It’s always infuriating that’s it’s impossible to play retro arcade games on the PC. Completely impossible. Fortunately, Microsoft are going to help out, with their upcoming Games Room. Half retro gaming collection and half social hub, it’s a service for – brace for impact – Games For Windows Live and its less hateful Xbox equivalent. You pour your cash into Microsoft’s virtual currency, which you can then in turn spend on access to the likes of Centipede, Tempest and Gravitar. All is saved! The full games list is below, as is a trailer. The potentially interesting element is that they’re setting all this in a virtual arcade, with your Microsoft Avatar (so does that mean they’re coming to PC too?) fetching up at to the game cabinet of your choice. You can pay per play, or for unlimited access to favoured games. Could be fun if the social hub feels alive, varied and delightful, but there’s a danger of it being a cynical cash grab.
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