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Halflife 2 Coming to an Arcade Nowhere Near You

Posted by Zonk on from the use-the-dance-pad-mr.-freeman dept.

Phill Proud writes "Arcade board manufacturer Taito is set to begin sales of an arcade version of Halflife 2, including a multiplayer mode, in the Summer of 2005 (Japan) "Taito will develop an arcade version for their original "Type X" circuit board. The Type X is an arcade game circuit board running Windows XP Embedded that can use the Windows game development environment. The arcade game will be a customised version of the Windows software and will allow 3 game modes - a "Story mode" for single-player play, a "Battle mode" for players country-wide to compete in real-time and a "Mission mode" for players to collaborate tactically.""

40 comments

  1. that's ok... by evilmousse · · Score: 2, Interesting


    there aren't any arcades near me anymore anyway. ..and this isn't helping. bring back the quarter!

    1. Re:that's ok... by dykofone · · Score: 5, Insightful
      A quarter would be awesome. Arcades lost their luster for me when I started having to pay $1 for Area 51 because I couldn't afford Time Crisis 2 at $2. Pretty much the only arcades left any more are at places like Dave and Busters, where you get a point card that really starts to screw up the budgeting. "Let's see, $10 got me 4378 points, and Tokyo Wars costs 653 points, so that makes it cost how much?"

      On a slightly related note, I was wating in the airport recently and realized how well an arcade would do there. I might even be willing to spend $1 for a round at some shooter, since that'd be cheap compared to the $8 Big Mac I just ate, and beats the hell out of watching the Weather Channel while sitting on those akward benches.

    2. Re:that's ok... by evilmousse · · Score: 1


      Several airports I've been to have passable arcades. What about gameboys tho, surely they cut into the market for arcades as well?

      going offtopic: I've played outrun 2 for xbox recently, and it's been a pleasant reminder of the simple addictiveness and zen-while-playing that modern go-for-complexity videogames have been lacking.

    3. Re:that's ok... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tokyo wars costs 1,5 dollars.

    4. Re:that's ok... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude, just invest in one of these.

    5. Re:that's ok... by Robmonster · · Score: 1

      I recently flew out of Sanford Inl in Florida.

      While waiting through a horrendous delay ( the plane I was supposed to be catching hadnt yet left the UK...) I spotted a decent looking Arcade.

      However, you had to pay a flat fee of $20 (might have been a little less, cant remember) but then all the games were free. Trouble was, they wouldnt let you in to look at what games were available before buying. I wasnt about to shell out, only to find they had 7 Street Fighter 2 boxes in there.....

      RM

      --
      I have no sig yet I must scream.
  2. Here's hoping by BortQ · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I hope for their sake that Half-life 2 doesn't suck.

    --

    A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
  3. No Where Near You (Not!) by Gogo+Dodo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Not if I'm in Japan you insensitive clod!

    1. Re:No Where Near You (Not!) by Hedonist123 · · Score: 1
      So you're sensitive about your location? Get over it, you're rare for an English based game website.

      hed.

      --
      http://goldysmom.blogspot.com
    2. Re:No Where Near You (Not!) by Gogo+Dodo · · Score: 1

      "You insensitive clod" was a common answer to the /. Polls. I was also trying to point out that the story was very U.S.-centric and trying to be a little funny. I'm not even in Japan. Never mind...

  4. Yeeks! by itwerx · · Score: 1, Funny

    The Type X is an arcade game circuit board running Windows XP Embedded

    So, um, do you get bonus points for causing a BSOD?

    1. Re:Yeeks! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah ha ha ha

      You're so funny!

    2. Re:Yeeks! by Gothic_Walrus · · Score: 1
      The Blue Screen of Death doesn't exist in Windows XP.

      There is a blue and white screen that you see if your computer is farked up beyond saving, but the chances of you wrecking the arcade game to that point would be slim to none.

