Azure develops Linux-Operated Arcade System

[nipsmg]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/08/12/news_6104725.html

Does anyone else not get this..

If all you're doing is putting a specialized PC in a big box w/ a special graphics card, you're not doing anything to bring people to the arcade.

I really wish people would come out with something amazing to make the arcade experience what it used to be.  The whole reason to GO to the arcade was because the games used to be great, and they were so amazing because you couldn't get games that looked or played that well at home.

These PC based arcade machines do absolutely nothing to create more interest in the Arcades.  If you develop a driving game, or a fighting game for the arcade, but I've got 100 games at home on my PC that look just as good OR BETTER, why would I bother playing YOUR game, and paying $1.00 per play or more? (Since most new arcade games charge that much).  

Then again, by making it open to other developers, someone might write something worthwhile for it.

Who knows...


I dunno just my opinion.  

--NipsMG

[lokki]

Part of the issue is that it used to be that Arcade Manufacturer where the only ones who had top of the line graphics, Consoles and PC now how much better graphics. Also why spend millions developing new HW (that will be pirated in a matter of days) when there is off the shelf HW that will do what you need?

[vputz]

If you develop a driving game, or a fighting game for the arcade, but I've got 100 games at home on my PC that look just as good OR BETTER, why would I bother playing YOUR game, and paying $1.00 per play or more? (Since most new arcade games charge that much).]If you develop a driving game, or a fighting game for the arcade, but I've got 100 games at home on my PC that look just as good OR BETTER, why would I bother playing YOUR game, and paying $1.00 per play or more? (Since most new arcade games charge that much).  

Answered your own question there.  Suppose arcade A owns 30 cabs that are static hardware, can't be upgraded, etc.  They look GREAT now.  Two years later--they're crap.  The ROMs are fixed, the vid hardware is fixed, and the arcade owner is stuck.  Replacing these boxes will cost a TON.

Now the next arcade over, arcade B, has 30 Linux-based cabs differing only in the CP.  Some are fighters, some are racers, some are shooters, some are flight sims.  They are all running Linux, all have PCI-X graphics cards, and (woot!) all are connected via ethernet.

The owner of Arcade B is in heaven.  Already, he can track time spent on each machine, which games are popular, etc.  He can patch games if they are fixed after release.  If a certain game developer adds content, he can publish new content to those machines ("hey, guys, they upgraded the Time Crisis 3 box with an additional set of missions!").  

Two years pass.  The games look old.  But instead of replacing all the cabinets, owner B does a scrub.  He upgrades the graphics cards only (or doubles them with SLI).  He has his statistics on which games are popular, dumps the unpopular ones, and multiplexes the popular ones onto a few "multi-game" cabs, say 10 of his 30.  He now has all the popular games still available, and 20 cabs that can get new games.  In with the new!  A few CP overlay swaps, some marquee swaps, and he's on his way.

But wait, there's more.  Because all the boxes are Linux-based and networkable, player information can be stored in a central database using smart-cards a la Dave&Busters or some such.  Players could save and restore progress (like Gauntlet Legends, for example) but get to their data from any box in the place.  And that's only the start.  There's a helicopter sim with full sit-down controls, a HMMV driving sim with a wheel and pedals, and a bunch of shooter games, and they're all networkable, so guys with guns on the shooter game are being flown around by the heli-sim guy as he tries to protect the HMMV driver on a cross-country race to deliver a bomb team before a payload detonates...

And naturally, since all machines are networked and localizable, each one comes with a call button so you can have a waitress deliver drinks as you play.

Yes, all these things are available to the home player with a PC.  But it's the controls and the environment that make the arcade experience, not just the games.  An arcade with always-fresh games, superior control setups, networked gameplay, and a record of your playing likes and dislikes doesn't sound so bad at all.

-->VPutz

[Grasshopper]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/08/12/news_6104725.html

Does anyone else not get this..

If all you're doing is putting a specialized PC in a big box w/ a special graphics card, you're not doing anything to bring people to the arcade.

I really wish people would come out with something amazing to make the arcade experience what it used to be.  The whole reason to GO to the arcade was because the games used to be great, and they were so amazing because you couldn't get games that looked or played that well at home.

These PC based arcade machines do absolutely nothing to create more interest in the Arcades.  If you develop a driving game, or a fighting game for the arcade, but I've got 100 games at home on my PC that look just as good OR BETTER, why would I bother playing YOUR game, and paying $1.00 per play or more? (Since most new arcade games charge that much).  

Then again, by making it open to other developers, someone might write something worthwhile for it.

Who knows...


I dunno just my opinion.  

--NipsMG

Hmm, I only partially agree with what you're saying.

Even in the mid-eighties the best home computer games were comparable to their arcade counterparts. OK, maybe the arcade games had a slight edge but not much.

I think you're ignoring the social aspect of going to an arcade. It's a bit like saying, why bother going to the pub for a beer when you can buy beer more cheaply at a supermarket and then drink it at home?

However, I think the arcade manufacturers are thinking along the same lines as you. If you look at newer cabinets they invariably use controls that can't easily be replicated at home e.g. dancing machines, shooting games with giant screens, sit-down racing games with hydraulic seats etc. There is even one game where you have to wave a plastic sword in the air!

The trouble with these cabinets is that they are expensive to purchase and maintain. This means that arcade operators are forced to charge a per-game price that is higher than the market will bear. And this means that even fewer people go to the arcades and prices have to go up even further to maintain the operator's profit margins. It's a vicious circle and there's no easy answer.

Personally, I'd happily visit an arcade packed with cheap Linux based Jamma cabinets if that meant I could afford to play the games!

[rchadd]

it all comes down to the quality of the games software.

video cards can be easilly replaced when newer more powerful ones are available.

[NIVO]

some folks are missing the whole deal here. Graphics dont make the game. Gameplay makes the game. If it were true about just wanting updated graphics, then go figure how the "acclaimed classics" such as Pac Man for instance, has survived the test of time?

[Minwah]

some folks are missing the whole deal here. Graphics dont make the game. Gameplay makes the game. If it were true about just wanting updated graphics, then go figure how the "acclaimed classics" such as Pac Man for instance, has survived the test of time?

True.  But I feel somewhat that many people (esp. kids) don't really care nowadays.  You hear 'look at those graphics' not 'wow that plays great even tho it doesn't look very good'.

I hate to say it but I think arcades as we know it are doomed, unfortunately  .  Unless someone comes up with something *really* special.

[nipsmg]

I was *trying* to look at the whole thing from a kid's perspective (since kids tended to be the largest group arcade games are marketed to.).  Most kids can't AFFORD to go to the arcade anymore.

When I was a kid, if my mom gave me $10 in the arcade, I'd play for HOURS.  EVERYTHING was $0.25.  Now you're lucky to find a game for $.50, most are a dollar or more, easily.  

I guess I was looking at it more from the perspective that it has to be really really special to get attention, because I wouldn't pump $1.00 into a cabinet unless it was something I absolutely couldn't have at home.

Again, for $10 I used to be able to play like 40 games.  Nowadays, 40 games costs $40, and I could buy 2 games for my Xbox for that much and play them indefinitely.

Sadly, arcades ARE doomed. (look at Jillians in boston.. no more games at all, they put in all pool tables  )