XBLA Game Room|Classic arcade action on the Xbox 360

Game Room on Xbox LIVE and Games for Windows – LIVE lets you relive the glory days of classic arcade and console games in their original forms. Your avatar will take part in the original sights, sounds and gameplay that will make these retro games come alive on your Xbox 360 and Windows-based PC in one fast, fun experience. Game Room will bring you a library of original classics like Centipede® and Asteroids Deluxe® from Atari Inc. and other favorites from Intellivision, Konami Corp, and more. With weekly new title releases, your arcade will soon be retrofitted to perfection. Challenge your friends to beat your high score by sending custom challenges and taunts across platforms, earn Achievements, unlock levels, and climb your way to the top of the universal leaderboards. Also enjoy the freedom of buying games for Game Room once and playing on both Xbox 360 and a Windows-based PC.

Microsoft’s new cross-platform Game Room service is now available. It’s free to download and gives you access to 30 different classic arcade games after you should pick up the following free Game Packs:

Game Pack 001 features eight arcade games from Atari and Konami, three Atari 2600 games, and four Intellivision games.

Game Pack 002 features seven arcade games from Atari and Konami, four Atari 2600 games, and four Intellivision games.

Game Room’s launch this morning came with some problems. You see, it wasn’t working properly. Upon the initial Game Room load, users are prompted to download at least one of two game packs, after which the service should load up the games and let you start playing.

Unfortunately, Game Room simply hangs on the loading screen, allowing you to enjoy the retro music playing in the background, but not the actual retro games. Major Nelson stated via Twitter that Microsoft was “aware of the issue” and it is “being investigated.” He reminded users that the Game Room application itself is still available, and it should be okay to download it now and wait for the issue to be resolved.

The Games for Windows version of Game Room was likewise broken. Attempts to install Game Room produced an error message that read, “Install of item failed”.

Fortunately, there was a workaround for Xbox 360 owners. All you had to do was sign in with an offline profile or disconnect your internet source (ethernet or wireless). Then load Game Room. It would then get past the initial loading screen. Once everything was loaded, you could then sign into Xbox Live and all the games were accessible.

UPDATE: After a small snag this morning, Microsoft’s Game Room service is now up and running for both Xbox Live and Games for Windows – Live. There are still some intermittent problems with the Game room server, but nothing that should stop you from being able to play your favorite retro game titles.