Tech Blog

[#1]

Did you play 1 vs 100 on its first season on Xbox Live? Apparently lots of people did, because off the back off the success of that first season, it's back for a new and improved run, starting November 19th, at 5 p.m. Pacific Time (that's 8 p.m. Eastern Time.)

Me and 1 vs 100 have a bit of an interesting history (OK, well, it's not that interesting) in that I'm not really a man for TV game shows at all. I admit, like everyone else, I was a bit into Who Wants To Be a Millionaire when it started, but I was quickly bored. Deal or No Deal is moronic, and 1 vs 100 I had never even thought of at all until it was announced it was coming to Xbox Live.

If you're not familiar with 1 vs 100,  the game has a fairly clever structure, one which makes it especially suited to an "event" video game concept. It's based around one individual--"The One"--against a group of 100 people--"The Mob". Both The One and The Mob answer the same trivia questions, which increase in difficulty. As the game progresses, each time a member of The Mob get a question wrong, they're removed. So if The One answers a series of questions right, but The Mob do badly, they might find themselves against only 12 people, down from 100! So like Who Wants To Be a Millionaire and other popular game shows, The One is trying to either beat the entire game, or work out when they've pushed their luck as far as they can go.

Of course, a game of 101 people wouldn't be that interesting for the many thousands that there are on Xbox Live, so cleverly the game asks you to "play along" as a member of "The Crowd".  and then, based on how well you're doing (totals across the season, the week and the round) you could find yourself as either The One, or part of The Mob, making the game pretty thrilling to play.

Mind you, it wouldn't be thrilling at all if there weren't prizes on offer, and that's the kicker--as either The One, as part of The Mob, or as one of the top three members of The Crowd, you're in with a chance to win Microsoft Points and XBLA games for doing well, from 160 to 10000 Microsoft Points! Nothing to be sniffed at, truly, unless you're in Quebec, where gambling laws mean you're ineligible for prizes (sorry!)

 But wait, what's this interesting history I claimed to have with the game? Oh, uh, it's not that interesting. It's just that I heard about all of this stuff--the prizes, mostly--became really, really excited about it all and downloaded the beta back when it was Canada only. On the very first night I played the whole evening, absolutely engrossed, imagining all the Microsoft Points that could come my way, should I be selected as The One of as part of The Mob, and debating with my girlfriend whether The One should have stuck or quit during tense moments.

Then I found out that during the beta there were no prizes being awarded, and I felt like such a wally that I haven't played it since.

Of course, I keep meaning to go back and play it, but I never do. So I'm trying to burn into my mind, November 19th, 8 p.m., so I can give it another shot and maybe actually win some of those Microsoft Points I was so foolishly dreaming of back then...