GameTap posted an insightful article spotlighting the arcade scene’s last surviving icons, Sunnyvale Golfland in Northern CA. The article starts off giving some history on the family-owned miniature golf park, noting it’s relevance to it’s part in serving as a testing ground for game developers throughout the decades. What’s further discussed is the evolution of the arcade market’s evolution within the video game industry as well as the causes leading to it’s proximal demise.

I gotta agree with many of the points made as to why arcades became practically non-existent shortly after the turn of the century. Most significant, I’d say, being the cost of the hardware in the arcade machines themselves. Arcade games for years had the advantage of being far more advanced than the consoles. But with Next Gen consoles bridging that gap (the Dreamcast being a primary culprit, being built on technology that was shared with it’s arcade counterparts), unimpressive software had to be compensated by superior audio/video hardware to attract an audience.

Similarly, one point I often mention is the turnover of new titles. It takes a while for arcade to make enough money from a game before they can pay off it’s cost before it becomes profitable. Many of the arcade high-rollers (like Capcom) would pump out sequels so frequently, it was hard for arcades stay fresh with the hottest trends and make end’s meet.

I believe that the arcade community–in spirit anyway–is not as dead as it may seem. It’s simply evolved into a different form. More accurately, forms. Games that are co-operative have found home in most PC games like MMORPGs or first-person strategy games. Those seeking the challenge of the high score have various online games as well as console-based gaming networks like Xbox Live Arcade. Consoles have also made it easy for those seeking the competitive scene, since all you need is one console, any TV, the game software, and a place for all to meet in order to kick off a tournament. Game centers (like Game Frog) are taking advantage of the less expensive PC and console equipment in order to support the public gaming market.

Old school gamers like myself may never see arcades the way we did in our glory days, but we’re far from seeing the video game community fall from a joyous gathering of geeks into a reclusive dissolve into solipsism. Myself, I’ll always have the game room at the annual Animazement as well as the weekly CORPSE meet-up.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 4:24 pm and is filed under Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.