In a lot of ways I think they have since playing on XBOX Live Arcade doesn't feel the same as going to your local Dave & Busters for an experience that feels completely different where you're socially interacting with others rather than being secluded to your own household while being stuck having to play online multiplayer and it's a shame too cause it was one of the great aspects of gaming that most of today's youth never got to experience in their lifetimes especially with collecting video game magazines which used to be pretty big before the Internet swept the conscious of the mainstream media by storm.
What killed the Arcade Industry in North America wasn't Next-Gen Consoles but rather Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games, so in a sense you could say that the Trading Card Game / Collectible Card Game Genre that Richard Garfield created with MTG was just as responsible for the death of Arcades as with Video Game Consoles but is that really a fair argument to make? Sure they both have competitive sides to them for tournament play except one is really loud and the other isn't while both cost money in order to keep up however with Arcades the downside was that you had to keep paying the pied piper on a constant basis until you were just flat out broke. It might not have been the best business model at the time but If you had fun that's really all that matters.
The thing about gaming as an entertainment medium is that you're only able to occupy one aspect of it while not being able to spend as much free time on another. The question then becomes how much free time am I investing in these various game genres? Am I spending more on Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games than I am with Consoles / Handhelds or do I simply not have enough money to occupy myself playing at my local Arcade? Is there a way to balance out playing in those various game genres or is it simply impossible? Fortunately for me I took the easy road 25 years ago when I spent most of my childhood with Consoles, Handhelds, and Arcades only to elevate into Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games by the time I graduated from high school in 2003.
Most gamers nowadays play their favorite Arcade titles on ROM's and emulators which to me doesn't feel the same unless you have someone around to play with let alone a functional controller to hook up to your PC, smartphone, or tablet instead of increasing your risk of getting arthritis or carpal tunnel syndrome on your keyboard. Have ROM's and emulators been successful at capturing the Arcade experience unlike Next-Gen Consoles? Well it depends on how you look at it. For starters it doesn't eat any money out of your wallet yet at the same time it fails in regards to social interaction with other gamers akin to Next-Gen Consoles which is slowly getting phased out for mobile gaming.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
In a lot of ways I think they have since playing on XBOX Live Arcade doesn't feel the same as going to your local Dave & Busters for an experience
I mean, having a console does not feel like I have to constantly put quarters in, and I actually get to resume my progress. So, yeah, that's totally different from an arcade.
that feels completely different where you're socially interacting with others rather than being secluded to your own household while being stuck having to play online multiplayer
I am interacting with others when playing online multiplayer. That's what multiplayer is.
And there's nothing that different to me about the experience. If I'm playing a single player game alone in my room, and I'm playing a single player game alone in an arcade, it's the same thing. Yes, I am adjacent to other people, but that doesn't mean I'm playing with them, and actually I prefer the room for that reason: lack of distractions.
What killed the Arcade Industry in North America wasn't Next-Gen Consoles but rather Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games,
I don't believe that's true at all.
Have ROM's and emulators been successful at capturing the Arcade experience unlike Next-Gen Consoles?
I don't think anything could capture "the arcade experience" except being in an actual arcade. Even if you owned an arcade version of game, it's not going to be the same thing as playing it in an arcade.
The relevant issue is whether "the arcade experience" is what people actually want.
What killed the Arcade Industry in North America wasn't Next-Gen Consoles but rather Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games, so in a sense you could say that the Trading Card Game / Collectible Card Game Genre that Richard Garfield created with MTG was just as responsible for the death of Arcades as with Video Game Consoles but is that really a fair argument to make? Sure they both have competitive sides to them for tournament play except one is really loud and the other isn't while both cost money in order to keep up however with Arcades the downside was that you had to keep paying the pied piper on a constant basis until you were just flat out broke. It might not have been the best business model at the time but If you had fun that's really all that matters.
I wouldn't say this killed arcades. It was the cost that turned people off.
