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Arcade Show Report Shows Coin-Op Endurance

Posted by simoniker on from the still-hanging-in-there dept.

Thanks to GamesRadar for its report from the recent London-based ATEI arcade game show. The article, following quickly on the heels of a recent Slashdot Games post about new arcade games, points out: "When you can play an online version of Project Gotham Racing 2 from the comfort of your very own living room, the concept of heading to a grungy arcade emporium to play the latest coin-ops seems, to say the least, quaint", but still finds arcade-only highlights, including Out Run 2 ("...retains its predecessor's sheer speed-fuelled thrills while adding a decidedly 21st century feel") Ollie King ("a rarity among skateboard games in that it's a checkpoint-based racer"), and even the bizarre Flamin' Finger ("...an odd little LED maze game in which you have to trace a route out with the tip of your finger within the harshest of time limits.")

26 comments

  1. Well... by DrEldarion · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One thing that will never be replaced: PINBALL.

    As awesome as Epic Pinball was, there's just something about having the machine there in front of you that's so much more satisfying.

    1. Re:Well... by BTWR · · Score: 1

      Pinball on the NES ruled...

    2. Re:Well... by Deraj+DeZine · · Score: 1

      You must be forgetting the fast-paced, finely tuned, ultra-realistic bloatware that is Microsoft Word 97. Yeah, that's right, a pinball game somehow slipped into the release of Word 97... oops.

      --
      True story.
  2. Skeeball! by cyrax777 · · Score: 1

    not to mention Skeeball nothing like racking up all those tickets playing skeeball.

  3. Just the thing to save the arcade industry by _Sexy_Pants_ · · Score: 2, Funny

    A huge f-zero machine that will drive any company that buys it into debt!

    --
    Look it's a joke about my sig IN MY SIG! LOL!
    1. Re:Just the thing to save the arcade industry by gmhowell · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Not only the cost of the machine, but the loss of floorspace. How many other games could fit in the same square footage as that monster?

      --
      Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
  4. Lame article by gmhowell · · Score: 1

    Skip the article. The leadin text is misleading, as this is merely a mention of a few games that were released at a recent trade show. Further, the author wastes a bunch of time on OutRun2. Perhaps it's just me, but I was never a big fan of the original.

    Running through the list of games, I see a dearth of ingenuity. I'm not surprised.

    To give an indication of the quality of writing, he referred to Qix as "Tron-style puzzle game". Umm... Yeah. He also complains about including that game with Space Invaders. In case doofus author hadn't noticed, all of the recent retro games have been released at least two to a cabinet. And why not? Same space, and the draw for retro games is minimal. Why not pull multiple players to the same location? There's a reason that NeoGeo and Nintendo PlayChoice were popular: they left more room for stupid games like F-Zero AX Monster Ride. All the fun of F-Zero (okay, not a bad game) combined with one of those 25 cent car rides that toddlers sit on outside the grocery store. Dumb when it was called Afterburner, still dumb today.

    --
    Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
  5. Our Aladdins Castle... by Lemental · · Score: 1

    is gone. It was just there last week and I was watching two people play Soul Calibur II. I was amazed at how big the screen was and how much fun they were having.

    Now its gone.

    Hey buddy can you spare a token?

  6. You can sort of play real pinballs... by antdude · · Score: 4, Informative

    Emulated types if you have Windows. Basically, people make models and graphics based off the real machines. I have to admit this is well done! See these links for details:

    1. PinballSim.com
    2. Visual PinMame Guide
    3. VPForum - Complete Pinball Discussion

    Now, someone please port this to MacOS X and Linux!

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  7. Re:5k33b4ll!!!1 by Deraj+DeZine · · Score: 2, Funny

    And then with those tickets you can... wait, why did I want tickets, again? So I can get a friendship bracelet? No thanks.

    --
    True story.
  8. Nice sig... by Deraj+DeZine · · Score: 1
    Maybe next time the parent should just RTFA. Psych! It's just a sig.

    This would not surprise me about 95% of the time.

