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What ruined the "arcade generation"?
ericball:
IMHO there are multiple things which killed the arcades:
1. Consoles & PCs caught up. For a long while arcade games had custom hardware which could do things no PC or console available at the same time could do. Nowdays some arcade games are based on console & PC hardware. There are still those dedicated games with specialized controls (e.g. DDR when it first came out) or other unique properties (motion driving/riding games). Consoles & PCs also don't have to force players to add more quarters and allow pause & save.
2. Photo realistic 3-D. Pre 3-D and photo-realistic 2-D game programmers had to invent new worlds because they couldn't mimic the real world. The more something looks like the real world, the more you are limitted to what is possible in the real world. So flights of fancy like Pac Man, Defender and other classics happen because Mortal Kombat isn't possible.
3. Follow the genre leader. Fighting games, driving games, puzzle games, and less gameplay with each generation. Less risks being taken because the cost is higher (partially due to 3-D and dedicated cabinets) and the popularity is lower.
Chris:
--- Quote from: ericball on February 28, 2005, 04:02:17 pm ---2. Photo realistic 3-D.
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fredster:
I'd say consoles too. I know once I got my Atari 2600 I quit going.
50 cent games too. I didn't have enough money to go for more than 2 games then.
Plus, the law was cracking down on us at the Arcade. Idiots spoiled the fun for the rest of us. Games were getting smashed and people were unruly. Got to be expensive for the ops, that's still a problem today.
tetsujin:
--- Quote from: RayB on February 28, 2005, 03:32:43 pm ---Imagine this sight:
When I was 11 my family went to "Old Orchard Beach" in Maine. It's a small beach side town. Very similar to Weirs Beach or Hampton Beach in New Hampshire.
Anyways, it had several HUGE arcades (with everything from 60's electro mechanical games, to the latest vids).
Well imagine the sight of something like 10 Pac Man machines side by side in one arcade, and all of them being played. Now THOSE were the days! ;D
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That place is practically in my backyard. In retrospect I wish I'd gone there a lot more when I was younger. It would've been fun. I think the Dream Machine there still has a reasonably good selection of machines.
I think Street Fighter II was an interesting time... Around the same time the home consoles were able to deliver a playing experience close to what was in the arcades - and I think that resulted in people playing at home to learn the moves and strategies, and then playing in the arcades to get the better controls and the competition and the real experience of the game. The console side of things may have actually helped people get past the learning curve.
Virtua Fighter looked like ass, but in retrospect that's one I should've given a chance. Great gameplay.
Sephroth57:
for those complaining about the new games costing too much... well you must need some practice cause i can last just as long in an arcade on 10$ now as when i was handed 10$ as a kid in the arcade.
DDR 1$ = 3 or 4 songs, each song is like 2 minutes, you have song select time in between, thats about 8 minutes for a dollar, thats really not bad at all. And this goes for all the music games, beatmania, popn music, guitar freaks, etc.
Big shooting games 1$ = as long as you can stay alive.. i can easily make it halfway through time crisis 3 on 1 credit
Racing games - well unless youre badass at these they are pretty crappy, 1$ for a 2-3 min race and unless you get 1st place youre done after that.
Initial D - although a racing game it gets its own category, "dueling" is the big thing in arcades and when you win a 1on1 race you get to play again. ive had people challenging me for 30 minutes straight i never put in a dollar since i started.
Fighting games - still are all 50c, and if youre any good at all you should be able to beat the computer easily and that takes about 15 min to finish the game sometimes. plus you got people challenging you, etc
like poonga said its about social games now, but its definately not much more expensive granted youre good at what youre playing.. i grew up going to the arcades and i never stopped, so when new games came out i played them got good at them, etc. i think a problem for some of you guys you stopped going after the classics, and now want to go back to the same exact arcade filled with classics, yeah its cool to have a few in the back but really you need new games to keep it going