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When do you think the Retro era will end?
xefned:
The retro trend will die out completely when the gen-x'ers have all died.
Thankfully that's still a long way away. :droid
Jack Burton:
I think a lot of the "magic" of a MAME machine has worn off in the gaming community. In fact, it's very trendy right now to hate on emulation in general.
Real hardware is the hip thing. Funny how that coincided with prices for cabs and pcb's hitting rock bottom.
Gray_Area:
--- Quote from: Jack Burton on December 23, 2012, 09:24:41 am ---I think a lot of the "magic" of a MAME machine has worn off in the gaming community. In fact, it's very trendy right now to hate on emulation in general.
Real hardware is the hip thing. Funny how that coincided with prices for cabs and pcb's hitting rock bottom.
--- End quote ---
I don't keep up with any of those things and places. Curious, in general. I'd guess a lot of people are still buying from GGG and Ultimarc, though.
I feel very fun-oriented lately, and hence have been 'into' playing arcade games more than in a while. My brother's in town, and last night was his first visit to my new house (and 'game room'). He's played on my main rig, but my tawdry Plumcade was a real hit with him, Paperboy in particular.
CheffoJeffo:
--- Quote from: BobA on December 22, 2012, 03:04:23 pm ---It depends on your frame of reference as to what is retro. If you go into the future when ipads and ipods are retro then the focus on arcade games as retro may be lost. However the emulation of arcade games may just switch to newer platforms such as newer smart phones. I think the focus switching to real arcade games from emulation may swing back because there will probably be fewer and fewer real arcade games available.
--- End quote ---
Agree entirely ... my kids love the games and I am teaching them to work on "real" hardware, but I have no illusions that my "big box of antiquated electronics" vision of arcade gaming will extend beyond my kids. But, at the same time, they also love to play the same games on a more convenient platform.
Folks like saint have driven a large number of folks into the so-called (I say this because I am old enough to know that everything old is always new again at some point) retro gaming, of which emulation is the gateway to the hard stuff. But, at some point, it will be just too hard to find parts and expertise to justify.
I see the meatspace aspect of gaming (actual cabinets, dedicated controls) as a cyclical fad, but the core aspects of the arcade era keep coming back. This past week I watched my younger son give a clinic to his grandparents in playing the various incarnations of Angry Birds, which is a game that I have yet to play, but strikes me as a "retro" game in terms of the nature, calibre and "funness" of game play.
saint:
--- Quote from: paigeoliver on December 21, 2012, 11:02:15 pm ---This forum probably had 5 times the traffic back when I joined in 2003, maybe ten times as much.
--- End quote ---
Actually here are the stats for the forum for the last 10 years (disregard 2002, the data is not complete) http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=stats
Compared to 2003 when you joined, the forum is:
68% as active by new topics
95% as active by new posts
Compared to the biggest year of 2005, the forum is:
40% as active by new topics
40% as active by new posts
Compared to the average of last 10 years, the forum is:
60% as active by new topics (average 11,558 new topics/year)
65% as active by new posts (average 129,622 new posts/year)
Whether that represents an ongoing decline, or a levelling out of interest (such as the model train hobby for instance) remains to be seen.