodic gaming maturing to the point that all of these seem like perfectly reasonable prices. We’ve seen how episodic game content can work if handled properly, and a diversifying marketplace will only help both publishers and consumers explore new possibilities and settle upon the most agreeable option for everyone.
The question is, are any of these price points worth the cost, for this particular series? Well, it’s tough to know without having actually played the game, so caveat emptor. Again, the first one’s free, so if you’ve got a lot of time on your hands (and if you’re reading GameCyte, you do), why the hell not, right?
Judging from American McGee’s past titles, it could be deliciously surreal and have wonderful character. Or, it could be unforgivably terrible. So, you know, somewhere in that range.
Leave a Reply