[AzBat]

Well, Game Room finally shipped today. Athough it was part of the month long Xbox Live Block Party, it's actually listed as a free Games On Demand title. Once downloaded, it asks you to install a Game Pack. It won't work without one. The Game Packs are free and today they released 2, each with 15 games each. They are made up of Atari 2600, Intellivsion & Konami titles.

Here's the list of all 30...

1. Adventure
2. Armor Battle
3. Asteroids Deluxe
4. Astrosmash
5. Centipede
6. Battlantis
7. Crystal Castles
8. Gravitar
9. Lunar Lander
10. Red Baron
11. Combat
12. Finalizer
13. Football
14. Tempest
15. Jungler
16. Millipede
17. Outlaw
18. Road Fighter
19. Realsports Tennis
20. Sea Battle
21. Scramble
22. Skiing, Mountain Madness/Super Pro
23. Space Armada
24. Space Hawk
25. Shao-lin's Road
26. Star Raiders
27. Super Cobra
28. Sub Hunt
29. Tutankham
30. Yar's Revenge

There is basically 2 different kinds of arcades. One is called the Showcase Arcade(doubles as 3D version of the Store on the main menu) & the other is your "My Arcade". Each arcade is made of 3 floors with 4 different rooms on each floor. Each room can house 8 cabinets. Each room can have its own theme & different cabinets. But on the Showcase Arcade they are not customizable, only My Arcade is. Anyway, there are seperate themes for Konami, Atari & Intellivision, & 12 other ones. Some themes give you more than the standard 12 cabinets slots for Décor(2 spots on the back floor & 1 on each side wall). They give a few unlocked Themes & Décor, but to the get the rest you have to level up to certain levels. I set up my arcade and got a handful of free achievements for setting up themes, decor, etc. Haven't bought a game yet, but I did buy a mascot. Mascots are those sprites from the games that run around in your arcade. You get them free when you purchase the game on day of release. Otherwise they are 40 MPS($0.50) a piece.

Playing the games are pretty straighforward. You can play a demo, buy the full game or buy the anywhere version(specifically mentions Games for Window Live, but could see this on Windows Phone 7 too). Playing the Demo version gives you a 10 minute timer. When the 10 minutes are up, it kicks you out of the game completely. From there you have to buy the game. You can get additional demo time if you trade in 5 tokens for an extra demo play. They start you out with 20 free tokens. Bad thing is if you leave the demo before time runs out, you forfeit the rest of your time. Oh, but you can earn a free token when your friends visit your arcade(even if you don't have any games in it). Friends can visit & play your games even if you're not online, but it's basically the same thing as playing the games from the Showcase Arcade or the Store. I also couldn't figure out how to buy tokens or buy a 1-time play for 40 MSP.

In the arcade there are TV screens setup between rooms that's always looping videos of upcoming games. There's also a news ticker that shows up at the top of your screen when you're playing a game or just viewing a cabinet. There are all kinds of customization for turning the ticker off, changing the sounds, graphics, etc. When you play a game you can get instructions & controls for each game. While playing in the Classic mode you can use the Left Trigger to rewind the game like you would a video. Makes it nice if you mess up & die. Some games offer alternate controls too.

I think the biggest draw is going to be the challenges that you send your friends. There are so many kinds of ways to set those up, but you have to own the game in order to send one. Also, owning the game opens up the Ranked Games(can't use Rewind on it). Evidently each games offers so many medals. Some games only have 1 medal, but the rest of have 3. There are 3 types of medals in the games: Point Buster, Survivalist & Time Spender. Each game has different requirements. So you can get different level of medals for each games: bronze, silver & gold. They are each worth 2, 5 & 7 points respectively. Add up your points & it takes so many points to level up. The different levels unlock achievements & themes/decor items. There are a total of 50 levels.

I'm probably not explaining it exactly right, but that's the jist of the system. It's pretty well done. The atmosphere: look & sounds are spot on. Feels just like the arcades. I think the problem most people will have is the less than nice demo system & the pricing for full games. $3 gets you the full version on one platform, but a lot of them are not really worth more than the free 10 minutes you get. I think the service will take off when newer games come out, which they say is every week. Hopefully it's 15 cabinets a week like they mentioned. Right now I'm going to wait to see which ones they get. Hopefully Activision is next, I really want River Raid.

