Game Room Finally Arrives - First Look - Xbox Evolved

Xbox Evolved writes:

"I know we all have been waiting anxiously for the BIG arrival of Game Room as part of the Block Party. Some insanely awesome games were released this month, and to top it off we now have even more reasons to love the Xbox 360 – the GAME ROOM. "

[AridSpider]

Pretty innovative idea from Microsoft...too bad I won't be using it.

[Blaze929]

booted it up earlier but I thought it was pretty dumb. Not sure what exactly MS's aim is behind Game Room but it's not aiming for me.

[JasonXE]

Just a retro thing for people to feel like they're back in Arcade shops...way back

[ProA007]

I tried it out earlier, pretty neat what you can do with the challenges and stuff. Not too bad

[tokoshix]

I kind of enjoyed that feeling of being in an arcade. Hopefully we'll see some interesting releases soon though, not too interested in what's available at the moment.

[Rockox]

Tried out the demo (or whatever you'd call it). Kinda neat for a curiosity, but I doubt I'll be spending any more time with it.

[-Alpha]

"Innovative" gets tossed around so much around every new thing that comes up and I certainly don't think GameRoom is innovative at all. Charging for simplistic games, literally nickel and diming, and paying for owned games is all silly IMO. I don't understand the point-- is it to simulate an actual arcade experience? Offer games anyone can access on the net with better graphics with an "arcadey" vibe? I can do that in Home, for free, and I'm not a big fan of Home, and I'm not trying to start a war, but in all honesty, I do not see the point of GameRoom charging for this.

Perhaps Natal games will offer something unique or innovative but right now I see this as nothing more than a glorified arcade collection of games I can play on my PC. At least they don't have you running around like in Home, the experience seems straight forward but a complete waste of Microsoft Points.

[darthv72]

I like the idea of this however I need to know if it will just be old school (like atari) arcade games or if there will be more modern ones. Probably as time goes by but I know sega has a slew of great arcade hits that would rock this service. Just to name a few:
outrun
after burner
space harrier
galaxy force
power drift
golden axe
thunder blade
daytona
virtua racing
virtua fighter

Same goes for capcom. Please capcom...support this service with UN squadron, final fight, knights of the round, carrier airwing, mercs,

Lots of arcade games to line up a quarter at the top of the virtual cabinet.

[Michael Myers]

not the that great....MEH

[garos82]

DONT go to open zone. their is a douche there with a potential alan wake spoiler. its in his username so stear clear

on topic, i love the idea of a game room. especially if the games library would be as impressive as mame32 emulators! however the price of these could be slightly off putting

[FACTUAL evidence]

This is XBL's version of PS HOME? O, I bet this is a WONDERFUL idea since it's from MS.

[Blaze929]

At least they kicked it off with two free download packs

[JasonXE]

really? hmm, didn't know that. Might actually check this out now. Download packs free to download the games and play them or just download then pay to play them like with quarters aka microsoft points?

[Blaze929]

dunno..I had quit before then >_<

[Rockox]

I don't know what the free packs exactly do, but they're definitely NOT free games.

[Cheeseknight28]

None of the games are free. You are downloading the content, not the games themselves. They are $3.

[ProA007]

I wonder what they're game plan for this is with adding games.

[Blaze929]

if it's like their weekly plan for updating Marketplace then...weekly

[Captain Tuttle]

It was kind of cool to play Adventure from the 2600. Not sure I'll be doing it again though...nostalgia can be a b1tch.

[Rockox]

Adventure and Yar's Revenge were the only games I was really interested in revisiting, and they're both...not as good as I remembered.

[thebudgetgamer]

it holds up pretty well, i hope to see that game soon.

[pixelsword]

I just hope they expand the library to include a bunch of games.

I got four arcade games in my apartment on playstation home myself, and Namco has an arcade that is kinda like what Microsoft has,

http://www.siliconera.com/w...

except that the Microsoft version looks more "Arcadey", to butcher a word; plus, it looks like Microsoft will have a wide variety of games, which is a good thing.

[GR8 1]

This is awesome better than PlayStation Home. also i noticed when i was at my friends house and tried PlayStation Home all i was getting was some batty men chasing me around which put me off ever touching a ps3. With Game Room no one can chase me so i feel very comfortable.

ALANWAKEKILLSWIFE

Spoilers don't bother me and thanks for the spoiler i love em keep them coming. I don't cry like u b*tches when Heavy Rain spoilers came out.

