Avatars to Get a New Home (R)

[BreakABone]

And pun intended.

It seems like MS is set to announce Xbox 360 Game Room, which is some sort of Retro arcade/Home inspired set-up for your Avatar.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2009/10/xbox-live-retrocade.jpg

This has the potential to be cool, if done in a vein similar to the Netflix party system where you could watch movies/TV shows with friends while their avatars enjoy it in their little living room, with random reactions and stuff.

If they try and make it like a living hub like Sony Home, I'm out. Home was just so bleh.

http://forum.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?t=636761

~Edit~
Guess not much of a rumour
http://ecn.channel9.msdn.com/o9/ch9/7/9/5/7/1/5/RobbieBCES2010_ch9.wmv

Around 11:50 into the clip.

Well, Game Room in some ways is sort of a retro approach. And it's interesting, there's a generation of people -- sort of my advanced, mature age [laughs] -- who grew up with a set of games like Centipede. They look almost like casual, fun games today -- at the time they were high-end, edgy games -- and so Game Room is the idea of bringing that back to the market. And bringing that to a very broad audience. And I think what we're gonna find is that when people can get 30 or more of these games, they're gonna love it for the experience. And it's not just you and I who are gonna love it, even the people who would call themselves "hardcore gamers" are gonna say "Oh wow this is fun!" In a retro way. It's sort of like my daughter going to watch Journey. I'm like, this is a band that was playing when I was growing up. And she thinks it's a cool band and I like the music. And I think you're gonna have the same phenomenon with Game Room. We're gonna enjoy the games and they're gonna think it's cool. I think that's very powerful.

~Edit~
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[Szymon]

100% sure they're going to charge way too much for this.

[dropCGCF]

why can't Xbox Live provide anything for free to their respective million(s) of subscribers? surely my $40 a month can't go only to "system maintenance".

I can't play Madden 10 without being bombarded with ads for "Lost". GIVE ME THIS FOR FREE INSTEAD OF AEGIS WING, Micro$oft!

[Combine 017]

Why are you paying $40 a month for live?

And yeah they are probably going to charge the crap out of everything there.

[Typhoid]

I'd love to see that brainstorming session.

"Okay, okay - so Sony has Home for their avatars."
"Home, what the hell is that?"
"It's some virtual place where people can control their avatars and interact."
"We should do that. That sounds like a good idea."
"There doesn't seem to be much profit in getting people to just interact. I know! We can overcharge our loyal customers who are already paying for the games, internet subscription and Xbox Live!"
"That'll show those Sony faggots who's boss."

[BreakABone]

I'd love to see that brainstorming session.

"Okay, okay - so Sony has Home for their avatars."
"Home, what the hell is that?"
"It's some virtual place where people can control their avatars and interact."
"We should do that. That sounds like a good idea."
"There doesn't seem to be much profit in getting people to just interact. I know! We can overcharge our loyal customers who are already paying for the games, internet subscription and Xbox Live!"
"That'll show those Sony faggots who's boss."

As if MS would nickel and dime their customers....

Oh by the by,

http://www.gamervision.com/gamer/coop/news/article/game_room_pricing_revealed

How Much Does It Cost?

It is free to download “Game Room,” which you can then populate with classic arcade games available for individual purchase. Buy games once and play on both an Xbox 360 system and a Windows-based PC for 400 Microsoft Points. Or, to purchase a game for only one platform, each individual Xbox 360 or Windows-based PC title is 240 Microsoft Points. You also have the option to pay to play a single game, just like dropping two quarters in the slot in the old arcades, for 40 Microsoft Points. Visit your friends’ “game rooms” and try their games free before you buy.

So essentially, 3 bucks if you wanna buy the game, 50 cents if you wanna try it out once or 5 bucks if want for Xbox and PC.

And seems like limited to two players.

[Typhoid]

This is the second most retarded thing Microsoft has done - next to charging for xbl.

[gekko]

I already own a bunch of retro arcade games on XBLA. :/

[Dyne]

I'd love to see that brainstorming session.

"Okay, okay - so Sony has Home for their avatars."
"Home, what the hell is that?"
"It's some virtual place where people can control their avatars and interact."
"We should do that. That sounds like a good idea."
"There doesn't seem to be much profit in getting people to just interact. I know! We can overcharge our loyal customers who are already paying for the games, internet subscription and Xbox Live!"
"That'll show those Sony faggots who's boss."

"This is almost as good as ripping Mii's off. Champagne for everyone!"

[BreakABone]

Here's the initial batch of arcade games.

1. Centipede (arcade)
2. Asteroids Deluxe (arcade)
3. Tempest (arcade)
4. Crystal Castles (arcade)
5. Lunar Lander (arcade)
6. Jungler (arcade)
7. Road Fighter (arcade)
8. Scramble (arcade)
9. Finalizer (arcade)
10. Tutankham (arcade)
11. Shao-Lin's Road (arcade)
12. Super Cobra (arcade)
13. Red Baron (arcade)
14. Gravitar (arcade)
15. Battlantlis
16. Astrosmash (Intellivision)
17. Mountain Madness Super Pro Skiing (Intellivision)
18. Armor Battle (Intellivision)
19. Space Hawk (Intellivision)
20. Sub Hunt (Intellivision)
21. Sea Battle (Intellivision)
22. Space Armada (Intellivision)
23. Astrosmash (Intellivision)
24. Star Raiders (Atari 2600)
25. Outlaw (Atari 2600)
26. Yar's Revenge (Atari 2600)
27. Millipede (Atari 2600)
28. Football (Atari 2600)
29. RealSports Tennis (Atari 2600)
30. Combat (Atari 2600)

http://kotaku.com/5442810/

Seems like cross platform achievements (not per game) and limited to two players.

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