Tommy McClain

[NavNucST3]

Could use some UI usability tweaks, maybe a standard font overlay because some of the titles are rather difficult to read on the cabinets. The 2D interface is where I spent the majority of my time because I could read the name of the games, and a little about the games, and more important the control scheme used. It took me more than a few seconds and pressing every single button (including the 3's) to remember how the hell to start a 2600 game. Also, the default way of playing is not for me, more than once my wife's avatar walked into my field of view since the playfield is an overlay and the activity in the arcade mall is still taking place; I'm going to see what other options I have.

I hope to see this going forward across all downloadable games regardless of platform and that is, the leaderboard replays and taking advantage of transport controls, I picked up more than a couple tips for some of the games I demoed after watching a few replays, skipping to the parts where I always screw up, or just watching a badass run. Haven't seen anyone on my friendslist playing but I plan on sending some challenges anyway...that is...after I have found a game I actually want though I must say that, COMBAT...still one of my top 25 of all-time.

[AzBat]

Good points about the UI. Good thing some of those things can changed in the options.

BTW, didn't realize about the replays. I'll check those out. Right now I don't own any of them. Playing them for 10 minutes(usually less) was enough to satisfy. Hopefully the next update(coming in late April apparently according to the team) will include the Pitfall & River Raid games.

BTW, Combat was good, but I always liked Air Sea Battle more.

Tommy McClain

[NavNucST3]

Sent a Centipede challenge to joker, he accepted...his Robotron skills aren't translating to Centipede

[joker454]

Originally Posted by NavNucST3

Sent a Centipede challenge to joker, he accepted...his Robotron skills aren't translating to Centipede

Dangit, I suck at Centipede But I had to try! I've been out of town for a while so haven't had time to improve my Centipede skillz, but I'll be back!

[NavNucST3]

I thought we were supposed to be getting a steady stream of games...

[joker454]

Yeah they need more, the initial games are kinda weak. Crystal Castles is cool, but I find it impossible to play without a trackball.

[NavNucST3]

Originally Posted by joker454

Yeah they need more, the initial games are kinda weak. Crystal Castles is cool, but I find it impossible to play without a trackball.

I bought Crystal, Centipede, and Tempest...I don't remember Crystal being so fast!

[AzBat]

Originally Posted by NavNucST3

I thought we were supposed to be getting a steady stream of games...

It was announced 2 days after Game Room released that the new DLC wasn't coming till "Late April".

I would expect that content next week myself, but they could wait till the week after.

Tommy McClain

[joker454]

Originally Posted by NavNucST3

I bought Crystal, Centipede, and Tempest...I don't remember Crystal being so fast!

Just bought those also. I may have lost the Centipede challenge...but you may want to check your former high scores on the above games I wonder, when it displays the banner above the game in your arcade of who has the high score, does it only include people on both our friends lists? So if one of your friends say has a 100k score on a game and i have 80k on the same game, will it float his 100k banner when I visit that game in your arcade even if he is not on my friends list?

[AzBat]

Game Room update coming Wednesday April 28:

• Super Breakout
• Pitfall!
• Megamania
• Night Stalker
• Rack ‘Em Up
• Realsports Volleyball
• Basketball

No River Raid yet. Maybe the week after.

Tommy McClain

[NavNucST3]

Originally Posted by joker454

Just bought those also. I may have lost the Centipede challenge...but you may want to check your former high scores on the above games I wonder, when it displays the banner above the game in your arcade of who has the high score, does it only include people on both our friends lists? So if one of your friends say has a 100k score on a game and i have 80k on the same game, will it float his 100k banner when I visit that game in your arcade even if he is not on my friends list?

I spent about half an hour in your arcade...years later, I still hate Adventure, lol.

[NavNucST3]

Originally Posted by joker454

Just bought those also. I may have lost the Centipede challenge...but you may want to check your former high scores on the above games I wonder, when it displays the banner above the game in your arcade of who has the high score, does it only include people on both our friends lists? So if one of your friends say has a 100k score on a game and i have 80k on the same game, will it float his 100k banner when I visit that game in your arcade even if he is not on my friends list?

