AntStream on Xbox Series X/S - your experience

[Giles N]

So, I bought a life-time pass for Antstream as it launched its’ presence on the Xbox X/S.

 

I had browsed the line-up of titles and found there were enough interesting titles there to give it a try.

 
Many Xbox-titles are by now, in part or fully dependent on streaming to really work: think Flight Sim 2020 and such games.

 

The WiFi line in question is strong.

 

Yet, I felt there were several times when I felt lag and drag in streaming to make some of these old-type games where you die at one hit, to be somewhat frustrating at times.

 
I found that sound-levels seemed to be imported and emulated at greatly varying levels.

 
I found there to be no dip-switches, no rewind-options and little room for button-set-up.

 

I found the catalogue to be massive, and certainly more than a little interesting.

 

I hope they keep it growing.

 

Compared to other games I’ve on emulation-compilations to be a little sluggishly emulated and/or streamed. Let me take a personal favourite as example.

Space Gun - I played it quite a lot as Arcade in the 90ies.

Have played it on PS2 and XBox(1) compilations. They run smooth and fine.

 
On Antstream, elements of the game seems to get out of sync (only minimally), and the screen-ratio seems to not be right either.

 

(This screen-ratio thing goes for other games as well).

 

So - it’s worth my money, since retro-gaming is one of my main hobbies/past-time-things to do.

 

Yet, I really had expected close to perfect streaming for games made in the 80ies, 90ies and 00’s.

 

Moreover, I had expected more personal screen-settings, and perhaps some control-settings (normal vs inverse on flight-games etc).

 

Must of course add: I haven’t tried every title on every platform yet.

 

I also liked the tournaments and various achievement-modes.

 

- - -

 

My so-far verdict is: 7,5/10 

 

Pros:

-massive game content, both as to titles and platforms

-most of the time, stream-gaming-experience is very good

-emulation is overall of good to very good quality

-you get a feeling you do game-sports ‘super-light’

-it includes titles that aren’t available on other compilations, or haven’t been for a while

 

 Cons:

- streaming lag (makes these old-style games where dexterity, fast reactions and perfect update-ratio core, often feel frustrating rather than fun)

- sometimes I think I can spot sub-optimal emulation

- little options for personalized set-up for screen-contrasts, button lay-out, normal/reverse up/down on flight-games and other things)

- no inbuilt ‘trainer-mode’ - infinite life, energy etc. (Hey, I payed lifelong pass!)

 

- - -

 

But, now, what do you think?

 
What is your experience?

 

What do you like?

 
What do you think could be better?

 

(Anyone using Antstream is free to comment any way they like)

 

 

 

[digdugnate]

8 hours ago, Giles N said:

But, now, what do you think?

 
What is your experience?

 

What do you like?

 
What do you think could be better?

 

(Anyone using Antstream is free to comment any way they like)

 

 

 

 

I picked up the Antstream client for our Series X last Friday and did the one-year sub.  I figured that a lot of the times I will get bored with something in six months anyway, so one year was the 'right size'.

 

Aside from that Friday the service running a little slow, I've played probably one hundred different games in varying capacities; some old favorites, some that are real garbage games (in my opinion, lol).  The client itself was crashing last weekend when you would go to your 'Messages', but restarting it would smooth that out; I think they have patched this one out because yesterday it didn't crash my client every time I accessed the messages.

 

It's really cool to be able to play older Williams/Taito/SNK games and stuff like the Minter games on C64.  I really enjoy trying to do the different challenges on my favorite games and the challenges on games I might not have played, necessarily.  The way the games are presented is kind of a 'fire hose' and overwhelming, but in general I really like the selection and being able to just dork around with stuff for a few minutes at a time.

 

With these factors, I feel like that Antstream is about '85% there' for the XBox, but there's some stuff I wish was different.

 

1) The sound is super inconsistent between games.  Some you can barely hear, then some are REALLY FREAKING LOUD (Continental Circus, I'm looking at you)

 

2) I'm not wild about the interface itself.  It's a little confusing at first and hard to navigate.  I also wish the 'quit' and 'play' buttons were swapped for when you're doing challenges; I can't count the number of times I exited a game when I really wanted to play it.

 

3) I'd like the option to have more control over who challenges me/etc and a better way to manage the folks I want to follow.

 

4) I'd like to be able to view the messages and DELETE THEM afterwards.

 

Overall, I'm really happy with my purchase and enjoy playing on the XBox.

[Flyindrew]

As an Antstream subscriber for 2 years, I think it really really sucks that you cant access your existing account on the X Box app and you have to purchase a new subscription to use it. Its beyond stupid that you cant access a subscription, that you paid for, across platforms.