    --
    True story.
  9. At the Amusement Machine expo in Japan.... by Neo-Rio-101 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I've gone to a few Amusement machine expos in Japan, and what I've been noticing from year to year, is that most new arcade machines don't tend to concentrate not so much on video display and joystick. I figure that's because that kind of hardware is available at home for everyone.

    Instead what you see now, are huge cabinets sporting some really interesting input devices.

    From the infra-red sensoring movement controllers, to the taiko (Japanese drum)-controllers, to all the pachinko pachinko-variants the Japanese have (which we will thankfully never see in the west).

    If I get the time, I should go check it out again. It's nearly time for it again this year.

    --
    READY.
    PRINT ""+-0
    1. Re:At the Amusement Machine expo in Japan.... by prockcore · · Score: 1

      Instead what you see now, are huge cabinets sporting some really interesting input devices.

      Or combo rides. For the past 6 years, the must-play game in town is a crazy 4 story shooter where you're strapped in a seat, and each time you pass a level, the seat zooms up to the next story. When you die, you fall all the way to the bottom. So there's incentive to get to the very top, just so you have a fun ride down when you die.

      Can't get that in your home system! (Course it is $3 a play)

    2. Re:At the Amusement Machine expo in Japan.... by Neo-Rio-101 · · Score: 1

      Reminds me of the early 70s and 60s before decent processor systems came out. All the amusement machines had TOYS in them and LED displays..... Much like the Penny Arcade in Disneyland! Now those were some real fun! I remember one game where you had to drive this toy car along a track, and the speed was simulated by a rotating light! Then there were the shooting games with paper cut outs and real rifles (minus the barrel!) I also remember one machine was filled up with matchbox cars, and you had a time limit to use a crane to pick them up and dump as many as you could before the time ran out!

      --
      READY.
      PRINT ""+-0
  10. Flaming Finger by limekiller4 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I work for a rather large midway and we just got in "Flaming Finger" this week.

    It's cute -- you have to trace your finger over a maze whose walls are deliniated by leds (yes, real leds) before time runs out. Unfortunately, as the sticker on the machine indicates, the time you have decreases more rapidly as you approach the finish. I've tried it 4x myself, can't beat it. Not even one level. I've never seen anyone else beat it. I only know of one person who says they've seen one person beat it.

    Personally, I think it's an interesting idea but the skewed time countdown puts a nail in it.

    On the other hand, we got a standup console of Space Invaders. Which completely blew my mind because I'm 31 and I remember when those were new, large and in-charge. Now it's downright embarrasingly dated and grows old after a few screens but man did it kick ass then...

    --
    My .02,
    Limekiller
  11. eee when I were a lad... by skinfitz · · Score: 1

    I used to love arcades when I was a kid - I played the original Space Invaders and Asteroids (and lets not forget the classic Defender) and remember things like the original StarWars vector game. Then came Outrun, Space Harrier etc and what was that game called out at the same time as Outrun (and the TopGun movie) where you were flying something like an F-14 Tomcat?

    I can remember thinking logically that "someday" all of that stuff could be done at home and then wondering how good arcade machines would be in comparison - I mean - if you could have Dragons Lair at home, just how good would an arcade machine be?

    "Not much" it seems!

    1. Re:eee when I were a lad... by blincoln · · Score: 1

      Then came Outrun, Space Harrier etc and what was that game called out at the same time as Outrun (and the TopGun movie) where you were flying something like an F-14 Tomcat?

      Afterburner. That would be a fun machine to own, especially if you could track down one with the motion cockpit.

      --
      "...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
    2. Re:eee when I were a lad... by zero_offset · · Score: 1
      The answer is, having them at home is very good. I have Space Duel, Asteroids, a Star Wars excluding the original cabinet. All work except the Space Duel monitor vsync is slowly dying (and sadly, nobody makes vector monitors any more).

      My XBOX and many PC's are just fine, but many of those games are just as much fun as they were in the arcades. I'd kill for a real Joust machine. (Yes, I know I can run MAME in a cabinet, but screw that.)

      --

      Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005

    3. Re:eee when I were a lad... by skinfitz · · Score: 1

      Ahh yes! That was it - I loved that game. I think that was the first game that I ever completed in the arcade.

