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Golden Age of Arcade Games
jayintune writes "2old2play has an article about the resurgence of arcade games in the living room. The article shows that while large companies like MS and Nintendo can make a nice dollar, small developers can now make money off of low budget arcade games with far less monetary risk. Just like fashion, what was once cool is now cool again." That, combined with the Xbox Live arcade rollouts, do seem to be bringing back the oldies but goldies.
...are interesting to folks.
We put Hearts and a couple of version of Solitaire in the first beta of indi and that was the thing that got the most "wow" - not the instant messaging, not the calendar stuff we'd labored over, but the multiplayer Hearts. Ah well.
The Army reading list
There (used to be before Katrina) a 'penny' arcade in New Orleans that we went to all the time. It was full of pretty current games, all in good shape. The trick was, every game was *actually* still a quarter. They were open until 3am on weekends too. Needless to say the place was always full of people. I understand that the newest games are mad expensive (>$10k), but still. $1.25 in an arcade game just wasn't destined to last.
Han shot first.
Russell Carroll has been talking about and predicting on "Attack of the Show" that Indy Gaming would get a boost thanks to the Live Arcade. The idea that you can sit down at a console and snag a game for $5 is the largest part of it, regardless if it's an Indy release, or an Arcade Classic. Most everyday Joe's aren't dedicated enough to build a MAME cabnet, but drop a few bucks on some Midway classics and get the instant gratification of playing immediately instead of getting a game at a retail outlet is an easy choice for most.
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The Michigan Lottery has a Pac-Man instant ticket, along with the regular cash prizes you can win 1 of 30 PacMan arcade games.
1 35347--,00.html
http://www.michigan.gov/lottery/0,1607,7-110-821-
as a teenager who grew up (age wise) in the 80s, I thought of this yesterday when I was talking to a contractor on building a room in my basement. I could just see a couple of machines side by side with a barstool nearby to sit on, and a load of quarters (you know, to complete the experience). I'm sure I want the ones that are in demand, and thus expensive, but Donkey Kong, Defender and Centipede would be oh-so sweet!
fak3r.com
I'd say that there were two golden ages. One being the one you mentioned with Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Dig Dug, Bump n Jump, Xevious, Sinistar, Rally-X, and Publius(ok, that one's a joke).
But there was a second golden age. Mortal Kombat/MKII, Killer Instinct, Tekken and the early SFII games. I dropped many an allowance on those games.
My rise to stardom at the local Mall began when the resident Asian kid was afraid to play against me.
That's not intended to be a racist statement, but every mall that I ever played at had one asian kid who would kick everyone's ass when they plunked their 50 cents into the machine. Ours was "Ming", he worked at the food court at the Manchu Wok. On his breaks he would come up to the arcade and play. He's spend 50 cents and beat people until his dad made him go back to work. When I got good, he had to bring up more than 50 cents when his break began.
One more session at KI? Where, oh where are you Ming Doggy Dogg?
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
It's in perfect condition and now I see them going for 3-4 times what I paid for in 7 years ago. I never thought of it as an investment. A word to the wise for anyone considering buy an arcade game, espescially an older upright - these things are monsters. They are big and heavy. They are hard to move around, especially up/down stairs and they take up a lot of space. They are loads of fun though and anytime someone new sees it in my house they are always in awe. It takes them back.
Oh, and if you buy a game with a trackball, make sure you maintain the berrings regularly even if your not using it.
Well, according to this, kids today do know the feeling of playing with a greasy joy stick.
You can mod your friends, you can mod your nose, but you can't mod your friend's nose.
>All the bad stuff remains more or less buried while a veritable trove of glittering jewels of culture are dusted off and appreciated anew.
We can compare the realm of games to those of music and literature. For every Mozart there was probably a hundred hack composers; for every Shakespeare, a hundred dreadful playwrights, churning out whatever might make them a living. Art & technology has progressed far in the centuries since, but the best work survives because, for all their technological limits (...from our standpoint ...) they hit something really, really important.
I'm not going to claim that Pac-Man or Hearts are comparable to Hamlet or to Mozart's Requiem, but in their own realm they appeal to our need for play in a way that transcends technology; while their numberless contemporary competitors have all but disappeared because they just didn't quite hit it.
--- Attorneys Assisting Citizen-Soldiers & Families -
You make a good point in support of the parent post. You mentioned Hearts as a great game. Well the only reason so many people can put out Hearts, Mahjong, etc. is that these are public domain. Either they were never "protected" in the first place or have slipped into PD becuase they are so old.
Imagine if someone owned a copyright/patent on the rules for chess. We'd have never been able to enjoy all the hundreds, if not thousands of "implentations" that are chess (E.g. classic board, computer chess, online chess, travel chess with little boards and magnetic pieces).
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Only on Slashdot could a completely unrelated article about arcade games turn into a rant about copyright. Get over it, there are millions of articles where you can get on your hobby horse, I'm here to read about arcade games.
>Imagine if someone owned a copyright/patent on the rules for chess
1. Apply for patent on chess
2. PTO grants patent
3. Sue anyone making games on a square board
4. ???
5. Profit!!!!
--- Attorneys Assisting Citizen-Soldiers & Families -
You must be quite the youngster yourself if you don't remember girls at the arcade. I remember back when arcades were where teenagers hung out. And I don't just mean the nerds. I mean all of them. The ones who weren't into video games could try their hand at any of the redemtion-style games available like Skee Ball, Skeet Shooting, or any number of machines that measure your strength. It was like a carnival without all the rides and that's the type of audience it attracted.
