Stop by the virtual 7-11 for a cyber slushee first
The block party is on the way. Okay look, maybe I’ve been a bit harsh on Microsoft recently so here’s something nice. As we head into March the folks over at Xbox Live have a big launch plan they are putting into action related to the what they talked about last year — the Xbox Live Gameroom.
Starting March 3, gamers can download a new arcade game every week and the end of the month they can download the app that goes with it. As a bonus you get 400 MS points at the end of it all and well you have three new games. The first two games (Toy Soldiers and Scrap Metal) are 1200 points and the last one, the cherry on top game is the old Perfect Dark (not the one that was part of the early 360 launch– Perfect Dark Zero). This was the multiplayer masterpiece that was originally released to the Nintendo 64.
After all this is said and done Xbox live will be as they call it in their press release, “kickin it old school” in this virtual arcade (replete with old school cabinets) with dowloadable arcade classics that will run anywhere from 240 to 400 Microsoft Points for game downloads and 40 Microsoft Points for single gameplay. That’s .50 cents for a single play. The games on the roster will be revealed.
Okay so yes you have to spend like $40 bucks to get $5 back but this whole new virtual arcade may just be a good way to get a lot of casual gamers on board using Xbox live and change up the game a little bit from the usual frag fest that’s online now. It’s a clever move create a central locale for all these games and your avatars. With a solid library of old games the this type of setup creates the instant gratification of the quick play or the re-playability of owning the game both on your console and your PC. This is the kind of move that targets the gamers who grew up with these games who can relive the glory of shooting asteroids and floating polygons. For the new gang of gamers it’s a chance for them to say — “This was a game?”
Updates will be continuously posted and uber promoted on XBL throughout the month.
Now moving on. Natal may sound like all that and a bag of DLC the way JP spins it, but who’s to say we’re not looking at the 21st century “power glove?” Yeah, yeah the big show off of WinMo7 in Barcelona was all the shizzle for the new revolution in social media and gaming last week but guess what folks, behind the curtain is just a wimpy old Henry Gale trying to trick us all.
Developer Debacle — Natal Ain’t Got Nothing To Do With This
That alleged “gap” JP speaks of that Natal will create will only be filled if Natal has the ability to become the YouTube/game creator of gaming. And honestly we’re soooo far from this with a peripheral that doesn’t even have a firm drop date much less a price point . Addressing the bigger issue is if Natal (version 1) does not come built in with user friendly GUI then all of this is moot. It’s nice to think I can wave my arms around, make some cubist masterpiece and then disseminate it across all my social media but if the device I’m using is chock full of glitches then–
a. It won’t work
and b. Who care if it does? Who cares about my stupid picture in the first place?
Taking that one step further if the developers don’t have the tools to make the games they want to make for this device then all we’ll be stuck with is a bunch of gimmicky BS casual gamer games that will pile up like a stack of old gameboy cartridges at a yard sale next to Buzz and Woody. The same developer issues apply to WinMo 7 software and even more so when you consider the simplicity that developers now have in making iPhone apps versus the headaches they may encounter with the Microsoft version.
New and Improved OS
Allegedly Microsoft’s new OS will mix Xbox Live gaming, Zune multimedia, personal media (photos and videos), social media utilities, productivity tools and third-party apps organized into “Hubs.” So that social platform that my octopus loving counterpart envisions looks like it would all be there right? And somehow, Natal, in it’s infancy will be part of this? No &^%$#&*(* way. The way this new OS reads is like social media and gaming for cats –
“Oooh shiny thing, Oooh dress my avatar, Oooh play bookworm, O0000h nap”
Sure you can use it -- just not on that phone
Join the club or else!
One word, a word that will kill this entire fantastical notion — EXCLUSIVITY!
You want to use all this amazing technology? Sure go ahead, you need to toss your iPhone and any other device that isn’t specifically designed for this technology. And who holds that in their hands? That would be Microsoft. Think about all the current phone platforms that could easily handle this kind of integration. Now watch as how none of them will be compatible unless Microsoft says so.
But what about 360 Live?
What about it — it’s user generated on the iPhone that finally got backed by Microsoft? What year is this? We can make smile detectors in cameras but we’ll only allow certain devices to use our new WinMo7 technology. Even iTunes realized the futility in that and started allow third party access so that you could get iTunes on your RONCO mp3 player. If you limit the access to this technology that’s supposed to bridge the gap in social media then it automatically no longer becomes social. It becomes anti-social and you lose a huge chunk of your audience because you want to control how it’s used and who’s using it. It’s tantamount to charging money for Twitter. So go ahead Microsoft, innovate away. I dare you to make this work. If this works then hurrah for them but right now, it looks about as feasible as having a holodeck in the next 10 years.
next we should have xbox live on the tssseeeveeeee ... wait .. what?
We saw what a huge (huge) miss the Facebook and Twitter apps were for Xbox live. You think they would have stopped based on the amazingly tepid reception to using these apps via Xbox live. The apparent problem is clear. Xbox Live is a social media application all by itself. You can chat, game, watch movies together, even play games with your avatar. So basically why would you want to bring Twitter into that?
And then along comes this idea …. Xbox Live — on your phone. If you have an Xbox Live account this means you will be able to view your friends lists, gamerscore, and avatars using “compatible” mobile devices, as well as download games to play online. Translation of compatible means software they’re calling Windows phone 7 . According to Ron Pessner, general manager of Xbox Live Mobile, “It has always been our vision to expand the Xbox Live service to connect people to their games, entertainment and friends wherever they go, and the launch of Windows Phone 7 Series is an important step toward that goal.” A step into what?
