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[bryehn]

I will be playing the crap out of these games and spending way too many points on dual platform copies

 

[Shig]

Question: Why the 2600 version of River Raid instead on the superior 5200 version?

I'm sure this question also pre-emptively applies to many other games as well.

Gazunta, gonna address this? This also applies to Star Raiders, btw.

I'm pretty sick of Atari's revisionist history where they act as though the 2600 was the only system they ever made. If there's a better version of something, release the better version.

 

[mclem]

Gazunta, gonna address this? This also applies to Star Raiders, btw.

I'm pretty sick of Atari's revisionist history where they act as though the 2600 was the only system they ever made. If there's a better version of something, release the better version.

If they ever do Pac-Man, this'll become *glaringly* apparent.

(Although I suspect they won't, given how Pac-Man is already well-served on Live)

 

[CrunchinJelly]

240 is a lot

These games were 400 before.

 

[Plasma]

Think I'm going to have to pick up Jungler because of Giant Bomb :lol

 

[Stumpokapow]

These games were 400 before.

Something tells me people who are complaining about 240 weren't the people buying it at 400.

 

[Dynoro]

Something tells me people who are complaining about 240 weren't the people buying it at 400.

Something tells me people complaining about 240 weren't going to buy it anyway. 240 allards is jack for an old arcade game you like or one you want to try out

 

[Zachack]

In fact I'll go ahead and save everyone a bit of trouble right now. The only 2600 launch game worth a damn is River Raid.

Yar's Revenge is worth playing once. Star Raiders maybe if it's not too diminished from the Atari 400 version.

For the arcade games I'd normally skip anything that most people should have played at some point (like Asteroids) but then again I'm probably older than most of the posters here. Of the upcoming arcade games I think almost all of them should be tried (barring control issues) but the following could probably be skipped:

Finalizer
Gravitar (I think, it's been a while)
Lunar Lander
Road Fighter
Maybe Shao-Lin's Road (it's been a while)

It's tough, though, because I firmly believe that while almost no one will buy Red Baron, it definitely should be played in order to gain more appreciation for the history of video games. The single free play is a pretty huge bonus for the service since going by the initial slate, most people won't want to play more than a couple of games ever again, and the two "big guns", Tempest and Crystal Castles, were spinner/trackball games, so controls may be an issue.

Something tells me people who are complaining about 240 weren't the people buying it at 400.

240 a la carte is pretty competitive with most arcade compilations, although I will give credit to the Midway collections for being particularly good at filtering out bad games. It's fair to question the pricing for the initial selection but the free play really does a lot to negate complaints. If you're unwilling to pay $3 for an arcade game you like then you're probably already pirating it via MAME and would only guilt-pay a couple quarters at most.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

Well, if that's the starting list, it looks like Gravitar is the only one I'm picking up to start. The more quickly mid-to-late 80s and the 90s arcade, console, and computer titles start showing up, the better this service will look to the vast majority of potential buyers, IMO.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Yar's Revenge is worth playing once. Star Raiders maybe if it's not too diminished from the Atari 400 version.

Yeah I tried Yar's Revenge again awhile back. It's not the same as I remembered it.

The sound effects gave me nightmares as a kid. Today..well not so much.
Back then I was big on Activision's 2600 games so gotta take that into account as well.

 

[akilshohen]

I hope they advance to the 90's quickly! None of these games have nostalgia for me....except for maybe Hero perhaps.

 

[Ramma2]

I hope they advance to the 90's quickly! None of these games have nostalgia for me....except for maybe Hero perhaps.

Agreed, so many great games from all decades, looking forward to seeing what they come out with.

 

[Gazunta]

Question: Why the 2600 version of River Raid instead on the superior 5200 version?

I'm sure this question also pre-emptively applies to many other games as well.

Yeah, this is pretty much the "Why have you got [Game on X system] on the list instead of [Game on Y system]" question that will no doubt come up again and again. It's a very good question though.

It's important to know that just because one version of a game is released on Game Room, it doesn't mean other versions won't come out one day if the license is available and the game is able to be emulated properly. There are lots of games that have different features across multiple platforms and it would be foolish to ignore that.

