I’m not sure it does really, mostly because Game Room isn’t up and running yet – some would argue neither is Home – but it was too good a headline for me to pass up.  Other headlines considered were:

• “Game Room” – thought that was a bit lazy really
• “Fancy A Game Room In Your Home?” – oh, that’s good; quick change the main headline!
• “Home Got More Room For Games?” – that’s just bobbins, innit

Enough of this nonsense and back to the original point of this article: A light-hearted look at Home and Game Room.  First off, when I saw the Game Room trailer, I actually thought it was a Home trailer but with a cartoony new look.  All those avatars prancing around the Home Bowling Alley trying to get onto a cab or two.  But then it said something about Xbox Live and I realised that it might actually be good.

Game Room is being sold as the place to be if you want to experience over 1000 arcade games over the next three years.  Lots of retro goodies too, by the looks of things, but hang on a bit I need to do some maths first: 1000 games over 3 years = 1000 games over 365(ish) days * 3 = 1000 games over 1095 days

Wow. That’s nearly a new game every day.  I’m going to be so caught up working out how much real money the required 240-400 MS Points equates to so I can buy these things, that proper games won’t get a look in.  Or I could just panic and pay the 40 MS Points for a one-off go on a game.  Ooo, I hope they have continues!  That’d be so cool, madly trying to enter my credit card number in 10 seconds when I’ve lost my last life.  It’ll be like a whole new game.  This is better than Home already.

If not better, certainly better focussed. Where Home is all about, seemingly, everything, Game Room appears to be a much more defined experience: Log on, play games, The End.  And not just rubbish games like that “golf game” you can play in the EA Sports Space in Home, but decent recreations of actual, playable arcade games.

I used Home a little back in the day.  Even set up a TSA Clubhouse.  But I lost interest pretty much as soon as the Football object I bought wasn’t at all interactive.  I wanted to kit it out with arcade cabs and the like, but Sony just weren’t able to get the tech working early enough.  Game Room looks like a different proposition entirely.  It’s focussed on games and letting you play them.  While the idea of a Clubhouse with games for members is cool, I’m not really sure we need that sort of thing.  Just good games and good times.

I certainly won’t miss the Running Man Danceathons.

Home-mockery aside, it has certainly improved over the course of its life.  The XI thing was brilliantly executed and I doubt Game Room will feature anything so interesting, at least not in its early incarnations.  And Home has seen many new Spaces added, but beyond that there is still the one, major gripe: What is the actual point of logging on to Home?  After all this time I still don’t see that there is one.  Whereas right now, via a trailer, a product yet-to-be released seems to have all the point in the videogaming world.

Source of video: Joystiq