June 2, 2009 - 9:00pm
Luke Wallace
The TV Quiz show is one of the longest running "reality programs" in existence, modified and retooled throughout the years into various formats. One of the latest incarnations is 1 vs. 100, where one person (The One) competes against a group of 100 (The Mob) in answering multiple choice questions. As long as The One answers questions correctly, they earn money for each person in The Mob that misses the question. If The One misses a question, everyone left in The Mob divides up the prize money, and The One goes home with nothing. A new incarnation of this game has come to Xbox Live Primetime, and promises to be popular with game show addicts. Read on for our review of the first Beta night.
Unlike any other game on Xbox Live, playing in 1 vs. 100 requires you to play online at a very specific time. There is a live announcer during the show, and guest appearances that require everyone be online at the same time. Unfortunately there was a limit on the first beta night of 50,000 players, but this limit may be increased over time. With the promise of real prizes for The One and those in The Mob, it's no surprise that it hit the 50,000 player limit the first night.
The game plays almost identical to the televised game show, except everyone on Xbox Live gets to play. The 49,899 people that were not selected to be The One or in The Mob make up The Crowd, a group that answers all the same questions for a chance to win other prizes. The top three players in The Crowd earn prizes (either Xbox Live Arcade titles, points, or both), where the points are determined by how many answers you get right, and how quickly you answer. Answering right after an answer is shown earns you an "instant answer" point bonus, but you'll have to be quick on all your answers to have any chance at being in the top three.
Besides the obvious living-room multiplayer option of everyone helping come up the answer for one person to input, silver-level account members can play along with any gold-level member as a guest, however they won't be able to win prizes. This is a fun way to let everyone in the room compete, but not being able to win anything is a little bit of a bummer. For gold members, this is another way to justify the $50 year that Microsoft still charges for online play.
Overall, the game was fun to play, and it's exciting to actually be playing in a live game that you're watching on TV. The action is frenetic, with only seconds to answer each question, and hardly any pausing in between rounds. After an hour or so it became obvious when longer breaks are about to happen, but there was no way to know for sure whether there was actually going to be time for a bathroom break. The fairly frequent (but brief) commercials made it obvious why the game could be free to play.
With real prizes, and fun, up-to-date trivia, it seems like 1 vs. 100 could be a real hit on Xbox Live. It may be time to start scheduling your activities around TV again.
richerd193 wrote:
The setup of 1 vs. 100 is identical to the primetime TV show of the same name. Thousands (Microsoft couldn't provide an exact number) of Xbox Live Gold members can join the live games -- planned for Friday and Saturday nights -- bringing Silver members along, given they're on the same console and don't mind missing out on the ability to win prizes. (More on those in a bit.)One player is chosen at random to be "The One," while 100 more are selected for The MOB ("Mass of Bodies"). Everyone else is in the virtual audience, but can still play along. Microsoft reckons that during the several rounds that comprise each two-hour-plus live game,mcpd training every player will likely get a chance to be in The MOB.The questions are presented in rapid-fire fashion, with mere seconds to choose from three possible answers. (Don't even think about Googling -- there's not enough time. Plus, you'd be a cheater!) Microsoft has a team of writers producing original questions for every show in the 14-week season, eliminating the possibility of repeat questions. If The One answers correctly, that player stays on for the next question. Otherwise, another One is chosen. Members of The MOB drop out as they miss answers and don't return.comptia a+ Eventually the stakes get very high.It's possible to play locally with up to three other people on a single 360, or join up with friends (or strangers) online to form four-person teams. These four can converse via voice chat, although the game also supports standard Live party chat.The live shows (there are also nightly Extended Play games which are entirely automated) are hosted by Chris Cashman, a comedian and actor who observes the game from a production studio at Microsoft HQ. He was heading up our session and is a large part of what makes the live show so compelling. Apart from commenting on the game in progress, he'll call players and chat with them "on air" (players will be able to opt out of this when signing up),microsoft mcp read players' emails, chat with "special guests" in the studio and generally be very funny. (He certainly was when we played.)Microsoft has a team of writers producing original questions for every show in the 14-week season.
