First 5 Things to Try in Game Room

Jason Trent, Associate Writer

March 26, 2010

The Xbox Live Block Party is coming to an end, and what better way to send us off than having Microsoft give us a new and fun way to experience gems from the past? Game Room has officially released, and upon opening this new venue for gaming, you might find yourself a bit overwhelmed as to where to begin. I've done the leg work for you and am proud to present a list of the first five things you need to do in Game Room.

1. Try to be patient: I woke up with the enthusiasm of a young child on Christmas morning. I power walked from my bedroom to my living room, powered on my Xbox 360, and eagerly began the download for Game Room. It was only around 280MB in size, so that went pretty quick. I then started the application and was greeted with a message demanding that I download additional content. So I downloaded both available game packs, an additional chunk of space totaling about 130MB. This sure was taking up a lot of space, something that might be an issue for Xbox 360 Arcade owners whose storage space is limited.

Finally, I was ready to play. The game started loading, continued loading, loaded for a little longer, then I finally received an error stating that the the Game Room server was down. I shook my head in disbelief. Generally, Microsoft is pretty good with their new releases, but this one seemed a bit more bumpy than I would have expected. After confirming that others were also experiencing this problem, I put the controller down, and decided to be patient. At this point, my excitement had subsided a bit, but I was still intent on enjoying the last release of the Xbox Live Block Party. Thankfully, it didn't take too long for me to connect, and to play around with my new toy.

2. Decorate: Before I started with the games, I wanted to get my new virtual hangout setup up and ready for guests. Game Room makes decorating your arcade easy by providing you props that you can place on your walls and next to your arcade cabinets. I changed the theme of one of my gaming nooks to resemble something from the 80's, complete with imitation graffiti and obnoxious florescent lighting. That set the scene, and from there, I threw in a air hockey table, a couple of stools, a fake movie poster, and a change machine. This was looking more like an arcade every second. Surprisingly, you are given quite a few items you can use to customize your game space from the get go, but as you play more and more, you'll continue to unlock new decorations. There's even a robot.

3. Don't buy those games just yet. Demo them first: It seems like we remember classic games more fondly than we'd like to admit. I used to play Centipede on Atari as a kid, and at the time, I enjoyed the game quite a bit. Unfortunately, that game hasn't aged so well, at least for me, so before you go and splurge on all of your once loved games, make sure that you still love them.

When browsing games in the integrated Game Room store, you'll have the ability to play each game for a short period of time. After you decide to pick up a game, remember that for a limited time, purchasing a game will give you the ability to allow that game's mascot to wander around your arcade. It's a fun little touch that many will appreciate. I settled on buying Tempest, and placed the cabinet beside my trusty change machine. Now it was time to play.

4. Playing the games: When playing your games, you have a couple options. First, you can play in what Game Room calls Classic Mode. This allows you to play with dip switches, used to change the number of lives you start with, the number of points needed to get an extra life, and a handful of other options that arcade aficionados will love to see. You'll also have access to something called Time Warp that allows the player to skip back in time to correct past mistakes. Remember: scores achieved in Classic Mode will not be posted to leaderboards, so that's something you'll want to consider when selecting this game type. The other mode to play is Ranked Mode where you're unable to change the rules. If you want to compete on leaderboards, this is the mode you'll spend the most time with.

5. Download Game Room for Games for Windows Live: Oddly, you're not able to use your avatar from your Xbox 360 console. Rather, you have to choose from a selection of pre-made and quite lame avatars, but as far as the actual Game Room goes, the actual experience on both the Xbox 360 and PC is nearly identical. Changes made on one platform are shown on the other, and as long as you buy the all-access pass, you can play your games from both platforms without restrictions. I live in a one-TV household (I know, it's rough), so in the event that my dear wife wants to watch one of her picture stories, I can always find comfort in on my PC.

So, what are you waiting for? Download game room and give it a spin. Even if you don't plan on purchasing any of the available titles, you can always get your space ready by playing interior decorator.

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