Perhaps you’ve heard of Piepacker. It’s been around for a year, and in that time it’s amassed two million users.
It’s only set to get bigger, too. Today, Piepacker is unveiling its new identity: it’s now known as Jam.gg. And along with that new name, it’s getting a suite of new features to make it better and more accessible than ever.
Jam.gg is a free-to-use social platform that provides people a space to hang out and play games together. It supports voice, video and text chat, so you can simply catch up with friends if you like. But that’s not the primary purpose of Jam.gg: it’s to play games. And with an extensive range of games available to play for free – yes, you read that right – it really is worth arranging an online games night with your friends.
Currently, most of Jam.gg’s library is made up of retro titles. There are over 100 games on there, including well-known titles like Worms Blast, Earthworm Jim 2 and Sensible Soccer. There are original games you won’t find anywhere else too, like the Bomberman-inspired Arséne Lupin: Gentleman Bomber. Getting started couldn’t be easier. Simply pick a game, create a room and you’re ready to go. Invite your friends or play by yourself if you’d prefer.
As part of the rebranding to Jam.gg, more games will be coming to the service, including more modern titles. So far, Overcooked!, Moving Out, No Heroes Here and Blazing Chrome have been announced, all of which will be arriving on Jam.gg later this year. It’ll also be getting new features, like public game rooms, an improved user interface, and expanded eight-player support.
What’s particularly cool is that if you don’t want to play one of Jam.gg’s built-in games – which are all playable directly from your browser, we should add – is that it supports a ‘Bring Your Own ROM’ feature. Purchase a ROM for a game for NES, SNES, Mega Drive or N64 and you can simply drag and drop it into Jam.gg, with the service loading it for you. And just like that you can host an online game of Super Mario Kart, for example.
Jam.gg’s approach to social interaction and safety is interesting, too. It encourages video and voice chat, but if you’re in a public room, your webcam will be masked. Quite literally: you can choose a number of filters to apply to your face, giving you a presence but protecting your identity. In a private room with participants you know, you can of course reveal your face. There’s still a wide range of filters and fun items you can apply to yourself. A pirate costume, perhaps. Or a llama head?
If you’ve never given Piepacker – now Jam.gg – a go, there’s never been a better time. Whether you fancy playing some retro games by yourself, or gathering together a few friends for an online party, it offers an ideal platform. And it’s completely free – and will stay that way. Jam.gg currently has plans to introduce some premium features – like paid-for camera filters – but the core experience, such as the games library and the social elements, will remain free. So, what are you waiting for?
