New xbox 360 feature called "Game Room"

I personally want to see more info on this.

I am excited for the games that it can bring to the system, but at the same time they will be 400 points to own for unlimited usage.

That sounds great and is in line with the prices charged for older games like Ms. Pac-Man, Time Pilot, Root Beer Tapper, and so on, but those games often have XBL add-on benefits when sold as standalone titles. Those games have achievements, leaderboards, online play, and some even have updated graphics.

It seems like Game Room is more of a ploy to get more classic games licenses by removing all the XBL required additions and giving us Indie Games features for Arcade prices. Pretty much they are just emulating or porting them straight with no add-ons, from what I can tell. Why not just sell them as Indie Games under some "Classics" sub group? I would definitely prefer something like a Space Taxi port over that horrid Astro Taxi on the Indie Games, same for Lunar Lander/Lander Madness.

Don't get me wrong, I will probably use Game Room a lot, but I would rather they do away with all the pomp and circumstance and just sell me the games on XBLA. If I wanted to load a separate software just so my avatar could walk up to a virtual arcade cabinet and play a game I would spend a lot more time in Home on my PS3.
 
Foolkiller. You mentioned achievements.... These games come with achivements too. 👍 I sure hope it comes with The Adventures of Lolo. I realize it is for Nintendo but it sure would be nice. Keystone Kapers was fun too. I can think of quite a few I grew up playing.
 
CAMAROBOY69
Foolkiller. You mentioned achievements.... These games come with achivements too. 👍
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Do they have other XBL features too, like XBL play and online leaderboards? If it has all the XBLA features then it seems to just be gimmicky set dressing. If not, then it is fancy dress to justify a price that more feature-rich games contain.

As for games: M.U.L.E. and Archon are my two favorites from my old Commodore 64 days. I can think of many more but the problem with games from the C64 days is that many of those companies went under or got bought up without selling off assets, so the licenses are still held, but no one is claiming them or doing anything with them and they are very far from becoming public domain.
 
FoolKiller
Do they have other XBL features too, like XBL play and online leaderboards? If it has all the XBLA features then it seems to just be gimmicky set dressing. If not, then it is fancy dress to justify a price that more feature-rich games contain.

As for games: M.U.L.E. and Archon are my two favorites from my old Commodore 64 days. I can think of many more but the problem with games from the C64 days is that many of those companies went under or got bought up without selling off assets, so the licenses are still held, but no one is claiming them or doing anything with them and they are very far from becoming public domain.
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I thought for sure the video above showed all that. Maybe I posted the wrong video. Yes you will be able to see leaderboards and compete with friends. Certain colors above or around the game mean you have the higest score on that game. A different color means a friend has the highest score on that game. Maybe blue and red? One of the videos I watched showed all about it. There are more videos on Gametrailers.com that show the details.
 
CAMAROBOY69
I thought for sure the video above showed all that. Maybe I posted the wrong video. Yes you will be able to see leaderboards and compete with friends. Certain colors above or around the game mean you have the higest score on that game. A different color means a friend has the highest score on that game. Maybe blue and red? One of the videos I watched showed all about it. There are more videos on Gametrailers.com that show the details.
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No, your video shows that, but from what I read Major Nelson discussing last week, and I may have misunderstood him, is that each person has their own game room, so your friends have to come to your game room to set a high score on your machine.

However, rewatching the video you linked, I do see what I think the main purpose behind Game Room is: Your Game Room loads up on your 360 or your PC.
 
Oh yeah thats right it said something about cross platform gaming. Something about PC gamers playing with the people on the 360. But I am not exactly sure how that works.
 
It probably runs through Games For Windows Live, so I doubt cross platform will amount to anything because no one uses Games For Windows Live on the PC unless they are forced to.



I see it being interesting, but as it stands the prices seem a bit too high and the avatar arcade seems too gimmicky. I guess I really don't see the point when XBLA already exists. But 4-player online Warlords? That would be awesome.
 