25-50 cents per game was good on everyone's wallets. I'm not going to be paying $1 just to play an HD remake of Hydro Thunder or Jurassic Park. It's just not worth it.
I mean, having a console does not feel like I have to constantly put quarters in, and I actually get to resume my progress. So, yeah, that's totally different from an arcade.
I get what you're saying although I always enjoyed the challenge of getting as far as I could on an Arcade game based on how much money I had on me which still left me with a sense of reward that feels different from playing at home on a video game console. While some gamers see a lack of challenge with save states and check points compared to what gaming was like in the mid to late 80's and early 90's, others see it differently which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
I am interacting with others when playing online multiplayer. That's what multiplayer is.
And there's nothing that different to me about the experience. If I'm playing a single player game alone in my room, and I'm playing a single player game alone in an arcade, it's the same thing. Yes, I am adjacent to other people, but that doesn't mean I'm playing with them, and actually I prefer the room for that reason: lack of distractions.
While you're interacting with others when playing online multiplayer, you're not socially interacting with them out in public where you'd be able to take in moments of the time you've spent playing compared to playing online multiplayer where it feels more like you're playing against an AI rather than a real person. One of the biggest reasons why I enjoy Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games is because of the moments of public social interaction with my friends.
The relevant issue is whether "the arcade experience" is what people actually want.
Arcades were the cornerstone of the Video Game Industry that helped bring people together in public instead of being stuck in their homes playing online like we do now. I don't see why that chapter of the Video Game Industry should be closed forever as nothing more than a thing of the past, sure it had it's flaws but there's some value to be gained off of it.
I wouldn't say this killed arcades. It was the cost that turned people off.
25-50 cents per game was good on everyone's wallets. I'm not going to be paying $1 just to play an HD remake of Hydro Thunder or Jurassic Park. It's just not worth it.
There was always that consequence with Arcade Machines that the more technology advanced the more expensive the hardware which inflated the price of a single play. Having to pay $1 for an Arcade game is unheard of compared to how cheap it was when you only had to pay 25 to 50 cents, it's a shame really.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
While you're interacting with others when playing online multiplayer, you're not socially interacting with them out in public
I'm not socially interacting with people at an arcade.
where you'd be able to take in moments of the time you've spent playing compared to playing online multiplayer where it feels more like you're playing against an AI rather than a real person.
Not necessarily. You can have conversations with people online.
Moreover, you're ignoring that consoles/computer can have multiplayer with people in the room. A LAN party is one such example of this.
Then explain to me how Next-Gen Consoles killed the Arcade Industry over the last decade.
Because you had the ability to play games at home. This, in conjunction with playing video games on more advanced home computers, and the cost of producing a game on an arcade machine instead of on a console or PC, caused the decline of arcades in America.
Think about it: if you have a washing machine at home, how often would you go to a laundromat?
I don't know where you got collectible card games causing the death of arcades.
Arcades were the cornerstone of the Video Game Industry
Yes, when there were no other options. Notice how interest started waning once the NES came out.
I don't see why that chapter of the Video Game Industry should be closed forever as nothing more than a thing of the past,
And when did anyone say it should be?
Also, do you realize that there are plenty of public venues where people play video games in groups? There are, for instance, conventions where people meet up to play video games, often traveling long distances to attend them. Tournaments exist, not just online but in person.
You have this idea that there's a binary choice between playing a video game in an arcade or playing it in quarantine. This wasn't even necessarily true in the NES era, and certainly isn't the case today.
Arcades have always been big in Japan except that the smartphone gaming bubble is catching up to them where it's a lot more convenient to play in regards to their country's aging population. The East's breakup with the West has had a negative impact on the Video Game Industry in the last several years which has led to the rise of less games being imported from Japan with a lack of communication between Japanese Developers/Producers and the American consumer who goes out to buy the product(s) which could explain why the Western Gaming Market has been booming in the last several years. Gone are the days when Eastern Platformers were synonymous with the industry in order to pave way to Western First-Person Shooters.
