How cabinet rentals could save the flagging arcade game market

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/07/how-cabinet-rentals-could-save-the-flagging-arcade-game-market/

by ulysses • 13 years ago

2 1 13 years ago

anigbrowl• 13 years ago

The market is flagging because cabinet manufacturers don't innovate. For the last decade (or more) I've kept wandering into arcades and being perplexed about why they offer less than what I can enjoy at home with an average-power computer, an ordinary game console, and a moderate-size TV. The only thing differen tin arcade is a heavy-duty controller, the games themselves are tame in the extreme.

I know it costs a fortune to develop a game. But why not install super-juiced PCs and ultra-high-res monitors or ultra-large screens, of the sort that I couldn't afford or fit at home? I remember playing a Sega R-360 which came out in 1990 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVbmoF9Ehuk

Good luck finding anything this cool in a US arcade nowadays. I would cheerfully pay $5 for a few minutes in one of these with an up-to-date space/flight game. I don't want a nostalgia trip playing some 30 year old console (well, OK, sometimes), what I want is a new experience that I can't have at home, but manufacturers don't seem interested in offering that.

How cabinet rentals could save the flagging arcade game market

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