I only see my friends listed. Maybe we should float Friends of Friends Leaderboards to the account managers and pass it up the food chain. The bear is just too damned fast for me with the stick, so I concede that one, but I suggest you check the Centipede and Tempest leaderboards more frequently

[joker454]

Originally Posted by NavNucST3

I only see my friends listed. Maybe we should float Friends of Friends Leaderboards to the account managers and pass it up the food chain. The bear is just too damned fast for me with the stick, so I concede that one, but I suggest you check the Centipede and Tempest leaderboards more frequently

Sounds like a competition is afoot Those definitely aren't my stronger games, but I refuse to fall without a fight! Oh yeah I kinda cheated on Crystal Castles. Hint....do you remember where the warps are? Easy to get quick points that way. Yeah I was desperate to win haha, the bear is too damn hard to control without a track ball. Game Room is starting to grow on me. I think it will be really cool once they get more games.

[NavNucST3]

Originally Posted by joker454

Sounds like a competition is afoot Those definitely aren't my stronger games, but I refuse to fall without a fight! Oh yeah I kinda cheated on Crystal Castles. Hint....do you remember where the warps are? Easy to get quick points that way. Yeah I was desperate to win haha, the bear is too damn hard to control without a track ball. Game Room is starting to grow on me. I think it will be really cool once they get more games.

To be honest. I am friends leaderboard competitive, whenever, I start any of my XBLA games one of the first things I do is check the friends boards. You should see me get pissed at Geometry Wars 2 trying to beat your King score...I'm such a masochist that I would actually like to have an option that tells me when a friend has beaten one of my scores

[AzBat]

Looks like the weekly update schedule has been put on hold. Probably has to do with the layoffs at Krome Studios...

Inside Xbox(sentuamessage) Daniel Maher:

Originally Posted by @MrPointyHead

The latest batch of Game Room content has also been delayed until further notice - I'll let you know once a new date is confirmed.

Major Nelson followed up...

Originally Posted by @MajorNelson

We’re working to bring you additional Game Room titles as soon as possible! I’ll let you know the moment I have more details

Game Room = FAIL

Tommy McClain

[AzBat]

Looks like Game Room might be back on track...

Originally Posted by @MajorNelson

We’re happy to report the newest #XboxLIVE Game Room titles - including Super Breakout & Pitfall - will be available this Wednesday!

Let's see if they can dig themselves out of a hole.

Tommy McClain

[AzBat]

They've already announced next week's titles...

Originally Posted by @LIVEGameRoom

May 12th Game Release: Battlezone, Keystone Kapers, Soccer, Canyon Bomber, Night Driver, Oink!, Mega Zone

Still no River Raid. Still some pretty good releases though.

Tommy McClain

[AzBat]

2 titles announced for May 19...

Asteroids & Time Pilot

Probably won't get the full list for another week.

We're also getting Game Room avatar items tomorrow.

http://gamerscoreblog.com/press/arch...ess+Alerts)%20

Tommy McClain

[NavNucST3]

Already tired of all the 2600 releases...before they are even released...

[joker454]

Yeah, plus 2600 releases are more for nostalgia and not really for competition. They need some better arcade games.

[RobertR1]

I'm not bothering with it until I see titles I care about. For me, that'd be 90's titles.

[joker454]

Originally Posted by RobertR1

I'm not bothering with it until I see titles I care about. For me, that'd be 90's titles.

Not even mid 80's games like Ghosts 'n Goblins or Rygar?

[RobertR1]

i didn't get into gaming till early 90's

[AzBat]

Originally Posted by RobertR1

i didn't get into gaming till early 90's

Man, I knew there was something wrong with you. LOL

I'm playing all the demos for now, but there's probably only 1 game that I will buy(already mentioned it many times already). Wife might want to buy some, but she's finding that the $1 Indie games are a better value.

I just wished they allowed the XBLA games to be played in Game Room without having to rebuy them. I have quite a few of those already.

Tommy McClain