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    Game Room

    Game » consists of 6 releases. Released Mar 24, 2010

    A downloadable portal for official emulation of retro video games for the Xbox 360 and PC, featuring offerings from the Atari 2600 and Intellivision as well as early arcade games by Atari and Konami.

    Game Room's next wave: Now including Night Stalker?

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    trace

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    Edited By trace
    I always loved this box art as a kid. It's both cheesy and awesome.
    I always loved this box art as a kid. It's both cheesy and awesome.
    Looks like the Intellivision guys intentionally let something slip to their fans on Facebook a few hours ago.
     
    "Sshhh...not sure we're allowed to reveal this, but Night Stalker is scheduled to join Microsoft's Game Room Thursday, April 29."
     
    This all but confirms that Game Room releases are indeed (finally) going to start up again in a few weeks, along with establishing the official release day of Thursdays for Game Room stuff. Unless something comes up, it looks like the absolute latest the waves of games will pick up again will be the 29th. Oh, and Night Stalker. There's that.
     
    I know there's a lot of complaints about Intellivision games beyond the usual Game Room complaints, and many of them have merit, with relatively cheap Intellivision consoles and cartridges still out in the wild. Regardless, give me a few moments to try and argue on Night Stalker's behalf, and why it's definitely worth consideration of your money.
     
    Intellivision doesn't exactly have the most suitable games for a modern controller, considering that it had a full number pad that was often completely utilized. Furthermore, many of the games chosen just aren't a good fit for Game Room to begin with. Since there's no actual online multiplayer (and challenges most certainly don't count), games like Armor Battle and Sea Battle become lonely affairs unless you can scrounge up a few retro-loving friends. Nothing in the Game Room makes this clear, either, as we've seen with so many people struggling to hike the ball in Football without realizing that Player 2 needs to input a play, even if he or she doesn't exist. The relative long play times for a single round of the other games can be a deterrent, too, with Space Hawk being the most serious offender by far, and Astrosmash a distant-but-still-lengthy game that can easily last over an hour with practice.
     
    I know I'll sound like a horrible driver that's cause a dozen serious accidents trying to convince you to join their carpool, but I'm here to tell you: Dude, this time's different. Trust me.
     
    Duder, it's full of robots!
    Duder, it's full of robots!
    Intellivision fans who have played Night Stalker before won't need much convincing. It's a frantic run-and-gun shooter within a maze full of bats, a spider, and a laser-firing robot. There's two constantly-repeating phases to the game: rushing for a gun while completely vulnerable, and then using that gun's bullets up on robots or anything that threatens you. Eventually, the beginning will be easy enough that you'll be able to corner robots as they spawn and spawn-camp them for easy points. That won't last forever as you run out of bullets, have to run for a new gun, and the robots make headway on you.
     
    Yes, robots. You'll want to avoid shooting bats, but eventually, the lone robot will shoot them, and that threat will turn plural right quick. This makes the whole spawn-camping strategy a little harder. So will the robot whose blasts absorb your bullets, meaning you can't just pop out and fire easy kill shots at any time. Not anymore. You might have better luck using the one safe place in the maze, your bunker, to pop out and quickly decimate the tougher robots.
     
    THIS is the point you  start any survival challenges. Have fun with no bunker!
    THIS is the point you start any survival challenges. Have fun with no bunker!
    Then he'll gain the ability to destroy your bunker. Things get really unpleasant at that point.
     
    I suppose what I'm trying to say is that Night Stalker is not a game that will last forever, and with both score and survival needs, it'll have decent medal and challenge potential. You'll probably be able to camp in your bunker for that easily survival medal, but for survival challenges, just find a high score replay and fast forward to just beyond the 50,000 point mark. That'll make things interesting, as will attempting to earn high scores amidst the chaos of laser fire and robots. This is easily one of the best Intellivision games for the Game Room besides Tron: Deadly Discs and the Intellivision version of BurgerTime.
     
    If you don't think an Intellivision game is worth $3, much less a Game Room game, this won't change your mind. For the rest of you, definitely give the demo its full ten minutes. I hope you won't regret it.
     
