Microsoft tease the return of a live gameshow to Xbox One
Back in the early days of the Xbox 360 one of the more experimental titles was 1 vs 100 – an interactive version of the TV quiz show of the same name. In the game, hundreds of players connected via Xbox Live could play along answering trivia questions – and win real prizes. A recent tweet from Xbox’s Phil Spencer suggests that something similar could be returning.
Prompted by a Twitter question from a gamer – so by no means anything concrete – Shiller strongly implied something was in the works – though it won’t be 1vs100 because of licensing issues over the name and format.
@DMC_Ryan @Xbox Anything for you Ryan. likely won't be 1v100 exactly as rights issues with TV show but gameshow format on XB1 is a must.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) January 25, 2014
Online mass participation gameshows have long been an example of what the future will be like – with the likes of Two Way TV even promising it in the 1990s (remember that?). It seems to us though like the Xbox One could be the perfect platform on which to do it.
Not only is the online infrastructure already built in – but the console has access to camera, mic and gesture movements, which could really enhance the gameshow feel. Perhaps a live host could chat to players between rounds? In any case – it now raises the intriguing question… what TV show should Microsoft bring to the Xbox One?
Heck, the sorts of gameshow formats they use could also go much wider than simple trivia, as we saw with 1vs100. They could even build a fully blown Krypton Factor if they wanted – with Kinect arm waving for the assault course and the controllers and voice controls for the bizarre “landing a plane” bit.
(Yes, that’s right, we really did used to have a gameshow where contestants would have to land a plane in a simulator)
This said – my money is on Pointless being a great candidate – surely Microsoft can even afford Richard Osman (if not Alexander Armstrong) to do some live hosting for thousands of simultaneous players too?
C’mon Microsoft, make it happen!
