In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back?

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headlesshobbs
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In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back?

Post by headlesshobbs »

Lately I've been seeing this trend in VR starting to take off a bit and a number of places around the country have opened to help expand on it (SMAAASH at Mall of America being one example), so it looks like the gaming industry is really starting to focus on bringing the industry back. Of course now I have an issue that developed over time now that we've grown so accustomed to having most of our releases at home.

Back over a decade ago, arcades were on a major decline with a number of Japanese developers no longer interested in releasing titles outside of asian territories and most of the hangouts we went to closed down. Having 1 or 2 developers who were into shoddy PC ports (or games that were PC based) wasn't a way to run a business and japan kept the majority of titles to themselves until eventually a shift started to take hold and many of these games that would have had an arcade only release would end up being ported to the west on console. This also included the fighting genre which became absolutely competitive as a result and is now almost exclusively consumer focused as a result. I just about have to say that up till 5 years ago, this was certainly the best time to be a console/pc gamer.

So while that has been done, the arcade side has seen it's fair share of changes. The games that we were used to seeing in arcades now going console exclusive are no longer there, instead we've been getting all manner of games that are either themed, licensed, or just something to serve as a 5 min thrill ride, only for you to pop in another $1 to continue. This has a changed ideal as arcades are less about the skilled gamer, but about this so called "Arcade Experience" that entices us on a pay to play routine to keep the operators happy. In this notion, I actually found myself content on the fact that the games I really wanted were something I could purchase and play whenever, however and by whichever discretion I wanted and not on the operator's for the sake of what will only be a minor enjoyment for their profit. We get the real games, they give us the thrill rides. All that is settled.

...or is it?

So while I understand that japan has had this multi game system for their arcade fighting games and such, but never really bothered with using it outside their territory, another system called Exa-Arcadia which is more or less their outside equivalent for convincing developers and indies to license to is taking place and they have already started development or released some titles that aim back at the gaming side we've all been used to. Now this is where the trouble begins...

1. We've all been accustomed to playing games at home for literally a generation now (Seriously, kids 18 years old have never even seen, let alone experienced being at an arcade)
2. Games that we would be expected to purchase and play are now going back to being under control of the arcade industry and many titles have EXCLUSIVE CONTENT we won't ever play anywhere else.

Also throw in this other issue that when you want to play specific titles, do you really think it's fair that you have to go looking for a location someplace in the middle of bum-@#$% nowhere and when you do find that one place, how is it they got something you want or when you do find it, how long, how much time do you get to enjoy this and what happens when you come back only to find the game you had fun with is gone? Those are the problems I have with arcades trying to edge back for the hardcore audience as we've literally had a lifetime in this shift to get comfortable with this new normal in our hobby interests. I'm not certain I agree with the idea of having everything taken back by the industry just because they finally decided it's now worth their money interest and those titles we really want are clearly being locked to a payola scheme that took years for us to break away from. Console gaming became dominant not because of technology, but because it was the way social interests swayed. What do you think is supposed to happen when developers decide they want to release titles the other way again?

I know this rant has been a bit long, but it's something worth thinking about. Much as I have always loved the arcade scene, sometimes you can't help thinking it should either remain something different for the attract audience while striking a balance and keeping out of the console gamer's territory, or perhaps maybe they should have left what we were used to buried in the past so it never becomes a conflict of interest. I personally don't want to be forced through this needle in a haystack routine ever again when it comes to playing my favorites, but I fear with the lack of locations in contrast to where we all were in 1980, this is going to bite some of us particularly hard when we start missing out on the good ones.
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Turrican
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Re: In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back

Post by Turrican »

headlesshobbs wrote:Console gaming became dominant not because of technology, but because it was the way social interests swayed. What do you think is supposed to happen when developers decide they want to release titles the other way again?
The "arcade" as a place, generated a culture, which is something console at home can't just shrug off... It could diminish with time, yes, and yet there are folks out there: Nintendo selling their NES roms (several of them are arcade ports, see these days "Gradius SP"), Digital Eclipse bundling stuff into compilations, and everyone still likes to put "Arcade Style" on their boxes as a selling point.

It's a legacy that can be hampered with, but can't be easily dismissed. Sure, the trend has been to consolize much of the experience to the point of no-return. Japanese shooting has been digested and intended in the rest of the world in stuff like Xenon II, Dux, Sine Mora, Soldner-X... A visual mimicry of something. And nowadays every indie developer thinks of their debut with a "metroidvania": no one attempts at doing a "Shinobi" anymore.