[garos82]

but your even a bigger douche with that comment.

sorry comment was ment for guy below. which btw could be a spoiler.

@gr81 above i doubt you play ANY games. you muppet

[Phi39582]

It's kind of funny that this needed a "wait", it seems like I could sit at my computer and one way or another play any one of these games within two minutes.....not quite sure how this took development time.....

[Ronster316]

That alone pleases me, but theres no doubt that they need more good games on there.

Of that first batch i'll get around 6-7 games.

It has a lot of potential, and challenging your buddies high scores/survival time ect is a great feature.

Based on the achievement list they want you to spend a lot of time in there, and they are no doubt gonna add to the list of games quite frequently.

Can't grumble with the game prices either (only 240 MS points per game)

[ThatsGaming]

I just got all 30 games... Spent an hour putting everything in my arcade....

Shao-Lin's road is definately a diamond of the bunch.

[Ninjamonkey82]

Time a time machine for old people. Just like the current game selection nothing new. Aye theres a few games worth note but you would have had to be there to know why. To gamers now adays it will not mean much.

[NotoriousWarrior]

lol

is that true ALANWAKEKILLSWIFE?

How did u find out?

[Arnon]

It's certainly a good idea, and when I used it, it had a LOT of games. What is it, like 15 games right now? It's also nice to hear that if people visit your arcade, you get coins to play games.

Either way, I probably wont be using it too much, but it's a damn nifty idea, and is just a smart move. These 15 games were only like... 150 MB, so I cant imagine how many games are going to show up in the future.

[maniacmayhem]

The thing about nostalgia is just as the name implies...nostalgia.

Things are better left only remembered.

[ZILLA]

and thats a FACT!

[NotoriousWarrior]

ALANWAKEKILLSWIFE

do a good job lol i wanna see how this turns out

[Pennywise]

LMAO. Ihate spoilers and would usually lash out, but nice work... these bastids ruined gow3, HR, R2, and others. This is well deserved payback.

Congrats fools, this is what u get.

[ThatCanadianGuy]

Exactly, i was there through the great spoiler war of 2008 on N4G.
I believe you were there too, it ended in late 2008 and that's where it should of ended.

Then, some 360 homo spoils KZ2, HR & GOW3.Personally, i hope every 360 game gets spoiled from now on.Let that douchebag taste his own medicine.

[Rockox]

And you guys call yourselves gamers. Congrats on perpetuating the stereotype that people who play videogames are immature idiots.

[Pennywise]

They ruined my most anticipated games... This has nothing to do with being a gamer at this point.

We are talking about $180.00+ I spent to experience a game that was ruined by a selfish @ssho. This is unacceptable.

I will not spoil games for anyone, but payback is a B. We know this, so next time your brethren decides to spoil the game you should prepare yourself for revenge.

I am very passionate about gaming. I get mad at people for spoiling movies and I don't like them half as much as a good game. Ruin my game and I would gladly inflict physical damage to you. I can't do that, so I will settle for eye for an eye.

[Rockox]

You're right, Pennywise. This doesn't have anything to do with being a gamer. It's about being a selfish douchebag, and that's exactly what somebody is if they spoil someone's game or if they condone that type of behaviour. I was pissed at the HR spoilers, but turning around and spoiling another game as "payback" is equally moronic.

I had hoped people would have taken the high road and not let the Xbox retards get to them, but I guess it just shows that the PS3 fanboys are no better than the Xbox fanboys. You guys should all be ashamed of yourselves.

[Pennywise]

Rockox, I don't know if you just directly called me a D-bag, but you need to redirect your anger to the A-holes causing this whole thing. I am just an innocent bystander getting the shaft.

The one thing everyone has on this site is we love games. Somewhere along the line it has taken a nasty turn. The hate and anger from all sides is too much. I am not going to get into it, but these guys are such a turn off to me that, yeah... I hope it keeps coming back at them ten-fold. It goes both ways. It isn't just one side, its both.

It is a shame that so many people have to suffer at the hand of a few immature, selfish jerks. But... N4G promotes this nonsense. I am banned to the open zone for calling out a troll while he still posts in the gamer zone. I am on the verge of quitting to even come to this site because of all the hate and lies. It's old and I am too old to be messing with it anymore. It's stupid that the normal consumer will come here and think DVD is enough for this gen because the select few in denial losers say so because their console of choice doesn't have blu-ray. It's lies and misinformation like that, that makes my blood boil.