      --
      Goo goo g'joob.
    3. Re:Yeeks! by vhold · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It's probably going to have some extremely simple watchdog piece of hardware that will reboot the machine if it ever stops receiving it's ticks from the OS, or perhaps even the game itself (since the game itself is a kind of crashable operating system)

      If you wanna see something cool, in Counterstrike: Source, which uses the HL2 engine, open up the console and execute:
      "+showbudget"

      It brings up this dynamically updating chart showing each of the game's subsystems and how much time, in milliseconds, is being spent in each one, with a kind of color coded historical running graph at the top showing each component's share and the total time spent per frame. Kinda pointless for an end user, but in a way it's rather englightening to see what the most expensive operations are. There is an even crazier realtime full on function level profiler available through the console as well, but I havn't really messed with it.

    4. Re:Yeeks! by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      No, but a reboot costs a quarter.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    5. Re:Yeeks! by justforaday · · Score: 1

      The Blue Screen of Death doesn't exist in Windows XP.

      It sure does! You have to uncheck the "disable BSOD" checkbox (aka the "automatically restart" system failure property dealie). But sure enough, it can BSOD. Of course, it's almost always due to faulty hardware when it does, but it still can do it.

      --
      I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
    6. Re:Yeeks! by bhtooefr · · Score: 1

      I thought that the BSOD got that name from Windows NT, where it was always a fatal error, and they happened fairly often back in those days. On Win9x, it's sometimes possible to recover from a BSOD (in fact, a VxD could throw a BSOD telling you to go fuck yourself, and to press enter to continue, and Windows wouldn't have any problems). In Windows 3.1, throwing a BSOD was normal behavior when the three-finger salute was used.

    7. Re:Yeeks! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have used Windows XP since it went gold back in 2001 and have yet to encounter one BSOD.

      Get your facts straight before you start trollin like its 1995.

    8. Re:Yeeks! by potHead42 · · Score: 1

      In Windows 95 through ME, you could just take out the floppy while Windows tries to access it and you got a BSOD (but you could just hit esc to cancel).

    9. Re:Yeeks! by Leroy_Brown242 · · Score: 1

      ooo, spiffy.

      --
      Pretty Pictures!
    10. Re:Yeeks! by Gothic_Walrus · · Score: 1
      Well...in that case, paint me purple and call me Mabel.

      Yet another case where I've been proven wrong on Slashdot. Thanks for correcting me. :)

      --
      Goo goo g'joob.
    11. Re:Yeeks! by tsm_sf · · Score: 1

      That's just the BSOMI.

      --
      Literalism isn't a form of humor, it's you being irritating.
  5. Yes yes yes! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bring back the arcade! If Bungie is willing to release Halo, a game which is native to mouse n keyboard/gamepad play to the arcade, the Capcom I HOPE YOU ARE LISTENING, as well as other game developers. There are still people out there whoi will go to arcades if, and only if there are games to be played there. And I'm not talking about classics. While it's fun to play some Galaga every once in a while, we need some new content hitting the arcade scene or else it's going to die. Big thumbs up to Bungie on this.

    1. Re:Yes yes yes! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah, damn This is Half-life...
      ah..
      er.... ... just replace "Halo" with Half-Life 2 and the "Bungie" with Valve/Taito and yeah... my post makes sense now. See? fixed!

    2. Re:Yes yes yes! by hollismb · · Score: 1

      Now that you mention it, though, releasing Halo 2 in arcades would be a pretty cool move, as long as they had a whole system link thing going on. Not that you can't just do it at home, but still...

    3. Re:Yes yes yes! by fatboyslack · · Score: 1

      Thing is, they're releasing Half-Life 2, not Halo 2. But I digress.

      --
      Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. -- Leo Tolstoy
  6. I expect some graphics changes... by Zangief · · Score: 2, Interesting

    To match the japanese tastes

    1. Re:I expect some graphics changes... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      River city ransom rules, I've killed so much time with that game

  7. Been Awhile by EngineeringMarvel · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    It's been a long time since I have been to an arcade. Do they still have Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, or Pole Posistion at them? Maybe the original Star Wars game?

