Originally announced during E3 2008, the Xbox Live Primetime channel and its flagship "program," 1 vs. 100 are finally close to going, well ... live. We recently participated in a 1 vs. 100 Live episode, competing against players locally in San Francisco, as well as Los Angeles and Redmond, Washington. While we found the core of the game very similar to other video game "gameshows" (Buzz! Quiz TV for PS3 comes to mind), the live presentation -- including the opportunity to win Microsoft Points and XBLA games -- is undeniably engaging and ambitious.

The setup of 1 vs. 100 is identical to the primetime TV show of the same name. Thousands (Microsoft couldn't provide an exact number) of Xbox Live Gold members can join the live games -- planned for Friday and Saturday nights -- bringing Silver members along, given they're on the same console and don't mind missing out on the ability to win prizes. (More on those in a bit.)

One player is chosen at random to be "The One," while 100 more are selected for The MOB ("Mass of Bodies"). Everyone else is in the virtual audience, but can still play along. Microsoft reckons that during the several rounds that comprise each two-hour-plus live game, every player will likely get a chance to be in The MOB.

The questions are presented in rapid-fire fashion, with mere seconds to choose from three possible answers. (Don't even think about Googling -- there's not enough time. Plus, you'd be a cheater!) Microsoft has a team of writers producing original questions for every show in the 14-week season, eliminating the possibility of repeat questions. If The One answers correctly, they stay on for the next question. Otherwise, another One is chosen. Members of The MOB drop out as they miss answers and won't return. Eventually the stakes get very high.

It's possible to play locally with up to three other people on a single 360, or join up with friends (or strangers) online to form four-person teams. These four can converse via voice chat, although the game also supports standard Live party chat.

The live shows (there are also nightly Extended Play games which are entirely automated) are hosted by Chris Cashman, a comedian and actor who observes the game from a production studio at Microsoft HQ. He was heading up our session and is a large part of what makes the live show so compelling. Apart from commenting on the game in progress, he'll call players and chat with them "on air" (players will be able to opt out of this when signing up), read players' emails, chat with "special guests" in the studio and generally be very funny. (He certainly was when we played.)

Now, back to those high stakes. While 1 vs. 100 is undeniably fun, addictive and even free-to-play, its most compelling aspect for many will be the real prizes handed out during each live show. The One and The MOB compete for a share of 10,000 ($125) per episode; technically, if you're extremely good, you could take it all. Also, everyone in The MOB is competing for a free copy of that week's selected XBLA game. It's awarded to the top three point scorers each round and anyone who makes it into the last 10 MOB members standing.

Microsoft will also hold a once-per-season giveaway of Zunes and other electronics, which players can enter by taking part in the nightly Extended Play sessions. Placing among the top contestants will reward players with virtual raffle tickets for the drawing.


1 vs. 100 is free to play, but, as we learned (and saw,) it will be advertising supported. The arena is sponsored, the "show" is sponsored, and there will be commercial breaks during each session. But, hey, it's free -- and, as we found, the breaks are a very good thing; the game gets intense.

We asked Microsoft if there are any plans for cross-overs between the 360 game and the actual network show, such as the potential for top online players to appear in a televised broadcast, and were told "no" -- although the idea seemed to go over very well with the game's producers.

As we said at the outset, 1 vs. 100 doesn't revolutionize games, but it was incredibly engaging in our experience, thanks to the live presentation and chance to win real prizes. Plus, the questions were very good, not to mention extremely current. We anticipate the live games being fairly massive weekly events that will ultimately make this a bona fide hit. We'll be playing -- will you?

What Is It?
1 Vs 100 is the sometimes-live 13-week game show being released for free to all Xbox Live Gold members later this year. Prizes are awarded for answering multiple-choice trivia questions, with the best wins — depending on which of three roles you play in the game — netting players 10,000 Microsoft points, a free Xbox Live Arcade game, or an entry into a season-wide prize sweepstakes for stuff like Zunes. Prizes are offered only for contestants aged 18 and up. At last, a game for adults!

