Slashdot Mirror
Sega To Take X-Box To Arcades
kikta writes "Well, after our previous speculation about what Sega would do after they got out of the hardware biz, it appears we have our answer. CNN is reporting that they will be producing motherboards to port the Xbox to the arcade. GamePro also weighed in on the announcement."
I didn't think this was all that big of a deal. There have long been suggestions of Sega working with Microsoft on the XBox. Didn't we even hear that the XBox might play Dreamcast discs natively at some point? Rumor or not, this isn't really huge news.
Unless you look at the hardware, of Sega discussing building an arcade version of the XBox. Again, I really don't consider this news. Sega pulled out of the _home_ console market, they were always doing well in the arcade market, and never intended to pull out of that at all.
So put two and two togeather. Sega makes games for XBox, and Sega makes arcade games. Wouldn't it make sense that Sega would want an Arcade version of XBox in order to make the transition from Arcade to home easiest?
Ummm. Have you been to an arcade recently?
After far too many years of formulaic beat 'em up nonsense, there has been quite a resurgence recently in arcade games providing experiences you won't get at home. The best examples of these are games such as Dance Dance Revolution (which although looking like no-one in their right mind would play in public is hugely successful) but head to head racers (daytona is still the no.1 blueprint) and even FPS games (anyone seen SWAT 24/7? Cracking game) are light-years ahead of home consoles - mainly because designers have finally got rid of the up-down-left-right-fire mentality so beloved of the JAMMA era
Arcade designers are, it seems, finally realising that they can't really compete with home consoles on the graphics and sound front and are pretty much returning to root design principles. Make the _game_ different in the arcade; provide controls customised for the game; put players head-to-head; in short give the player something extra!
Or are you intending to buy different controllers for each game you get for the x-box? Your living room is going to be pretty cluttered...
Personally, I think this is great news. The easier arcade games are to produce the better.
Back in March, I posted this reply to a story about capcom calling it quits. Specifically, I said:
Today, the situation is quite difference. In fact, the X-Box seems to put the final nail in the coffin. Arcade game manufacturers may very well stop creating arcade games on custom hardware. Instead, they'll compile for an X-Box style platform. Why? For the ease of conversion to the home game. That's where the money is. The arcade game is just the 'advertisement' to create the buzz.
I don't pretend to have my finger on the pulse of the arcade industry, but it seemed like an obvious development. There isn't much need to create custom arcade hardware when you've got something like the X-Box that you can develop arcade games on and later port to the home PC (and X-Box game console).
Quite a good strategy, for Microsoft and Sega.