Toronado
I see it being interesting, but as it stands the prices seem a bit too high and the avatar arcade seems too gimmicky. I guess I really don't see the point when XBLA already exists.
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Prices are in line with the competition and other classics already on XBLA. So, don't expect that to change.

But I do think,without trying it, that it is a bit gimmicky. But it does look like it will be bringing about 30 games.
 
It's an addition to a console's internet gaming network, of course it's going to be gimmicky.
 
FoolKiller
Prices are in line with the competition and other classics already on XBLA. So, don't expect that to change.
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Maybe it is just me then, but a lot of games on the service (read: everything that isn't Crystal Castles and Tempest) are games that I wouldn't dream of paying $3 for.
 
Toronado
Maybe it is just me then, but a lot of games on the service (read: everything that isn't Crystal Castles and Tempest) are games that I wouldn't dream of paying $3 for.
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$3-$5, and they are the same as the Wii games (500 points) and the previous XBLA classics like Root Beer Tapper (400 points) and Ms. Pac-Man (400 points). The PS3 has had better pricing, but only because it was through the Namco Museum, which came as a bundle.

I hope that these games will possibly come as discounted bundles, like you can just buy all Atari for a certain price or something.
 
Here's an entertaining-but-not-particularly-surprising chestnut:
Any games that were already on XBLA will not be transferrable to Game Room if you already own them.

At this year's CES convention, Microsoft unveiled its plan to create an Xbox Live Game Room where you can go and play arcade classics. Through the years we've had ample opportunities to play cherished titles like Tempest – perhaps you've already bought some of those games via Xbox Live Arcade. Now, the 360's Game Room is going to make you pay for them again.

Any Game Room arcade titles that you may have already bought as Xbox Live Arcade games won't transfer over to the Game Room, which is due this spring. We talked to a Microsoft representative on the topic, who told us that the company considers the Game Room titles different from their XBLA counterparts because they are the original versions and not "revamped" like those on XBLA. Game Room games will cost between 240 and 400 MS points, so even though you may have to buy them a second time, they should at least be cheaper than those you've already bought.
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Linky.

It almost makes me wonder why they are even bothering with it.
 
Toronado
Here's an entertaining-but-not-particularly-surprising chestnut:
Any games that were already on XBLA will not be transferrable to Game Room if you already own them.

It almost makes me wonder why they are even bothering with it.
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Achievement chasers will happily pay again.

Fortunately I only bought my 360 a few months ago so the only games I know of that might be affected by this are Time Pilot (no one else plays anyway) and Ms. Pac-Man.

I have gotten a few demos of other games but when I heard about Game Room chose to hold off.
 
So did anyone get this or is it even out?


Oh and I know it's off topic, but I bought DOA4 yesterday and that's how online modes should be ( amazingly the game is from 2005...) 👍
 
CAMAROBOY69
It is supposed to come out tomorrow. Tuesday the 23rd. I am interrested to see how well it works.
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I have seen a list of achievement just for Game Room. If they do that instead of achievements for each game I am guessing it fails.
 
Achievements (and the variations thereof) in general, to me, are silly.

I'm looking forward to this though.

EDIT: Just noticed I'd have to purchase my arcade games all over again, yeah, not so interested anymore. 👎
 
I am pretty sure once you purchase them for full price they are yours. But you can also pay to just play them each time. Basically simulating putting a quarter in each time or buying the full game. You can try it for a quarter and if you like it buy the full game. Or maybe its 50 cents each try. But you see what I mean.
 
CAMAROBOY69
I am pretty sure once you purchase them for full price they are yours. But you can also pay to just play them each time. Basically simulating putting a quarter in each time or buying the full game. You can try it for a quarter and if you like it buy the full game. Or maybe its 50 cents each try. But you see what I mean.
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If that is the case, then consider me interested again. :P
 
CAMAROBOY69
Oh each game doesnt have its own achievements? Thats just silly.
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I don't know, but there is an achievement list that I saw specifically for Game Room itself. If that is all they do then I see that turning some people away when XBox Live optimized games of many of the same IPs are available.

