Gamefly breaks into digital distribution, will offer unlimited PC and Mac downloads

By Jeff Hughes August 9, 2011

Video game rental company Gamefly has announced they’ll be launching a digital game downloads service later this year during the holiday shopping season. The service will be available for both PC and Mac gamers.

The company’s by-mail video game rental subscription service is similar to the pre-streaming Netflix of old. Gamefly focuses primarily on current gen consoles such as the Wii, PS3 and the Xbox, allowing console gamers to try as many games as want for a monthly subscription and giving the option to buy the titles that customers can’t bear to part with.

Sadly, Gamefly has had to neglect PC gamers for practical piracy reasons, but the upcoming service aims to make amends to that gaming market. The new digital client’s main feature will allow subscribers to download and play as many of the 1,500 and ever-growing library of Mac and PC titles as they desire.

“It’s kind of like a Spotify or Rhapsody or a Napster,” Gamefly co-founder Sean Spector told Game Hunters. “You have access to the content as long as you are a subscriber, but when you are no longer a member, the content then disappears.”

Alongside the unlimited play, the new service will allow subscribers to conveniently download digitally or order by mail, pre-order upcoming console and PC releases or purchase game titles. Also, users will have access to a game organizer, gaming headlines and a social component allowing discussion and sharing of collections with other users.

The closed beta will be launched in Los Angeles on September 8, 2011; beta codes will be handed out at the event. Further information and a beta invite can be obtained from the website.

This new feature follows the company’s acquisition of the PC download service Direct2Drive three months ago. Gamefly is entering a digital distribution service domain filled with many competitors including Steam, OnLive and EA’s recently launched Origin platform.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

I'm a SF Bay Area-based writer/ninja that loves anything geek, tech, comic, social media or gaming-related.

Gaming

How to increase your approval rating in Manor Lords

A medieval market in Manor Lords.

Building your population in Manor Lords is one thing, but making sure they want to stick around and continue to grow is the real challenge. You could have the ideal design for a village, or the perfect tactical mind for conquering the entire map, but if your approval rating is too low, you won't survive your first winter.

Happy people are the grease that makes your kingdom an efficient machine, but what is it that people value? It can be hard to tell at times why your approval rating isn't going up, or worse going down while playing your first few games. We've zoomed in on all our citizens to learn exactly what you need to do to increase your approval rating.

Gaming

Is Manor Lords multiplayer or co-op?

A medieval market in Manor Lords.

You can easily lose hours designing your village and appeasing your citizens in Manor Lords all by yourself. There are so many different avenues to achieve victory, but the only competition or help you can normally find is in the form of NPCs. Other factions around the map can be helpful or harmful depending on how you play, but what if you wanted to team up with a friend to combine resources, or perhaps compete to see who can crush the other first? Many strategy and city builders thrive on multiplayer components, but does Manor Lords offer those same modes? Make sure you know the answer before making your purchase if that's your intention.
Is there multiplayer or co-op in Manor Lords?
To cut to the chase, the answer is no. Manor Lords is a purely single-player experience through and through. There are no cooperative or competitive modes in the game at all, so there's no way to interact with anyone else either on PC or console. This game was just released out of early access, and there is plenty of content on the way, however, we regret to inform you that multiplayer is not in the plans for the time being.

One developer took to the Steam forums to release an FAQ on the game. One question specifically asked if there is any multiplayer or cooperative gameplay in the game. The response said that "he focus is on a refined single-player experience, with no multiplayer or cooperative modes planned at the moment."

Gaming

All console commands and cheats for Fallout: New Vegas

The courier holding a gun with a welcome sign in the background in Fallout: New Vegas key art.

From the moment you begin your adventure in Fallout: New Vegas, you've already cheated death. Your first playthrough of the game should be done as the developers intended, though maybe with a couple of mods to make the experience a little smoother, but nothing that breaks the game. That said, it's been over a decade since the game came out, so odds are you've already played through the intended way at least once. This is when you can have some fun tinkering with the game and play using console commands and cheats if you're on the PC version of the game. There are a ton of commands you can input to manipulate your character, the world, objects, and more. Here's a full rundown of all the cheats there are and how to activate them.
How to enter console commands
Opening up the command console to type in your cheats is just a single keystroke away. While in the game (not paused), hit the ~ key located below your escape key. This will remove your HUD and bring up the prompt to type in any of the below cheats.
All Fallout: New Vegas console commands and cheats

Because there are so many console commands, we're going to break them down into general categories to make it easier for you to find what you're looking for based on what you want to do.
Faction and reputation cheats
addreputation <form id> <variable> <amount> -- Increases your reputation with a faction.