Eugene Jarvis Shifts From Terror To Fast, Furious

Thanks to GameSpot for its interview with seminal game designer Eugene Jarvis, best known "for arcade titles from the eighties... including Defender, Robotron, NARC, [and] Smash T.V.", discussing his attempts to revitalize the arcade market. The article mentions his recently released, terrorism-themed Target: Terror lightgun arcade shooter, apparently "the number two most profitable arcade game in its first month in general release" - Jarvis comments of the content: "So Target: Terror is this extreme paranoia, but gosh, it could be real. We take it to the extreme--they're taking over the Golden Gate Bridge and you have to retake that." It's also revealed of Jarvis that "This Fall, his three-year-old, self-funded company, Raw Thrills, will debut its second arcade title, The Fast and the Furious, a driving title based on the Universal Pictures film of the same name." We previously covered Target: Terror earlier this year on Slashdot Games.

Comments

Sad

[mrshowtime]

I'm glad in 2004 there are still arcade games out there that are using the 1994 "Revolution, starring Aerosmith"- technology. Well, at least SOMEONE is still making arcade games. I am sick of seeing the same games everytime I goto any arcade. I don't know how "Dave and Busters" et al, stays in business.

Trailer on Raw Thrills' website

[rufo]

Those screenshots look absolutely horrifying, but if you watch the trailer (it's a freecache link, so hopefully it won't be /.ed) it doesn't look quite as bad.

I dunno, I'm still kinda skeptical about it, but if I ever see it in an arcade I'll probably give it a spin. I mean hey - it's a light-gun game, all you have to do is shoot people, maybe I'm wrong, but it can't get that bad, can it?

Arcade must evolve

[Khazunga]

or die. In my opinion, arcades would be much more successfull if they invested in high-quality hardware that can't be matched by consoles. And I don't mean high-quality graphics. I'm more inclined to full F1 car or fighter plance cockpits with multi-head display and 3D sound. How many people have the space for one of those at home?

Re:Arcade must evolve

[cgenman]

I always thought that arcades should have leveraged the control the owners have over them and setup a giant game-playing network, ensuring that even if there wasn't local competition ther would be competition from somewhere. Sadly, now the arcade owners would only be on par with consoles if they networked, but it is something they will have to do... and soon.

They also need to profit share with the people who develop arcade games if they want to survive.

Of course, the best games in the arcade right now (and for a long time) have been DDR and Konami's motion-tracking system setups. Apparently American Sammy was also tremendously successful with that soccerball - kicking game that everyone recognizes. Why we don't have more creative hardware-based games is beyond me, but that mantra of console compatibility that dominated the industry in the 90's needs to end.

OMG FMV Graphics

[fozzmeister]

It's years since i've seen them, jesus how poor. The worrying thing is a saw him saying how polygon people looked bad, he's just warped!

It's all about Japan really

[schild]

To understand why arcade games became a dead pasttime in America, you have to understand why they are so popular in Japan. It's quite simple actually.

Japan is condensed. Children over there like to rebel against their parents, get out of the house, and partake in some escapism and vices. What's better than beer, cigarettes, and arcade machines? Having them all in one centralized place where all of your friends can meet up. With the popularity of more social/active games rising (DDR, Beatmania, Donkey Konga, etc) - it's no wonder why arcades are so popular over here.

The inverse of the arcade's rise to popularity in Japan explains why they just fell apart here:

1. They are usually targeted at younger kids, i.e. kids who have $5, and that's it, cuz their mom is shoe shopping next door and doesn't trust the kid to not go off with a stranger and be kidnapped.
2. Arcades in the 80's were a haven for the 'geek' archetype. Once people could play games in their own home (most of which were better than the arcade variant), the geeks started staying at home. We're anti-social, am i rite?
3. Dave and Buster's is aiming for the Japanese style arcade where smoking, drinking, and social gaming rules the roost. Unfortunately they card you at the front door. So if you're under 21 without a parent you can't get in, so they don't get the foot traffic a regular non-smoking, non-alcohol-serving arcade gets.

If you are skimming this I'll sum it up shortly:

American Arcades suck.

Are you sure it IS by Jarvis?

[paulcammish]

If it is, where are the Epilepsy inducing strobing/color-cycling scores? (go play any of his old stuff if you dont know what I mean)

It looks a LOT like a slightly more modern version of Area 51 (Prerendered backdrops, badly integrated bad guys pasted over the top), and that ran on the CoJag hardware back in 1995.

Please Eugine, give it up - leave your record with some of the best Coin-Op games ever, and dont do a Lucas...

Re:Wrong theory

[robson]

Arcades died because of the home hardware/cost cycle caught up with the arcades.

But your hypothesis doesn't address why arcades and arcade games are still successful in Japan (which the parent post does address).