Gaming culture in the U.S. nowadays is a shadow of it's former self where people like me who grew up in that time period have recently caved in to peer pressure in fears of being stereotyped as man children where they feel alienated from today's society glorifying their pastime. When I hear the average adult gamer make stupid New Year's Resolutions saying, "This will be the year that I retire from gaming" I have to stop and ask myself is the person doing that simply because of a fear of being rejected by what society thinks of them in some way or is it just a coming of age sort of thing? I understand that life's too short to game forever where eventually you're gonna have to put the controller down and start taking responsibility for your own future plans whatever they may be.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I think you're being pretty hyperbolic here, Card Slinger J. I've heard these same arguments since I started frequenting gaming boards in the late 90's, and for the last four console generations it's been the same stuff over and over, but it's rarely ever been true.
I think Video Games are nearing a level of normalcy in our culture. Even among my coworkers and my wife's doctor friends, at least half the people around our age or younger own a video game console of some sort, either last gen or current gen. The people who are insecure about their gaming habits are simply insecure people, and gaming has little to do with that. Kids who grew up playing NES or the Game Boy are now working professionals in their own right. Even among the snobbier girls I knew from high school, most of them are married to guys who play video games. Or they play a ton of smart phone games themselves. Maybe not obsessively like many nerds might, but video games are a legitimate recreational activity, and will only continue to be so as time goes on.
I think the issue here is that Arcades were fun because you could play games with your friends. The online experience for most games these days replicates that, right down to the annoying kid who always seems to be better than you at the game. Japanese culture is just different from the US. Space is tighter, people walk a lot more and so Arcades are much more feasible than they are in our heavily spread-out country, where people would have to drive to an Arcade rather than stop by on their way home from work or school.
More obscure games are being imported from Japan than ever before thanks to digital distribution. At the very least, we just know about more Japanese Games now that we ever did before because there is so much more coverage for them. Back in the SNES era, we had no way of knowing we were being fed the leftovers. The issue isn't a 'break-up' with Japan, it's that Japanese developers have failed to evolve the way many western games and game companies have. Japanese games are no longer synonymous with a high quality experience, and western developers have really come into their own on the console scene. The idea that First Person Shooters (and for argument's sake, I'll add 3rd Person Shooters as well) dominate the western market is pretty silly when you look at the actual games out there. In 2014, only 3 of the top 10 could be considered 'shooters', and two of those were Call of Duty games. Smash Bros and Minecraft were on that list as well, along with two sandbox games (GTA V and Watch Dogs) and some sports games.
I'll also argue that there is nothing wrong with a well made first-person shooter, either. Don't be a video game hipster, just because CoD is popular doesn't make it bad.
Further, the entire industry of gaming is under a shift to more indie games. The big budget AAA games of the past really aren't feasible anymore, as studios are sinking under the weight of the sheer number of people who go into creating them.
Gaming culture in the U.S. nowadays is a shadow of it's former self
It's not "a shadow of its former self." It has changed by virtue of gaming's massive growth. Gaming was, at one point, "people who play Super Mario Bros. on the NES." It has since grown to the point where everyone plays some form of game now.
where people like me who grew up in that time period have recently caved in to peer pressure in fears of being stereotyped as man children where they feel alienated from today's society glorifying their pastime.
What are you talking about?
When I hear the average adult gamer make stupid New Year's Resolutions saying, "This will be the year that I retire from gaming" I have to stop and ask myself is the person doing that simply because of a fear of being rejected by what society thinks of them in some way or is it just a coming of age sort of thing? I understand that life's too short to game forever where eventually you're gonna have to put the controller down and start taking responsibility for your own future plans whatever they may be.
I have no idea what you're talking about here either.
It's not "a shadow of its former self." It has changed by virtue of gaming's massive growth. Gaming was, at one point, "people who play Super Mario Bros. on the NES." It has since grown to the point where everyone plays some form of game now.
