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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 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...
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...
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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!