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Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

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Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#31

Post by derefr »

drawkbox wrote: post #30

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…

> arcades in bigger ways ... but the home experience will be great ... because anyone can publish

I'm hoping against hope for the middle-way between those two, though: rentable holosuites, like the VR equivalent of computers at internet cafes, where there are a few titles preinstalled, but you can also run whatever titles you like from the 'net.

(Or maybe it'll just let you log into your Steam account, where all your VR games and apps are. I could totally see Steam as becoming to thin-client VR as Windows is to thin-client PCs.)

Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#32

Post by nightski »

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.

I've been to a few arcade bars nowadays where the games a free if you buy a drink. Obviously not a solution for all audiences but it is something I'd go to often. It seemed like a much better value proposition.

Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#33

Post by kbenson »

robotkilla wrote: post #28
pjc50 wrote: post #8

Arcades were a product of a time when tech was expensive and real estate was cheap. They're not coming back any time soon.

Article should be about how VR will be the final bullet in the head of IRL social interaction.

I don't think it will die off, but I think it will undoubtedly lessen. The question is whether that's really a bad thing, when VR social interaction can have much of the same benefits that used to be exclusive to IRL interactions such as facial cues (we aren't there yet), the experience of shared locality (arguably we've had this to some degree for a long time with MMOs), etc.

Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#34

Post by bobajeff »

Part of the problem is games today aren't designed to be played in short bursts. Casino's are still going strong so there is still a audience for these kinds of distractions.

I think another problem could be that not very many games are geared toward sharing you experience with others. So the experience is the same whether your home or at a arcade because your secluded from everyone either way even if it's multiplayer.

Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#35

Post by twiceaday »

bobajeff wrote: post #34

Part of the problem is games today aren't designed to be played in short bursts. Casino's are still going strong so there is still a audience for these kinds of distractions. I think another problem could be that not very many games are geared toward sharing you experience with others. So the experience is the same whether your home or at a arcade because your secluded from everyone either way even if it's multiplaye…

> Part of the problem is games today aren't designed to be played in short bursts.

Phone games?

> Casino's are still going strong so there is still a audience for these kinds of distractions.

That's a stretch.

Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#36

Post by SapphireSun »

pjc50 wrote: post #8

Arcades were a product of a time when tech was expensive and real estate was cheap. They're not coming back any time soon.

There are also sometimes burdensome regulations about who is allowed to host an arcade in terms of zoning (usually put in place as an anticompetitive measure, local ordinance). I know some people that had to deal with that.

Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#37

Post by nsxwolf »

pjc50 wrote: post #8

Arcades were a product of a time when tech was expensive and real estate was cheap. They're not coming back any time soon.

Arcades staged a mini-comeback in the mid to late 90s, because of fighting games. Home consoles offered arcade perfect translations of those same games, but people came in droves.

Online play is probably what killed it off again. I think when there's a reason for people to show up somewhere to play games, they will.

Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#38

Post by twiceaday »

robotkilla wrote: post #28
pjc50 wrote: post #8

Arcades were a product of a time when tech was expensive and real estate was cheap. They're not coming back any time soon.

Article should be about how VR will be the final bullet in the head of IRL social interaction.

People drink too much VR Kool-Aid.

Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#39

Post by bobajeff »

twiceaday wrote: post #35
bobajeff wrote: post #34

Part of the problem is games today aren't designed to be played in short bursts. Casino's are still going strong so there is still a audience for these kinds of distractions. I think another problem could be that not very many games are geared toward sharing you experience with others. So the experience is the same whether your home or at a arcade because your secluded from everyone either way even if it's multiplaye…

> Part of the problem is games today aren't designed to be played in short bursts. Phone games? > