New Game Room additions this Wednesday, Krome still developing Game Packs

by Alexander Sliwinski on May 4th 2010 9:45AM

The delayed update for the Xbox 360's Game Room, featuring Pitfall! and Super Breakout, will arrive this Wednesday, May 5, according to a representative from Krome Studios.

Prompted by last week's tweet by an Xbox Europe representative -- saying that Game Room content had been "delayed until further notice" -- coupled with the unfortunate layoffs at developer Krome Studios, we followed up to find out if Game Room development had been affected by the developer's current situation. A Microsoft representative stated, "We're working to bring you additional Game Room titles as soon as possible! We appreciate your patience, and we've been thrilled by the community response so far. ... We enjoy working with Krome and they are doing a great job on Game Room."

Asked directly whether it was still developing Game Room content, a Krome spokesperson told Joystiq, "Krome is continuing to work on Game Room content. The recent layoffs have not impacted Game Room at all or any of our titles in development. We're looking forward to the release of new Game Packs for Game Room."

Tags: Game-Room, krome, krome-studios, Microsoft, pitfall, super-breakout, Xbox-360, xbox-live

Reader Comments (35)

So has anyone used the Game Room quite a bit? I tried a few demos, but that's it.

Up until I read this I had forgotten it existed.

With so many other things to spend MS points on, I can't find it being worth the money.

Nope! Haven't even downloaded it. I'm sticking to my petition:

http://www.petitiononline.com/xbgrpet/petition.html

51 signatures strong! lol.

I use it a ton, and if you invest in a good bit of games it's actually a lot of fun - IF you're into classic arcade gaming. I was a little too young to experience a lot of these games, and I ended up getting so hooked I own all but a few of the ones out now. If you have friends who play it, the challenges are fun too.

I feel like Game Room gets a bad wrap, but I'm not sure why. $3 is not a lot of money for a game; especially with crisp, perfect emulation and an attractive presentation - with extra little online functionality to boot. It's like.. Centipede is the price of a quarter pounder with cheese, you know? One of those things will come out of my ass the next day.

If you're thinking about getting into it at all, and want a mediocre challenger, add me: xJERKFACEx

That goes for anyone else who is interested as well. Just let me know you're from Joystiq in the friend request message!

I've played some of the demos too, but there just aren't any games that i'm interested in. Does anyone know what the different versions of games are for? 240 pts vs 400 pts that you can play across all platforms you may own? Could that be a tie in to mobile phones?

It better be. If they can't design a Windows phone that can play your previously purchased version of Jumpman Jr. or whatever, then everyone needs to be fired.

Oh, right...sorry Krome.

Right now it just covers PC and 360. I'd be surprised if they didn't include Windows 7 phones in the future, but who knows if that'll be included or if they'll want even more points for that option.

The "upgrade" cost once you've bought just the 360 version is the same as if you bought both together. So pick up the cheaper version, and if it ever becomes relevant you can plunk down the difference.

Bets on how long this will last!

Tony, we will see. yes we will

oops.

Supposedly once this gets going they want to put games out every week. Honestly, I don't get why they released the Game Room as early as they did... the delay on game packs kind of blew their momentum.

I don't mind spending the 240 on some of these. Shaolin Road was honestly a lot of fun. Considering they have Atari and Intellivision games on there, I wouldn't mind seeing other consoles too someday. Master System, TG16, Genesis, etc. When you think about that, 240 points for one of those wouldn't so bad compared to the Wii prices for those titles.

Guess we'll see.

Overpriced. Seriously not paying more then $1 for Atari 2600 games. Even a dollar is a lot considering these games are free on Atari's own website. Sure some games might be worth a couple dollars but not to me.

Unless ALL Xbox Arcade titles are released in this game room, I doubt I'll even look at it again.

The Game Room is great if you're an arcade gamer, BUT it's only fun if they stick with a regular release schedule. I only have 2 games in my arcade right now because the others didn't interest me. There's 30 years of retro games to pull from, so there shouldn't be any shortage of titles. I know it takes time to port them over or whatever, but still...

Frankly, until they start porting over the bigger name titles - the Pac-mans, the Galagas, the Pole Positions - it'll only be serving the hardcore retro crowd. Asteroids and Pitfall will help, but unless they keep it up, it'll fizzle.

I'm an arcade gamer but a lot of my friends are not, which means I have no one to challenge. But my friends will be more interested in the "big" titles, which makes it more fun for everyone.

I play it a lot, if you want a mediocre challenger. xJERKFACEx

I'd rather see Pitfall! and Super Breakout as XBLA titles. Give me the option of original or evolved graphics, throw in some achievements, multiplayer co-op (for Breakout) and chievos and I'm in...

I just deleted the Game Room a couple of days ago to free up some room on my 20 gigger, couldn't imagine going back to mess around anymore after spending an evening playing demos. I don't think it's a bad idea, but the cost model just doesn't match up with me at all. Like $10 for an entire pack I might have considered, but the current model just isn't worth it.

