Slashdot Mirror
Eugene Jarvis Returns To Arcades With Target Terror
Thanks to 1UP for its story noting that famed arcade game designer Eugene Jarvis has resurfaced with a new company and arcade-only videogame. According to the report: "Raw Thrills is the name of the company, and Target: Terror is its game", and this new title is "...a two-player shooter, set in real-life locations threatened by terrorist attacks. Levels mentioned in the announcement include the Golden Gate bridge, the Los Alamos nuclear research facility in New Mexico, Denver International Airport, and a climactic stage where an airliner threatens to crash into the White House." Jarvis, the creator of creator of Defender, Robotron, and other arcade classics, says he plans to change the depressed arcade market by bucking the trend of "...ultra-low budget dogs, ports of faded consumer titles, or overpriced white elephants that just don't earn." Update: 02/02 21:53 GMT by S : A member of the development team has confirmed the game is "a light-gun shooter".
It's barely more than a press release. "Coming soon"--who cares about another preview?
For one crazy moment I thought you meant that moron from OS news!
This should be good for the arcade market, yet I doubt that anyone in my town will have it
I'd be interested in seeing how realistic the locations are. I've been increasingly impressed with games that simulate real life locations, like Midnight Club 2's version of LA, and that's just on consoles.
I wonder if a slew of arcade games with similarly relevant themes (EG. fighting terrorists rather than zombies or aliens) and very detailed, lifelike graphics would help revitalize arcade gaming.
--- "Yeah, I'm a bit stressed out. I have a research paper due tomorrow and it has to be +5, Insightful."
I have to say, this sounds like a bunch of hot air to generate press. While it sounds *awesome*, it is incredibly unlikely that it will survive the slings and arrows of the parent's groups, the conservative groups, the women's groups, the etc etc special interests all over the world that will think this is a "terrible message to send to kids".
It sounds like he's doing more to use semi-controversial and headline catching subject matter, rather than transform the play experience. So instead of actually innovating something to draw people back to the arcades, he's using the equivalent of tabloid tactics to get peoples' attention.
I'm all for revitalizing the arcade scene, but he's taking the hot topic of the day, (Ooohhhh! "Evil Terrorists"), and turning it into another version of Virtua Cop or Area 51. I feel offended for this guys attempt to pigeonhole our interests.
A light-gun shooter? Time Crisis 3 fills the current "token light-gun game" slot - it would only be bumped out by a quality game.
Or a first-person shooter? I suspect that this is an impractical idea for most arcades; while using a trackball or two joysticks like on a gamepad would solve the durability problem, all existing FPS control systems are generally considered too complex for an environment where ease-of-use is of maximum importance.
Or...a shoot-em-up? By the description I would guess not.
The arcade market pretty much died a while ago... Probably sometime around the same time that Bally/Midway stopped making pinball machines...
It may very well have been the rise of the Neo-Geo that killed the arcades, or maybe online games, or even the advance of consumer 3D technology...but regardless of what you blame it on, they are mostly a thing of the past.
The small trickle of games that have come out in the recent past are either console based arcades (like Tekken) which have probably been ported to a modern console before they are ever released, or expensive games of "novelty" (large, oddly shaped cabinets, like Dance Dance Revolution) which generally lose their appeal once the home version is released...
I certainly hope that the market will return, but sadly, the last remaining arcades are disappearing...
The article describes some levels from the game...
-The Golden Gate bridge
-The Los Alamos nuclear research facility in New Mexico
-Denver International Airport
-A climactic stage where an airliner threatens to crash into the White House.
I have to say, with the right creative team behind this, and 2 friends fighting/shooting side-by-side, this could be one hell of a game...
I think I'll be sticking to Streetfighter.
Making the moon less necessary since 1998.
While I have little doubt that, if done well, this new game will succeed, I very much doubt that it will revive or spark a revival of the arcade.
The arcade had two appeals: atmosphere and easy, library-like access to games. The atmosphere hasn't changed, and that's been a big problem. The evolution of games and gaming in general have taken the typical gamer away from the open, cacaphonic and busy, glitzy room and toward tightly-packed rows of computers where more than a handful of friends can play with and against each other in the same virtual world.
PCs and game consoles have made access even easier and more convenient. Now you don't even have to walk across a room to play the next game, because it's only a mouse-click or DVD/CD/Cartridge swap away. And best of all, you can play all of these games sitting down.
PC and console gaming has had the time not only to one-up arcade gaming, but lap it. Configurable controls, co-op modes, engaging stories, saved games, multiplayer against humans rather than bots, multiplayer with more than a handful of friends, etc. All have lured the modern gamer away from the arcade, by and large.
And all of this has been simple progress, an evolution of gaming. In the past, Centipede and Pac Man were kings of the electronic gaming domain. The equipment was too expensive, too large, and too bulky for all but the most wealthy of gamers to have home access. The best business model was to put a bunch of the giants in one room and charge a coin or two per play. That won't work, anymore, and it's not a dearth of quality games which have caused this decline; this new game would work just fine on an xbox or PS2, and that alone should be an indication of why more games like it will not cause gamers to flock to the Electronic Arcades as they once did.
Times have changed, and they will again. The arcades will go the way of the news reel, and nothing can change this. Whether or not it is for the best is a matter of personal opinion.
~UP
Eat the Path.
You forgot something...
