By Anthony Biondi (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 7, 2012
Alien Vs. Predator. That’s all I have to say. One of the greatest games I ever sank my coins into. I spent the greater part of my childhood standing in front of a massive box inset with a television and joysticks. There were hours of shooting dinosaurs and flying fighting jets. On top of this I managed my coins enough to earn tickets for the prize table at the end of the day. Imagine the excitement when I purchased my first console and could have this same experience at home.
But maybe something special was lost in the change from arcade to SNES.
Consoles have been around for ages. The golden age of arcade gaming was in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and although arcades were still popular, gamers were already well-acquainted with the Atari and NES. These systems quickly evolved into SuperNES and Sega Genesis. But during this time the arcade lived on. How is it that the arcade could live side-by-side with the console and survive up until now?
The charm of the arcade is in supplying the player with cutting-edge entertainment in formats the console could not provide. It could come in the form of a customized gun controller, a taller screen for overhead scrolling, a motorbike seat, or even the entire cockpit of a space ship complete with lights and movement. This level of immersion and interactivity was profound and exciting. It took us from our daily lives and placed us completely into another world. The old, at-home consoles could not provide this kind of immersion. They were limited by the size of the screen, the limitations of basic hardware, and the handheld controller. Since the arcade could break this boundary it remained as an exciting social experience, the likes of which could not be done from home.
Arcades still have this variety, but home consoles have become competitors. Motion games and interactive tools (as well as the expansion of TV capabilities and the realism displayed in recent consoles) now allow us to experience this level of immersion from our couches at home. No longer do we need to go to a dedicated facility to find ourselves lost in another world. High definition graphics and dynamic storytelling coupled with longer and more intensive experiences opened the gaming world up to a whole new style of play. The arcade may have allowed us briefly into this world, but now our consoles not only take us there, but keep us there longer.
The second blow comes from the social aspect of gaming. It’s all about the community and always has been. Before the creation of the Internet and online games, gamers competed against each other in person in front of a united screen. Scoreboards would tell us that our friend was 50 points above us, and we had to play again to beat him. The arcade was a place to go to compete for dominance. It was a contest of perfection and highest scores. It was all about the multiplayer gaming. This was the arcade’s strongest trait, and one that not even the inclusion of four controllers on the N64 could beat.
Nowadays, though, we can experience live multiplayer gaming from home, and on a grander scale than awkward split-screen. Online consoles have solidified themselves in the recent generation, expanding into a full-blown phenomenon. Things like Xbox live and the PlayStation Network allow us to instantaneously interact with not only our friends, but people from around the world as well. Not only has the console stolen the core experience from the arcade, it has improved it.
The online gaming community has not only wounded the arcade establishment; it has poured salt over every cut. The release of the online arcade and online shops selling classic games has taken part of the nostalgia away. Even some arcade classics find their way into the vast troves of gaming gems. Because of this, the fate of the arcade has been sealed in digital dollars and a worldwide community.
Its strongest traits stolen, the arcade is left a washed out novelty. It is now a place to go to reminisce. Sure, pinball and DDR had their moments, but they cannot keep the sinking ship of arcade gaming from going bottom up. With the lack of frequent customers, arcades have had to resort to other games such as mini-golf, go-carts, and the like to keep customers coming.
However fun these items may be, they will never be the same as the good old days of true arcading.
Arcade is dead. Long live arcade.
