An In-Depth Look at 'Game Room' for Xbox 360

Game Room for Xbox 360 and PC is an innovative gaming experience. Available for free from the Xbox Live Marketplace, in Game Room players customize their own virtual arcade to play in, and friends can visit. Game Room has a plethora of achievements to earn, and each game features leaderboards to compete on. When the PR reps for Microsoft sent me 800 Microsoft Points to try out in Game Room for Xbox 360 I was excited, and believe me when I say that Xbox 360's Game Room certainly doesn't disappoint.

Game Room Customization
Game Room for Xbox 360 lets video gamers have complete control over the customization of their virtual arcade. There are several free themes and props to choose from, and additional themes can be unlocked by reaching higher levels. From seating to treasure, there is a wide variety of items to decorate with. As new games are released for Game Room there will also be new decor choose from.

Game Room Games
Game Room launched with a limited number of arcade games to choose from, including some popular classics such as Centipede and Asteroids. Starting in late April, Microsoft plans for Game room to receive several new games each week. This is similar to the constant flow of new Xbox Live Arcade releases.

Those who grew up playing these games are sure to find all of their old favorites. For younger generations, Game Room offers a chance to relive video game history.

As someone who grew up on Nintendo and visited arcades during the Street Fighter era, the only game at the moment that I was interested in was Asteroids. I did however enjoy playing demos a few others, namely Tempest. When new weekly titles begin to arrive, I'm sure that many of my favorite arcade games will begin to show up (I'm dying to play some Rampart).

Go Back in Time with Game Room
Not only does Game Room for Xbox 360 take players back in time to the days of the first arcades, players can also control time in the games too. While playing any of the arcade games in Game Room, pulling the left trigger of an Xbox 360 controller allows you to rewind time. It's a very innovative feature.

While playing Asteroids and Tempest I found myself using the rewind features several times to avoid deaths. Although this may be considered cheating to those who pumped in quarter after quarter at real arcades in order to get to the next level, I found the rewind feature highly enjoyable.

Game Room Tokens
Each player starts with twenty tokens to "demo" any of the available games, at five tokens each. Every time someone on your friends list visits your Game Room you earn a token.

Using tokens in Game Room to demo games can be confusing for first time users. The first option to demo a game will actually charge you 40 Microsoft Points away from your credit balance. In order to actually demo the game for free you must choose the last option to use five tokens for a bonus play.

Game Room Pricing
Players may download Game Room for Xbox 360 or Windows for free. Arcade games in Game Room may be played just as if you were in a real arcade, at the cost of 40 Microsoft Points ($0.50) a time.

Individual Game Room titles may be purchased for either Xbox 360 or PC for 240 Microsoft Points ($3.00), or one may opt to purchase multiplatform access to their Game Room arcade games on both their Xbox 360 and Windows PC for 400 Microsoft Points ($5.00).

Personally couldn't justify the purchase of the cross platform access to Game Room games because I feel it is too high at its current price structure. For just one more dollar I can spend $6 and pick up two different Game Room cabinets to fill up my virtual arcade. If the multiplatform access was 280 Microsoft Points (a mere fifty cents above a regular purchase) I wouldn't hesitate to pay the slightly higher price on every Game Room cabinet purchase, and I'm sure that a great deal of other gamers feel the same way.

Additionally it is rather disappointing that there are no options to buy multiple Game Room cabinets together at a discount, similar to how Rock Band sells Track Packs. Hopefully in the future there will be discounts on titles similar to the deal of the week for Xbox Live Arcade.

Final Thoughts on Game Room
Despite a few shortcomings, Game Room still provides a fantastic bang for your buck. Many people have spent more than three dollars on a single arcade machine to continue playing (I know I have), making the $3 to own a game peanuts in comparison.

Playing any Game Room games for three hours knocks its price down to a dollar an hour. I challenge readers to go to a real arcade and play on any single game for an hour off of one dollar. When compared to other options such as purchasing tickets at a movie theatre, the winner is obvious.

Game Room can be downloaded from the Xbox Box Live Marketplace for free here.

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