Here's the list:
http://inside.mygamercard.net/2010/03/17/stock-up-on-quarters-for-these-game-room-achievements/

Terronium-12
Achievements (and the variations thereof) in general, to me, are silly.
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As some sort of bragging right they are (although watching my friend who has had a 360 for almost two years get mad when I passed his score after just a month was funny), but they do add a new challenge aspect to a game. I look at some of them as finding an extra challenge room in the game. But they only work for that when done well.

An example I can use would be Time Pilot. It is incredibly hard to try to get through all years without dying, or to shoot down a certain number of bombs or missiles in each level, or save so many number of parachuters.

CAMAROBOY69
I am pretty sure once you purchase them for full price they are yours. But you can also pay to just play them each time.
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I think his issue was more that maybe he already owns something like Ms. Pac-Man and if he wants it in Game Room he has to buy it again.

I do know that I would love to see some games from the Commodore era make it into Game Room though.
 
OK, so it is out now. Thoughts?

I downloaded it and the game packs and I don't see anything worth paying for yet. The two games that most caught my attention were Yar's Revenge and Lunar Lander.

It seems really strange that I owned an Atari and a Colecovision and we had a crate full of game cartridges, but with the exception of a couple of them there wasn't anything in Game Room that jumped out at me as an incredible trip back in time.

At best, there was nothing here that made me think it would be better than a collection of 20-30 (or more) games for $10-$20, like the Intellivision Lives pack I bought for my PS2 at a gas station.

base_media




Basically, my issue here is the same as Wii's Virtual Console. I can buy these $3-$5 games in a collection for a price that makes them less than $1 a game.

With luck we will see some amazing games in the future, but currently this is not making me give up my Microsoft Banana Points.
 
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I put about 45 minutes into it the day it came out. Bought 1 game. I was under the impression that if I purchased a game, maybe my friends could play it for free. I guess not. They still have to pay to play it each time. Why would someone want to go to another area to play a game when they can just by it for themselves?? Thats my first complaint. I understand the idea but really most people are not going to go to another friends arena to pay to play the game. They will just play the free demo or buy the full game for their own arcade.

The good news is that the games are fairly cheap. Well cheaper than the current arcade games. I wasnt quite sure how to play the games with other players. I wanted to maybe play Combat with a friend but not sure how that would work. I also could not get the Football demo to work at all. I just dont see myself spending much time with it at all until they get some more games. I will buy Pitfall when that comes out.
 
It wouldnt work at all. The players would not move, would not hike the ball, and the game timer never counted down.
 
CAMAROBOY69
It wouldnt work at all. The players would not move, would not hike the ball, and the game timer never counted down.
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Did you try bringing up the system controls and resetting it? Or was that one of the Intellivision games that requires the numberpad? If so, those things rarely work well when emulated.
 
It showed a little gamepad pop up in the left side of the screen so I moved my cursor to each number and letter and hit every single button on the controller and nothing happened. :guilty:
 
CAMAROBOY69
It showed a little gamepad pop up in the left side of the screen so I moved my cursor to each number and letter and hit every single button on the controller and nothing happened. :guilty:
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I'm with CB. I tried that one too - fail. Re-read the directions and tried again - fail. Reloaded the game and tried again - fail. Reloaded the game, re-read the directions and tried again - fail.

In general for me GR definitely brought back some strong memories, especially the sounds from Astrosmash and Skiing (wow can't believe I listened to those 5 sound effects for hours on end) but apart from that I found the whole experience meh. As you guys have already noted the setup is too expensive and too restrictive.
 
Hmm, doesn't sound so good...

I downloaded it when I saw it's free, but then it came to me this wouldn't really be free as it's M$ we're talking about and it's not a usual practice to give games away as a present.
However I thought maybe some games are free, meh.

On top of that Sony removed the train game from PSHome, that was a funny retro style game for free. Not a big deal, tho.

Good thing I have Sega Master system I & II as well as my old SNES and a 386 windows 98 PC, they won't charge me, at least. :)
 

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