Except gaming has grown to the point where most games are too dark and gritty with less quirkiness involved in order to accustom themselves with the target age demographic of the average gamer who are now pre-teens and young adults where as kids are being spoon fed with games on smartphones/tablets who never got to experience what gaming was like when we we're growing up since parents have probably become too overprotective of what games their children play instead of throwing caution to the wind like in the 80's and 90's. That's the ESRB for ya...
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Except gaming has grown to the point where most games are too dark and gritty with less quirkiness involved in order to accustom themselves with the target age demographic of the average gamer who are now pre-teens and young adults where as kids are being spoon fed with games on smartphones/tablets who never got to experience what gaming was like when we we're growing up since parents have probably become too overprotective of what games their children play instead of throwing caution to the wind like in the 80's and 90's. That's the ESRB for ya...
Dude, you really need to work on framing coherent ideas. You're all over the place.
Yes, there are a lot of dark, gritty games. I can understand that. It's only recently that games have reached the graphical fidelity and the cultural perception that they can be thought of as a form of media capable of delivering such experiences, and I don't blame people for wanting to create a game that focuses on hard realism. Spec Ops: The Line showed that it can be done exceedingly well.
But it's not like we don't have plenty of quirky games also. Again, there are so many games out there you can't just generalize. You can't even necessarily generalize amongst Triple-A titles.
The social stigma of being an adult gamer If there is one...
Again, what are you talking about? You're talking about caving in to social pressure and I have no idea what you mean by that.
I don't blame people for wanting to create a game that focuses on hard realism.
Which is exactly why Palmer Luckey's recent invention with the Oculus Rift is a terrible idea. There's this notion that were not being immersed enough in our gaming experience where developers and designers feel the need to go to the "next level" because apparently that's where the money is. If a video game becomes too realistic that fools even the naked eye it doesn't leave enough sense of imagination to the people playing it.
Again, what are you talking about? You're talking about caving in to social pressure and I have no idea what you mean by that.
Sigh, let's just drop that part of the conversation and move on shall we? -__-
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
The reason the arcade experience died is because it wasn't that great to begin with and the cost of the cabinets to put out games on part with consoles is too expensive. Have you been to an arcade lately? I went to Dave and busters in December and the games just weren't good. They had tickets games, stuff like pod racers and other grainy arcade racers, a couple quarter eaters like time crisis and house of the dead, a pile of mobile games turned arcade games, ddr, and air hockey. Arcades have been mostly dead for years and the only things keeping the afloat were fighting games and ddr and both those ships have sailed for different reasons
It was the Arcade Industry's fault for refusing to reinvent itself for the changing demands of it's customers in the same way that Home Consoles reinvent themselves every 4-5 years which at this point is starting to become more of a liability than an asset due to declining interest of Triple A titles in favor of Smartphone/Mobile Gaming all because people pay for rehashed IP's without a second thought.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Being an adult gamer is pretty irrelevant. I know several adults who game and that number will only grow significantly over the coming decades. Social stigma does not exist for gaming. If you want something with social stigma attached talk about the LGBT community or something. Games are mainstream in fact gaming beats out movies in terms of revenue per year and last I checked there's nothing wrong with going to see a movie just like there's nothing wrong with playing games whether they be mobile, console, tablet, or PC based.
Arcades died because in terms of games, they are pretty awful in comparison to games released on consoles, tablets, and smartphones. Number 2 is they just aren't convenient. Console gaming can be done from the comfort of your home and you can still interact with others via online connectivity as I myself do with my sister a thousand miles away every week. Number 3, people don't like just feeding more and more quarters into a machine when you realize you've put in a significant amount of money to play a mediocre game when if you used all those quarters to buy a AAA console game you can play that game as long as you want and you get much, much more for your money. Comparing something like Shadow of Earth to Time Crisis I don't think there's anyone who would pick the latter except people who are feeling very, very, VERY nostalgic.
Private Mod Note
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"Yawgmoth," Freyalise whispered as she set the bomb, "now you will pay for your treachery."
