Friday, January 08, 2010

Not sure if want: Xbox 360 Game Room

A few days ago (during the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show), the folks at Microsoft announced the "Xbox 360 Game Room," an application that will, when it's released this spring, allow 360 users to "relive the glory days of classic arcade games" by replicating "the old-school look, sound and feel of a retro video game arcade."

Regarding the latter, the "Xbox 360 Game Room" will allow users to "create a brand-new social environment [their] avatar can explore." It'll also allows them to "trick out [their] 'Game Room' ... and decorate each room with themes and animated icons from [their] favorite games."

More than 30 arcade, Atari 2600 and Intellivision games have been announced for the service so far, though only a few of them (namely the arcade versions of Crystal Castles and Tempest) seem worth the price of admission (40 Microsoft Points to play a game one time, 240 points to buy a game that can be played on a PC or Xbox 260 [not both] and 400 points to buy a game that can be played on both a PC and Xbox 360).

Here's a trailer that shows all (or at least most) of the above in action:



What do you guys and gals think of this? Is it appealing--or appalling?

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