"Greatest game ever" hits Xbox 360 this week

by Vladimir Cole { Dec 3rd 2005 at 11:56PM }

Robotron 2084 logo

According to Chris Morris at CNN/Money, the greatest game ever made was Robotron 2084. He says that Seamus Blackley, the co-creator of the original Xbox, agrees.

If you agree, then you'll be happy to know that the game should be arriving on Xbox 360 Live Arcade this week, perhaps as early as Monday. That's good news for all of us addicated to the Robotron-like games. This launch will bring the Xbox Live Arcade Robotron-clone parade to:

Geometry Wars
Smash TV
Mutant Storm
Robotron 2084

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Abhinav Kumar @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

OK so whats so great about this game? Eh i think the free trial shall serve my needs...

the man @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

seems like the classics are getting more media than xbox 360 games

renaldo @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

"Though Robotron 2084 is a very good game, I would have to say Donkey Kong is the best game ever."

"Donkey Kong sucks!"

"Yknow what YOU SUCK!"

jago @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Greatest game ever? I dunno about that...plus when was the last time CNN had any credibility, ESPECIALLY when it came to games.

vc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Jago: the CNN dude was essentially using that as a device to say that Seamus Blackley thought it the greatest game ever.

sharpfish @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

It is a great retro classic, and a great game.. but is no way the "Greatest game ever".. gotta love your misleading news titles joystiq ;)

Osiris @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Notice the quotation marks sharpfish...

Ill just play the demo, oh wait no i wont im selling mine on ebay tonight :P
(PAL)

dru @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Smash TV > Robotron 2084

Jeff @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

"plus when was the last time CNN had any credibility, ESPECIALLY when it came to games."

Chris Morris has been writing about games a lot longer than *any* of the IGN/GameSpot/GameSpy lackeys. He's both more experienced and more objective than any of them. And he's a better writer.

The guy's a Robotron fan. I mean, that gives him *more* street cred in my book, even though I disagree that it's the greatest game ever made. But back then, talk to ten different people and you'd get ten different answers as to what the best game was. That was part of what was so great about that time. (That's what separated the "gamers" from the regular folks back then too - there were the crossover hits like Pac-Man and Space Invaders, and then there were hardcore games like Robotron 2084.) My favorite game of that time was and still probably is Space Duel. Another guy I know could never get enough two-player Rampage - we must have spent $40 a pop on that game.

If you start with the premise that that was the golden age of gaming (and it was), then you're probably gonna think whatever game was your fave at the time is the best ever made. And who is anyone to argue? Games were just better back then. (And I know I'm not the only one who thinks that; otherwise stuff like the Atari Flashback wouldn't have actually outsold the Xbox over last Christmas.)

sharpfish @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Yeah.. I noticed them afterwards, I admit I was a fool "greatest
game ever" hits X360 is obviously not implying that Joystiq thinks it's the
greatest game ever... but even so, joystiq does have a lot of misleading
headlines.. anyway It doesn't really bother me ;)

kingtide @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Robotron was revolutionary when it hit the arcades in the early 80's. Not everyone's cup of tea, but a brilliant game, nonetheless. For the experience it offered, the game has never been bettered. Most fun is still playing it on a stand up unit.

Best game ever? Yeah. If you don't think so, you've probably never broke a million (or three)...

Joey Metro @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Mr Do was the best game of all time.

Watership @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

You mean "Mr Do's Castle" Joey.

I loved bashing. unicorns. I think they were unicorns...

Anyway. The best game ever to me as a kid was Defender. It was so hard.

jago @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

#8:

Regardless...not that I would read/watch CNN to begin with...but even if I did I wouldn't go to them for my gaming news.

"Chris Morris has been writing about games a lot longer than *any* of the IGN/GameSpot/GameSpy lackeys."

As for that...how would you know? Do you know every person at those companies? Plus when people review games, it is their opinion(!) I dunno if that's too tough to figure out but that means it isnt the word of god. That is why you read various reviews to see what everyone thinks.

ZeroCorpse @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Discs of Tron (the standup/stand-inside cabinet) was the greatest game of that era, aside from the crossover champion of hardcore gaming, Galaga.

Robotron 2084 was just a madcap twitch game. Not much strategy involved. Lots of hand-eye coordination, though.

You want hardcore gamer? Anybody who has played to a high score in "Amidar" deserves major geek cred.

Chris Remo @ Dec 18th 2005 9:06PM

Chris Morris at CNN is without question one of the best video game writers the industry has, period. Believe me, he has plenty of "cred." He's a gamer and he's been playing games for ages, I know this personally. Ask any even halfway decent video game writer about him and they'll speak highly.