For the record I prefer the 2600 version of River Raid

 

[nli10]

OK. Questions and comments - prices based on 240 points being about £2 in the UK (excluding bargain points) and 40 points being 34p.


The pricing structure for take-home games is fair.
For a play as you go title where I've had to provide the hardware, electricity and premises (compared to a regular arcade) it's over-priced. Better machines (90s) than these would be 20p a shot at the seaside, don't charge a premium for something that is cheaper to scale up than the real world equivalent.

Question: If I play a game on 'quarters' (40 points) to the extent that I have put in 240 points do I get to keep the game?
If not then you are almost admitting that quarters are basically only there to encourage people to buy straight after their demo. Most people won't play these old titles more than 6 times anyway, but if they 'win' the actual machine for funnelling in quarters it's going to be a big incentive to try before buy and then just to keep going after they hit 2/3 goes so those 80/120 points were not 'wasted'.

Both amounts of cash are trivial to people in their 30s like me that this is aimed at, but if you want users to spend casually like in a real arcade you need to lure people in with incentives to spend - I trust the devs did actually go to arcades and see the different types of people that go there and what they spend their time on? If so they know the basic people that they are targeting and how to get them to spend, if not this is going to be as dead as HOME. Get a casino floor manager on board as a consultant to tell you whats not working once you have some basic figures.


On the subject of the one Demo Ever - this is a great move and better than I thought it'd be. Note that I can redo the demo infinite times on arcade and indie games though. What are you telling the consumer by giving them this option - that most games you only need to play once, or that after the demo you'll be hooked?

Question: Can silver members get a game room and do all the demos etc? Can they visit a friends game room?

Question: IS there any difference or advantage to having my one free go in a friends arcade?
If I have to visit someone and see if they have the machine I want to play for no extras I might as well just play the demo at 'home'. I'd need a reason to go to someone elses virtual space - why not make it so they gift me a token each week for their arcade that I can spend in any machine they bought?
Otherwise it's like having a house full of arcade machines and no one to play them with like Tom Hanks in Big. After the initial buzz no-one will bother to visit other peoples arcades if there is no incentive other than 'check out my phat lewt'.

Sell a retro joypad with a points card, seriously, put this into action today. This also doubles as advertising the service in Bricks and Mortar stores so even if it's practically a loss leader or a special edition to celebrate a specific game then it's worth it. Most people don't bother looking through all those lovely blades - they do see boxes on shelves.

Encourage publishers to give away their back catalogue with modern games. Stick codes in game boxes and give GameRoom related things away the same as avatar rewards when you reach certain points in games.

The Achievements system is odd, but workable. Those who crave easy achievements will get it free and get the first few and maybe get hooked, those that love 100% just lost the price of a full game on these mini-games. I'll be watching trueachievements to see how it goes on that respect I can see 'Easy to medal' games selling well to the crazy people who go for the Achievements too so it'll be interesting to see which devs lower the bar (Avatar style) to get the quick sales.



On a side note when a friend told me that Xbox 360 live was going to have an 'Arcade' back before the console came out this is how I pictured it (minus the avatars) with me spending lots of coins on games that I remember from the past and only buying a few that I wanted to keep. It's taken a while to get past the iTunes model that XBL Marketplace has had since the start but I think this model will prove interesting and may get bigger as we plough through the older titles and into the newer ones.

I want historical landmark arcade games and then the Konami 90s side scrollers like X-Men & Asterix.


And that post turned out a lot longer than I thought so kudos to anyone actually bothering to decipher it.

 

[Talamius]

As a potential GFWL purchaser, I think the 2600 games should have a collection offered. It's REALLY hard to justify the a la carte pricing even if true online play (Combat) were offered.

As for games I'd like to see for the 2600:

Vanguard
Berserk
Atlantis
Dragonfire
Adventure
Keystone Kapers
Kaboom
Astroblast
Frogs n' Flies
Bermuda Triangle
Haunted House

And if you REALLY want to get some interest, pay someone to dev the 4th Swordquest game and finish the contest. Come on MS, I know you've got the bank to do it

As for arcades, besides all the old Williams, Namco, Atari, etc. staples I'd really like some of the Exidy stuff. I'm looking at you, Venture.

