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Author Topic: Pong/Atari/Chuck E. Cheese creator attempts to reinvent the concept of an arcade  (Read 4081 times)

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AlanS17

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Yes, I know this probably belongs in Everything Else or Arcade Misc, but it's just such interesting, relevant news that I wanted to post it here. I read this in Newsweek at the doctor's office today so I found the article online.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8017909/site/newsweek/

The creator of Pong and Atari, Nolan Bushnell, is making a new attempt at reviving the concept of arcades. His belief is that games should be played in a social setting - not at home by yourself in front of a TV (where have we heard that before?). He's opening a string of restaurants similar to what GameWorks and Dave & Busters would be except he's building the games directly into the tables and people can play against each other right from their tables.


pointdablame

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It's certainly an interesting idea, and if anyone can make it work, I think Busnell is the guy who can.... it just seems like there are a LOT of hurdles to jump.

Here's to hoping he puts one in NYC or NJ though :) 
first off your and idiot

Man I love the internet, haha.

AlanS17

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Here in DFW we've already got 2 D&B's and a GameWorks. I would think this would be a great location for one of those places. I'd like to give it a shot.


[derek]

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I wish, just once, someone would put something cool like that in a vicinity to my dwelling. Heck, I would kill if they could get a movie theater right in New Haven (Something like the alamo drafthouse).

I like the idea. Largish cocktail tables, food of some sorts. Unfortunately, I don't think it has much of a viable business chance.  Maybe a onsey, twosey shot (NY, LA, Tokyo). Boy would it be cool if he did get it working.

- derek

AlanS17

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I'd be there for the grand opening if they put one here. My primary concern would be cheapo generic games like the kind you find on those MegaTouch bartop machines (despite the fact that they actually make money). If you put real games in there, though, I'd be all about that.


Havok

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I'm sad to say it, but I think it will never work. This is the Xbox\Playstation generation...

versapak

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Sounds like a cool idea, but think about the wait for a table at a normal restaurant during busy hours...

I imagine that wait would be ten fold at a restaurant where the patrons proceed to enter into a gaming session, at those same tables, after eating.



[EDIT]

Also... Gaming at home, all comfortable like for free, is MUCH more appealing to most people these days, and the socialization brought by an environment, where everyone is gaming together in a room, is very much alive in Xbox Live.

Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate REALLY gives that great feeling of standing around a fighting machine
« Last Edit: August 10, 2005, 01:41:30 pm by versapak »

Xiaou2

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 Damnit : (   Ive had that idea forever.    Too bad I never had the cash or the courage to try to pull it off.    Ohh well, hope he makes it work well.   

 I had chose the name 'Futara'  or something  like that.   Each seating section was
a circular Pod - semi enclosed booth.    Tabletop as described.  Food came from the ceiling and was lowered down to the table when ready.  Surround sound.  Can play games, movies, listen to music..ect.   

 Of course... what may end up making / breaking the thing, may be the food quality.   That was my main concern.   If you do not have the best dishes.. people will just eat out somewhere else.


     

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I don't think the problem lies in the fact that this generation plays on Xbox. It's the fact that nobody is going to pay $1-10 per hour (depending on how good you are) to play tetris.

ScoopKW

AlanS17

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It doesn't matter how long the wait is. If someone is staying longer it's because they're playing. If they're playing then money is being made. Everyone else can sit and wait for their table all night. It's not like a regular restaurant where the amount you spend has relatively little to do with how long you stay.


RandyT

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I'm thinking it will be interesting to see the hardware used in a situation like this.

Nobody will want to play only 1 or 2 different games for hours on end, so the tables will either need an emulation based system for the classics, or at minimum, some snazzy stuff to integrate some new titles.

I find it intriguing that this could be yet another venue that could help legitimize emulation through the licensing of the classic titles.  But I hope they strike deals with some recent gaming software authors to help insure it's success.  Otherwise, I have reservations on the idea.


RandyT

AlanS17

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It's my understanding that it'll be PC-based and remotely managed. So I'm sure the user will have a number of games to choose from, and they'll be easily rotate-able. Indeed, this would be a prime opportunity for emulation. It would be a simple way to create an instant game library. However, I think the concept is centered more around multi-player games.


SirPoonga

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Here in DFW we've already got 2 D&B's and a GameWorks.

"But Bushnell believes...Today's games isolate players...including pretty much all women."
That sentence/thought was hard to quote, many breaks in it :)
He's never been to Gameworks in downtown Minneapolis...
Granted this is a generalization but the last time I was at Gameworks, yes, most of the players on the racing, gun, and fighting games were men.  But most of the players on the Sega Horse thing, ticket redemption, classics, and skill games were women.

"Imagine a Chuck E. Cheese for grown-ups

LiquidFire

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PONG! ALL THEY HAVE IS PONG!

(Okay, wake up.)

Seriously, I hope he still has some friends back in gameland that will license something cool in the tables. Aren't most of the games that are multi player just for two, the crowd he seems to be after are a group-okay what does that leave, Japanese Boxing? Oh yeah, the Simpsons. Maybe they won't have to worry about people staying too long after all.

