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Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

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Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#21

Post by sayangel »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #14

I thought emulation would bring back the arcade, but that failed to catch on. A dying arcade I visited several years ago had a simple cabinet and a marquee that said something to the effect of "500 Games in One!" After trying it, it was pretty clear that it was running some kind of legal version of MAME. I wouldn't be surprised if the innards themselves were just a PC tower with a MAME-GUI loaded onto it. The point b…

I think the experiences at an arcade have to be ones you can't get at home for it to be compelling enough to come back. You said it yourself: it probably was just a PC with MAME running. You can do that at home. What I can't do at home is sit on a stool with a bunch of flashing lights and Howie Mandel asking me to pick a suitcase. And perhaps have people cheer me on.

I think the same will go for VR arcades. It's gotta be more than a bunch of PCs running software. It's more about the experience.

Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#22

Post by Zikes »

I think some folks are forgetting the benefits of an arcade that go beyond the games themselves. There's an establishment near me called Arkadia Retrocade[1] that's doing fairly well attracting customers by setting a flat entrance fee with no charge at the machines. They have great atmosphere and are a popular hangout for gamers of all ages. I've seen some people pay to get in the door while barely touching the arcade machines.

[1] https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arkadia-Retrocade/29361913074...

Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#23

Post by jsprogrammer »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #14

I thought emulation would bring back the arcade, but that failed to catch on. A dying arcade I visited several years ago had a simple cabinet and a marquee that said something to the effect of "500 Games in One!" After trying it, it was pretty clear that it was running some kind of legal version of MAME. I wouldn't be surprised if the innards themselves were just a PC tower with a MAME-GUI loaded onto it. The point b…

800 plays just to break even. It would have to average over 4 plays per day for 6 months to to cover the (likely a low estimate) $200 cost.

Why would I play a MAME cabinet for $0.25 when I could do it at home for nothing? How many people actually even play a MAME game any where on any given day? They probably barely collected enough quarters to pay for the electricity to power the machine.

Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#24

Post by programminggeek »

You know why people don't like arcades anymore? Per play session value is super low. When it was like one quarter to play a game, it was fun, cheap entertainment. When the per game cost jumped up to a $0.50 or $1.00, or even more in some cases, it started to become a bad deal.

There is still a place for cheap arcade fun. It's just that arcade machines aren't cheap enough to hook people anymore.

Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#25

Post by joezydeco »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #14

I thought emulation would bring back the arcade, but that failed to catch on. A dying arcade I visited several years ago had a simple cabinet and a marquee that said something to the effect of "500 Games in One!" After trying it, it was pretty clear that it was running some kind of legal version of MAME. I wouldn't be surprised if the innards themselves were just a PC tower with a MAME-GUI loaded onto it. The point b…

But a) 80% of those 500 games are garbage and b) even the 20% that are enjoyable and/or "classic" are dated.

You can grab the older retro-loving crowd for a little while, you won't grab the kids at all. If you were 12 which would you prefer to play for more than 10 minutes? Mario Bros (Arcade, 1983) or New Super Mario Bros (WiiU, 2012)?

Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#26

Post by modeless »

jsprogrammer wrote: post #19
TrevorJ wrote: post #18

The problem is capital investment. A VR arcade will be cutting edge for what, 18 months at the most ? After that the hardware is no longer better than what you can achieve at a consumer level. That's not very long to make back your investment. I do think there is a place for a third party business when it comes to VR though in the realm of 'guided' RPG's and narratives. Imagine paying 25 bucks for you and your friend…

Would you really need a physical arcade for that though? If everyone has a black box strapped to their face and can communicate sub-100ms, would people even know that they weren't in the same physical location?

People don't need to be in the same physical location. However they do all need to be in arcades so that they can all have access to warehouse-scale motion capture setups as well as physical sets and motion-captured props that would be impractical to keep at your house.

Actually, it would be more interesting if they weren't in the same physical location. A VR arcade chain would be a great way to hang out with friends in other cities; you could all visit the local arcade location in your city and then hang out together in a shared virtual space. The game would almost be secondary. Imagine being able to play pool with your friend on the other side of the world, with a real pool table, real cue, and virtual balls. That would easily be possible with a VR arcade.

Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#27

Post by bryanlarsen »

programminggeek wrote: post #24

You know why people don't like arcades anymore? Per play session value is super low. When it was like one quarter to play a game, it was fun, cheap entertainment. When the per game cost jumped up to a $0.50 or $1.00, or even more in some cases, it started to become a bad deal. There is still a place for cheap arcade fun. It's just that arcade machines aren't cheap enough to hook people anymore.

25 cents in 1977 and one dollar today are equivalent prices.

Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#29

Post by kistaro »

TrevorJ wrote: post #18

The problem is capital investment. A VR arcade will be cutting edge for what, 18 months at the most ? After that the hardware is no longer better than what you can achieve at a consumer level. That's not very long to make back your investment. I do think there is a place for a third party business when it comes to VR though in the realm of 'guided' RPG's and narratives. Imagine paying 25 bucks for you and your friend…

There's one thing a VR arcade can have that very few consumers can have, in areas where VRcades might be likely to thrive: physical space.

Immersive VR requires at least some space to move around in, or set up a big omnidirectional treadmill in. As the human population grows but Earth stays the same size, personal living quarters will always be at a premium, the rent will always be too damn high, and space to set up this awesome VR rig will be prohibitively expensive.

VR machines could be consumer-grade and still draw an audience, because of the people locked out of the market due to lack of space to set up a rig. Consider what we have now that isn't even VR- I don't have space to use a Kinect.

Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#30

Post by drawkbox »

No doubt they will be in arcades in bigger ways much like arcades today have more physical and accessorized games than you can have at home (racers with seats, bikes, guns to use, skee-ball like games etc), but the home experience will be great because most markets are open now and anyone can publish. Content will move very fast.

Plus, just like touch pads, VR headsets are pretty nasty after a while if they are used in public by many players. Joysticks were really funky back in the old blacklit arcades, now imagine putting that on your face/head.

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