The arcade was big when games were a quarter to play. These days I see an interesting arcade game, and they want $2 to play something I might only last 30 seconds at. Instead of playing 10 games of that, I'd rather buy a game for my console and get hours of entertainment.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
I don't think Dance Dance Revolution has only novelty appeal. I still enjoy going to play it at the arcade, even though I have Max/Max 2 and 2nd Mix here, and my friend has Max/Max2/Extreme import and a set of Red Octane hardmats.
Konami owns arcades for a reason. Now, if only more Bemani games would come to North America...
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
While his heart is definately in the right place, an arcade-exclusive game won't do it, especially since a good game by today's standards is usually a deep game, as opposed to an addictive one.
I have a few ideas about what arcades need:
a) gimmicks - take advantage of what home consoles can't do. DDR's got it right, as do the air hockey tables many of them have.
b) attract girls - I don't know how to do it, but the best consumer for an arcade are teens who can drive (because they can get there). But why go to an when girls will just wait around bored? If you go solo, you're just being a nerd. Arcades need to be an acceptable social atmosphere.
c) return to old-school point-based games. From personal experience, when I play a video game, if I just blast through levels in, say, a light gun shooter, nobody cares. However (not to brag) my friends have crowded around me when I play Ms. Pac Man really well, or even Snake on my cell phone. Not only are these games exciting to watch, but they're competative
d) competition - the arcade is the only place where you can face-off with a person you've never met before in a video game. Nurture this
e) ADVERTISING - for arcades and arcade-only games. It works for every other business, why don't aracades give it a try?
f) Corporate Arcades - the best way to make a good arcade is to spend enough money to make one (and then advertise with this money). Instead of making a stupid arcade-exclusive game, why don't you take the money required to make it and start a chain of arcades? If it doesn't work, well neither would the game probably
Look it's a joke about my sig IN MY SIG! LOL!
"ultra-low budget dogs, ports of faded consumer titles, or overpriced white elephants that just don't earn."
Says the man behind Cruisn' USA.
Presumably 'Target: Terror' will be another execrable 2D Operation Wolf clone like the garbage Midway/Atari churn out these days, but with a 'controversial' (i.e. exploitative) theme.
How this is supposed to revitalise the arcade sector is beyond me.
Preferences > Homepage > Customize stories on homepage > Authors > Zonk > Uncheck
You ass raping cheese eating Liberal. Why you hate apple pie, ford trucks, country fairs, cute puppies, our flag, our military the whole thing! Go back to France you America hating Liberal.
-- Anne Coulter
I don't think a lot of people posting here are all that familiar with Eugene Jarvis other than the Cruisin' series, and that's a shame. I'd trust the guy behind Robotron with my life!
All arcades need is the "oh wow" appeal that the arcades can bring to us. We have yet to really see one happen in a while. Pong, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Star-Wars, Afterburner and a million others from the golden age had the ability to stop passerbys in their tracks.
I remember when the Neo Geo burst on the sceene. At that time the arcades were far from dead. Street Fighter II had hit the scene, and people were pouring back into arcades. There was kind of a dry spell before then when arcades were stuffed with bland Double Dragon Ripoffs, but it was completely revitalized with the onslaught of "street fighter" fighting games. These games were just like the double dragon style games. However, instead of a million very weak opponents and couple of strong bosses that wore you down until it was time to insert credit, the opponent was another Human being. This completmented with "easter egg" moves made the entire industry boom. Kids crawled back from their parents basements, white knuckeled from years of the NES. Buisnessmen took their lunch breaks to the malls. Everyone wanted to see just how to do that "Haduken" or that "Kano Heart Rip". It was the biggest "OH WOW!" in years.
I think the real killer of the arcades was not the advanced consoles and their ability to compete technically with arcade games. In fact they worked in complete concert with each other. In the 90's the video game junkie would follow the simple steps to video game fantasy bliss. Step 1: Buy Playstation, Teken fighting game and Strategy Guide. Step 2: Follow along the 15 button combination martial arts movies like the little feet from the Author McMurry Dance steps. Step 3. Return to the arcade, decimate the competition, and take the home the women(I said fantasy, right).
The arcades shall rise again. They just need another "OH WOW" gimmick/hook to bring them back. It just isn't about graphics anymore. They don't make our eyes buldge and mouths drool like they used to. You may say that video games are about gameplay, but that only sells for home consoles. That is the reason most arcades are stacked with crazy contraptions, they make joe game browser stop and say "look at that, a scateboard attached to a video game, neato". But there are always new fangled inventions comming out. I don't know what they are, yet, otherwise I'd try to invent them. But someday the noiseland arcade will return with a new toy, and filled with the currious "Oh Wow"'ed. I personally can't wait.
The only way to make a successful arcade game in these days is to make one that is suitable for bar patrons. Perhaps Jarvis is right on target with the theme of this game. However, the "arcade" as we know it is on life-support and I really don't see why anyone would bother venturing out to an arcade when they can get better gaming at home.
Good luck Eugene.
Well, if its not, whats the bet it'll be a hack of Metal Slug 2? Hey, you already have the bad guys apparently in some middle eastern country...
The only thing I see reviving the arcades is if they go online. An exclusive title where players can play some type of competitve game both against each other at the arcade or team up and play against arcades in other parts of the country/world.
IMO, Broadband Online Home Gaming killed the arcades. All of the people I know who used to be die-hard arcade dwellers now play games on the PC online. The way for the arcades to win those people back is to offer a more social, Hack-free gaming environment.