What do you guys think about Gametap? Is it worth shelling out money for?

it's incompatible with x64 systems.
it's also got very poor customer support.

You can't use mods and such on any games that are played through the GameTap player; nearly all the games that are available on it are also available through other (better) sources, with the exception of some of the arcade games; Wec mentioned the compatibility and customer service issues; I had problems with the GameTap player not being able to run in full screen mode without it resetting the monitor refresh rate to a headache-inducing 60Hz (to which customer support basically said "sorry, get a different monitor") . I can't really recommend it at all.

I had a look when they had some free offer on a while ago, it looked okay but nothing there really held my interest. Well apart from Cannon Fodder, damn I wish that'd come out for the 360 as a downloadable game...

I can't believe I'm saying this but Gametap is actually worse than Steam. It is buggy as all hell to the point that if you move your mouse while it is loading it will stop responding and crash. I tried Fallout 1 on it and I can't believe they messed that up. It is horribad.

It's OK for the free stuff. If you enjoy Metal Slug and 1942, you'll have a good time. Advertising can sometimes got on your nerves, but after all they have to pay their bills some way.

Well, I'm going to go against the grain here by saying I like Gametap. Of course I'm in the USA and run on 32 bit XP. But I've never had problems with the interface or player on either one of my PCs. But lack of X64 support is pathetic and now they are partially owned and ran by a European based service. I do the yearly subscription at $59.95 per year. So it isn't all that expensive. I'll see how the new management changes things. My sub expires in October, so I have plenty of time to see if it is still worth it.
There are plenty of games to keep me busy, and the games I've played aren't glitchy. The thing for me is that I don't have to waste money on bad games. If a game is bad, I delete it and download something else.
The fact that you're only renting games doesn't bother me. Technically you don't own any of the games you download on Steam either.

I did download Gamecrap .. I mean Gametap...and like I stated before it is full of bugs. Takes too freaking long to load, it is bloatware, and I detest advertisement ridden "players" that slow an old game like Fallout 1 down to the point of it being unplayable. Sure it's a free version of Fallout 1 but I would pay the price I originally paid when it first came out to play it without the extra crap that does nothing well. All of this was from my own personal experience on a Windows Vista 32 bit system; other people's mileage may vary.

They have a great selection of games, but that's about it.
Oh and Psychonauts is free. Can't argue with that.

Pros
Games regularly added to service.
No need to pay for the games individually.
Many games and no limit to how many you can play.
Multiplayer over the internet for many, though not all, arcade/console games.
Cons
Sometimes games are remerved from the service.
Must be online to play.
Cannot use mods, patches, et cetera due to encryption.
Sometimes cannot use certain features. For example if you need a unique CD key to play online, don't count on being able to get one.
No 64-bit support.
Some games not compatable with Vista, though that is more of an individual game problem.
The problems JudasIscariot had I would hesitate to blame soley on GameTap itself. For example the client pretty much shuts down when you are playing a PC game, even when running demanding games I've never had it cause problems. His experience does serve as a good warning, however. Definatly try out its free service first to make sure it doesn't have any such issues with your computer before paying for it.
I personally subscribe to it and like it. It is a different kind of service than GOG. If you truly want to own a game then simply having it on GameTap often isn't going to cut it. I even bought a few games, such as 'Psychonauts' and 'Beyond Good and Evil', because after playing them on GameTap I really wanted to own them. If you are in the USA/Canada and are willing to pay a subscription fee to legally download and play a whole bunch of games then GameTap is definatly worth considering.

All of the faults mentioned are true. But I have only had one technical problem 2 y ears ago or so when I first started and it turned out the problem went away when I got a new router, which was hardly their fault. The problem was random download corruption. There are many games that I would have never played except they are on gametap - the sam&max series or the classic "typing of the dead" or overlord or puzzlequest I have subsequently bought overlord and puzzlequest. I also initially played fallout 1 &2 there and then bought them here. Its a great mechanism for trying out games.

GameTap works fine with me. Some of the games are worth the subscription, but some of the others are pretty awful.

cant get it in the uk unfortunately. i would have tried it by now otherwise.
i wanted to tr the emulated games they have on there. although saying that i can get my fill of retro games on the Nintendo Wii's VC service.
metaboli is the closest thing to gametap we have in the uk.
its not bad and has some decent games on it, but theres a lot of rubbish aswell.

Metaboli now owns GameTap, though I don't think Turner has turned over the full operation of it to them yet.