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| SavannahLion:
--- Quote from: Arcades R Fun on August 14, 2007, 12:17:57 pm ---I found the video to be interesting but bland. It was unsettling to listen to "Twenty somethings" provide the narration. They did not and could not provide the 1st person persepctive that would have made the video discussion more interesting. They were not even born when I was playing 280 ZZZAP and Lunar Lander in the late 70's! It's one thing to recite history and it's another to actually live it! --- End quote --- That's kind of a fustrating thing about it. Every time I introduce a new generation to gaming, there's always this difficulty they have when they try to wrap their heads around it. I had one kid (12 at the time) tell me that there was nothing older than the NES. So I break out the 2600 and he's convinced it's a ---smurfy--- Chinese knock off of the NES. He's got a better grip on old gaming now, but he's fallen victim to the, "gotta have the newest," syndrome that plagues a lot of people. Oh well... at least the latest introduction is a six year old and I've got her hooked on Pacman. Too bad she's convinced that Pacman is a "movie" by Disney and that there was no way I could've have ever played it since it wasn't around when I was a kid. :banghead: ::) |
| Green Giant:
--- Quote from: rooterman on August 14, 2007, 12:41:13 pm ---I agree with you Arcades R Fun, it sounded strange with narrators who didn't actually live through that time. They talked about the games, but unless you lived it, you won't be able to fully understand or appreciate what gaming was like back then, and when it was such a new thing technologically and culturally. I don't think those feelings exist so much today. r --- End quote --- What is with all these cold blooded cheap shot attacks at the 20 something crowd. Yeah, we didn't see the birth of video games in the 70's, but we were around for the decline in the late 80's and early 90's. So just remember you have absolutely no argument about any game post 1988 and the kids in the video have more insight than you could ever hope to have about the decline of video games. Even though it was old, I always enjoyed a game of pacman when we went to black eyed pea. |
| dfmaverick:
After watching the clip, here are my thoughts about the piece in general: -It is titled incorrectly. The reasons for the downfall of the arcade are lightly touched upon in favor of how the revolution of the console is brought about and thus the evolution of video games as a whole rather than actually focusing upon the "Death of the Arcade." There is a valid point made about the need for the arcade to die for the gaming industry to evolve into what it is today; however, that seems to be the focus rather than the reasons for the fall of the arcade. I believe a G4 episode of "Icons" did a much better job on the death of the arcades. -As someone else mentioned, in the production, it seemed as though they were all given a script and allowed to tell the story in their own words. (IMO They were all told the history of the arcade and each retold it and then someone took bits and pieces from each retelling and edited it together.) It's a valid point that the piece would have rung more true if kids of the 80s had done the piece, but I figure that this is a piece done for the younger gen and thus they want the 20-somethings to promote this piece to capture the intended audience. That could also be why the focus is more on the evolution to consoles rather than why the arcade died. Overall, I find the piece more fluff than substance. It may be due to the fact that I was expecting something different when I read the title than what they had intended. |
| PsychoAU:
--- Quote from: Green Giant on August 14, 2007, 01:35:45 pm ---What is with all these cold blooded cheap shot attacks at the 20 something crowd. Yeah, we didn't see the birth of video games in the 70's, but we were around for the decline in the late 80's and early 90's. So just remember you have absolutely no argument about any game post 1988 and the kids in the video have more insight than you could ever hope to have about the decline of video games. Even though it was old, I always enjoyed a game of pacman when we went to black eyed pea. --- End quote --- I completely agree with you, Green Giant. People on this board always come at things with the idea that anything past 1985 is not worthy of being discussed. Why is it that only the old games are considered part of arcade talk? I am 25 and was very much a part of the arcade craze of the early to mid 90s. Why is this time period any less important than the time of Pong and Asteroids? I hate to agree with Sir Auros, but he is right one on thing. Most of the problems is that the older generation is fixated on Pac Man and Frogger and totally discount anything that has come after by roping it all together as "modern" games in a way like they should be looked down on. Get over yourselves. There is more to gaming than Donkey Kong. This mentality always comes back up when news comes out that the MAME team has cracked a new board (i.e. CPS3). They always complain that it is not important to play all the modern games and that you should get a console if you want to do that. Instead they think that the MAME Devs should spend all their time getting just the right beeps and boops of Space Invaders. I know that living in the past is part of this hobby, but there's a point where it is just lunacy. |
| jcoleman:
--- Quote ---I am 25 and was very much a part of the arcade craze of the early to mid 90s. --- End quote --- There was no arcade craze in the early or mid 90s. There was a "fighting game" craze. The arcade craze was when GROCERY STORES had arcade games. Drug stores. Gas stations. Convenience stores. Waffle House (the one near my house had Super Pac-Man!). THAT was a craze. You were around for the last hurrah of arcades full of video games...don't get me wrong, I was there playing SF2, possibly right next to you. Back to the "modern games have too many buttons" argument...that is a 100% valid reason for disliking a game (or class of games). I like complex control schemes in some cases - but I personally find that a simple scheme like Robotron is all I need sometimes. There are not many things more fulfilling (to me) in video gaming than a 65k score on Centipede...the type of play in which you become one with the machine....the type that is all-too-rare in mass-market games nowadays. Occasionally you'll find it - fighting and driving games are where it's at - but it's rare. There is a reason you will find that arcade games past '85 are not really worthy of discussion - the only things really worth playing at the time (IMO) were fighters. Manufacturers began to realize they could get twice the price form each player. Then they realized they could make the game very short but get your money again immediately...and make you keep pumping it right in. The money reigned supreme (not that it didn't always, they're called coin-ops for good reason) but it seems like it got much more pronounced in that time period. There aren't a lot of classic games past 1990 - the ones that are considered classics are fighting games...the SF series in particular. I can't even name a game from the 90's that's not a fighter or side-scrolling beat 'em up. That may be my personal preference, but I'm pretty sure it echoes a lot of feelings on the forums in general. Another quick point - there is more to retrogaming than the games. "Retro" is half the word and nostalgia is easily half the reason I have this hobby. I used to get 2 free tokens at a local arcade for each A on my report card. When I drop a token into my MAME cab and fire up Mr. Do, or Tempest, or Donkey Kong Jr., or Dig Dug, the feeling of being 12 years old at the arcade on a Saturday afternoon (celebrating making the honor roll!) comes rushing back. It makes me remember the roller skating rink, the three neighborhood arcades (wow were we lucky!), old friends, first loves, and yes, even the grocery store. Grand Theft Auto 3 can't hold a candle to that. Coleman |
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