ONLINE SERVICE
After a 30-second download using the PlayNow service for cable modems, I quickly clicked and started playing 3D Ultra Pinball from Havas. I've got the CD-ROM copy of it somewhere, but what with the piles of books lying around and cleaning out the spare room for the new baby, finding anything is almost impossible.
PlayNow, from Into Networks, uses a CD-ROM farm on the local cable segment, right near our home in Hazlet, New Jersey, to provide dozens of games and software CDs through the cable connection (subscribers to the @Home or Road Runner networks can try the service; right now, only cable modems have enough bandwidth to handle these games). The player software downloads amazingly fast, and with one click you can try a free demo, or rent the game for a few dollars. While the initial wait is less than a minute, Into Networks has engineered subsequent downloads to occur only when there's a transition in the game.
While I was toying with Pinball, my 3-year-old daughter, Julia, came up and wanted to know what I was doing, so I clicked into the Kids section. We pulled up the free trial of Green Eggs and Ham, and a minute later Julia was getting to see and hear the ravings of Sam-I-Am. With another click, I rented it for two nights. Then I pulled up the game JumpStart Toddlers and played the music. Now Julia walks away from Barney tapes in the VCR and demands Toddlers.
PlayNow also has separate areas for blood-and-guts favorites and for educational software. My 13-year-old daughter, Kimberly, showed off her smarts in You Don't Know Jack Vol. 3, then settled on Cosmopolitan Virtual MakeOver, The Collection, making the models as ugly as she could. Next I'm going to rent Success Builder Algebra 1 to make sure she keeps her edge in math as well as in makeup.
I did experience occasional crashes and rough spots while loading the games. Otherwise, this is a great service. I can rent the software and not have to pay a fee if I return it late, and I can try it out before spending a nickel. I can password-protect the ordering, so my kids and their friends won't go running up a large bill on my credit card. Plus, I don't have to worry about replacing the CD that Julia broke, or the ones that were lost in our home-office overhaul.
PlayNow: $2.99 (two-night CD-ROM rental). IntoNetworks: +1 (617) 621 1212, www.intocorp.com.
STREET CRED
The Short Goodbye
Par2-D2
Violent Laughter
The March of Progress
Flighty Mouse
Fast Outta the Gate
Broadband Gamespot
Read Me
Music
Goth Talk
Dark Passage
Got Skim?
Weather Vane on a Chain
just outta beta
Lenscraft
The Road to Nerdville
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