    That said, I'm also interested in what anybody else is hoping for in the upcoming wave for the Game Room, though I know Jeff's already weighed in on that matter.
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    trace

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    #1  Edited By trace
    I always loved this box art as a kid. It's both cheesy and awesome.
    I always loved this box art as a kid. It's both cheesy and awesome.
    Looks like the Intellivision guys intentionally let something slip to their fans on Facebook a few hours ago.
     
    "Sshhh...not sure we're allowed to reveal this, but Night Stalker is scheduled to join Microsoft's Game Room Thursday, April 29."
     
    This all but confirms that Game Room releases are indeed (finally) going to start up again in a few weeks, along with establishing the official release day of Thursdays for Game Room stuff. Unless something comes up, it looks like the absolute latest the waves of games will pick up again will be the 29th. Oh, and Night Stalker. There's that.
     
    I know there's a lot of complaints about Intellivision games beyond the usual Game Room complaints, and many of them have merit, with relatively cheap Intellivision consoles and cartridges still out in the wild. Regardless, give me a few moments to try and argue on Night Stalker's behalf, and why it's definitely worth consideration of your money.
     
    Intellivision doesn't exactly have the most suitable games for a modern controller, considering that it had a full number pad that was often completely utilized. Furthermore, many of the games chosen just aren't a good fit for Game Room to begin with. Since there's no actual online multiplayer (and challenges most certainly don't count), games like Armor Battle and Sea Battle become lonely affairs unless you can scrounge up a few retro-loving friends. Nothing in the Game Room makes this clear, either, as we've seen with so many people struggling to hike the ball in Football without realizing that Player 2 needs to input a play, even if he or she doesn't exist. The relative long play times for a single round of the other games can be a deterrent, too, with Space Hawk being the most serious offender by far, and Astrosmash a distant-but-still-lengthy game that can easily last over an hour with practice.
     
    I know I'll sound like a horrible driver that's cause a dozen serious accidents trying to convince you to join their carpool, but I'm here to tell you: Dude, this time's different. Trust me.
     
    Duder, it's full of robots!
    Duder, it's full of robots!
    Intellivision fans who have played Night Stalker before won't need much convincing. It's a frantic run-and-gun shooter within a maze full of bats, a spider, and a laser-firing robot. There's two constantly-repeating phases to the game: rushing for a gun while completely vulnerable, and then using that gun's bullets up on robots or anything that threatens you. Eventually, the beginning will be easy enough that you'll be able to corner robots as they spawn and spawn-camp them for easy points. That won't last forever as you run out of bullets, have to run for a new gun, and the robots make headway on you.
     
    Yes, robots. You'll want to avoid shooting bats, but eventually, the lone robot will shoot them, and that threat will turn plural right quick. This makes the whole spawn-camping strategy a little harder. So will the robot whose blasts absorb your bullets, meaning you can't just pop out and fire easy kill shots at any time. Not anymore. You might have better luck using the one safe place in the maze, your bunker, to pop out and quickly decimate the tougher robots.
     
    THIS is the point you  start any survival challenges. Have fun with no bunker!
    THIS is the point you start any survival challenges. Have fun with no bunker!
    Then he'll gain the ability to destroy your bunker. Things get really unpleasant at that point.
     
    I suppose what I'm trying to say is that Night Stalker is not a game that will last forever, and with both score and survival needs, it'll have decent medal and challenge potential. You'll probably be able to camp in your bunker for that easily survival medal, but for survival challenges, just find a high score replay and fast forward to just beyond the 50,000 point mark. That'll make things interesting, as will attempting to earn high scores amidst the chaos of laser fire and robots. This is easily one of the best Intellivision games for the Game Room besides Tron: Deadly Discs and the Intellivision version of BurgerTime.
     
    If you don't think an Intellivision game is worth $3, much less a Game Room game, this won't change your mind. For the rest of you, definitely give the demo its full ten minutes. I hope you won't regret it.
     
