A 1 vs. 100 revival is in the works at Xbox from AltSpaceVR
The classic online trivia show may be on the verge of a long-awaited comeback.
One of the coolest ideas to take shape during the early days of Xbox Live was 1 vs. 100, a real-time game show that ran on a weekly basis via the online Xbox space. It was a concept ahead of its time and its demise was widely mourned by the Xbox userbase. Calls for a revival have been heard for over a decade and now it looks like it's finally about to be answered, thanks to the team at AltSpaceVR.
On Thursday, VentureBeat reported that AltSpaceVR is hard at work on a 1 vs. 100 revival. The Xbox games division appears to be fully behind this project and offering its support. There's speculation that AltSpaceVR's plan is to take something like the avatars from its Mesh project for Microsoft Teams and integrate them into a 1 vs. 100 project. AltSpaceVR is fresh off its work on Microsoft Flight Simulator, where the team helped integrate VR support.
Xbox's Phil Spencer previously teased the return of 1 vs. 100 last year, prior to the launch of the Xbox Series X. It's certainly an idea worth bringing back. Even we here at Shacknews were big fans of the online multiplayer trivia show. If you want to look back at this old gem, you can check out our 2015 interview with former host Chris Cashman.
There's no word on when (or even officially "if") 1 vs. 100 will make its triumphant return. This is a story we'll be watching closely here at Shacknews, so stay tuned for the latest updates.
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replyOzzie Mejia posted a new article, A 1 vs. 100 revival is in the works at Xbox from AltSpaceVR
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THE GODS HAVE LISTENED!!!!!!!
1 v 100 being developed by MS via AltSpaceVR with support from Xbox Game Studios
https://venturebeat.com/2021/11/11/1-vs-100-is-in-the-works-at-microsoft/-
SHIT FOLKS GET IN HERE ITS HAPPENING
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Awesome!
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Aww.
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I'm as pumped as everyone else, but keep in mind the team this is coming from; I don't think this is going to be a console/pancake PC product. My first thought is that this might be something they're planning on rolling out in Altspace VR to show off/stress test Mesh, especially after seeing some of the tech they demoed during their Ignite keynote in Altspace. It'd be a great way to show off their real-time volumetric holograms with the host and expand on the size of their events without instancing, since iirc they're still limiting events to 50 avatars in a single live space.
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1vs100 on Xbox Live was part of the 360 push to make Xbox Live part of the streaming conversation. It was a loss leader showcase prove that online gaming platforms could be a area for more than just x-minute multiplayer matches,
Sure, Microsoft wants to use AltSpaceVR to promote their mixed reality vision, but they've also been known to spend money to promote that. It stands to reason they would want the game to be 90% people involved in the game because it's a much beloved franchise, but hope that the 10% using the mixed reality portion of the game promotes a greater promise ahead.-
A big part of their efforts with Mesh are ensuring that programs work whether you're on mobile/PC or AR/VR, so they could definitely do a cross-platform version like that. I'm still leaning towards it being something primarily VR-focused given the team handling it, though. I mean, they had James-freaking-Cameron appear on stage as a live volumetric video "hologram" in a shape-shifting venue when I "attended" Ignite a few months back; why wouldn't you deploy that same tech to create the first weekly must-see event in VR?
Like you pointed out with the 360, Microsoft used the original 1 vs 100 to showcase the Live platform and its ability to be used for more than just pew-pew. I think this could be an attempt to do the same thing in VR, since there's nothing like 1 vs 100 *anywhere* in that space now. Altspace is already home to everything from Burning Man, to AA/NA meetings, to conferences and lectures, but I can't think of any mass audience event programming that takes place there or anywhere else. They'd be able to create a whole new concept in VR the way they did with the 360 version, and serve as a draw to their platform as Meta ramps up whatever they're doing.
All that aside, Altspace is also free and it runs natively on the Quest and Quest 2, which makes barrier to entry low and the potential audience large. At roughly 10m HMDs out there just from Oculus alone*, about half of the 23m users Xbox Live had by the time 1 vs 100 wound down**, what better time to carve out a new space the way they did before?
*https://twitter.com/VRDesktop/status/1420243290016735232?t=HT7xqY_Ia9Ix-ehSXlJhHA&s=19
**https://xbox.fandom.com/wiki/Xbox_network
I ramble when I'm stressed lol
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Also keep in mind that Phil Spencer is a big proponent of bringing back 1 vs. 100 and he likely would not want to see it limited to just VR-type devices.
The impression I get is that the Mesh stuff that helps in Teams would make it great to have 100 virtual people on the "set" presented in 2D, if people wanted to appear that way.-
Oh yeah, if they went that route than there'd be no problem mixing 2D and VR players using Mesh. At least based on everything I've seen, read, and experienced about the platform.
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I could also see them integrated virtual avatars (those are still a thing with Xbox Live) alongside Mesh avatars. That's really the only visual thing is having that "live" wall of 100 players, which they should be able to integrate well.
(I assume they would also still have everyone else being able to participate if not the 1 or in the 100, for a chance for some gamerpoints or something)
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It was a live game show on Xbox 360 that was really fun and still wholly unique in that space.
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