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Mame - Good or Bad for the Arcade Biz ?
SirPeale:
--- Quote from: Howard_Casto on February 20, 2005, 03:04:21 am ---Arcades are dying because game consoles are better (graphically... i won't touch that debate) and it's cheaper for game manufacturers to make console games than to make full fledged arcade machines.
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I believe it's a combination of that, and that new arcade machines are simply too expensive to get a return on investment. When you're charging $5,000 for a brand new game, you have to take in a lot of quarters to pay for that. Quarters just won't work, so you have to charge *dollars*. Who wants to pay a buck for a video game that will probably only last thirty seconds to a minute?
Gameplay is another matter. Who wants to die in thirty seconds because you don't know how to play the game? Another buck down the drain, until you learn the quirks of the game.
D_Zoot:
I think the industry would be in the shape it's in without Mame ever existing... The industry started dying long before Mame ever became what it is now.
The end of the arcade boom started in the 80's. I think that most of the originality in the industry came very quickly and toward the mid 80's we stopped seeing new and fresh ideas. Games started becoming the same old thing with different graphics, how many different fighter games can you make before it gets stale?
Then came consoles with graphics that rivaled what you could see in the arcades. Why spend your money at the arcade when mom and dad bought you a console for Christamas, and you could stay at home and play for free?
On top of that, we now tend to stay at home and do things. Home theaters, home game rooms.... etc... It's a trend to make your home into everything you enjoy doing instead of just a place to sleep.
Every once and awhile some new and fresh idea turns up in the arcades, DDR for example. When that happens, we do see a small surge in the arcade biz, but it doesn't last as the "newness" wears off and the "fresh Idea" becomes available for consoles. My daughter is a perfect example of this. When DDR hit the arcades, all she wanted to do was go to the mall to play it, all the time! Now she has the DDR pad for her PS2 and hasn't asked to go to the mall since.
There's more factors involved, perceived entertainment value, economy issues, the stigma of what arcades are like.... But IMHO it's mostly a combination of industry comming up too fast and burning out and competition with home consoles.
Regards,
D
fredster:
Good points. Console games killed the big billion dollar industry in '83. But video games are still out there.
Golden Tee and big Gun games are still very popular because you can't get the same experience at home. 8 liners and betting games are the meat of the industry now.
But the "arcade" business is more than just the mall arcades. It's the secondary collectors market. That's where this is hitting the hardest.
My point about the Classic machines is now they are worth LESS. People who would have invested the time and the money to restore them aren't for the secondary and collectable market. A good pacman machine would fetch about $600-$800 just a couple of years ago is hard pressed to go for $300.
The 4 in 1's have really taken that market. Why buy a game that plays only one for a house when you can buy one that plays 4 or 9 or 39 ? Why buy a game when you can build one without special knowledge of electronics ?
I remember telling a guy at the auction about mame. His jaw dropped to the floor when I pointed one out in the mix. It was a little cocktail cab that even had the fake intel sticker that says "mame inside". He was really upset. A lot of these guys in the arcade business aren't really that computer savy, and they had no clue about the extent these machines have infiltrated the market.
There was a post in this forum or another talking about one found in a dump. If they have reached life cycle and are now being tossed, that shows that Mame is getting pretty common.
It makes parts for old machines cheaper and less likely to be sold.
New games, nah. Mame Can't run them yet. But the professional arcade organizations are really looking at this as a problem to their bottom line. Namco thinks it stifles their resale value.
Paul Olson:
I don't see many Pacman cabs for sale, but Ms Pacman routinely sells for over $600 on eBay, and that is before shipping (which is usually in the $200-300 range). I think most people have seen what they go for on eBay, then they expect to get the same price or less (minus shipping of course) if they go to a video game auction.
--- Quote ---It makes parts for old machines cheaper and less likely to be sold.
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Used part prices are rising fast, mostly because of MAME. A year ago, a Star Wars yoke would sell on eBay for around $80. Now I see them going for over $200.
As far as buying a Pacman for home, I think only a true collector would do that. After 25 years, how often would you actually play it? I don't know if I ever would. I know I played it at least once when I first tried MAME (97 I think), but I don't remember playing it since.
Paul
SirPoonga:
--- Quote from: fredster on February 20, 2005, 12:03:59 am ---Mame has done as much to DESTROY the arcade business as it has to preserve it IMO. I notice that lots of old games have been made into 4 in 1's, 9 in 1's, etc. People can just build one instead of buying it. MsPac machines can be bought and sold for 1/2 of what they could just 3 years ago. Some people now don't think they are worth fixing. Some people have actually gotten out of the business.
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And you think this is because of mame?
The reason there are multiple game boards out there are because the games are old. How else are you going ot sell them or make them interesting again?
Mame hasn't done anything to "destroy" the arcade business. The arcade business has been dying in part because oyu can play games at home. Look at today's arcades such as Jillians or Gameworks. They don't do just games. They have a bar, bowling alley, restuarant. People don't go to arcades to just play games anymore. You can do that at home. People goto arcades to be social. That's why arcades now have games like DDR, connected racing sims, fighters, hyperbowling, etccc. they are more interactive with other players. You will not see much for single player games at arcades anymore because they have turned into a social function. So the classics, which are basically single player, do not work in that type of setup.