On the surface it looks grim, but every time the old titles are repackaged and sold again, they are absorbed and understood anew from a new generation of players, and maybe with time that classic "arcade" quality can sporadically be attained once again. The social humus however, the arcade as a "place", seems lost forever though...
Last edited by Turrican on Wed Nov 21, 2018 9:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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headlesshobbs
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Re: In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back

Post by headlesshobbs »

Turrican wrote:The social humus however, the arcade as a "place", seems lost forever though...
This I would fully agree on.

They have been replaced by tourist attractions with screaming kids and the lights/sounds of ticket machines.
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Re: In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back

Post by neorichieb1971 »

Arcade games could flourish again. The reason they do not is because is A) no investment B) no vision for it.

Arcades in the future don't need to look like arcades of old. They just need a few games to get the ball rolling which will attract audiences. Its obvious that the games will have to do things that is hard to do at home.

If a new wave of updated Sega franchises hit the malls, cinemas and bowling alleys around the country i'd go to them for sure. I'd rather see a Sony arcade center/coffee shop/bar thing happen though. Since they killed the industry in one swoop with the PS1/2. They also have the money to invest and bring the audiences back to a social platform.
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Re: In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back

Post by gameoverDude »

headlesshobbs wrote:This I would fully agree on.

They have been replaced by tourist attractions with screaming kids and the lights/sounds of ticket machines.
Most of the arcade games you do find are now $1+ deluxe cabinet games, instead of 50 cents per play uprights. At least several arcade franchises have jumped ship to console like Soul Calibur, Ridge Racer, etc. Tekken 7 is console/PC exclusive in the USA. Its arcade release was for Japan only, though a few places have imported it. Street Fighter V coming to arcades was something I never thought Capcom would try at this point.

The Round 1 chain sure seems a lot better than D&B or GameWorks. If one ever opens near me I'll check it out. The latter two have a bit too much of the redemption stuff. Operators love that stuff because the game is over in a minute or less & you're swiping the card again. Most of the time I'm at one of those two, it's spent playing Time Crisis 5 or Razing Storm.

Raw Thrills gun games seem to rely on cheap difficulty, unlike Namco's RS & TC series which you can 1CC or even 1LC with skill. RT's Jurassic Park Arcade has a difficulty setting based on the operator's desired average time per credit.
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Re: In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back

Post by Pixel_Outlaw »

For me, I think it's healthy for people to get out and have some fun.
Keep in mind that the 80's and 90's arcades grew out of pinball parlours.
Public gaming has evolved multiple times already.
I just hope we continue to see public gaming beyond all this speedrunning garbage.

Maybe these teens obsessed with a faux '80s experience will revive arcades.

The important thing is that they can get their asses kicked locally rather than name-calling from another country via headset. 8)
We need artisanal locally sourced ass kickings.
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Re: In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back

Post by Illyrian »

There is a bowling alley near us with arcade machines.

They are all massive cabinet ones (Jurassic Park, Halo etc) with mounted guns and those machines you stick coins in that now and then drop an item out of the bottom. It kind of feels to me that that is the only way any arcade is running these days outside of the large ones in Tokyo etc. or really niche ones like Super Arcade in the US which is pure fighting games.

Given how many gaming services there are offering free games, or games with arcade style gameplay for under £5 I just don't know if there would ever be much of a market for paying money for a single play anymore.
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Re: In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back

Post by cj iwakura »

Nearly every 'arcade' left thrives on redemption games, the niche is too small for hardcore games. The only old school arcades I know are run by people who have got the cash to support it without needing to turn a profit(or use other businesses).

Not counting Japan, of course... may that trend never die.
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Re: In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back

Post by evil_ash_xero »

Seriously? They're dead. I can't see them coming back.

I'd be happy if they did. But people don't even want to leave their houses to buy shit now. Why would they go to an arcade, when they can play everything at home? And if they want to interact with other people, you got multiplayer and a mic.
I'd be shocked.
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Re: In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back

Post by cj iwakura »

evil_ash_xero wrote:Seriously? They're dead. I can't see them coming back.

I'd be happy if they did. But people don't even want to leave their houses to buy shit now. Why would they go to an arcade, when they can play everything at home? And if they want to interact with other people, you got multiplayer and a mic.
I'd be shocked.
Social experience and arcade only style experiences like Maximum Tune and giant Darius cabs.
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headlesshobbs
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Re: In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back

Post by headlesshobbs »

Make those games Kraut Buster and Skycurser and you'll see how we have a problem.

You want to play those at home, yet they're arcade only. You go to look for an arcade and the nearest one (at least a good one) is 80 miles out, plus you don't know if they even have it since finding games is all this needle in the haystack bs. I'm already sick of this being a thing, but in the 10's it's 100x worse and operators really expect their exclusives to remain @#$%ing exclusive where far as I'm concerned, they can stick to their licensed thrill rides.
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Re: In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back

Post by DEL »

Places where people meet up in person, have been removed from the high streets. This includes pubs in the UK. Not just the arcades. Then there's a bundle more obstacles that have already been mentioned here. Not least the financial problem. In order for skill-based arcade machines to exist on the high street, they'd need to be tagged-onto places with slot machines and other money-makers.
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Re: In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back

Post by garrz32 »

Some things are better off dead but remembered fondly.Kids don't want to play arcade games, unless it fornite or COD they're not interested. The world has moved on.
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Re: In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back

Post by Ed Oscuro »

I think the attitude about exclusives sums it up...it's business, while all the collectors want to keep the CRTs and PCBs to ourselves :lol:

Meanwhile, the concept of an arcade is - like the pub or the campfire - pretty much an evergreen one, IMO. Going places and doing things with other people is healthy, and we have too much evidence that the growing online epidemic is making people unhappier and more isolated (including myself in that). I don't think you get to have the full human experience if you just retreat to your own little home-cubicle at the end of the day, and never have any public spaces.

Yes, for economic reasons "arcades are dead." Of course, I don't think anybody really ought to pay hundreds of dollars to have access to a game. Beyond that, I see no other reason arcades should be dead.

It is a matter of voting with your feet / wallet, same as getting off Facebook which turned out to be a big scam.
garrz32 wrote:Kids don't want to play arcade games, unless it fornite or COD they're not interested.
Parents have responsibility to raise their kids right, and politicians can speak up about things too. Not to mention, kids themselves gotta figure things out. Nothing against CoD or Fortnite from me, but we shouldn't just believe the world is horrible and move on (or retreat to nostalgia, in this case.)
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Re: In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back

Post by garrz32 »

Ed Oscuro wrote: Parents have responsibility to raise their kids right, and politicians can speak up about things too. Not to mention, kids themselves gotta figure things out. Nothing against CoD or Fortnite from me, but we shouldn't just believe the world is horrible and move on (or retreat to nostalgia, in this case.)
As a parent I agree to a point, unfortunately the world is a horrible place (sometimes) I like the fact my kids can play online with their friends safe inside their home.
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Re: In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back

Post by Ed Oscuro »

Have you seen the climate inside online games? They're breeding grounds for racism and Naziism. Not to be alarmist, but hearing one variety of garbage or another was almost a daily occurrence in a game like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. I know plenty of decent people, but even in a year I could put together an alarming catalogue of crap I'd experienced, none of it good for sanity.

So a big thing that's changed is that, if you aren't in the game with them, you don't really know what they're seeing and hearing, or whether somebody got heated enough that the SWAT team is going to pull up to your house. I'd rather drink a beer with the bums any old day, personally.

In the real world kids are much less likely to act like stooges (because human reflexes tend to kick in when you see other real people, instead of a goofy looking vidyagame avatar) or run into real-life Nazi recruiters, and if they show up home with some bumps you can figure out what happened from there :lol:

Just my two cents, anyhow. Online stuff is withering the soul of humanity.
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Re: In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back

Post by headlesshobbs »

Online gaming was bad even before Halo was a thing.

I didn't think my experience with people in general at the arcades was all that great either. Half the time someone jumps on the other stick without so much as a word, then run off like I wasn't even on their radar, plus sometimes the fighting games run the risk of dealing with a sore loser and I'm glad things didn't escalate when that happened. Personally i don't see it all that different. You play online, twerps feels the incentive to insult because there's nothing to run the risk of physical repercussions, but it's better to play in a group community that everyone is familiar with and it works because your irl friends are too busy having a life to join in. That's just the truth.

Btw, I hate looking for specific games in locations. It's literally a needle in the haystack and you don't get to keep playing them as much as you'd really like to. Try FF Dissidia once in the arcade and NEVER see it again, or play it at home with a larger audience forever?
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Re: In 2018, how do we really feel about arcades coming back

Post by BrainΦΠΦTemple »

i'd go to an arcade because it is motivation to get out of the damn house
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