[MrMaddog]

Just curious, anyone tried to use the web browser for Antstream?  I know using a web browser on a console is silly but it is useful when the are a lack of decent apps.

 

I wish that the Edge browser on the Xbox lets you create "web apps" you can pin on the Home Screen...

 

 

[Flojomojo]

On 8/5/2023 at 3:50 PM, MrMaddog said:

Just curious, anyone tried to use the web browser for Antstream?  I know using a web browser on a console is silly but it is useful when the are a lack of decent apps.

 

I wish that the Edge browser on the Xbox lets you create "web apps" you can pin on the Home Screen...

There used to be an Xbox One app for Antstream, which was just a web browser window. It stopped working many months ago, and when Antstream said it was coming back to Xbox, I think most people assumed an existing Antstream PC/Web/Mobile account (like the 1 year I got for $12) would work on the console as well. Paying again was a little icky but since it's a "lifetime" subscription I paid it anyway because I like the concept. 

 

I agree with what everyone else has said: the selection is interesting (Williams games on next get at last), the sound mix is uneven, and the options are hidden/nonexistent in an effort to keep things simple. 

 

"Channel surfing" is mostly gone from my life but this is like the next best thing, but for games, and I like it because I'm a short-attention-span dabbler. The Jeff Minter games in one spot are a real highlight Llamatron 2112 is my favorite of that set. My favorite Antstream game overall is Continental Circus, a Taito racing game I either forgot or never saw before. 

 

I've bought a lot of the "Arcade Archives" games for $8 apiece so having (access to) a bazillion of them for the price of 10 seems fair enough, so long as the service remains active. 

 

 

 

[TwinChargers]

Its a shame that they lost the Namco games pretty much immediately after launch.  I'd say that was one of the largest draws were the Namco titles.  I'm more than happy to play all the Taito and Midway games, but advertising all the new ways to play Pac-Man (with challenges) and having it taken away was a bummer.  I've read that Antstream is trying to take care of the issue, but its one of those things where you would have thought it would have been addressed before launching.

[digdugnate]

11 hours ago, TwinChargers said:

Its a shame that they lost the Namco games pretty much immediately after launch.  I'd say that was one of the largest draws were the Namco titles.  I'm more than happy to play all the Taito and Midway games, but advertising all the new ways to play Pac-Man (with challenges) and having it taken away was a bummer.  I've read that Antstream is trying to take care of the issue, but its one of those things where you would have thought it would have been addressed before launching.

 

i was wondering about this when the Namco avatars were there, but not the Namco games.

[Flojomojo]

The web/mobile version still has the Namco games. The Xbox version does not. I choose to blame lawyers for this situation. 

 

I just took this screenshot from my computer, August 22, 2023.

That's my username if you want to challenge me and almost certainly win. Same name on Xbox. 

[Flojomojo]

Oh wow, they have Bosconian on there! I forgot about that game, and it's hard to sort through a list of (checks photo) ONE THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED FIFTY-NINE games. 

Edited August 22, 2023 by Flojomojo
BOSCONIAN, not Bostonian. Auto-correct needs to back off.

[digdugnate]

31 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

The web/mobile version still has the Namco games. The Xbox version does not. I choose to blame lawyers for this situation. 

 

I just took this screenshot from my computer, August 22, 2023.

That's my username if you want to challenge me and almost certainly win. Same name on Xbox. 

 

 

from what i read elsewhere (all of a sudden I forget), they said something to the effect of 'unexpected licensing issues, hopefully soon' for Namco/XBox.

[Flojomojo]

I think there was something similar with a Namco collection on Evercade. One of the cartridges is locked out of the TV console and only works on the handheld. Namco IP lawyers are going harder than they should, in my opinion.  

 

https://funstock.co.uk/products/namco-museum-collection-1-evercade-cartridge

Quote

*This cartridge is compatible with the Evercade EXP console and the Evercade Handheld console only. 

 

[digdugnate]

it's like the whole kerfluffle between Namco and AtGames(?) about Ms. Pac-Man.  The only place I 'own' it is on XBox.

[Flojomojo]

11 minutes ago, digdugnate said:

it's like the whole kerfluffle between Namco and AtGames(?) about Ms. Pac-Man.  The only place I 'own' it is on XBox.

I think that dispute has roots with the Midway dispute with Namco way back in the old times. 

 

I have this one, which his "not available separately"

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/mspac-man/c23f79wj1nqw

 

and I think I have this one, too? 

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/arcade-game-series-ms-pac-man/BX7ZSF0MJTSJ

 

They're quite different, one is a port and one is faithful emulation. Just like how the Namco Museum version is different from the Arcade Archives app. 