Which is exactly why Palmer Luckey's recent invention with the Oculus Rift is a terrible idea. There's this notion that were not being immersed enough in our gaming experience where developers and designers feel the need to go to the "next level" because apparently that's where the money is. If a video game becomes too realistic that fools even the naked eye it doesn't leave enough sense of imagination to the people playing it.
Ok, wait, is this thread about the Oculus Rift, or is it about arcade games?
Again, you bounce from one topic to a completely unrelated topic, and it makes it hard, if not outright impossible, to have a coherent conversation with you.
It was the Arcade Industry's fault for refusing to reinvent itself for the changing demands of it's customers in the same way that Home Consoles reinvent themselves every 4-5 years
They can't reinvent themselves for the changing demands of customers when the demands changed to something that isn't arcades.
This is the concept you're not getting. Customers don't want arcades. If they did, they would go to them. They want a gaming device that they can access immediately. This is why home consoles, computers, and mobile phones are all more popular than arcades. People want immediate access to what they want, not to have to go somewhere.
I repeat: if someone owns a washing machine at home, he's not going to a laundromat to wash his clothes. Similarly, it's rare for someone to go to an arcade if they own any other method of playing video games. It's a model that worked when no one owned home consoles, but with so many methods of playing games now, arcades are a novelty.
Ok, wait, is this thread about the Oculus Rift, or is it about arcade games?
Again, you bounce from one topic to a completely unrelated topic, and it makes it hard, if not outright impossible, to have a coherent conversation with you.
Don't get the wrong idea this thread is about Arcades, it's just that I was using the Oculus Rift as an example for why creating games focusing on hard realism is a terrible idea even though it might of sounded like I was trying to change the subject. I'm sorry If you think I'm making this conversation difficult for you.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
... Ok, let me explain to you why I'm baffled right now.
You quoted my quote, which said, "I don't blame people for wanting to create a game that focuses on hard realism," and responded with this:
Which is exactly why Palmer Luckey's recent invention with the Oculus Rift is a terrible idea. There's this notion that were not being immersed enough in our gaming experience where developers and designers feel the need to go to the "next level" because apparently that's where the money is. If a video game becomes too realistic that fools even the naked eye it doesn't leave enough sense of imagination to the people playing it.
How does that flow from what I said?
I have no problem with you going on a side tangent. I just have no idea how the Oculus Rift relates to the conversation.
I have no problem with you going on a side tangent. I just have no idea how the Oculus Rift relates to the conversation.
Sigh... It doesn't relate to the conversation. -___-
Perhaps the closest thing gamers nowadays will have that captures the magic of the Arcade Experience from the 80's and 90's are Video Game Conventions such as PAX East and E3.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
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What killed the Arcade Industry in North America wasn't Next-Gen Consoles but rather Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games, so in a sense you could say that the Trading Card Game / Collectible Card Game Genre that Richard Garfield created with MTG was just as responsible for the death of Arcades as with Video Game Consoles but is that really a fair argument to make? Sure they both have competitive sides to them for tournament play except one is really loud and the other isn't while both cost money in order to keep up however with Arcades the downside was that you had to keep paying the pied piper on a constant basis until you were just flat out broke. It might not have been the best business model at the time but If you had fun that's really all that matters.
The thing about gaming as an entertainment medium is that you're only able to occupy one aspect of it while not being able to spend as much free time on another. The question then becomes how much free time am I investing in these various game genres? Am I spending more on Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games than I am with Consoles / Handhelds or do I simply not have enough money to occupy myself playing at my local Arcade? Is there a way to balance out playing in those various game genres or is it simply impossible? Fortunately for me I took the easy road 25 years ago when I spent most of my childhood with Consoles, Handhelds, and Arcades only to elevate into Trading Card Games / Collectible Card Games by the time I graduated from high school in 2003.
