Not My Game Room

So with the end of March, we saw the conclusion of Microsoft's "Block Party" promotion, as they released the not-quite arcade 'game' Game Room - effectively a launcher for a retro game service that was just launched. It's not at all like Sony's Playstation Home, as screenshots would suggest, but it's certainly more interactive and has a tonne of potential on its hands. And it's locally developed too (done by Krome Studios), so that's always nice.

And yet, I just can't get into it.

I mean, it's nothing wrong with the service itself. The emulation on the games is surprisingly good (except for the Intellivision stuff - which can't really played properly), the addition of a rewind feature is welcome, a semi-achievement system (in the form of medals) is well implemented and fun, the ability to go to other peoples arcades is a good idea - all in all, good stuff. 

Well, at least some people are enjoying Asteroids.

Sure, there is the fact that it's buggy as all hell, but that's not a shock. Stuff like not being able to purchase games initially, or even connect to the Game Room servers is annoying, but that can always be fixed over time; and if this generation has proven anything - it's not exactly a rare sight to see a patch for something be released onto a console. So you may be wondering what my problem is then? 

Well, it's the game selection itself. Rather - it's what Microsoft thinks are suitable 'nostalgic' games to go onto this service.

Initially, the games that were released comprised of stuff from the Atari 2600, Mattel Intellivision and several choice Konami & Atari arcade games. In terms of names, there was stuff like Centipede, Asteroids, Jungler, Yar's Revenge, Adventure, Combat and more. All in all, respectable stuff, yet there's just one problem.

All those games? Not nostalgic to me in the slightest.

Let me put this into perspective. I was born in 1988 - my nostalgia in terms of arcades includes things like Street Fighter II, The Simpsons, Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara, Daytona USA, Mortal Kombat - all these great games that were made during the last great years of the arcade. And yet, there doesn't seem to be any plans to release anything much more recent and actually playable onto the service.

And then there's the decision to kill the buzz on the product by not releasing anything until the end of April. Sure, it may be one way to get to the target of "1000 games in three years" that Microsoft are setting onto themselves, but a month? Really? Let's just hope that it isn't a regular thing and that the games 

You can theme your rooms - having Atari games in your Intellivision room and Intellivision games in your Atari room...

It bums me out because I WANT to support this. I think it's a great idea, and the framework surrounding it is awesome, but I can't justify spending money on stuff that is unplayable by today's standards, and isn't relevant to me. And I'm sure that I'm not the only one that thinks this way.

Of course, it's still early days for the service - so who knows? If it's just focusing on Microsoft's definition of nostalgia though, then I'll be getting rid of the app and going back to MAME. At least there I don't have to worry about not being able to access the service because of a bad internet connection.