Did MMO's replace arcades?

[shortylickens]

And if so, is that a good thing?

 

[Soccerman06]

Arcades were going byebye ever since the ps1 came out. I dont even think my hometown even has one anymore and it has a population over 100k. The ones I have been too recently have nothing but those motion control games that cost like $1-2 each play and little kid games for tickets. I think it has more to do with consoles being so cheap and parents buying kids games (and gamefly/netflix). Would u rather play a crappy arcade game that costs $20/hr or play a random game from the $20/30 goty collections?

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Yeah it's the console that killed them, it's too bad I wish there were more adult places like Dave & Busters used to be. I worked next to an arcade I used to visit as a kid and one of the owners told me he knew it was over when his son came home from the mall with ps1 Tekken and it was essentially the same as the arcade version.

 

[Craig234]

What MMO's really replace are a lot of other computer games IMO.

 

[Newbian]

Cheap PC computers and consoles are what killed them.

They were largely dead before mmo's were around.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

the arcade industry went tits-up in the early 80's. the atari 2600 just finished it off.

 

[apoppin]

the arcade industry went tits-up in the early 80's. the atari 2600 just finished it off.

It was later than that. More likely around the time of the Sega Genesis where the home consoles got powerful enough to look nearly as good as at the arcades. The same games were released for the arcade and for the console and gamers stopped spending their quarters and started buying more games.

There could always be a return to arcades - if they could offer a much better gaming experience than that available at home. But it doesn't look like the industry is heading that way even though it doesn't look like the movie theater is in danger of dying out because of home theater. 3D and multi-panel gaming is already here and soon virtual reality will be available as an at-home experience which can be enhanced by playing with others over the Internet instead of going to a designated public place for gaming.

 

[techwanabe]

It was later than that. More likely around the time of the Sega Genesis where the home consoles got powerful enough to look nearly as good as at the arcades. The same games were released for the arcade and for the console and gamers stopped spending their quarters and started buying more games.

That makes sense. For me, I played in the arcades only on a limited basis because I hated spending money as I played. I always prefered buying something and then enjoying it without having to continue ponying up. I did end up breaking that philosophy for a couple of years playing an MMO that was subscription I suppose, but at less than $10/month, it was minimal cost compared to many forms of entertainment. Still, there was something satisfying about the large controls in some of the arcades, and I loved good old Centipede with that big flywheel style track ball!

There could always be a return to arcades - if they could offer a much better gaming experience than that available at home. But it doesn't look like the industry is heading that way even though it doesn't look like the movie theater is in danger of dying out because of home theater.

Yeah, arcades would have to be mega to regain their glory which probably won't happen. I find having a decent HD screen of 46 inches or bigger with good sound is satisfying enough to give me a semi movie like experience at home. The only reason I go to theater anymore is to do something fun with relatives/family at Christmas or in the summer. Otherwise I can wait a few months and get the Bluray.

 

[KaOTiK]

I miss arcades, had tons of fun in them. Nothing could beat 16 people all playing Daytona USA together right next to each other.

 

[Zenoth]

I miss arcades, had tons of fun in them. Nothing could beat 16 people all playing Daytona USA together right next to each other.

This.

I also remember that in most arcades I went in almost as soon as I entered one of the first arcade game I could hear on top of all others was Killer Instinct with its famous combo breaker and ultra combo announcer shouts. I miss them dearly. I used to wish that games on consoles would look as good as arcade games, that was way back when I myself was still playing my SNES and my Genesis. When the following generation of consoles arrived a whole new world of video games graphics opened the gamers' eyes, and the gap in video quality, game size and complexity between the best arcades could offer and home consoles had in store was bridged in just about no time within that generation.

The arcades had their time, I think it's just that simple, they don't need to come back either, I loved them, but it wouldn't work anymore as it used to, now gaming happens on the move with handhelds almost as powerful as the latest consoles themselves, or at home with the actual consoles and friends.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

I remember the video arcades with their coin-op games. They were a big part of my youth. They started to die out in the late '80's. I agree that it was the increase in power of home consoles and PCs that did them in.

Today it's gotten to the point where the coin-op games can't replicate the experience of PC gaming. There's just no coin-op equivalent for a team-based online multiplayer first person shooter.

 

[apoppin]

That makes sense. For me, I played in the arcades only on a limited basis because I hated spending money as I played. I always prefered buying something and then enjoying it without having to continue ponying up. I did end up breaking that philosophy for a couple of years playing an MMO that was subscription I suppose, but at less than $10/month, it was minimal cost compared to many forms of entertainment. Still, there was something satisfying about the large controls in some of the arcades, and I loved good old Centipede with that big flywheel style track ball!

That was actually the first time that arcades got popular. With the classics like Space Invaders that got a bit more complex as it went on. However, the Atari 2600 did start to catch up a bit with Pac Man and Donkey Kong, but the arcades got the new games and it took almost until Genesis to match the arcade experience at home. The controllers sucked for Atari 5200.

i got good at some of the old games. i could put millions of points on Ms Pacman and play literally all day on a quarter at Q*bert. After i got my first PC Atari 800XL, i stopped with arcades and consoles.

Yeah, arcades would have to be mega to regain their glory which probably won't happen. I find having a decent HD screen of 46 inches or bigger with good sound is satisfying enough to give me a semi movie like experience at home. The only reason I go to theater anymore is to do something fun with relatives/family at Christmas or in the summer. Otherwise I can wait a few months and get the Bluray.

Games started out at a quarter a play - which was reasonable even for relatively poor kids. By the time Dragon's Lair was sucking 50 cents a pop or a dollar for a few seconds of play, it was obvious that the value was gone.

Now it would be SO expensive for (for example) a Virtual Reality center - in terms of space and hardware investments, that they would have to charge each person $10 for just a few minutes of play.