[digdugnate]

2 hours ago, Flojomojo said:

I think that dispute has roots with the Midway dispute with Namco way back in the old times. 

 

I have this one, which his "not available separately"

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/mspac-man/c23f79wj1nqw

 

and I think I have this one, too? 

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/arcade-game-series-ms-pac-man/BX7ZSF0MJTSJ

 

They're quite different, one is a port and one is faithful emulation. Just like how the Namco Museum version is different from the Arcade Archives app. 

 

the second link is the one i have.

[TwinChargers]

It appears that Antstream lost the license to the Warner Bros. games, so there goes all the Midway titles like Defender, Joust, Rampage, Mortal Kombat, Smash TV, just to name a few.  Pretty big hit.  Here we are a few months later and nothing other than a 'soon to be announced' update on the Namco titles as well.  Hoping that they don't lose out on any other of the bigger named publishers.

[Flojomojo]

9 hours ago, TwinChargers said:

It appears that Antstream lost the license to the Warner Bros. games, so there goes all the Midway titles like Defender, Joust, Rampage, Mortal Kombat, Smash TV, just to name a few.  Pretty big hit.  Here we are a few months later and nothing other than a 'soon to be announced' update on the Namco titles as well.  Hoping that they don't lose out on any other of the bigger named publishers.

That sucks. I hope Warner has something better planned. 

 

[Flojomojo]

From Antstream discord:

Quote

 

**Warner Brothers Announcement**

<@&600755365839110159> 

Hi Antstreamers, Benny here from Antstream Arcade and I have an important announcement to share with you all:

Since we launched, we’ve added over 1400 games and one of the hardest decisions we have to make is where to position our licensing budgets.

After three great years with Warner Brothers and the Midway collection, we decided it was time to bring some fresh content to our players. This tough decision enables us to increase our catalogue by 100s more titles bringing the maximum possible value to our players.

We have some great upcoming titles including Truxton, Snow Bros, Jim Power in Mutant Planet, the all time classic, Pong, Rival Turf, Bang!, Burglar X and Super Turrican Score Attack Version. More excitingly, an exclusive unreleased original SNES game, Mr Tuff and the incredible, highly rated indie game for megadrive, Demons of Asteborg and many, many more.

What’s more, we’ve worked really hard to secure our Namco collection for Xbox and we look forward to announcing their release very soon - watch this space!

Antstream releases new titles on the platform every week, a process that involves complex licensing and negotiations with original game developers and IP owners. This ensures owners of the games are paid in a fair manner and the games are playable just as the original creator intended them to. It’s our mission to one day have every game that has ever existed playable on the platform on any device, anywhere in the world.

Some of our favourite games from Warner included classics such as Mortal Kombat, Smash TV and Rampage. Some of which racked up an incredible 30k hours each of game play. Mortal Kombat alone was played across 153 countries with the highest score being set on 12th February 2022 by Antstream user “comboace" in the United States with a staggering 10719000 points. One of the most popular Antstream exclusive Mortal Kombat challenges is “Test your Might” with almost 2000 players achieving a coveted gold medal securing their spot as ultimate in retro gaming.

Anstream is heavily investing in the platform itself, it’s well worth checking out our latest Antstream Connect update https://antstre.am/octconnect which features highlighted upcoming titles and a deeper look into Project Vision, Antstream’s long awaited major platform update.  Project Vision will also allow us to better display games that will be coming and going from the platform in future.

In celebration of our time with Warner Brothers, we have created a set of Last Chance tournaments and game highlights to enjoy over the weekend. Once WB titles leave Antstream, all users game data will be safely archived, such as game saves, scores, achievements and challenge history for reference at a later date.

Mike Rouse, our Head of Studio has put together a quick video update here https://antstre.am/wb

For any further questions please contact us through https://antstre.am/support or in the <#1172583003982135376> channel.

We appreciate everyone’s support and helping our mission in game preservation and accessibility, see you in the next giant slayer!

Love, Antstream <:Antstream:1037424280440414250>

 

Sounds like a cost cutting measure. Sad because that’s the only legal ways to play these games on modern hardware. 
 

This is ten years old but runs on modern xboxen. https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/midway-arcade-origins/bs97kvxlt9lk
 

And once again, “piracy” shows itself to be better than following the rules. https://www.retroarch.com

[TwinChargers]

Hey Atari!  Maybe this would be a good time to see if Warner Games is for sale?  Keep acquiring those retro IPs and put them to use!

 

In all seriousness, I would hope that the money that was being used to get the Warner license could be put to other AAA titles (Capcom games?), and not so much buying up a bunch of lesser known titles, indie releases, and unreleased games.  Quality over quantity.