Microsoft Game Room Opens
Game Room, Microsoft's virtual arcade on Xbox Live and PC, is open and ready for business. But are you ready for it? That depends on how you feel about paying 50 cents to play Millipede.
In case you aren't aware, the Game Room is an Xbox Live space dedicated to casual and classic games. It launched today along with 30 games, which you can buy outright for $3, or play once for $.50. You can also spend $5 to buy any game for both the PC and Xbox 360 versions of Game Room.
The service itself is a free download on Xbox Live that takes up 280 MB of HDD space. Microsoft says they'll regularly add titles to the service, and they're already off to a solid start, with 30 playable games ready to roll. Though they're all free, the games are split into two packs, which take a couple minutes to download:
Adventure (2)
Armor Battle (1)
Asteroids Deluxe (1)
Astrosmash (1)
Centipede (2)
Battlantis (1)
Crystal Castles (1)
Gravitar (2)
Lunar Lander (1)
Red Baron (1)
Combat (1)
Finalizer (1)
Football (2)
Tempest (2)
Jungler (2)
Millipede (2)
Outlaw (1)
Road Fighter (2)
Realsports Tennis (2)
Sea Battle (1)
Scramble (1)
Skiing, Mountain Madness/Super Pro (2)
Space Armada (1)
Space Hawk (2)
Shao-lin's Road (Kicker)
Star Raiders (2)
Super Cobra (2)
Sub Hunt (2)
Tutankham (1)
Yar's Revenge (1)
The two free packs are definitely worth downloading, because you get at least one free demo play on most of the games, and those provide an interesting (if not entertaining) trip back in time. It's like visiting a museum without leaving your couch.
However, when it comes to actually paying for these things, the service breaks down. There are currently no good pay options in the game room. Crystal Castle should cost you 1 MS point to play - instead it costs 40. That's $.50 for a single credit's worth of play! You get your little furry guy killed three times in Crystal Castle, and that's half a dollar down the tube.
Anyway, we're glad Microsoft introduced this service, and we just enjoyed a 30 minute trip back to our childhoods, but we really hope they make these games playable for far less money. This could be a great way to spend hangover MS points. Instead, it's a horrible waste of $.50.
