Metaboli

Metaboli allows subscribers to use the internet to download and play games on their PCs, renting them in a similar way to the Napster music download service.

There are two versions of the subscription: the £7 Essential Collection, which gives access to 31 games including XIII and Dungeon Siege, and the £13 Ultimate Collection which has an extra 17 games.

It's possible to begin playing a game before it has completed downloading. However, the number of titles is fairly small at the moment and new games are being added slowly.

In addition, we found that many of the 'new' games on the site were up to three months old. As with Napster, the games stop working if you stop subscribing, although there is no minimum term.

The idea of games on demand has been a long time coming, but its future depends on games publishers taking it to heart.