Most gamers nowadays play their favorite Arcade titles on ROM's and emulators which to me doesn't feel the same unless you have someone around to play with let alone a functional controller to hook up to your PC, smartphone, or tablet instead of increasing your risk of getting arthritis or carpal tunnel syndrome on your keyboard. Have ROM's and emulators been successful at capturing the Arcade experience unlike Next-Gen Consoles? Well it depends on how you look at it. For starters it doesn't eat any money out of your wallet yet at the same time it fails in regards to social interaction with other gamers akin to Next-Gen Consoles which is slowly getting phased out for mobile gaming.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I am interacting with others when playing online multiplayer. That's what multiplayer is.
And there's nothing that different to me about the experience. If I'm playing a single player game alone in my room, and I'm playing a single player game alone in an arcade, it's the same thing. Yes, I am adjacent to other people, but that doesn't mean I'm playing with them, and actually I prefer the room for that reason: lack of distractions.
I don't believe that's true at all.
I don't think anything could capture "the arcade experience" except being in an actual arcade. Even if you owned an arcade version of game, it's not going to be the same thing as playing it in an arcade.
The relevant issue is whether "the arcade experience" is what people actually want.
I wouldn't say this killed arcades. It was the cost that turned people off.
25-50 cents per game was good on everyone's wallets. I'm not going to be paying $1 just to play an HD remake of Hydro Thunder or Jurassic Park. It's just not worth it.
Then explain to me how Next-Gen Consoles killed the Arcade Industry over the last decade. Arcades were the cornerstone of the Video Game Industry that helped bring people together in public instead of being stuck in their homes playing online like we do now. I don't see why that chapter of the Video Game Industry should be closed forever as nothing more than a thing of the past, sure it had it's flaws but there's some value to be gained off of it.
There was always that consequence with Arcade Machines that the more technology advanced the more expensive the hardware which inflated the price of a single play. Having to pay $1 for an Arcade game is unheard of compared to how cheap it was when you only had to pay 25 to 50 cents, it's a shame really.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Not necessarily. You can have conversations with people online.
Moreover, you're ignoring that consoles/computer can have multiplayer with people in the room. A LAN party is one such example of this.
Because you had the ability to play games at home. This, in conjunction with playing video games on more advanced home computers, and the cost of producing a game on an arcade machine instead of on a console or PC, caused the decline of arcades in America.
Think about it: if you have a washing machine at home, how often would you go to a laundromat?
I don't know where you got collectible card games causing the death of arcades.
Yes, when there were no other options. Notice how interest started waning once the NES came out.
And when did anyone say it should be?
Also, do you realize that there are plenty of public venues where people play video games in groups? There are, for instance, conventions where people meet up to play video games, often traveling long distances to attend them. Tournaments exist, not just online but in person.
You have this idea that there's a binary choice between playing a video game in an arcade or playing it in quarantine. This wasn't even necessarily true in the NES era, and certainly isn't the case today.
Gaming culture in the U.S. nowadays is a shadow of it's former self where people like me who grew up in that time period have recently caved in to peer pressure in fears of being stereotyped as man children where they feel alienated from today's society glorifying their pastime. When I hear the average adult gamer make stupid New Year's Resolutions saying, "This will be the year that I retire from gaming" I have to stop and ask myself is the person doing that simply because of a fear of being rejected by what society thinks of them in some way or is it just a coming of age sort of thing? I understand that life's too short to game forever where eventually you're gonna have to put the controller down and start taking responsibility for your own future plans whatever they may be.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I think Video Games are nearing a level of normalcy in our culture. Even among my coworkers and my wife's doctor friends, at least half the people around our age or younger own a video game console of some sort, either last gen or current gen. The people who are insecure about their gaming habits are simply insecure people, and gaming has little to do with that. Kids who grew up playing NES or the Game Boy are now working professionals in their own right. Even among the snobbier girls I knew from high school, most of them are married to guys who play video games. Or they play a ton of smart phone games themselves. Maybe not obsessively like many nerds might, but video games are a legitimate recreational activity, and will only continue to be so as time goes on.