If they ever do Pac-Man, this'll become *glaringly* apparent.

(Although I suspect they won't, given how Pac-Man is already well-served on Live)

I think Pac-Man is buried right next to E.T. as far as Atari was/is concerned. :lol

 

[Shig]

Yeah, this is pretty much the "Why have you got [Game on X system] on the list instead of [Game on Y system]" question that will no doubt come up again and again. It's a very good question though.

It's important to know that just because one version of a game is released on Game Room, it doesn't mean other versions won't come out one day if the license is available and the game is able to be emulated properly. There are lots of games that have different features across multiple platforms and it would be foolish to ignore that.

Okay, thanks, it's good to know the issue is in your mind. You have to admit, though, that only having 2600 games does lend credence to the fear that this could be yet another example in a long history of Atari seemingly disavowing knowledge of any of their other consoles they made.

For the record I prefer the 2600 version of River Raid

You're a madman. Next you'll tell me your prefer 2600 Mario Bros. to the 5200 rev.

 

[JWong]

I thought this was about Braid.

 

[McBacon]

My problem is that I'm too young for all these games. My arcade romps were in the 90s and was all Metal Slug, Bishi Bashi and Time Crisis. I doubt any of that is gonna be here.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

If the 1,000+ games planned for the service never reach the late 80s/early 90s let alone beyond that you guys are free to pick out a hat that I will buy and then eat.

 

[Night_Trekker]

This sounds like a pretty badass concept. I hope it sells well.

I miss arcades

 

[Zachack]

If the 1,000+ games planned for the service never reach the late 80s/early 90s let alone beyond that you guys are free to pick out a hat that I will buy and then eat.

Time Crisis and Metal Slug were 95 and 96, respectively, and who knows when they would have actually left Japan. I'm expecting early 90s but nothing much beyond that, since that's when arcades began to die off rapidly. From the first batch of games I'd assume that Game Room is targetting Gen-X at the youngest.

If we're going to post wishlists, though, I'd love to get the Exidy light gun shooters if Natal allows for that sort of thing. Also the games from Midway Treasures 3 if you can use the 360's power for better emulation, particularly of S.T.U.N. Runner.

 

[nli10]

If the 1,000+ games planned for the service never reach the late 80s/early 90s let alone beyond that you guys are free to pick out a hat that I will buy and then eat.

I expect it to start with the really old coin-ops and then to gradually add the newer ones at increasingly high price-points until the next system comes out or people stop buying them.

1,000 is an awful lot of games, I'll bet that includes the same titles on various systems...

Eitherway - Wed should be interesting.

 

[RadarScope1]

Been waiting for this thread to pop up. Subscribed.

We're still on the first page and I'm already sick of seeing people complaining about the price. Yes, you can get most of these on MAME but that's not the point. They're trying to create a platform here that will make some amount of money. Even at $1 these people would still be complaining because it's more expensive than FREE. Don't like the price, don't buy the games. I spend three bucks on a cup of coffee and that literally turns into piss. I could find much worse ways to piss away three bucks than on a classic arcade game.

 

[DDayton]

I'm hoping this does well enough to spur more classic arcade and other releases across the board (that is, more downloadable classic games on the Wii, etc..)

My only real question is why "virtual quarters" cost 50 cents each.

 

[dreamcastmaster]

Final Fight / Magic Sword would have been perfect to add to this to get the younger players intrested. As it is the double pack does have much more content than a Game Room version could have.
For me to be intrested I'd need to see newer late 80's games, I just can't play the old stuff now as it's far too basic and I've had them on compliations before.

I'm sure Namco will support the service with Pac Man, Xevious, Sky Kid etc... again.

 

[enewtabie]

I picked up 4000 points for this..I grew up playing this stuff. I think Star Raiders was the one with a key pad for warp and all. I remember taking a pic of my Pitfall score to send in for a badge...god I'm old.:lol

 

[Gowans]

Gamasutra has a interesting article on the Game Room Pricing.