Perhaps inflation killed the arcades.

Today it's gotten to the point where the coin-op games can't replicate the experience of PC gaming. There's just no coin-op equivalent for a team-based online multiplayer first person shooter.

That is true. i have 6' of display at 5760x1080 - in S3D !!

 

[Grooveriding]

I loved the arcade, not really for the more recent arcadey stuff, but I'm a huge pinball fanatic.

I live in a big city (3 million, 12 million or so if including the bordering cities to the east/west/north). We had two huge arcades downtown here, and various smaller ones. The smaller ones closed a good 15 years ago, one of the big ones went about 10 years ago and the last huge one went about 5 years ago.

There is just one tiny one left at the train station downtown. Fortunately it is basically all pinball machines :thumbsup:

Blame consoles and kids wanting easy games. Arcade games and pinball were anything but forgiving. They take skill and cost a good deal if you suck and your game lasts under 3 minutes.

 

[apoppin]

i think Las Vegas still has arcade gaming .. the machines have changed a little bit .. and look how expensive they are:

http://www.bmigaming.com/games-video-shooting-hunting.htm#frightfearland

 

[Dankk]

There could always be a return to arcades - if they could offer a much better gaming experience than that available at home. But it doesn't look like the industry is heading that way even though it doesn't look like the movie theater is in danger of dying out because of home theater.

The difference is that movies are a passive form of entertainment, where dozens of people can sit in front of a screen and have the same experience. Video games are different. Obviously arcades have more than one machine in them, but even then, people don't want to be in a noisy public area while trying to focus on a game. They'd rather be on their couch or at their desk in the comfort of their own home.

 

[soccerballtux]

cheap arcades would have made a great date. Too bad the last real arcade shut down right about when it was time to start dating

 

[mmntech]

Arcades when belly up when the Genesis and SNES slaughtered them. Remember the point of these consoles was to bring the arcade experience home. Game companies could make more money that way selling software with little overhead cost. The Playstation finally finished them off.

The movie theatres still have arcades in them where I am. Most of the games they have are quite old though. We're talking PS2 quality graphics or older. I had no idea they still made new games.

 

[SMOGZINN]

And if so, is that a good thing?

Yes, and bicycles with two of the same sized tires has replaced the bicycles with one really big and one small tire.
And no, it is not a good thing. We should all still wear spats.

 

[SMOGZINN]

What MMO's really replace are a lot of other computer games IMO.

What MMO's really replace is a social life.

EDIT: To explain, MMO’s are pure escapism that does an adequate job of giving the users a filling of social interaction with out having to actually deal with people as if they were real. They allow you to feel nominally like you are fulfilled in your natural desire for social interaction with out almost any of the pitfalls of actually social interaction.

 

[power_hour]

MMOs replaced the TV and other boring stuff once PC games became a more common entertainment option. I think they are more a statment of how our society has changed over the years rather than a replacment to Arcades per se.

Interestingly enough, the Atari 2600 days actually encouraged me to visit the Arcade more because of the console's crappy graphics and sound. Mind you when I ran out of money I didn't mind the crappy graphics and sound so much. ;p

I still find many Arcades around though so their demise isn't quite entirely true. They are still a blast and are a common after hours excursion.

 

[blackened23]

And if so, is that a good thing?

I remember being a little kid and going to the arcane to play mortal kombat 2 and street fighter. Those were the days.

If nothing else, the social interaction among regulars was a fun thing, I got into the sf2 tournament scene and met a lot of cool dudes.

 

[mizzou]

I used to go to the arcade to specifically play arcade games that were lightyears ahead of any console game available.

Things really started to go downhill after the superNES and sega genesis were both replaced with next-gen tech.

From that point moving on, arcades generally felt like a clunky way to play a console game.

VR arcades was the only thing left that gave you a unique and new experience but those were too expensive and never caught on.

One of my happiest moments as a kid was battling it out against my siblings on a game of battletech VR in my own mech cockpit on a multiplayer game (which then was almost unheard of except for LAN games of Doom, etc.)

and also playing that pterodactyl game, where you could look down and see your legs and then move your hand around with the gun. I spent 1/2 the time just enjoying the experience and not even playing competitively

 

[sactoking]

I don't agree that consoles killed arcades; arcades killed arcades.

In the early to mid 90's arcade owners got into huge battles over who could stock the latest and greatest cabinet. Where you once had single-player cabinets that could bring in 25 cents a pop, games like Street Fighter started bringing in 50 cents per play (2 players). Then cabinets like TMNT brought in $1 per play (4 players). Then racing games brought in $2 per play (4 players x $0.50 each). It became an arms race of one-upsmanship to see who could get the newest, coolest cabinet.

Unfortunately, the newest, coolest games cost a lot so the price per play started creeping up. And what's new and cool today won't be new and cool tomorrow, so arcade owners had to up the price per play more to recoup costs faster. It eventually got to the point in the late 90s and early 2000s where a standard game could easily cost $1 per play and the best cabinets could be $2-5 per play.

At that point arcade gaming was so expensive that people stopped going. When people stopped going arcade owners replaced all the games with midway-style ticket belchers that never go out of style, can be priced at $0.25 to $0.50 per play, and trigger juvenile compulsions to keep on playing to get 500,000 tickets for that pencil topper.

 

[ikachu]

I'm not sure if it will catch on in other cities, but Austin has a great arcade inspired by Japanese arcades (which never stopped being popular).

http://www.arcadeufo.com/

 

[Newbian]

Plus the fact that all the best games at the times, killer instinct and such fighting games, were always controlled by one person 90% of the time that would kill anyone with one combo when you tried to play against them or wanted to try single player and the asshat jumped in.