I have no interest in this, and I see I'm not the only one.

Not to mention that the selection is haphazard at best. Sure, there's some fun to be had with Asteroids, Centipede and Red Baron (incidentially the only games I've ponied up some points for), but even for a retrophile like me, many of these games are very hard to swallow, both from the technical side of things as well as the cost. I won't mind some early 90's arcade machines, like the Capcom D&D games or some nice Shmups, but "thanks" to the enforced "E" rating that's not gonna happen I fear.

So I'm fervently praying that Final Fight Double Impact sold enough for Capcom to release a follow-up in the same presentation style. That was the way to treat classic retro titles.

Didn't know about the forced E. That is a horrible idea. Also "The recent layoffs have not impacted Game Room at all or any of our titles in development." is just about the biggest BS line in the history of the industry, which is full of BS. What, exactly, were those 50 people doing before you fired them then?

I bought two games for 400 points for both environments on my 360. When I went to my PC, only one of them showed up. Yes, one game was multiplayer, but if you weren't going to put a multiplayer only game on the PC, why offer it for 400?

The game in question is COMBAT.

The Game Room is an epic waste.

I don't understand why they keep tryingg to rp us off with these crappy archaic games.

If I'm going to play OLD games, I would much rather play Sega Megadrive / Genesis classics like Kid Chameleon, Duck Tales, Taz in Tazmania, etc. They were truly awesome games that the Xbox 360 could easily handle and improve.

Or actually, games from the old BBC B would be awesome as well. For example, Repton, Exile, Elite, Chuckie Egg - those are old games I want to play for more than just the nostalgia.

Some more ideas:

Imogen, Escape From Moonbase Alpha, Ravenskull, Karate Combat, Micro Machines, even Grannys Garden!

http://www.bbcmicrogames.com/
http://www.beebgames.com

Just please, no more Asteroids or Galagas...

I can definitely agree with you on Elite, which I personally consider to be the best computer game of all time. Still, I think you may have missed the crux of Game Room. Respectable though the Genesis is, it came after the Golden Age of Videogames. My impression is that Game Room is supposed to celebration of the great games that were available at home and in the arcades during the late 70s through the mid 80s.

Sadly, Krome have done a thoroughly lousy job, both in execution and also in meeting Game Room's potential. I'm not quite ready to give up on it yet, though I'm close.

Granny's Garden was like playing Resident Evil when you were 6:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5f/Granny%27sGardenWitch.gif

Horrible dick-faced bitch.

Haters, alla ya! Game Room is great for those of us that played these for real in the arcades and when they originally came out on consoles! The Time Warp feature is excellent and since I'll never be able to collect these game cabinets in real life, the virtual version is fun to arrange and put together. So far, the emulation is excellent, way better than the first XBLA releases of Tempest and Centipede a few year back. Those were terrible. I also like the challenges/leaderboard feature. Now I can watch replays of the top people and learn their strategies.

If GR can keep from releasing anymore of those lame generic cabinets like they did with the Konami games, it will have a great future for those of us who lived and/or appreciate gaming history. Now excuse me while I que up my Pitfall download...

I just can't play Centipede without the old trackball, or play Tempest without a twist-knob, so I didn't buy them. But I'm in for Pitfall, that game was like the first ever platformer. Add my gamertag GordoJones88 if you wanna "try" to beat my Pitfall high score.

I want in on this challenge! xJERKFACEx

I have most of the other stuff out now, too.

Wait, people are still using this? Ha. What garbage.

Joust and Robotron 2064 have been removed from XBLA. I had to go to my Download History to find them, because I just did a license transfer.

I think Krome studio had all their resources tied into Game Room, and then it released and had very poor response in sales, so they laid off employees. I bet Microsoft had to step in and help get Game Pack 3 ready to go.

I'm really happy to see Atari 2600 games like Pitfall coming this week. That will be the first game I'm buying so far.

can you still only do the license transfer once a year? that is such bs if it is still the case. i have downloaded stuff on my friend's and family member's xbox when i recovered my gamertag and i can't ever play that stuff without being signed into xbox live. so i want to do a license transfer to get all of that stuff onto my xbox. BUT if i do that and my xbox red rings or i get a new xbox i can't do the license transfer again because i have already done it once this year.

So glad to see more games coming out. I really dig Game Room, and hope that it gets the support it deserves. I'll be picking up Pitfall, Megamania, Nightstalker, and Super Breakout this week.

Charging so much for Atari2600,Intellivision is not really worth it. If they were selling games from the late 80s and 90s I would not argue with the price at 5 bucks a game because the Arcades owned in that time.

Time to see if I like Pitfall

New Game Room additions this Wednesday, Krome still developing Game Packs

Reader Comments (35)

Posted: May 4th 2010 9:55AM Crimsic said

Posted: May 4th 2010 10:05AM Say Grrr said

Posted: May 4th 2010 10:18AM Crimsic said

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