    That said, I'm also interested in what anybody else is hoping for in the upcoming wave for the Game Room, though I know Jeff's already weighed in on that matter.
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    Skald

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    #2  Edited By Skald

    The guy on the cover art looks like Han Solo. 
     
    Also, forget Intellivisions in the wild. Compilations are cheaper and easier to get, and pirating games that take up less than a megabyte (by the way: don't) is even easier, not to mention free. If modern PC games have to put up with a degree of piracy, I don't want to know what Game Room is going to have to deal with. 
     
    Oh well, at least it's coming along better than Playstation Home.

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    Wickstrom

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    #3  Edited By Wickstrom

    Microsoft previously said Game Room wouldn't get more games until the end of April, and this falls right into that time window. Hopefully some other good games come out with it.

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    ahoodedfigure

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    #4  Edited By ahoodedfigure

    One I'd be down for would be the Dungeons and Dragons game for the Intellivision.  I thought that game was pretty solid, even now.  I guess it's called something else now that the trademark license expired...  King of the Mountain, maybe?  I don't remember.

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    trace

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    #5  Edited By trace
    @ahoodedfigure said:
    " One I'd be down for would be the Dungeons and Dragons game for the Intellivision.  I thought that game was pretty solid, even now.  I guess it's called something else now that the trademark license expired...  King of the Mountain, maybe?  I don't remember. "
    Yeah, since they can't use the ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS Cartridge name anymore, it's referred to as "Adventure" within the Intellivision Lives! PC collection, and "Crown of Kings" within another collection. I find it strange that they decided to call it Adventure, since that conjures up thoughts of being chased by duck-like creatures, but oh well.
     
    Also, funny enough, there is a King of the Mountain in the Lives! line-up, but it's just a strange mountain-climbing sim. And on that note... 
     
    @extremeradical said:
    " Also, forget Intellivisions in the wild. Compilations are cheaper and easier to get... "
    Can't believe I neglected point this out -- must've been a bit too tired last night. Intellivision themselves are selling their PC collection for about $20 once you factor in shipping, and that's about 60 or so games. Plus, bunches of copies of their console version of Intellivision Lives! are probably sitting in used games bins at game stores around the nation, waiting to be picked up dirt cheap.
     
    That $3 is definitely a premium for all the rewind and leaderboard/challenge features, since there's a bunch of cheaper means to nab these titles easily, legal or otherwise. I continue to enjoy these games to this day, so spending that kind of money for a couple of my favorite games is fine by me. I imagine it as tossing some spare change in Keith Robinson's tip jar as thanks for keeping the memories alive, too, even if he doesn't see much (or any) of that $3.
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    #6  Edited By Driadon

    There are a lot of games that I love on the Intellevision, but I personally don't think Nightstalker was one of them. I did love it back in the day, but unlike Space Hawk and Sub Hunt, it doesn't age well in the least. Now, a few that I still think hold up really well that I would love to see hit Game Room are Treasure of Tarmin  and Utopia (granted that they enable online multiplayer)  
     
    Note: I wanted to simply italicize "love", but GB seems to have failed me!

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    Sin4profit

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    #7  Edited By Sin4profit

    I'm waiting for A.P.B. i know it'll come eventually since Atari is already on board.  I'm curious to the Ikari series and how they go about emulating the rotary joysticks (dunno if making it a duel stick shooter go past "emulation" and into "port" territory). Really i'd like to see more manufacturers just so i know more of what to expect since Capcom just released Final Fight / Magic Sword outside of Game Room i wonder if they're not going to involve themselves at all.So where will Cadillacs & Dinosaurs end up?
     
    There's plenty wrong with Game Room as is and plenty more to worry about if you ask me...i just wanted a refined place to store all the arcade classics i own.

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    UkuleleSHIMA

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    #8  Edited By UkuleleSHIMA

    thanks for the plea. I remember playing this a few times at my friends house as a kid and liking it. maybe i'll visit your arcade and demo it! :) Plus I think I'd like to add at least 1 more Intellivion game to my GR (next to Astrosmash).

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    UkuleleSHIMA

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    #9  Edited By UkuleleSHIMA

    and I'm looking fwd to your Sea battle write up!

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