    --
    I couldn't think of anything witty to say, so...you're stuck with this.
  8. Smart Decision by TheFev · · Score: 1

    America's arcade sales are horrendous these days. It would have been stupid and suicidal to create them here, especially with the amount of mods that are in planning stages. I would even go as far to say that the sale in Japan is suprising- arcades are a slowly dying industry all over the world, with the advent of home computing and home consoles.

    1. Re:Smart Decision by Ethon · · Score: 1

      Home computing AND home consoles? No way?!

      When will I get one of these 'home computers' in my house?

      [fastforward back to the year 2004]

    2. Re:Smart Decision by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I did just thought of something. Think of being an arcade that can compete with the ever-growing (especially in Asia) internet cafe business. People could go to your arcade and play their favorite FPS AND still be able to check out some of the other cool games that are best played at arcades like fighting games, side-scrolling actions games, and ticket games.

      That business (cyber cafes) is very popular with young people and others who are too poor to afford the high end systems that many games require now. Heck, even consoles are expensive when they first hit the market. This prevents a lot of people from playing a lot of poplular games and I see this as a potential niche market. Having games in arcades = money coming in as it catches on and people buy up arcade boards, and it also = "shelf-space" only the "shelf" is a spot in an arcade room.

      Big names like Half-Life, and I heard someone mention HALO are almost certain to draw in a rather large audience. In fact, I can almost see this as direct competition to Halo, what with being from the same genre and all. I know I'd walk a few blocks to the neighborhood arcade in order to play my favorite FPS for 2$ or so a round if I didn't have a high end system, or a console. This is a great idea.

    3. Re:Smart Decision by Taulin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      American arcades need a new direction. Charging more for less gameplay time is not the solution, and is the main cause of the decline we see today (starting with Dragon's Lair). Most arcade games today to no reward better players with extended time. As mentioned, cafes are on the right track, and should be extended to 'Console Arcades', and be similar to water slide parks. $x for x minutes. $x+1 for the whole day. Have setups for teams, competitions, high scores, etc. Have them based on home games, who cares. Rental movies are the same as those bought except stores pay more for licenses, etc. Same thing should be available for console arcades.

    4. Re:Smart Decision by pragma_x · · Score: 1

      Game cafes are still in their infancy though, and are yet to be a viable buisness model; remember internet cafes? Not many stuck around after the investment capitol ran out. :(

      The common misconception in running a game cafe is that you will cut a profit on charing time for gameplay, as traditional arcades do. If you try to keep current with your venue's game library, you'll find it difficult to keep spending $50/ea. for the games that will bring people in.

      In fact, they actually make ends meet by charing for play *and* selling all sorts of slightly overpriced snacks and drinks. Plus, running regularly scheduled events (competitions, product tours, etc) helps too.

      A better solution: avoid all the overhead and run a gaming-based club instead. Most gamers interested in this stuff already have the gear at home... so the only experience they'll get that is different from the living room is a social one.

      For your efforts, people will get a place to hang out one night a week, a chance at a ladder match, throw down at smash bros, or whatever you conjure up. In addition they may get food (depends on venue) drinks at the bar, and a social experience unlike any house party they've thrown on their own.

  9. Not the first usage of embedded windows. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When I was a casino tech we used to have to deal with BSOD's all the time from the embedded windows machines.. You think on custom hardware with a custom compile / installation they could get it right... nope.

  10. Oblig. by Fortran6502 · · Score: 1

    OMFG! Think of the Beowulf cluster you could make out of these!

    --
    I am the Lizard king
  11. Quakeand Redneck by Taulin · · Score: 1

    I remember when Quake and Redneck Rampage machines were in the arcade. They BOMBED! Nobody ever played them despite the huge screen. Basically they were seats with a track ball on on arm, and a stick on the other.

    1. Re:Quakeand Redneck by hal2814 · · Score: 1

      I played Redneck Rampage in an arcade once in Texas. It was quite dull, espeially without the cuss pack. It's just too long and involved for an arcade game and its multiplayer is not its strong suit. The controls weren't all that great either. I spent most of my time there playing Marvel vs. Capcom, which was new at the time.

  12. MAME here we come by cyrax777 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I wonder how long before Mame emulates it.