Xboxist

Xbox 360 Game Room Drives Gamers Away

For a title that's all about leveraging nostalgia to bring gamers together, the Xbox 360 Game Room seems to be having the opposite effect -- it's driving gamers away.

The primary mistake Microsoft made is in their overblown pricing structure -- 40 msp ($0.50) for 1 play, 240 msp ($3) for unlimited play on one platform (Xbox or Games for Windows), or 400 msp ($5) for unlimited play on both platforms (Xbox and GFW).

Too Expensive

Fifty cents may not seem much, but for games that are 20-30 years old, I don't remember paying more than a quarter at my local arcade even 10-13 years ago. And really, with the lack in quality of the games that are being offered as of this writing, there aren't any games that I'd want to play for more than once or twice. If nostalgia is the big driving force me to check out these games, then the 10 minute demo is good enough to get my kicks. No need to spend $3-$5 for each individual title.

Where Are The Bundle Deals?

More importantly, Where are the bundles? For games like these, I could just as easily download them for free on my PC or buy them in classic compilations (Namco Museum Virtual Arcade, Capcom Classics Collection, or Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collections) for around $12-15. Why aren't there any reasonably priced game bundles here? Give me 2 or 3 games I want in a pack of 15 crappy ones and I'll be more than likely to plop down $10 bucks or whatever. Make me pay $3 for a lame title that won't hold my attention for more than 5 minutes, if that, and you can be sure I'll avoid it like the plague.

Where Are The Good Games?

Tell me. When you say classic arcade games, what do you think of? Pac-Man of course. Is it here? Hell no. What I get instead are Centipede, Asteroids Deluxe, and Super Cobra. I've played Asteroids to death. I have the XBLA version. Do I really need to pay them for the Game Room version? It's nice that they give you a little history of the game. In fact I was expecting to read something interesting but all I get is a couple of sentences. Great idea, lazy effort.

Glitchy

When the Game Room launched on March 24, users were met with various errors and scratched their heads wondering why some games weren't even working.

CNET.com reported that according to a Microsoft representative, "We [Microsoft] understand some people have experienced issues accessing 'Game Room' and purchasing 'Game Room' titles. We're actively working to resolve the issue, and appreciate your patience. We'll update you as soon as 'Game Room' is up and running on both Xbox 360 and Windows PC."

New arcade game releases will be halted until the end of April. A month-long hiatus spells instant doom for a product launch. Users won't put up with glitches or over-priced products, so Microsoft definitely has lost momentum on this one.

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