Where have all the arcades gone?

I remember a time when there was a video game arcade on just about every corner. It was a favorite past time of mine to go after school and spend countless hours playing the latest machines. If you new how to spend wisely you could easily make $5 last a long time and my parents liked it because it would keep me out of their hair for a while. Something happened over the years, though. Arcades have closed down and shrunk to a bare shell of what they used to be. In my old hometown, all my old favorite arcades are gone except one and it is barely surviving. The arcade industry is truly on its last leg. The blame of the decline of the arcade industry could be put in several places. There is the fact that it got diluted with a few to many cheap fighting games, many of which where a joke and not even worth the twenty-five cents they cost. There is also the rise of large event games that could cost in the upwards of a dollar per play and usually last for less than a minute of play time. These mammoth games would attract people by their gimmicks but more times than not leave them with a sour taste in their mouth when they were finished. Both of these factors couldn't have helped any, but I place most of the blame somewhere else. I place the blame on the rise of the console system into the powerhouse it has become today. There was a time when arcade games vastly outshined their little cousins: the consoles. You couldn't get anywhere near the graphics and experience on a home system that was possible on the higher end arcade machines. That time has changed through. The launch of the Playstation 2 marked the first time in history that not only did a home system have the power to match the top arcade games, at the time of its release, in the world, it also in some ways outshined it. The reasons to go to an arcade have all but vanished as you can usually wait a couple months for the home port to come out and play it all you want in its full glory. Many gamers have chosen the comfort of their own homes to the dirty environments that are most arcades. With the online play that the Dreamcast brought into the world they no longer even had to sacrifice having a bad opponent around to play. The video game arcade industry simply lost its competitive advantage and as of such has suffered greatly. This is all not to say there is not hope for the arcade industry, but the outlook is not pretty. With most arcade developers looking to use home console hardware for their games, the chance of them looking fundamentally better has all but washed away. The revenue is simply no longer there for developers to spend the huge amounts on R&D that they used to. It is going to take something special to bring the masses back to the arcades. Developers have got to keep machine prices down. No more $1 a shot games. They need to be more creative and provide arcades with games that cannot be played properly at home. Silent Scope and its sequels are a good example of this. While there has been home ports, none of them have come close to matching the feel of using the arcade unit's built-in sniper rifle. Finally, arcade developers have got to once again take the technological lead and provide games that truly outshine in all ways what is possible on consoles available at that time. If they do this, the people will come. Let's hope something along these lines happen soon, because I, for one, miss the golden days of the arcade.

The dawn of the PS2

     

Welcome to another edition of Hardcore my, now becoming, weekly series celebrating what it means to be a true hardcore video gamer. If you have any comments or ideas for future editions of this series feel free to e-mail me at Jason@nemesisonline.com. Today’s edition is all about one of the most extreme things hardcore gamers have been know to do, camp out. Yes, we all have done it at one point or another. You know that system you really want is going to be hard to get a hold of after launch and you didn’t manage to get a preorder in on time (or like me simply refuse to buy one of the bundles all the stores are pushing these days). Faced with the reality you may not get your new next generation hardware you decide to find your nearest electronics outlet and on the eve of the system’s launch camp out for one of the first sold. It can be a very unique experience to say the least. The first time I ever camped out for a video game system was for the Playstation 2. Not knowing I was going to have the cash by the time of launch I failed to get a preorder in. Well things changed for me financially as the launch day neared and I decided I had to get one if I could. Like any smart gamer, I called around to see who would have the most systems available that morning, near where I lived that happened to be Best Buy. Finding out the Best Buy was going to have, right around, 130 systems for purchase I made plans to make my stand there. I remember heading over to the Best Buy at around 11:00 the night before thinking surely I would have to be at the top of the line. To my surprise there were over 40 people already there in line. Thankful I would still be able to get my system I secured my spot and started the long wait. There were a lot of stories that night about riots and fights at other stores over places in line and secured PS2’s, luckily my line had no such problems. In fact, it went surprisingly well. People were able to take breaks from the line when needed (i.e. go to the restroom) and no one seemed that stressed out over getting a unit. One of the local restaurants even brought food at one point. Really the only problems that night were created in the morning when some cocky soccer moms thought it was a good idea to drive up minutes before opening and try and walk in for a system. Let’s just say it earned more than a few laughs when the store manager tried to explain the lady there was already more than enough people outside in line already. One of the best things about camping out for a video game system is you get to meet a lot of other video gamers who are as passionate about the hobby as you are. Sure there are your people who are only there to buy a system and sell it that day on eBay for some ridiculous price, but thankfully they are a minority. Most people out there, like you, are fanboys who can’t stand the thought of going one day past launch without the new system. I even met fellow NOMG staff member Greg Kettering that night. It really is a great way to tap into the local gaming community. The fact that people will do something like this goes a long way to show how dedicated we video gamers can be, too. The video game industry has come a long way and over time has earned the admiration and loyalty of people around the world. In closing, we all should be proud of this, few hobbies can claim as such. Don’t forget to keep watching this site for future Hardcore updates.

A few too many games

     

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games are hot right now. No doubt about it, games like Everquest have managed to start a revolution in the PC industry. It seems every game developer in the U.S. is working on a new MMORPG. The market is quickly becoming on its way to becoming over saturated. The question arises, how many MMORPGs can the industry handle? Anyone who has ever played an MMORPG like Evercrack (Everquest's pet name by hardcore fans) knows they are extremely time consuming games. Once you commit to playing one, you can easily find yourself having little time for anything else. The problem here is that there are only so many PC gamers out there who want to play these types of games. Think about it like this. Let's say there are a couple million MMORPG gamers in the U.S. currently. Each one is going to more then likely only have time to play one game of this type at a time. That leads to a market that can only support a few strong players. Everquest is currently the top dog in this area with a large, loyal, fan base to call its own. While old by video game standards, Everquest is still the champion to beat in the MMORPG world. I believe the reason behind this has to due less with it being the best, there are currently a lot more sophisticated and better looking MMORPG's out there, and more so with the fact the players don't really want to move on to anything new. Unlike other online games out there, the MMORPG generally costs an ongoing fee to play and as of such leads to hassle of changing games. Who wants to open credit card accounts with a bunch of new, untested, games when you can just keep playing what you know? People are generally fickle with their money and as of such it makes it hard for new comers to succeed. Don't get me wrong; I am not saying it isn't impossible for more companies to have luck with these games. Games with a lot of hype, and potential, like Star Wars: Galaxies and Word's of WarCraft will surely do well. Others, no one can say. MMORPG's are exciting games that offer game play beyond the norm that can keep you engrossed for many, many hours at a time. They are grand, too grand for they're to be too many competitors at a time. The next year is going to be interesting. Expect a lot of companies to lose a lot of money when their games don't succeed in the market. When the dust settles, only the best of the best will be around for play.