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Poll: Video games in home theater

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Purple Lemon:
Hello,

I am a graduate student taking a class on developing products.  I would like to get people’s opinions on a product to play classic video games in their home theater.

The product would be a mechanical stand that would rotate a flat screen by 90 degrees.  Please see the animated gif for how this would work.

My assumptions are the following:
  •  People want to play classic arcade games in their home theater, as it would be a friendly environment for having friends and family over to play.
  •  Players will play a game for a while, and then switch to playing a different game.
  •  Once people are sitting down in a couch, they don’t want to get up to go to a different room to play a different game.
  •  Wives and/or significant others may not want a video game cabinet in the middle of “their” living room, but would accept a device that is easily put away.
  •  Playing classic games in their native resolution is desirable.

Could you please help out my project and vote your preference? 

Thanks,
Purple Lemon

leapinlew:
Couple issues here.

1. Authenticity - If we are shooting for authenticity here... playing in a living room environment 6+ feet away from the game screen isn't anywhere near as authentic. I don't know why people who would be concerned about authenticity enough to flip a screen would want to play in a media room environment to begin with.

2. Complexity - I already have enough issues with my wife trying to watch a DVD on the television. Adding a computer, changing to the proper video input, flipping the screen, and sound channel is something I have no desires to mess with.

3. Usage - my game cabinet is a game cabinet. I don't have to wait for Desperate Housewifes to end before I can play a quick game of Defender. When I want to play a game - it's right there... ready and available.

4. Looks - I like the looks of the game cabinets. I don't wish to hide it. I'm also concerned how I could install a computer, and control panel in a room and use it without having wires strewn about.

5. Market - the market for this would be small. Jakks has come up with a line of products that a large majority of people don't mind using. The whole orientation issue is lost on them. Hobbyist like us are concerned with authenticity. Some more so than others. I'd even wager that a large portion of the folks here don't mind playing vertical games on their horizontal screens.

If you are in a class to develop products, and you've zero'd in on arcade building. Perhaps you should talk to RandyT or Minwah. These are people who saw a market and developed a product. From what I can tell, developing a product for arcade gamers would be very tricky and there is very little money to be made. It's a "don't quit your day job" kinda hobby.

Purple Lemon:

--- Quote from: leapinlew on November 10, 2006, 12:59:34 am ---1. Authenticity

--- End quote ---
If you want authenticity, then this proposed product isn't the way to go.  The main point would be to make it look bigger for portrait games.


--- Quote from: leapinlew on November 10, 2006, 12:59:34 am ---2. Complexity

--- End quote ---
Yes, this would obviously have to be completely automated so the computer would pick the best resolution for you.  After all, playing games is supposed to be fun, not frustrating.


--- Quote from: leapinlew on November 10, 2006, 12:59:34 am ---3. Usage - my game cabinet is a game cabinet

--- End quote ---
True.  Switching from Desperate Housewives to Defender would have to be fairly quick.


--- Quote from: leapinlew on November 10, 2006, 12:59:34 am ---4. Looks - I like the looks of the game cabinets

--- End quote ---
Yeah, so do I...  Unfortunately I married an interior designer.   :P


--- Quote from: leapinlew on November 10, 2006, 12:59:34 am ---5. Market - the market for this would be small.

--- End quote ---
No delusions here...  I imagine it would be very small, but that doesn't bother me.  I'm more interested in building it because I want one.  Figuring out who else would want one is mainly for my graduate class.

AtomSmasher:

--- Quote from: leapinlew on November 10, 2006, 12:59:34 am --- Jakks has come up with a line of products that a large majority of people don't mind using. The whole orientation issue is lost on them. Hobbyist like us are concerned with authenticity. Some more so than others. I'd even wager that a large portion of the folks here don't mind playing vertical games on their horizontal screens.

--- End quote ---
Just thought I'd add that Jakks slightly modified some of the games to better fit horizontal screens.  Attached is a screenshot of Jakks version of Ms. Pac-Man which you can compare to the pacman image posted earlier.  This is part of the reason I'm not that big of a fan of Jakks games, they're copies, not ports, so a number of the little things are left out (like the enemies not firing during entry on level 10 of Galaga).

Anyways, I now have a seperate game room (no wife, so I can do what I want with my house  ;D) so I would have no need for this item.  I checked the build it myself box though, since that is probably what I would do (and is probably what most people here would do since this is a "build your own" forum)

Fozzy The Bear:

--- Quote from: leapinlew on November 10, 2006, 12:59:34 am ---Couple issues here.

--- End quote ---

Well Put Leapinlew.... Saves me typing it out  :cheers:

Like his poll said: I have no idea who would want one of these! It's really the worst Idea for a product that we've seen on this forum for a long time.

Why is it that every few weeks we get some low post count student who thinks they can come in and use everybody here to do thier market research for a non existant product for them, because they can't be bothered to do it properly.

Purple Lemon.... we don't want it as a product, there is no market for it, and it will never exsist as a product anyway.

Just as a quick note: If you really want one of these, you can already buy a widescreen rotating computer monitor.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

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