XBOX virtual Game Room Launched!

[RayB]

Coming to Xbox soon:

http://ces.cnet.com/8301-31045_1-10431751-269.html

[SlayerAlex]

thats pretty sweet. reminds me of what emulaxian / 3d arcade have been doing for years  with their mame frontend. i always loved the concept. should be cool to check out

[ckong]

If you clear out your basement, please send your game cabs to me. 

[Blanka]

Posted the same including video here:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=99366.msg1049856#msg1049856

[Level42]

Coming to Xbox soon:

http://ces.cnet.com/8301-31045_1-10431751-269.html

Don't make me laugh ! NOTHING virtual will ever beat the real stuff...

[ChadTower]

Don't make me laugh ! NOTHING virtual will ever beat the real stuff...

It's better than the nothing most people have now.

[Blanka]

NOTHING virtual will ever beat the real stuff...

At least they don't smell bad 

[TOK]

Don't make me laugh ! NOTHING virtual will ever beat the real stuff...

It's better than the nothing most people have now.

Hopefully that doesn't apply to anyone here.

[Malenko]

Don't make me laugh ! NOTHING virtual will ever beat the real stuff...
[/quote]

Virtua fighting hurts less

[RayB]

20 more days!

http://www.xbox.com/en-CA/Games/g/gameroomxbla/

There's a video on Xbox Live showing it in action. Looks way cooler and easier to customize than that old 3D front end for PC.

[Blanka]

I only see the trailer, which is the same as youtube link earlier:

Is there more video footage.

[RayB]

I guess not. Sorry.

[RayB]

OK so the XBOX Game Room launched today with a few dozen games (only about a dozen arcade games). Anyone else check it out? Me, I'm underwhelmed. I share why later so as not to bias any perceptions.

[Namco]

I'm not underwhelmed. I see the potential. They've launched few games, its true, but there have implemented a lot of great features like the ability to rewind, friend challenges, 3D accurate cabinet models, high score tracking, automatic demo recording of high scores and uploading to XBL for later viewing, and a lot of other great stuff I haven't messed with yet. The ambiance is fun and the arcade sounds great. All that's left is to add more game packages to the arcade, which will happen over time as Microsoft makes deals with the copyright holders. The framework is there and easily extensible to include tons of new games and emulators, I think its great and an impressive start.

[RayB]

So how many games did you buy and which ones?

[Namco]

So how many games did you buy and which ones?

None, but I was like a kid in a candy store when I first launched it, going around and checking out all the rooms, looked at all the cabinets, read a bunch of info on the games, then I started playing the 5 minute demos. The first thing I played was Asteroids Deluxe, one of my favorites. The controls seemed great and I loved the ability to rewind when I did something dumb. Next I played Centipede for awhile, seems too accurate when playing with the analog sticks though. After that I checked out the leaderboards and watched the replay of the #1 Asteroids Deluxe score, then watched replays of a bunch of other games. I ran out of time to do much else. When I get the chance, I'll go back in and play all the rest of the demos. Maybe buy 3 or 4 of them and keep my eye out for more game packs to be released in the marketplace.

[ckong]

It's disappointing to me. The games may be pretty good emulated, the 3D experience is a laugh. I feel myself more like an observer who can 'walk' along fixed paths. This sure is not on the same level as my experiences with Emulaxian/3D Arcade, imho still the best frontend for Mame (and consolegames). There still is a long way to go for Microsoft.

[Namco]

It's disappointing to me. The games may be pretty good emulated, the 3D experience is a laugh. I feel myself more like an observer who can 'walk' along fixed paths. This sure is not on the same level as my experiences with Emulaxian/3D Arcade, imho still the best frontend for Mame (and consolegames). There still is a long way to go for Microsoft.

Do you have a good link to download 3D Arcade/Emulaxian that's not 6 years old or 3GB in size? Its not being maintained I guess?

[ckong]

http://www.mameworld.info/3darcade/

It will take some effort to run, but if it does, you will be amazed. You will find some nice movies of the frontend running if you search on '3d arcade' on youtube.

[RayB]

I've posted long reviews on other forums, so I'll keep it brief. Basically this Game Room is too gimped to have lasting value as it currently stands. They launched with barely playable arcade games including "The Worst of Konami" collection, 3 of the Atari arcade games are meant to be played with trackball or spinner but there is no option to tweak joystick sensitivity to get them optimally playable (for example I can get Crystal Castles kinda playable on MAME with the right joy setting). There are several vectors, which is cool, but they look horrendous. They even have the Asteroids ship distorting like the game does when one of the math chips or vector outputs is weakening (anyone know what I mean by that??) which is just plain weird.

There's lots more to complain about, but the main one not mentioned yet is price. $3 per game. This is OK for something like Centipede, but hard to justify spending on those obscure and barely playable Konami games, or for that matter on the console games. They should be selling them in bundles for way cheaper.

I'm also not clear yet on whether or not people on my Friends list can actually play my games unrestricted or are they limited to "Demo". It would really suck if friends are obliged to purchase games when visiting another person's arcade.

It's also a little strange that a 16kb 80's arcade game is something like 60 to 70mb in size to download.

Some spot on reviews here, including mine: http://forums.xbox.com/2/31839213/ShowPost.aspx#31839213

[Blanka]

It's also a little strange that a 16kb 80's arcade game is something like 60 to 70mb in size to download.

Guess you download a fancy 3D cab model with high res textures too.