Psychologist and gamer Jamie Madigan discusses the pricing for Microsoft and Krome's Game Room for the Xbox 360, which launches this week, analyzing why seemingly illogical pricing can pay off if pitched correctly.

The Psychology Of Games: Xbox Game Room's Dummy Pricing (Not for Dummies)

 

[Raide]

I will start to get interested when I get 90's arcade games showing up. :lol

 

[twinturbo2]

Time Crisis and Metal Slug were 95 and 96, respectively, and who knows when they would have actually left Japan. I'm expecting early 90s but nothing much beyond that, since that's when arcades began to die off rapidly. From the first batch of games I'd assume that Game Room is targetting Gen-X at the youngest.

If we're going to post wishlists, though, I'd love to get the Exidy light gun shooters if Natal allows for that sort of thing. Also the games from Midway Treasures 3 if you can use the 360's power for better emulation, particularly of S.T.U.N. Runner.

Yes! Midway Arcade Treasures 3 was a letdown- the developers were unaware of a framerate limiter, and S.T.U.N. Runner and Race Drivin' were so fast they were damn near unplayable. Between that and Rush The Rock being shit, that compilation would have been unredeemable if it wasn't for Hydro Thunder.

I wonder if Sega's going to put up their arcade racing classics in Game Room. Virtua Racing, Daytona USA/Sega Racing Classic, Daytona USA 2... the Xbox 360 can handle Model 1/2/3 games, right?

 

[2San]

Something tells me people who are complaining about 240 weren't the people buying it at 400.

I think this is something to get rid of the excess live points people tend to have. They're bastards for not making it 200 though. Now there's an excess of 60. Bastards. >_>

 

[nli10]

Been waiting for this thread to pop up. Subscribed.

We're still on the first page and I'm already sick of seeing people complaining about the price. Yes, you can get most of these on MAME but that's not the point. They're trying to create a platform here that will make some amount of money. Even at $1 these people would still be complaining because it's more expensive than FREE. Don't like the price, don't buy the games. I spend three bucks on a cup of coffee and that literally turns into piss. I could find much worse ways to piss away three bucks than on a classic arcade game.

It's more the 'structure' than the price I find odd. There is no clear reason to 'own' an arcade for your friends to visit as they still end up paying!

When we had a bar, fruit machine, pinball & pool table the whole point was it was free and only for your mates (or family in my case - I was about 8 at the time). Nothing beats showing off your cool stuff to your mates, but only if they get to try it more than once.

 

[MattyH]

can achevements be gotten from playing a game for free?

 

[jlevel13]

Because of a lack of quality control going on with selecting these games and the lack of proper controllers for some of the best arcade games, I pretty much see this flopping. I think we will see a lot of people perhaps trying out the games for one play, but I doubt the vast majority of releases will sell. Will be shocked if this still going in three years & actually hits the projected 1,000 game releases unless the pricing structure is drastically changed. Perhaps some kind of subscription program, streaming Netflix style, like all you can eat for $6.00 a month?

Also, there's no way to play the multiplayer games online against another person, right?

 

[2 Minutes Turkish]

This comes out tonight awesome.

I quite like the idea. Brings back the feeling of playing the old coin-ops. Pay per play, what a dollar or so?

No biggie.

 

[elektrixx]

Any particular reason why Super Cobra is not on the list?

I only count 29 games there, however it's listed on Giant Bomb.

Even this article mentions it by name but isn't on their actual list either.

 

[dreamcastmaster]

Are new games going to be added every Wednesday or is there a different game release schedule?

 

[Ceallach]

As many have stated, I'm too young for this batch. No interest in these games. Now make it to the late 80s and we start seeing Capcom, Konami and SNK represent, and I'll be forking over money left and right.

I don't know how the licensing issues will work out but I pray that the X-Men arcade beatemup makes it here.

 

[Brashnir]

My only real question is why "virtual quarters" cost 50 cents each.

the whole pay-as-you-play thing seems really poorly thought-out. Quarters (and later more) made sense in the arcade since you're supporting expensive machines requiring power and attendants, and rent on a physical space to hold them.

