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...
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
Here's the list of all 30...
- Adventure
- Armor Battle
- Asteroids Deluxe
- Astrosmash
- Centipede
- Battlantis
- Crystal Castles
- Gravitar
- Lunar Lander
- Red Baron
- Combat
- Finalizer
- Football
- Tempest
- Jungler
- Millipede
- Outlaw
- Road Fighter
- Realsports Tennis
- Sea Battle
- Scramble
- Skiing, Mountain Madness/Super Pro
- Space Armada
- Space Hawk
- Shao-lin's Road
- Star Raiders
- Super Cobra
- Sub Hunt
- Tutankham
- 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