  12. Its a shame the arcade industry is slowly dying by Viol8 · · Score: 1

    I'm not going to wax lyrical about innovation etc, yes they did innovate in years past but
    thats being down now in console games. No , my issue is that years ago if you wanted to see what the cutting edge in graphics was
    (outside the military etc) you just went down the arcade and if you thought a game looked cool you put in some small change and had a go.
    These days if you want to see top quality graphics you have to fork out $$$$ for a hi-end PC and then more $$$$ for a game.
    But I'm not a dyed in the wool games junkie and I don't want to spend all that money for a few minutes of fun. So when the aumsement arcade
    finally dies (which it will, lets face it) people like me will have nowhere to go. Still, thats "progress" I suppose...

  13. Arcades are Dead by PeeweeJD · · Score: 1

    I live in an area that used to have lots of arcades. THe local town I lived in had one. Each shopping mall in my area had at least 2 of them. Then there was the Chuck E CHeese places that had games. Then at the NJ SHore on the boardwalk there was a dozen big arcades in each town.

    They are mostly gone now. Most have closed down. THe ones that are still open are full of redemption games (skee ball, squirt guns, basketball) where you get tickets to redeem for crap. This is definitely because of consoles.

    There is no way the arcades can make enough quality games to warrant a whole arcade (or even a respectable chunk of square footage within a store). It is sad in a way. I used to love going to arcades. Now I despise them.

    I was just at my local Chuck E Cheese last month for my neice's birthday. They had a sign on the door advertising the fact that all games were just 1 token. In my opinion, they were not worth it either. I get much better graphics and gameplay at home on my xbox.

    There is no arcade at any shopping mall in my area, and the arcades on teh boardwalk are full of video poker and slot machines that dispense redemption tokens. Yay, let me dump $50 in a slot machine so I can get a $10 AM/FM radio.

    1. Re:Arcades are Dead by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 1

      Here in south-eastern VA there don't seem to be any arcades by themselves, but there are still plenty of arcades in movie theaters and malls (most of the malls also having movie theaters, but those being the theaters that don't usually have arcades). Most of them seem to be moving towards having a handful of the bigger cabinets rather than having more of the smaller cabinets, and it seems that every one of them has at least one 2-player DDR cabinet (at $1 per play).

      The only place I really see the standard-sized cabinets any more is the laundrimat, each of which has at least 2 cabinets, and the one I regularly go to also has 2 pinball games. That being said, they're not exactly the latest greatest games, I saw Zero Gunner and Tekken Tag Tournament when I was at the laundrimat on Sunday, and both of these were put in recently, as they weren't there the previous time I was there.

      When it comes down to it, though, it seems the only arcades out here are in areas where you wouldn't have anything better to do, especially areas where teenagers and kids are regularly dropped off and have to wait for someone to pick them up, or, like I said, at the laundrimat where you really don't have much else to do, and probably already have a stack of quarters. I usually just end up bringing my GBA to the laundrimat, and the arcades in malls and theaters are too centered on gimmicky games rather than good gameplay for me to care when I can just get in my car and go home.

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
  14. MOCAP boxing by JonnyRo88 · · Score: 1

    Has anyone played MOCAP boxing? There is one arcade game I would definately pay money to play (and have). At DisneyQuest (the DisneyWorld Arcade in FL) you pay a fee to get in and can play all the latest arcade games all day. Coin op is not dead, it's just moved to a pay once play all day format. This is much better than the old days where you had to have armed gaurds carry a sack of quarters around with you so you could get in time on the 75cent new games.

    --
    The Ro Factor - Jeep/Linux Weblog
  15. Arcades will never die by lunatik42 · · Score: 1

    It's not possible for consoles to kill arcades completely, because there's no social factor. Even online video games don't offer the chance to play stuff like Tekken against somebody standing next to you. Smack-talk is nearly impossible, as well. The arcade tournament is another benefit. You can't just stand next to your console waiting for challengers, unless you live in the middle of a mall or something. As long as gamers need to feel like they have friends, arcades will be around;)