Here, it just seems daffy. I think they'd get much more use (and thus money) out of it if they made pay-to-play price really cheap, like 5 or 10 MSP. Or hell, even 1MSP.

People with a few oddball points on their account might just choose to dump them in a game room game from time to time.

As it is now, it's basically a pointless feature. It costs almost as much to play a game once as it does to just buy the thing outright.

 

[Night_Trekker]

the whole pay-as-you-play thing seems really poorly thought-out. Quarters (and later more) made sense in the arcade since you're supporting expensive machines requiring power and attendants, and rent on a physical space to hold them.

Here, it just seems daffy. I think they'd get much more use (and thus money) out of it if they made pay-to-play price really cheap, like 5 or 10 MSP. Or hell, even 1MSP.

People with a few oddball points on their account might just choose to dump them in a game room game from time to time.

This is a really, really good idea, IMO.

 

[TheUnknownForce]

To me, this sounds like Microsoft wanted to get money for people who play nothing but the trial games of their titles and what not.

So the pricing for XBL is now:
50 cents per play of unowned Game Room game
3 bucks for buying Game Room game
1, 3, or 5 bucks for buying XBLIG
5, 10, or 15 bucks for XBLA

I can see some confusion with some customers here.


That said, I'll buy some arcade games if they tug on my nostalgia strings.

 

[Brashnir]

This is a really, really good idea, IMO.

It goes along with the notion that back in the heyday of arcades, you typically found them around other retail where people tended to spend cash. Mall food courts, strip malls near restaurants, etc. The successful arcades placed themselves around other businesses that left consumers with quarters in their pockets. These consumers would then walk past the arcade and dump said quarters into a Ms. Pac-Man machine.

I think this would be a lot more successful if they tried to use that effect with people's spare points on XBL rather than gouging for more than the games originally cost to play in the arcade to begin with.

 

[Monty Mole]

Are new games going to be added every Wednesday or is there a different game release schedule?

On MN's podcast, they said that there will be a specific day when new games will be added although they've not confirmed this yet - likely to be a Friday.

I'm intrigued to try this today, but I just don't have any interest in any of the games. I've been gaming since I was just 4 years old in 1985 but even the arcade games going up today seem dated by those standards and make the C64 seem massively advanced.

Hopefully they will get C64, Speccy, Amiga, NeoGeo, TG16, Genesis, etc games up there along with far more recent arcade games. I mean, we need Capcom's games like 1942 etc, Sega's games like Outrun.

I've got concerns that this new service is going to fail dramatically at launch as its games will put a lot of people off. Then it'll be difficult to get them to come back.

 

[PJX]

Ninja Combat
Sky Adventure
Ghost Pilot
Captain Commando
Strider
P.O.W.
Double Dragon 2
Eightman
Armored Warriors
Golden Axe 3 (the arcade version)
Darius
Blue's Journey
Wonderboy (any of them)
King of Dragons
knights of the Round
Saturday Night Slam Masters II
Midnight Resistance
Desert Assault

if you can get these games and more then you will have my moniz

 

[dreamcastmaster]

Can you use the rewind feature on the demo to effectively finish the game on one credit?

 

[UltimaPooh]

It's up!

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/g...0000006-0000-4000-8000-00004d530901&bt=0&sb=1

 

[Suzzopher]

Does this come to GFWL today too?

 

[Macho Madness]

It's up, but the Game Packs have to be downloaded on the console. Haven't seen them yet.

 

[bjork]

Berzerk would be awesome. But there's gotta be a reason it hasn't had any sort of reissue/rerelease/revival since like 1987 or whenever.

 

[UltimaPooh]

It's up, but the Game Packs have to be downloaded on the console. Haven't seen them yet.

Yeah... WTF?

 

[DiscoJer]

Berzerk would be awesome. But there's gotta be a reason it hasn't had any sort of reissue/rerelease/revival since like 1987 or whenever.

Probably a rights issue - it was from Stern. Which probably hasn't been in games for that long, if they are still in business...