Ces 2010

AzBat said:
Now that doesn't look too bad. Will be neat to check out.
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Oh my, I am so getting this. I miss the 80's arcade experience :) Achievements on 80s arcade games, booyah! Great stuff. Would be cool if they let you hang around the arcade and watch others play like the old days, challenge others, etc. Was there a release date mentioned anywhere?
 
It is interesting to note the different approaches between MS and Sony. Sony always shoot at new/future concepts, and takes a lot of resources to develop new needs/demand. As a result, the demand for computing resource is also greater (e.g., Compare the entire Home world, and the Game Room). MS usually looks at existing needs/habits and wrap them specifically into the Xbox experiences.

The latter approach is much more efficient marketingwise because people are very familiar with the offerings. On top of that, MS also tend to focus on one thing at a time, while Sony tend to cast the net wide, but have not enough resources to follow up. So far, the 3D effort is the only good corporate-wide focus. The Online Service is another one cited earlier, but from this CES, it looks like it will take them quite a long time to rally their resources together.
 
I like the idea a lot, but it seems that is made more for smaller older games. Probably no chance of seeing the original Daytona with wheel support in Game Room.
 
patsu said:
It is interesting to note the different approaches between MS and Sony. Sony always shoot at new/future concepts, and takes a lot of resources to develop new needs/demand. As a result, the demand for computing resource is also greater (e.g., Compare the entire Home world, and the Game Room). MS usually looks at existing needs/habits and wrap them specifically into the Xbox experiences.

The latter approach is much more efficient marketingwise because people are very familiar with the offerings. On top of that, MS also tend to focus on one thing at a time, while Sony tend to cast the net wide, but have not enough resources to follow up. So far, the 3D effort is the only good corporate-wide focus. The Online Service is another one cited earlier, but from this CES, it looks like it will take them quite a long time to rally their resources together.
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I would disagree. MS seem to focus on what people want and are asking for (retro gaming, Virtual Console's success) and implement it in a way which is easy for people to access, so long as it makes them money.

Sony seem to come up with ideas that no one really asked for and then attempt to sell it to you - sometimes this works, though sometimes not so much (say, queuing for games in a virtual world). It's like someone at SCEA read a blue-ocean marketing book but missed the point a little bit.

Edited in: Sony's strategy actually seems to try and match Google's of coming up with an idea with no way to make money out of it. The problem is Google are really effective at turning their ideas into cash, though Sony doesn't seem to be able to execute on this side anywhere near as well.

Nintendo on the other hand read the same book and rubbed their hands together in glee!
 
Back on topic...

-Other players can visit your arcade, and they’ll earn free play tokens based on how many games you have. They can also demo any game once, or can pay 40 Xbox Live points (50 cents) for extra plays.

-Downer: You can’t directly play against another player online (so no head-to-head in Combat). Instead, online multiplayer consists of high score or other challenges you send to your friends. Two-player games will work locally.
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http://technologizer.com/2010/01/07/microsofts-game-room-the-arcade-reborn/

First one is kind of cool, but that last one is a major downer. :(

EDIT: Kotaku confirms the downer news plus the most extensive hands-on so far... http://kotaku.com/5443104/

Tommy McClain
 
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AzBat said:
Back on topic...



http://technologizer.com/2010/01/07/microsofts-game-room-the-arcade-reborn/

First one is kind of cool, but that last one is a major downer. :(

EDIT: Kotaku confirms the downer news plus the most extensive hands-on so far... http://kotaku.com/5443104/

Tommy McClain
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That bites. That pretty much takes all the fun out of it for me. I thought they were promising either cooperative gaming (as mentioned.. Gauntlet! yeah!) or turn-based gaming like in Pacman.. I take my turn and when I get eaten by Blinky you then play (while I watch) until you get chomped by Clyde, and then it's my turn again.

If it doesn't do either of those things, I don't see the point.
 
In that CES interview video with Bach his implication is that the point was more of a 'local play', 'play with your kids' solution.
 
Ah, so you'll still have the head-to-head, coop, and hotseat options for local play? That's not so bad, but still would have been awesome if they had been able to include that for the online room.

Regards,
SB
 
He didn't go into that sort of detail. Here's my transcript of that part of the video. Any grammar errors are probably mine.

Robbie Bach said:
There's a generation of people, sort of, my advanced, mature age, who grew up with games like centipede that you know, are favorites. They look, almost like casual, fun games today. At the time they were high-end, edgy games. And so game room is the idea of bringing that back to the market. And bringing that to a very broad audience and I think what we're going to find is that when people are can get 30 or more of these types of games, they're gonna love it for the experience... and it's not just you or I who are gonna love it. Even the people who would call themselves hardcore gamers are gonna say "oh wow, this is fun", in a retro way.

It's sort of like my daughter going to watch Journey. Right, I'm like, it's a band that was playing when I was growing up, and she thinks it's a cool band, and I like the music. And I think you're gonna have the same phenomenon in game room where I'm gonna enjoy the games and they're gonna think it's cool.
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Yeah, all the write-ups I've read mentions that local 2-player is there. It's the Live multiplayer that's not... YET. Looks like they do have plans for it, but not initially with launch. What they will have instead is challenges. You get a high score on a game, you then send a challenge to a friend. If he doesn't have the game, he can come to your arcade and have one free try at it. If he decides not to buy the whole game @ $3 or $5, then he can buy individual tries at $0.50.

From the looks of it the achievements may not be normal either. That first hands-on kind of touches on it, but can't hear them clearly. It seems that you'll be getting points for 3 different medals(Competition, Time Alive, and Score) at the end of each game. These will be tied across all titles and will unlock the title agnostic achievements. So it doesn't look like you'll get 12 achievements worth 200 points for every title like you on Live Arcade titles. With a possible 1200 titles I can understand why they may go this route.

Tommy McClain
 
PARANOiA said:
I would disagree. MS seem to focus on what people want and are asking for (retro gaming, Virtual Console's success) and implement it in a way which is easy for people to access, so long as it makes them money.

Sony seem to come up with ideas that no one really asked for and then attempt to sell it to you - sometimes this works, though sometimes not so much (say, queuing for games in a virtual world). It's like someone at SCEA read a blue-ocean marketing book but missed the point a little bit.
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That's what I meant by existing needs vs new needs. ^_^

In any case, the Home team has mentioned Arcade Room before. And we have the leaked meeting minutes between Sony and Sega (about virtual consoles).

msye4g.jpg


Here again, Sony got distracted and diluted their efforts. I am curious how they will structure the Home effort given the new Sony Network Entertainment move. It cannot be left alone.


Source: http://www.sonyinsider.com/2010/01/...ation-network-sony-network-entertainment-inc/
 
I wonder if they'll also try to reproduce the "sound" of an arcade. I think that's one of the things I miss the most about arcades from the 80's (NOT crappy Mall arcades), other than the dim lighting and neon, was the ambient noise of all those arcade machines. It was a more pleasant mix than what you had later in the 90's. Less blaring and more an odd jingle of computer music and primitive sound effects.

Regards,
SB
 
Don't see why not ! Even in Home, I remember you can hear the specific arcade machine's music when you go near one (or pool table, bowling sound when you're near said entertainment). It helps to entice people to play. In a roomful of arcade machines, you'll have the old, authentic arcade background sound.

This is one area I hope they add spectating as a standard. For Home, it would be even better if they could multicast real-time party noise or "tweet" Home activities to me in XMB. That way, I just might go Home and participate in their weekly Game Launching parties once in a while.
 
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