Now, back to those high stakes. While 1 vs. 100 is undeniably fun, addictive and even free-to-play, its most compelling aspect for many will be the real prizes handed out during each live show. The One and The MOB compete for a share of 10,000 ($125) per episode; technically, if you're extremely good, you could take it all. Also, everyone in The MOB is competing for a free copy of that week's selected XBLA game. It's awarded to the top three point scorers each round and anyone who makes it into the last 10 MOB members standing.Microsoft will also hold a once-per-season giveaway of Zunes and other electronics, which players can enter by taking part in the nightly Extended Play sessions. Placing among the top contestants will reward players with virtual raffle tickets for the drawing.1 vs. 100 is free to play, but, as we learned (and saw,) it will be advertising supported. The arena is sponsored, the "show" is sponsored, and there will be commercial breaks during each session. But, hey, it's free -- and, as we found, the breaks are a very good thing; the game gets intense.We asked Microsoft if there are any plans for cross-overs between the 360 game and the actual network show, such as the potential for top online players to appear in a televised broadcast, and were told "no" -- although the idea seemed to go over very well with the game's producers. As we said at the outset, 1 vs. 100 doesn't revolutionize games, but it was incredibly engaging in our experience, thanks to the live presentation and chance to win real prizes. Plus, the questions were very good, not to mention especially current. We anticipate the live games being fairly massive weekly events that will ultimately make this a bona fide hit. We'll be playing -- will you?
Tags: 1-vs-100, gameshow, microsoft, xbox-live-primetime
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richerd193 wrote:
The setup of 1 vs. 100 is identical to the primetime TV show of the same name. Thousands (Microsoft couldn't provide an exact number) of Xbox Live Gold members can join the live games -- planned for Friday and Saturday nights -- bringing Silver members along, given they're on the same console and don't mind missing out on the ability to win prizes. (More on those in a bit.)One player is chosen at random to be "The One," while 100 more are selected for The MOB ("Mass of Bodies"). Everyone else is in the virtual audience, but can still play along. Microsoft reckons that during the several rounds that comprise each two-hour-plus live game,mcpd training every player will likely get a chance to be in The MOB.The questions are presented in rapid-fire fashion, with mere seconds to choose from three possible answers. (Don't even think about Googling -- there's not enough time. Plus, you'd be a cheater!) Microsoft has a team of writers producing original questions for every show in the 14-week season, eliminating the possibility of repeat questions. If The One answers correctly, that player stays on for the next question. Otherwise, another One is chosen. Members of The MOB drop out as they miss answers and don't return.comptia a+ Eventually the stakes get very high.It's possible to play locally with up to three other people on a single 360, or join up with friends (or strangers) online to form four-person teams. These four can converse via voice chat, although the game also supports standard Live party chat.The live shows (there are also nightly Extended Play games which are entirely automated) are hosted by Chris Cashman, a comedian and actor who observes the game from a production studio at Microsoft HQ. He was heading up our session and is a large part of what makes the live show so compelling. Apart from commenting on the game in progress, he'll call players and chat with them "on air" (players will be able to opt out of this when signing up),microsoft mcp read players' emails, chat with "special guests" in the studio and generally be very funny. (He certainly was when we played.)Microsoft has a team of writers producing original questions for every show in the 14-week season.
Now, back to those high stakes. While 1 vs. 100 is undeniably fun, addictive and even free-to-play, its most compelling aspect for many will be the real prizes handed out during each live show. The One and The MOB compete for a share of 10,000 ($125) per episode; technically, if you're extremely good, you could take it all. Also, everyone in The MOB is competing for a free copy of that week's selected XBLA game. It's awarded to the top three point scorers each round and anyone who makes it into the last 10 MOB members standing.Microsoft will also hold a once-per-season giveaway of Zunes and other electronics, which players can enter by taking part in the nightly Extended Play sessions. Placing among the top contestants will reward players with virtual raffle tickets for the drawing.1 vs. 100 is free to play, but, as we learned (and saw,) it will be advertising supported. The arena is sponsored, the "show" is sponsored, and there will be commercial breaks during each session. But, hey, it's free -- and, as we found, the breaks are a very good thing; the game gets intense.We asked Microsoft if there are any plans for cross-overs between the 360 game and the actual network show, such as the potential for top online players to appear in a televised broadcast, and were told "no" -- although the idea seemed to go over very well with the game's producers. As we said at the outset, 1 vs. 100 doesn't revolutionize games, but it was incredibly engaging in our experience, thanks to the live presentation and chance to win real prizes. Plus, the questions were very good, not to mention especially current. We anticipate the live games being fairly massive weekly events that will ultimately make this a bona fide hit. We'll be playing -- will you?
Tags: 1-vs-100, gameshow, microsoft, xbox-live-primetime
login or register to post comments »