'nuff said.

QUIT SPOILING MY DAMN GAMES.

[Rockox]

Well, that is where we differ, because I would never go and high-five someone for spoiling someone else's game, just because "they did it first." It's this type of behaviour that promotes the meanness on this site, and it's not getting us anywhere.

And if someone wants to think their console is better than yours, who cares? This site has pretty much devolved into one giant console war, where the articles are secondary, and all a headline needs to say is "X is better than Y - FIGHT!" to give fanboys a platform to complain. Most times a headline doesn't even need to be that explicit for a spat over consoles to break out.

I too am thinking of quitting this site, mostly because of all the hate, and also because I could probably get far more relevant news-worthy (read: not flamebait) game info on some another site.

[Midnight-Rogue]

OWNED

[Obama]

Can't wait to pay to play pacman /s

[Obama]

Does these games need to be installed? It would be kinda ironic if people with the arcade couldn't play "arcade" games.

[Arnon]

The way it works is you download Game packs basically. They consist of however many games they want to put in them. They're very memory efficient (both of the game packs were about 150 MB). Then you can either buy the full game for your Xbox 360 for 360 MSP, or you can buy it for your 360, and all other consoles pertaining to Xbox LIVE/Windows Live for 400 MSP.

It's pretty nifty.

[delpiero89]

... but anyway , ALANWAKEKILLSWIFE how come this happened dude , i feel sorry for the poor wife :`( :P

[blakstarz]

Hmm.....I dunno, is it me or does this somewhat sounds like the concept of Sony's HOME where you can walk into the Arcade/Bowling alley spot and play a virtual games?

[SnukaTheMan]

And you have to wait in line to play bowling....Im sure when people heard the idea of home, they wanted arcade machines in their room playing games like scramble and crystal castles and their friends can join and play also...looks like microsoft did it before them.

[OSIRUSSS]

I would never pay to play those old crap games.

[psycho360]

@suka

Even as a 360 Fanboy i admit there are both pros and cons with this deal. You mentioned waiting time in home but on the other hand it is free. Anybody with a psn id can go in home and play games but in our case we are being nickled and dimed, first the gold membership then paying however small the amount maybe for these games most of which can be played free in a flash browser.

MS can make 360 and LIVE even better platform if they start offering free games to gold members for their support in paying for LIVE just to play online. This is 2010 not 1990s where having an internet connection was a privellage. Now everyone and their dog has access to free services available on the net, most of all pc and ps3 gaming. I dont mind paying for lIVE but not just for MP for GOD's sake give us something more.

[prettyboy1]

saw it deleted it playin jus cause 2 demo

[Paradise Lost]

What a waste of download space.

[Fragger2k8]

The game room idea is pretty neat, and I do like it, but it really could have been so much better if they did things differently.

It would have been really awesome to be able to control your character around in a virtual environment, like Home, and talk with other people. That's what I was hoping for when I first heard about this, but I just knew it would be too good to be true. I was pretty disappointed when I found out it was nothing like that.

The biggest problem I have with Game Room, though, is the pricing. $3 to purchase each game is pretty ridiculous for how old they are. It should be no more than 100 points per game, if you ask me. You could probably go on Amazon right now and find a whole collection of these games for around $3.. Heck, most people who have ever owned a game system or pc have picked up a collection with all of these kinds of games anyway, so why should people pay $3 a game just to play them on their 360? Just because the Game Room environment makes it slightly more enjoyable?

If things were a bit different, like cheaper prices, being able to walk around and hang out with others, and free access for all accounts (both gold and silver), then maybe it would be worth spending some money on. It would be a lot more fun, and you wouldn't feel like you were getting ripped off.

What would have made it even better is if you were able to use it as a hub for all of your gaming purposes; Playing classic arcade games, hanging out and discussing games with friends in your party, having a 360 console in your game room where you could launch XBLA games that you purchased.. It would have been really, really cool.

It really is too bad that they didn't do it right, it could have been so awesome.

[mittwaffen]

They should of made it more fluid and less limited.

-Cant walk around.
-Setting up an arcade is limited
-Games suck and are over priced.
-No free games? How can i enjoy this?
-More milking from M$.

You need to work harder on implementation.