For that Microsoft gets this week’s AYFKM!!!!????
Seriously what are they drinking out there in Seattle?
Question: What do you use Xbox Live for?
Answer: DLC, Netflix, demos, online gaming, special videos and previews and oh yeah, Netflix.
Question: Do you care what gamertag Somedeadguy11 is doing when you’re not using your console?
Answer: Not even remotely.
Here’s the thing. Most of your gamer friends, and not just people you do team deathmatches with, you are already connected with —- using other social media! So the notion that having access to your live account on your phone will somehow “enhance” the gaming experince is like saying that the Ipad is not a big Itouch.
What do you mean I can't play Fusion Frenzy online anymore?!
For all the folks out where who are still playing Star Wars Battlefront, and Halo 2 online well, that will end soon. Come April 15 (tax day) Microsoft is pulling the plug on the online component for their old green machine games. Forget the fact that Halo 2 is still one of the biggest online multiplayer success stories ever the company has deiced that with a new decade comes time for a change. The original machine, almost 10 years old itself still has a lot of titles out and some of those may still get a decent amount of online play.
But, Xbox says, “We’ll continue to evolve the service with features and experiences that harness the full power of Xbox 360. To reach our aspiration, we need to make changes to the service that are incompatible with our original Xbox V1 games.” That’s from XBL manager Marc Whitten.
Translation: If you and your two buddies are planning to do some Halo 2 multiplayer April 16, then you’re SOL.
Is this a bad thing for Microsoft? Not entirely. The fact that their on demand service, which they offered up last year, let’s you download old Xbox games that may or may not have that live component, then you’re basically stuck with whatever the single player version is. So it’s kind of pointless to make these games available if you remove half a chunk of the usability that you would get from the online play like with Halo. What Whitten says makes sense though. If they’re trying to transition to strictly 360 titles then why hang on to the support for games that go back several years for a system from the last decade?
Who’s Playing These Ancient Games?
The real question to Microsoft is does it really take that much effort to continue offering live support for original Xbox games? If not then why shut it down? And even more importantly why offer these games as part of your classic library if you’re going to expect gamers to spend $20 or $30 bucks, memory space but then not allow them to play the game online? It seems a bit … stupid. Solution — don’t offer those games.
Looking at the the current games in the XBL on demand library you’ll see that most of their downloadable old (Xbox 1) games are primarily games that were single player hits. So essentially for this online gaming element, we’re talking about folks who have some semblance of a videogame library and still own some of these original box titles or for some reason still use the original Xbox and buy “new” games at bargain bins and Criag’s list. As to how big of a market that is 5 years into the 360’s existence, who knows?
From a customer reputation standpoint they may lose favor with those old school gamers but it looks like Microsoft feels fairly secure that they’re not going to irk that many folks with this decision and they’re still giving them a few months to relive the old game glory days before pulling the plug.
While CES is dropping all the cool gadget geekery eye candy Microsoft and Sony are dropping news about things to come. This one though – The Xbox Live Game Room –will either be a huge success or a colossal failure.
Here’s the breakdown
Xbox live will have a new feature this spring called the Game Room — essentially it will create an arcade, 80s style, where you’ll have all the old cabinets from games like Centipede and Tempest (if you’ve never heard of these games well them you’re probably not gonna care about this) and you can then play them alone or online. You can buy the games for $5 for both your console and PC (or $3 separately) or play them arcade style for 50 cents until you lose (21st century inflation — the standard fare for these games originally was 25 cents)
You and all your avatar friends (minus the Naviim) can hang out in the virtual arcade playing games like you went into some time machine and have competitions and get achievements. Now in the real old arcade days often times you would have the one dude racking up a jillion points on the Asteroid machine while a crowd of folks gathered around. These machines for the most part were not so much multiplayer but at least you were in a room with a bunch of other kids with pockets full of quarters to waste.
Target Audience? Us Oldy McOldies who want to hearken back to the first golden age of gaming and the casual gaming market that can handle games that only require a button and a thumbstick. And of course the young whipper snappers who have never heard of these games but dig that whole “retro” thing. Certainly a multiplayer session of pac-man will pale in comparison to a Modern Warfare Ground War but then again, it’s a yellow circle eating dots.
Marketing Strategy: If they do it right they may garner success in the retro gaming market and with the causal gamers, parents and people who just like to keep things simple. Unfortunately this retro gaming wave crested a couple of years ago. Going for them is the fact that this games really are retro now as we’ve now entered a new decade leaving the remnants of gaming past in the shelled out game cabinets of Galaga and Street Fighter.
Price Points: The pricing is right, 5 bucks is certainly a deal these days and getting to play online with your buddies continues to give credence the always strong Xbox live market.
Question: With the mobile and portable gaming market doing so well (Iphones, Ipods, Zunes, the Sony thing and their ilk) why hasn’t Microsoft added another layer of accessibility through mobile media? Especially since according to the company they’re looking to have more than 1000 games in the next couple of years? No idea. Maybe they will. Perhaps they’ll have to see how well it does on the console PC split first.
Good Videogame Marketing? Maybe. Is this a too much too late or have they figured out a way to compartmentalize this genre to make it more accessible? Hard to say at this point but at least for now it seems like something they can definitely use to get more subscribers to Xbox Live. As to whether or not people in an age of draw dropping graphics and gameplay will want to shoot at pixelated mushrooms with a bug spray shooter — well that remains to be seen.
