Adventures of Taas

Last night was the first airing of the XBox Live Primetime version of 1 vs 100.  For those not informed 1 vs 100 is a new game show coming in the next few weeks to XBox Live.  The online game show is intended to use the success of Microsoft’s online gaming platform to build a whole new genre and I have to say – this could seriously represent the future of game shows or at the very leas a new social gaming genre that is going be very successful.

The premise of 1 vs 100 is pretty simple.  One person (”The One”) takes on “The Mob” of 100 people answering trivia questions.  “The One” continues to play until he/she gets a question wrong or withdraws from the game at predesignated points (the first time they can walk away is after three questions and I believe after every question following).  If The One walks away they win prizes based off of how many members of The Mob they’ve eliminated (a member of the mob is eliminated if they get a question wrong).  If The One gets eliminated due to getting a question wrong the remaining members of The Mob who got the last question right split the prizes.

So that’s the basic gist of the game as it exists on TV and on Xbox Live Primetime – so what makes it work online?

The first thing worth noting is EVERYONE gets to play online.  Last night’s beta had around 4000 participants at start time and in any given round obviously 101 people could only play the core game.  The rest of us however were part of “the crowd” and we’d play along answering the questions.  Anyone familiar with the recent reality-gameshows like Millionaire or Deal or No Deal there are “saves” that contestants can use.  Two of the saves utilize the crowd – one taking their most popular answer for a given question and the other taking the answer of the person with the current highest score.  So in a very real way the crowd gets to contribute to the game as well.

The game is broken in to rounds.  Each time The One gets eliminated or walks away a new Mob and One are chosen from everyone currently logged in.  All of this is voiced over by a host who broadcasts live from a studio.  There were issues with the live broadcasting last night (plenty of time before launch) but when the host, Chris Cashman, was able to get a word in it really felt as if you were live in studio at a gameshow.

Tammy and I played the game together for the full two hours and we both found ourselves having more fun than we thought we would.  The trivia questions they used were mostly pretty easy (I imagine it was beta set of questions) but that didn’t detract at all from the fun.

In terms of prizes, MS is giving away MS Points, Arcade titles and much more in a per-season sweepstakes that everyone plays is eligible for (the beta sweepstakes they are giving away an Xbox Elite, Laptops, Camcorders and more).  It is genius really – Microsoft’s payout is virtually nothing as they are giving away virtual currency and a few arcade titles on a nightly basis.  The one downside I guess for the players is that an Xbox Live Gold account is required so even there Microsoft is covering their bases.

I cannot wait for the first season and I hope to win some prizes at some point!

Looking beyond 1 vs 100 – this is the first game of many to come in Microsoft’s “Xbox Live Primetime” service – there are a lot more of this type of product to come and I think this is going to change the game and really extend Microsoft’s reach in to living rooms.  I think given enough time and iterations in the tech (video cameras and audio microphones) that allow the participants and audience to interact more this will make the traditional game show obsolete.

If the Web 2.0 revolution taught us anything it is that people want a more personal experience and this is exactly what 1 vs 100 and XBOX Live Primetime deliver.  Everyone has watched Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy and has screamed a seemingly obvious answer at the TV – now you CAN get that answer right and you can get points for it.  The experience for the user at home is much more rewarding.  Never mind that participants are picked randomly from the audience pool.  The chances of you being selected as a participant on Jeopardy when you are sitting at home are 0, while with this new digital experience at any given time you could be given the nod.  For gameshow addicts that is going to be something very enticing!