flameboy Posted January 7, 2010 Posted January 7, 2010 Surprised no thread on this yet: US, January 6, 2010 - A leaked internal video interview has spoiled at least one of Microsoft's surprise announcements at this year's CES show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The company plans to introduce "Game Room," a virtual arcade featuring retro titles for the Xbox 360 Microsoft's president of Entertainment and Devices Division Robbie Bach is seen discussing the to-be-announced plan as a way of bringing classic arcade titles, such as Centipede, to a new audience. "Game room in some ways is sort of a retro approach," Bach said. "There's a generation of people who grew up with a set of games like Centipede. They look almost like casual, fun games today. At the time, they were high-end, edgy games. Game Room is the idea of bringing that back to the market, and bringing that to a very broad audience. "What we're going to find is that when people can get 30 or more of these types of games, they're going to love it for the experience, and not just casual players, even people who would call themselves "hardcore gamers" are going to say, "oh wow, this is fun," he added. Microsoft's CES conference starts at 6:30 PST tonight. We'll update this post with further details as they are announced. Update During Microsoft's CES keynote presentation, a few new details were revealed about "Game Room." The arcade will launch this coming Spring for Xbox 360 and PC with 30 original arcade and console classics, including "Centipede," "Asteroids Deluxe," and "Super Cobra." Players will be able to invite friends to your own custom arcade to challenge each other. The retro games will appear in their original cabinets and can be placed anywhere in your arcade. New games will be released every week, with over 1000 titles being available over the next three years. Titles will be priced between 240-400 points for download, while 40 points nets players a single play. Purchasing a game allows players to play it both on either Xbox 360 or PC. "Game Room" will support Avatars, Voice Chat, 1080p, online multiplayer (Gold membership required), and cross-platform leader boards and achievements
Ten10 Posted January 7, 2010 Posted January 7, 2010 Well I thought what came out of both camps at this years CES was a bit meh. Although I do like the idea of PSN content being accessible across all platforms.
flameboy Posted January 7, 2010 Author Posted January 7, 2010 yeah I'm a bit meh about this game room at first I was like thats amazing is it finally time to get a 360, that was until I realised you had to pay for every game!
Wesley Posted January 7, 2010 Posted January 7, 2010 Very lame in my eyes. You have to already have Gold plus pay for the games... It's taken a leaf out of Home's book but then charged you for it.
flameboy Posted January 7, 2010 Author Posted January 7, 2010 Very lame in my eyes. You have to already have Gold plus pay for the games... It's taken a leaf out of Home's book but then charged you for it. Exactly........
Wesley Posted January 7, 2010 Posted January 7, 2010 I just read it again and saw that maybe you don't need to have Gold to play, but just to play online... Still... I dunno, maybe I've just got a bit of hate for it because I no longer see it fit for Microsoft to charge you to play games online. Feels like the industry has passed this point now.
Mundi Posted January 7, 2010 Posted January 7, 2010 I bet that over at the Microsoft's offices that develop these things that there is a common office joke where an employee asks another employee how much they should charge for using a new feature and he answers by saying: "Maybe we should put it out for free" And then everyone laughs.... Except for the consumer, he just cries.
Pit-Jr Posted January 7, 2010 Posted January 7, 2010 40 pts for a single play? Im not sure what the exchange rate for that is in real money. Is it as extortionate as it sounds?
Wesley Posted January 7, 2010 Posted January 7, 2010 Well I'm not completely down on this, I mean the idea of being able to play it on either Xbox or PC once you've bought it is really fantastic. Also the actual idea itself is pretty neat... It just lacks the mixture of free play and paid play that I'd expect from something like this. 40 pts for a single play? Im not sure what the exchange rate for that is in real money. Is it as extortionate as it sounds? I read on Kotaku it was two quarters... so double what you'd pay on a regular arcade machine...
dwarf Posted January 7, 2010 Posted January 7, 2010 It would be, but Home had Xi, which was decent. Otherwise both are shite.
Nolan Posted January 7, 2010 Posted January 7, 2010 I could have sworn the Big 3 already had this is various forms. ya know, PSN, VC, XBLArcade. Seems silly to do this as opposed to just releasing them at reasonable prices on XBLA.
Gizmo Posted January 7, 2010 Posted January 7, 2010 My immediate thought on hearing about his was "Cool, PSHome, only with decent shit to do" Then I heard you have to pay for each game. My next thought was "Oh."
Jimbob Posted January 8, 2010 Posted January 8, 2010 My immediate thought on hearing about his was "Cool, PSHome, only with decent shit to do" Then I heard you have to pay for each game. My next thought was "Oh." Room is free, content isn't. Just like a real room to be fair. MS could make the games free to play, just make them with no achievements.
dwarf Posted January 8, 2010 Posted January 8, 2010 But the appeal of the arcade is the old bulky machines you get to use, along with the crappy music & rubbish atmosphere. I wouldn't pay to use a virtual one, but I'd pay to have a few games in an arcade in the street every blue moon.
Nolan Posted January 8, 2010 Posted January 8, 2010 You know....if this is supposed to be like a real arcade, I want HotD4 and that HL2 arcade game.
Shorty Posted January 8, 2010 Posted January 8, 2010 Maybe you can play trial versions for free like on XBLA/Indie titles?
flameboy Posted January 8, 2010 Author Posted January 8, 2010 Maybe you can play trial versions for free like on XBLA/Indie titles? Nah they are touting the single play 40 point option as the way people can try out titles.
ViPeR Posted January 8, 2010 Posted January 8, 2010 (edited) Sounded good until I realised you had to pay. They really don't need the money that badly, and people who PAY for those avatar costumes. I'm sorry but that's just wrong. £8 for a virtual stormtrooper costume that no one will care about? The one day ones are funnier, paying for a Halloween costume you only use once a year. Yes you could argue that people do the same in real life but that's where that argument fails, it's REAL life. People might actually give a damn. Edited January 8, 2010 by ViPeR
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