I think the issue here is that Arcades were fun because you could play games with your friends. The online experience for most games these days replicates that, right down to the annoying kid who always seems to be better than you at the game. Japanese culture is just different from the US. Space is tighter, people walk a lot more and so Arcades are much more feasible than they are in our heavily spread-out country, where people would have to drive to an Arcade rather than stop by on their way home from work or school.
More obscure games are being imported from Japan than ever before thanks to digital distribution. At the very least, we just know about more Japanese Games now that we ever did before because there is so much more coverage for them. Back in the SNES era, we had no way of knowing we were being fed the leftovers. The issue isn't a 'break-up' with Japan, it's that Japanese developers have failed to evolve the way many western games and game companies have. Japanese games are no longer synonymous with a high quality experience, and western developers have really come into their own on the console scene. The idea that First Person Shooters (and for argument's sake, I'll add 3rd Person Shooters as well) dominate the western market is pretty silly when you look at the actual games out there. In 2014, only 3 of the top 10 could be considered 'shooters', and two of those were Call of Duty games. Smash Bros and Minecraft were on that list as well, along with two sandbox games (GTA V and Watch Dogs) and some sports games.
I'll also argue that there is nothing wrong with a well made first-person shooter, either. Don't be a video game hipster, just because CoD is popular doesn't make it bad.
Further, the entire industry of gaming is under a shift to more indie games. The big budget AAA games of the past really aren't feasible anymore, as studios are sinking under the weight of the sheer number of people who go into creating them.
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What are you talking about?
I have no idea what you're talking about here either.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Yes, there are a lot of dark, gritty games. I can understand that. It's only recently that games have reached the graphical fidelity and the cultural perception that they can be thought of as a form of media capable of delivering such experiences, and I don't blame people for wanting to create a game that focuses on hard realism. Spec Ops: The Line showed that it can be done exceedingly well.
But it's not like we don't have plenty of quirky games also. Again, there are so many games out there you can't just generalize. You can't even necessarily generalize amongst Triple-A titles.
Again, what are you talking about? You're talking about caving in to social pressure and I have no idea what you mean by that.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Arcades died because in terms of games, they are pretty awful in comparison to games released on consoles, tablets, and smartphones. Number 2 is they just aren't convenient. Console gaming can be done from the comfort of your home and you can still interact with others via online connectivity as I myself do with my sister a thousand miles away every week. Number 3, people don't like just feeding more and more quarters into a machine when you realize you've put in a significant amount of money to play a mediocre game when if you used all those quarters to buy a AAA console game you can play that game as long as you want and you get much, much more for your money. Comparing something like Shadow of Earth to Time Crisis I don't think there's anyone who would pick the latter except people who are feeling very, very, VERY nostalgic.
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Again, you bounce from one topic to a completely unrelated topic, and it makes it hard, if not outright impossible, to have a coherent conversation with you.
They can't reinvent themselves for the changing demands of customers when the demands changed to something that isn't arcades.
This is the concept you're not getting. Customers don't want arcades. If they did, they would go to them. They want a gaming device that they can access immediately. This is why home consoles, computers, and mobile phones are all more popular than arcades. People want immediate access to what they want, not to have to go somewhere.
I repeat: if someone owns a washing machine at home, he's not going to a laundromat to wash his clothes. Similarly, it's rare for someone to go to an arcade if they own any other method of playing video games. It's a model that worked when no one owned home consoles, but with so many methods of playing games now, arcades are a novelty.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
You quoted my quote, which said, "I don't blame people for wanting to create a game that focuses on hard realism," and responded with this:
How does that flow from what I said?
I have no problem with you going on a side tangent. I just have no idea how the Oculus Rift relates to the conversation.
Perhaps the closest thing gamers nowadays will have that captures the magic of the Arcade Experience from the 80's and 90's are Video Game Conventions such as PAX East and E3.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta