Can High Score get close to Competitive Gamings popularity?

[TarkanX]

High Score gaming was pretty big in the early 80s, so much that there were TV game shows about it, and news reports about people getting record scores in popular games, such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Frogger, (insert popular classic arcade game here). But around the mid-80s, when arcades started to fade around the United States, and the NES became the king of gaming, the aspect of high scoring seemed to fade. While the NES did have scoring in their games, most of the time, scoring wasn't the main objective like it was in the classic arcade games, in fact, most of the time, scoring was ignored, as the main objective of the game was to beat it; there were many exploits where you could leech for points without any regard, and still get a high score, even though the method didn't look good, the score was still legit.

Fast forward to 1991, Street Fighter 2 comes out and changes how games are played competitively. While there were versus games before Street Fighter 2 (Karate Champ, and the first Street Fighter, for example), both were limited and not nearly as popular, compared to SF2. The aspect of competitive gaming changed from getting your score at the top of the score board, to enforcing your skill against a live opponent. in the next few years, games like Quake, Starcraft, and Counter-Strike put their stake on competitive gaming, where people travel the world, sponsored by various companies, competing against other players, vying for the same goal, for large sums of prize money.

Recently, though, high scoring seems to have made a come back. With documentaries like the King of Kong, showing that high scoring isn't dead. But even with the resurgence of a then popular game such as Donkey Kong, high scoring still seems to be a pond, compared to the oceans, such as Street Fighter, Starcraft, Halo, and Counter-Strike. While I don't think that high scoring will ever be as popular as competitive gaming, I think it will gradually grow, and Xbox Live has proved that there are still people that are up for high score gaming, even if it is short lived (Geometry Wars, for example).

By the way, does anyone know how popular high scoring is in Japan compared to the fighting games there? I'm sure high scoring is much popular there than here (in the West), but what about compared to competitive gaming in Japan?

[Jeneki]

Every convention I've been to in the last five years has had a Guitar Hero and/or Rock Band tournament. And they have no problems filling to maximum capacity.

A few mix things up by adding in a judged "performance score", where you have to roleplay and act like a rock star to place well, but for the most part in-game score is how you advance.

[burgerkingdiamond]

No. Modern gaming has nothing to do with high scores anymore.

Not that I wouldn't like to see it, but that's just the way it is.

[TodayIsForgotten]

Throw in money or prizes and I'd say possibly. As burger said, modern gaming highscores are about as niche as shoot em ups, in general. Unless you care about high gamerscore.

[BulletMagnet]

High score competition, if nothing else, isn't as eminently marketable or watchable as "direct" competition, at least for most people...though those who know how the games work in-depth will always get the most out of observing the experience in either case, I doubt that a record-setting DoDonPachi run would have the same visceral appeal to more casual observers as a high-level Street Fighter match. Score-attacking is almost without exception a more drawn-out and "scripted" affair (even if you're not dealing with marathon sessions of old "endless" arcade games), and while there will always be people who can appreciate it they'll certainly be outnumbered by those who know what "the parry" is/was.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Yes: Gamers enjoy their gamerscore, achievements and whatnot, shame these systems are halfbaked and open to abuse, but it does show that even modern gamers enjoy playing for score and not just VS.
Maybe it will never overtake VS but has a chance to come close if done right

[TarkanX]

Every convention I've been to in the last five years has had a Guitar Hero and/or Rock Band tournament. And they have no problems filling to maximum capacity.

A few mix things up by adding in a judged "performance score", where you have to roleplay and act like a rock star to place well, but for the most part in-game score is how you advance.

Ahh... I forgot about Guitar Hero/Rock Band. I think the game has tailed of dramatically in the past couple of years (as far as competition goes), but at its height, many people were playing the game.

High score competition, if nothing else, isn't as eminently marketable or watchable as "direct" competition, at least for most people...though those who know how the games work in-depth will always get the most out of observing the experience in either case, I doubt that a record-setting DoDonPachi run would have the same visceral appeal to more casual observers as a high-level Street Fighter match. Score-attacking is almost without exception a more drawn-out and "scripted" affair (even if you're not dealing with marathon sessions of old "endless" arcade games), and while there will always be people who can appreciate it they'll certainly be outnumbered by those who know what "the parry" is/was.

That's true. One problem with high score (specifically for side-scrollers) are that there are points that are leech-prone, which makes for a very boring high score run. Unless it is a game you are familiar with, you probably won't watch a high score run, even if it is a world record attempt.

Speed Running seems to be different from that. Even if you've never played the game before, you can still watch and enjoy a speed run. Both concepts (speedrunning and high scoring) test the players skill, but speedrunning seems to capture the audience more; maybe it's because of the fact that you are trying to be the game as fast as possible, whereas with high score, you might not be familiar with the score you have to beat, or how much you have to get before you counter stop the game.

[Udderdude]

Have both players start the game at exactly the same time, whoever ends with the highest score wins. Instant competition. >_>

I can imagine this working really well with Yagawa games ;P

[Jeneki]

Throw in money or prizes and I'd say possibly.

Yes, you'll get some hits this way. I hosted a Raiden IV Doubles score competition at Detour '11 (for the LOLzWTF factor) with some Target gift card prizes. A few dozen people tried it out.