If the place seems to have a surcharge for the games built into the price, (like eating at an amusement park) it will pass fast. If the games are durable enough to work all the time (My tables not working! Can we move?) and not too distracting no one eats anything, then well, maybe a balance is struck.

The problem I see is that a business that has to be 2 in one, an arcade with all of its issues plus a restaurant with all of ITS issues, will be a huge management problem. Economics just somehow won't allow anything this cool. Hope I am wrong.

Having the surface of a table ready for the next customer seems to be about as high-tech as most restaurants can be, and they fail at that too often.

versapak

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It doesn't matter how long the wait is. If someone is staying longer it's because they're playing. If they're playing then money is being made. Everyone else can sit and wait for their table all night. It's not like a regular restaurant where the amount you spend has relatively little to do with how long you stay.

Ummmm...

Of course it matters.

Sure they are making the money off those currently in there taking up the tables, but them making immediate money is NOT what I was talking about.

It is great to have people there, but unless you are going to chain em to the seats, and make em stay forever, then you gotta have other customers to follow em.

That may be tough to accomplish, if you regularly have a wait of 1.5 or more hours, then people will just leave and go elsewhere, and unless the games are the best out there, and the food is top notch, then people will just say, "Whatever,

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This reminds me of how a local place called "The Frag Shop" just opened up. It's basically a lan gaming center. We'll see if they stay in business. In my opinion, if you're into PC gaming, chances are you have net access. Why pay to go to some place to do the same thing?

NO MORE!!

Crazy Cooter

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It doesn't matter how long the wait is. If someone is staying longer it's because they're playing. If they're playing then money is being made. Everyone else can sit and wait for their table all night. It's not like a regular restaurant where the amount you spend has relatively little to do with how long you stay.

$0.25 per ~5 minutes... = $3.00 an hour.  Not very much.  An owner would be better off serving pizza and "recycling" the table to a new group of people every half hour.

SirPoonga

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Seriously, I hope he still has some friends back in gameland that will license something cool in the tables. Aren't most of the games that are multi player just for two, the crowd he seems to be after are a group-okay what does that leave, Japanese Boxing? Oh yeah, the Simpsons. Maybe they won't have to worry about people staying too long after all.
Didn't you read the article, games like Texas Hold'em.  So it isn't classic arcade games, just games.

It will be alot like Buffalo Wild Wing trvia game.  The restaurant will probably end up coming first and not the arcade games,  but having a large choice of games to play with your gorup while you are there will be the attraction.  I go to BW3s with my friends often and we love oding the trivia game against each other.
« Last Edit: August 10, 2005, 02:44:14 pm by SirPoonga »

Havok

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This reminds me of how a local place called "The Frag Shop" just opened up. It's basically a lan gaming center. We'll see if they stay in business. In my opinion, if you're into PC gaming, chances are you have net access. Why pay to go to some place to do the same thing?



We had something exactly like that, in one of the malls here. Lasted 10 months, then closed up...

I can't see this business model working. People just don't do arcades for socialization anymore. I would say just make it a bar. Alcohol and games mix well: you start to suck at the games, pump more money in, and buy more drinks. There should be a fair amount of people turnover, so the wait won't be too bad. Plus, you can drink while you wait - money coming in no matter what.

Hmmm... I think I'll do it. And just to make it successful, throw in hot waitresses and bartenders!

tetsujin

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I can't see this business model working. People just don't do arcades for socialization anymore.

But part of the idea here is that games normally aren't set up for socialization.  And normally video games are the "main attraction" or else not present at all.  (Home consoles, for instance, are mostly single-player, or at best network multiplayer, and generally not something a new player could sit down and learn quickly.  They're great games for gamers, but not so great for people who want to have a shared activity with non-gamer friends.)

Take the six-player cocktail table described in the article, for instance.  Now let's say it's loaded with some relatively simple game, maybe a bit less complicated than Bomberman, something with an easy learning curve and good multiplayer dynamics.  Now let's also say you're a gamer, and you've managed to get five non-gamer friends to come to the place with you for drinks and food.  While you're eating, the game's in attract mode.  Maybe (this would be fun..) it's even a really clever attract mode, and the table knows where the drinks and plates are, and the sprites interact with them.  After you're done eating, you challenge your friends to a quick game or two.  Fun is had.  So goes the theory anyway.

I don't know if it'll be a big success - but I think the important thing to remember when viewing this thing in the context of the "home console age" is that this aims for a different experience - not one that's impossible on a home console, but generally rather difficult at least.  You've gathered people around a game system in a way that doesn't require them to feel they've gathered around a game system.  You've made the required extra commitment require for the people to play the game low.  In effect, you've created a scenario in which people who might not otherwise have played a game will feel comfortable playing a game.  (It's one thing to drag a non-gamer to an arcade and hand them some tokens...  but they may be rather self-conscious about standing in front of a machine to play, or even to get a good enough idea of how the game works to decide if they want to play.  The casual introduction of the game into the social setting is the goal, I think, rather than the idea of creating a social setting made to revolve around a game.)
---GEC

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I don't think the problem lies in the fact that this generation plays on Xbox. It's the fact that nobody is going to pay $1-10 per hour (depending on how good you are) to play tetris.