Ours was "Ming", he worked at the food court at the Manchu Wok. On his breaks he would come up to the arcade and play. He's spend 50 cents and beat people until his dad made him go back to work. When I got good, he had to bring up more than 50 cents when his break began.
Ah the old days on the mall. You know... When every mall in the states had an arcade, Babbage's, comic book store, and that hobby shop (which I can't remember)
I think the golden age of arcades for me was when Street Fighter II hit the shelves and went from that to Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, and Killer Instinct, and then went downhill about the time of Mortal Kombat III.
Throw in all the Neo Geo games at the time and it was damn fun.
I remember the days of Street Fighter II Championship edition in which we would wait in lines to challenge the current player. If you were good you could basically stay up there for a while til someone beat you.
Of course if no one was there and it was me and my friends we'd just put quarters in for both of us and let the first player play against the CPU and then if we were about to loose the second player would jump in and repeat the process.
Honorable mentions would be King of the Monsters, Operation Wolf, Double Dragon, NBA Jam, and Virtua Fighter.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
Exactly! :-)
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Personally I will not be participating in this sell-out, but will conitnue lobbying to have most of this IP freed to the public that so generously allowed its creators a profit in the first place.
It's not illegal to copy the idea for a game. Go nuts.
Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
You realize that public domain != Free, don't you?
Last time I bought a CD of Mozart sonatas, which are public domain, I still had to purchase the recording. The difference, is that whoever made the recording did not have to pay royalties to the original copyright holder.
Even if these games were public domain, the company providing them would be completely entitled to ask a fee for that service.
Copyright means I can restrict who profits from my work. Public Domain means ANYONE can profit from my work.
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The point is: Live! would operate exactly the same if the games were Public Domain. You say that Microsoft is subverting the system, but I fail to see how what they do on Live! affects copyright and Public Domain at all.
Hell, I'm sure Microsoft would be thrilled if all the games they're pushing on Live! were PD, because it means they wouldn't have to pay anyone for the right to sell them.
Yep, me and the boys are going to pull out the electric guitars and start jamming to Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. I can see it.
Ira
Bach's Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor would sound damn cool on electric guitar/bass. Of course, that piece sounds damn cool on ANYTHING. (Heard a recording of a kazoo ensemble play it once)
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Here's what you're ignoring: MICROSOFT IS NOT THE IP HOLDER.
They are up against the same IP restrictions as anyone else trying to set up a similar service. Microsoft is just the first to set up a working business model DESPITE the IP restrictions. Just because noone got it working before doesn't mean Microsoft is 'bad' for pulling it off.
I'm up for Microsoft bashing as much as the next guy, but you're not making sense here.
I'm not going to claim that Pac-Man or Hearts are comparable to Hamlet or to Mozart's Requiem
Go ahead. It's okay. No one here is going to fault you for it.
If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
I've got a Donkey Kong and Two Pac-Man machines taking up space in my living room right now. I've always prided myself on being ahead of the trend-curve - and dammit - I still gots it baby!
Now I can justify getting 4 more machines to my sig-other. Oh honey? We need to remodel the living room some more - I'm thinking Sinistar and Robotron. Whaddya think? Honey?....Honey?
Which is why I love my OzStick :)
It has a joystick and 9(!) buttons.
When mp3.com was around in its original incarnation there was an instrumental rock group that did Fugue and Tocatta in D minor along with a bunch of other Bach compositions. They sound great. I think they were calling themselves the JS bach experience.
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Ohh don't worry; the excitment of playing with a greasy joystick within the comfort of your own basement is familiar to all Slashdotters young and old.
Don't blame me, I voted for Cthulhu.
As Zippy the Pinhead once said "Utopia isn't all it is cracked up to be, there isn't anything to complain about."
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
I remember getting into arcade games later in college in the mid 80s. There was a section of the student center you walked through on your way across campus that had 10-15 games. I got into some of them, sometimes too much making me late for class!
Xybots: Fun maze games that was great with a partner for teamwork due to the split screen
Xenophobe: Fun cartoonish graphics and with good controls. One of my favs!
Smash TV: One of my all time favs. Great with a partner. Sort of like Bezerk meets The Running Man. "Total Carnage!"
Road Blasters: Got boring after a while but a good fast shoot-em up
Black Tiger: I didn't get into this until MAME came along because it was a real quarter eater. Lots of guys I saw were obsessed with it. Closest thing to arcade D&D we had.
Gondomania: Fun shootem up with nice graphics and lots of cool weapons.
Gauntlet: A quarter eater that could get annoying fast. I still find myself saying "Warrior needs food, badly" under my breath when I'm hungry like a total nerd.
APB: A real blast driving all over the place while the Sergeant chews you out in his "grumble grumble" talk
Heavy Barrel: Scrolling top-down shootem up that was fun just because of the big fat bullets your guy shot and the shrapnel from the grenades.
???: I can't remember the name of this tank game for the life of me. You had the two stick style tank controller with a top down angled view and a rotating turret for Doom-like strafing. I became VERY good at this and finished it a few times on one quarter each time. It may have been an Atari game because it used some of the Atari fonts and sounds.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
I had completely forgotton APB until your post. I miss those damned games. It's too hard to find a good source for MAME ROMS.
I picked up a several GB archive once, but only about half of the games worked and of those only about half were any good.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
there was this lot.
They were pretty popular in the 80's. A lot of their music was used for TV shows and documentaries. It had a sort of futuristic, electronic feel to it, even though they were all classically trained musicians. They did a great tocatta on the electric guitar.
A crash reduces
Your expensive computer
to a simple stone.
Thanks for the thought, but I can't download it. Members only or somesuch.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano