From the Field

1 vs. 100 Live: Interactive TV Arrives

July 15th, 2009

“Interactive television” is a fabled phrase that has been pitched for decades as the natural evolution of everyones favorite form of idle entertainment. Yet here we are, nearly ten years past the year 2000, and the same hollow promises continue to haunt cable companies and content providers that haven’t figured out how to deliver the future to their customers. And while there has been no shortage of attempts—take, for instance, Time Warner’s ambitious moves in the mid-90s—the finished product has always proved elusive.

But fear not, my friends, for the future has finally arrived: Microsoft, one of the most unlikely of innovators, has made interactive TV a tangible reality. Now all you need is an XBOX 360, an internet connection, and the desire to drain hours of your life answering trivia with a stadium full of competitors playing for real-world prizes.

Would You Like to Play a Game?

I’m speaking, of course, about the online game show 1 vs. 100, an interactive experience launched by Microsoft this summer on their XBOX Live online service. The game is based on the television show that shares the same name, and the premise is pretty simple: a single person (The One) is selected to square off against a hundred other competitors (The Mob) as they attempt to correctly answer trivia questions and collect a sweet pool of prizes. The One and The Mob are in direct competition, and as The Mob is thinned with every incorrect answer the prize pool is sweetened for The One. If The One answers incorrectly at any point, the remaining members of The Mob divide up the bounty.

The rest of the party is comprised of audience members that play along as The Crowd and answer the same questions to compete for top-player prizes handed out at the end of every round. Answering correctly and quickly as part of The Crowd increases your chance of being selected to play as The One or as part of The Mob in subsequent rounds.

Riveting, yeah? Well now that I’ve described the game mechanics, do you understand how this effectively changes everything?

People, listen: it is now possible to participate in a live game show from the comfort of your couch and win real prizes. You no longer have to ineffectually shout at your TV screen as you watch yet another dim-witted contestant compete on some game show you’re sure you would massacre. No more fruitless nights spent at another Trivia Bowl event where the best you can hope to win is a small trophy and the respect of fellow Trivia Bowl freaks (no disrespect). Scads of bar trivia fans have finally found a profitable forum for their endless reams of random knowledge, and I, for one, am overjoyed.

Because even in its infant stage you can see the possibilities embodied in what Microsoft has managed to pull off. Sure, you’re really only playing for copies of XBOX Live arcade games and proprietary points to spend on other Microsoft services, but the implications are so much greater. They have created a network that can handle the simultaneous input of tens of thousands of people playing at home, calculating quick responses and ranking players as the game progresses. They have a host who cuts in to the action to provide real-time updates on the goings-on of the game while a growing community of fans submit shout-outs, pictures, and video to enhance the whole “Interactive TV” experience. They even run ads at regular intervals, just like on TV.

Where Will the Future of Interactive Television Take Us?

Microsoft has engineered an experience that is unlike any other I’ve encountered in my many years of enthusiastic entertainment ingestion. And while their model is currently limited to a relatively simple game show, imagine a world in which you can control the outcome of an interactive version of America’s Got Talent in real time. Now imagine that you get to decide which girl Chandler Bing goes on an awkward blind date with and you’ve essentially got the idea.

The future is bright for this bit of technology, and you can count on updates from the field as I observe and document its continued evolution.

Previous Post Next Post