| Main > Main Forum |
| David Foley - Ultracade - Pinball controller |
| << < (5/7) > >> |
| Rook3:
Sorry to go OT again, but weren't the people who got the C&D notices those who were making/selling Mame cabs running games that UC bought the rights to use legally from the original arcade manufacturers? I thought that was the argument. Back On topic... I agree with you about making home controls though. I don't know how large the home sales Mame market really is these days. Like I said in one of the Act Labs threads, I'm very suprised nobody has made a PnP USB compatible pcb that uses Happ Controls arcade light guns, and is MAME compatible. The UC pinball controller looks promising, it will be interesting to see how they really work the elusive "nudge" feature. Russ |
| jimjim:
Mamemarquees a small printing business got a C&D order because they printed marquees with the Mame logo. |
| RayB:
--- Quote from: Rook3 on September 05, 2005, 01:45:21 am ---Yes, playstation and xbox contribute to the decline of the industry, but a large part of it is people who keep saying "Arcades are dead." Nothing p!$$es me off more when people say that. Our arcade has seen profits EVERY MONTH this year since Jan 1st. Know what hurt us the most in the last couple years? Walmart coming to town. That's what. --- End quote --- It may pee you off, but the facts speak for themselves: http://www.solvalou.com/arcade_death.php |
| Rook3:
No, it's doesn't bother me. Well, it does, but not in the way you think. :) I know that manufacturers have slowed down on new game production. It's not 1984 any more, when you could buy a new Ms. Pac cabinet, stick it on any street corner and have it paid off in a week. Those days are long gone. What bothers me are the people who are for whatever reason so dead set against arcades, that they pull the "Arcades are dead" flag whenever they decide to extoll the virtues of game console XYZ. It's like saying "Movie theatres are dead" because DVDs were invented, or because peer to peer downloading exists. Has arcade income decreased? yes. Do people still go to arcades? Yes. Not everyone has a dedicated cabinet in their home to play Gran Tourismo or whatever, but in the arcade you have steering wheels, pedals, etc. There are some games the home consoles can't quite match in terms of the gaming "experience." I own all the Namco classics disks for the original PSX. Would I rather play those, with a game pad, or play Pac Man in a cabinet with a real joystick? Joystick all the way. Tempest with a game pad or with a rotory knob? Knob. Street Fighter with a joystick and 6 buttons, or a gamepad? Stick and buttons. But that's just me. I grew up with arcade games, and my first console was the Intellevision. I skirted the whole NES craze that slammed the hammer down on the arcade industry in 1985. I didn't buy my first NES untill 1994 I think. Each week I see kids come into the arcade that started coming in when they were perhaps 8 years old. Now they're 16-18 years old and while their gaming habits might have changed slightly (from 100% redemption games to a 60/40 arcade/redemption split) they still come in because at least in our area, we have something the console systems don't. Will arcades ever completely die out? It's possible. Strongly possible. With recent world events and rising gas prices, it wouldn't shock me if in 5-10 years we shut our doors. It's sad that in 20 years we who grew up with arcades will be in our 50s-60s and our kids/grandkids won't know what an arcade is, aside from the odd classic game in our basement or the occasional Mame cabinet. Shoot, I just realized I was on a soapbox. Sorry about that. :-[ I am interested in seeing what Ultracade can do as far as their pinball cabinet. We'll just have to wait and see, won't we? :) Russ |
| RandyT:
--- Quote from: Rook3 on September 05, 2005, 03:37:31 pm ---It's like saying "Movie theatres are dead" because DVDs were invented.... --- End quote --- Errr...if everyone had the setup I have in my living room and movies were released on DVD the same time as in the theaters, yes, the theatres would be dead as well. This is essentially what has happened to the arcades. Better than arcade quality games at home, usually on a bigger screen, better sound, and more comfortable playing conditions (sofa, etc...) --- Quote ---Has arcade income decreased? yes. Do people still go to arcades? Yes. Not everyone has a dedicated cabinet in their home to play Gran Tourismo or whatever, but in the arcade you have steering wheels, pedals, etc. There are some games the home consoles can't quite match in terms of the gaming "experience." --- End quote --- And these are exactly the types of games you see currently in the arcade. Unfortunately all that fancy fiberglass and control mechanisms cost over $10,000 a clip, forcing owners to charge a buck per play, forcing players to think twice about playing it more than a few times.... And no, just having a spinner on a machine to play Tempest properly isn't going to offer the same thrills. The "rule of thumb" according to everything I have seen is: Unless you can offer the gamer an experience they cannot achieve at home, or have a "killer app" that is not yet available on the home platforms, you are destined for only mediocre results if not failure altogether. Maybe your situation is different where you live, but I assure you that the closing of the small arcades across the country and the continued struggles for profit facing the ones that remain is a very real situation. And the people who point it out to you with well thought out reasons are not the ones to blame for it. The market has spoken. RandyT |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Next page |
| Previous page |