What We Saw
Posing as a guy from MTV a couple of weeks ago, your Deputy Managing Editor told the Microsoft people he was switching jobs and was still allowed to share a couch with three other games reporters in New York City for a live run through a 1v100 session. The session was emceed by the show's host Chris Cashman, back in a sound booth in Seattle. At least a dozen other real people were playing from other 360s.

How Far Along Is It?
The game ran smoothly from beginning to end. It didn't just have its gameplay features working but even a lot of its in-game advertising in place. It goes into Canadian beta later this week.

What Needs Improvement?
Easy Questions: Let us hope that we were told a fact when a Microsoft rep assured us that questions for 1v100 would never be repeated. This must be so, because who wants to play a game show that includes the following question (which your DME got right!): "What country is the 2008 movie Australia set in? 1) New Zealand, 2) Australia, 3) Papua New Guinea"

More Complex Than Wheel of Fortune: Maybe Microsoft will mail people an instruction manual, and maybe it was just too early in the morning when Microsoft was showing the game, but there's a chance that first-time players will find the rules 1 vs 100 baffling. Let's break this down: 1v100 will be run live on Fridays and Saturdays at scheduled sessions that last a couple of hours. You play as your Xbox avatar. Any Xbox Live Gold member can be a member of the audience, aka the Crowd. This lets them answer questions and be linked to three local players or friends in an Xbox Live party. Crowd players earn chances to win sweepstakes prizes. Playing in the Crowd also increases the likelihood that the player will be chosen to join… the Mob. That Mob is the "100" part of 1 vs 100. Members of the Mob see their avatar seated against a big wall a la the Brady Bunch show opening, if the Brady Bunch got randy and had 100 members in the family. Every round of the game sees a new "1" selected from the Mob. The core of the game involves the 1 and the 100 answering the same trivia questions. If the 1 gets it wrong, he or she is knocked out of competition. If a member of the 100 gets it wrong they're dropped from the 100. For every question the 1 gets right, he or she amasses potential Microsoft Points winnings and has the option to cash out. But he or she needs to outlast everyone in the 100. The 100 can win prizes as well, but only once 40 players have been eliminated. The Mob's prize can be a free Xbox Live Arcade game, pre-determined by the show's organizers (which you may already own). Got all that?

And There Are More Rules: I haven't even explained the non-live, every-weekday mode called Extended Play in which everyone is in the Mob and winnings count toward chances to be picked to be in the Mob for the live games. Complex as this all sounds, we were having fun.

Local Scores Unimportant: Plenty of games are fun. But "fun" is so old-fashioned compared to the chance to win fabulous prizes. Microsoft's trailer for 1 vs 100 promises that beyond high scores is winning real prizes and that "beyond gaming is 1 vs 100." OK. Then, how come when me and three other people are playing on a couch — each of us also in the Mob — but winning nothing for beating each other?

What Should Stay The Same?
Non-Invasive Advertising: All the Microsoft reps' discussion of Sprint sponsorship and Honda ads seemed ripe for disaster. But the ads in 1 vs 100 weren't a bother at all. The virtual game show set is branded with Sprint signage. A between-sessions break throws more ads onto the screen, but even during that break a player can call up their stats and study their performance.

It's Live: Some of the announcer chatter during the live games of 1 vs 100 is canned. But host Chris Cashman will call out performances and talk about what's happening in the game. He'll also call players up, as he did with me, and record quick interviews that get played during the breaks. He chatted with me about my performance. I accused him of being as shady as the guy in Slumdog Millionaire. He laughed it off.

Everyone Gets A Shot: Microsoft has the right idea about getting new people into the hot-seats for this game. They estimate that up to 1500 people have a shot at getting in the Mob per live session. And the stats that improve your chance for selection — earned by playing the Live and Extended versions of the game regularly — will be re-set each week. So the elite players shouldn't get all the shots at the glory.

Final Thoughts
For those of us who have failed to be competitive in first-person shooters, fighting games and other popular online Xbox Live games, we may finally be able to achieve some victories through 1 vs 100. The game doesn't have the nifty controllers of Sony's Buzz series, but if lag isn't a problem, the prospect of playing against hundreds of other gamers at once and schooling them at trivia should be a lot of fun.