[url=]http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/01/microsoft-aims-for-vinyl-lp-collector-vibe-with-game-room.ars[/url]
So, basically it's going to be a legal version of MAME, with cross platform support, and a virtual arcade...
I lol'd at the pricing though.
You can play an arcade game once for free, then after that it's literally 50 cents to play again, or you can buy it permanently on PC or 360 for 3 dollars. To purchase it for both it's 5 dollars.
50 cents is too much for one playthrough though.... since it was 25 cents back in the good old days.... I am not a fan of LIVE at all, but I may have to check this out. Would be nice to at least have some sort of cross platform game to have. We'll see how it goes this spring though.

Allow me contemplate the opportunities before I make my statement...

Wouldn't they make a lot more money if it was ten points to play games again? I feel like more people would do it. Anyways, love the cross-platform thing - it's the only thing missing from digital distribution in my eyes.

Because everyone will want to ditch MAME to pay actual money for such games.
Dream on.

Gosh, I haven't stepped into that realm yet, but it sure is tempting. I have an X-Arcade stick I could use, too....

Nope, to me it doesn't seem like MAME. I bet it will just be some crappy conversion, surely not an emulation with the original ROMS et all.
I'd like to to be proved wrong but I don't think it will happen.....

it has stiff competition with MAME, I agree, a mate of mine is heavily into it and built his own awesome cabinet. I also agree that the 40 points per play is too high and they'd likely end up with a fair few more impulse buys with the price set at 10 points, I mean what better way than to get rid of the 20 leftover points from buying something on the marketplace with a stupid price?
I'll certainly keep my eye on it but unless the multiplayer games have live multiplayer, I'll be a bit more reluctant to buy them. Also I want Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off Road Racing damnit, one of the best arcade games ever made

It sounds great until you get to the pricing. The one thing I hate most about Live is how they try to nickel and dime you even for trivial things. They need to offer more perks for being a gold member.

It's a fraud from Microsoft.

Seems like an okay idea. There are some classic arcade games I'd be happy to drop $3 on to have full access to play.

Funny that some of the games they're advertising are already available for free, and legally too. http://www.atari.com/arcade
Though maybe that will change soon...

While I can see the appeal in this as MAME can be tricky for the uninitiated to use, any convenience is blown out of the water by Microsoft and Atari's greed.