ScoopKW

At most of the bars I go to, the megatouch machines get a LOT of play, and I mean A LOT.

It's a great thing to do when you're out at a bar, and they have many multiplayer games that a lot of people play, although it's usually taking turns, not simultaneous (which is more fun for players a lot of the time).

And the games on the megatouch a lot of times are even LESS COMPLICATED than tetris.

I.E:
PhotoHunt - Touch where the picture is different.
Tri-Towers - Touch cards higher or lower than yours
Card/Castle Bandits - Touch cards higher or lower than yours.

And people pump dollar after dollar into these.  If the games he has are even half as engaging as these games, people will chomp at the bit to pay $3 an hour to play as much as they want, or as littlie as they want, cause you can easly blow through $3 in 15 mins on a megatouch.

--NipsMG

tristan

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You have no idea how popular those places are in Dallas.

This reminds me of how a local place called "The Frag Shop" just opened up. It's basically a lan gaming center. We'll see if they stay in business. In my opinion, if you're into PC gaming, chances are you have net access. Why pay to go to some place to do the same thing?



Hoopz

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This reminds me of how a local place called "The Frag Shop" just opened up. It's basically a lan gaming center. We'll see if they stay in business. In my opinion, if you're into PC gaming, chances are you have net access. Why pay to go to some place to do the same thing?



We had something exactly like that, in one of the malls here. Lasted 10 months, then closed up...

I can't see this business model working. People just don't do arcades for socialization anymore. I would say just make it a bar. Alcohol and games mix well:

In Indianapolis, we have several places that are basically LAN bars.

RandyT

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The roadblock here is that people may go to these things once or twice and it will be fun.  But the average person wont make a point to go there consistently unless the experience is as good as what it was when they were younger.  I don't see that happening.  The emotional attachment wont be there.

This is a good point.  I'm not sure if it was an emotional attachment (as it is now through our sense of nostalgia,) rather the awe and wonder that one felt when walking into the arcades.

There was a time when each week brought at least one new game that did something better than the last; color, polyphonic music, speech, higher resolution, new controls, photo-realism, 3D, etc....  But what is there now?  It's all been done and done at home no less.

The demise of the arcade as we knew it was almost solely due to the advanced gaming consoles of today and the innovative controls that have been mass produced to support them.  It had little to do with the social situation...those other jerks were just there to talk smack and make you wait a half-hour to play  ;D

RandyT

SirPoonga

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The roadblock here is that people may go to these things once or twice and it will be fun.  But the average person wont make a point to go there consistently unless the experience is as good as what it was when they were younger.  I don't see that happening.  The emotional attachment wont be there.

That's why something like this works in large cities where there is a large population to keep it going.  Again, look at Gameworks, Jillians, and Dave & Busters.  These chains are located in large cities.  Like I said, Gameworks in downtown Minneapolis is always packed.  It does help that it is part of Block E, which is across the street from the Target Center (where the MN Timberwolves play).  Block E contains a Hard Rock, Cinema, many stores and other entertainment.  In otherwords, it at the heart of the downtown entertainment district.
MN location for Jillians is on 4th floor Mall of America.  Again, in a high populated/entertainment area.
Both Gameworks and Jillians have food (Gameworks has a small restaurant), bar, bowling, modern games, small classics area, skill games, air hockey, racing, ddr, and ticket redemption.  Definately designed to be a social place.  Both places kick out people under 21 after 10pm and new customers are carded.

Note the article says the first location is in Los Angeles.  And since these are in high populated area they don't need the same people to go there everynight, they just need a good portion of the population to go there once and awhile.
« Last Edit: August 10, 2005, 05:50:37 pm by SirPoonga »

Havok

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Note the article says the first location is in Los Angeles.  And since these are in high populated area they don't need the same people to go there everynight, they just need a good portion of the population to go there once and awhile.

That's it, too - you will only see these being successful in large cities. Not like the arcades of old, where everyone had them. Sigh...

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I'll get to go once.  Once my wife figures out that all I do is play games instead of spend 100% of my attention to her, that'll be the end of the fun dinner.  Unless they have Arkanoid, that might distract her well enough.
Next I'll be on fries, and that's when the big money starts rolling in.

AlanS17

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Maybe you 2 can find a game together. They maybe she'll have fun. Just make sure you let her win every once in a while.


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Chuck E gives me and the Mrs. some time to hold hands and
chat while our son plays games. 

I do remember some former dates where my date would rub up
against me to get my attention away from Battlezone.......
After I noticed she left to go home I decided it was important
to give her more attention.

After the arcades went out of business I met my wife.
I hope the social aspect of the NEW arcades won't cause problems
for my son when he starts dating.

What honey, time to get off the computer?.... be there in a second.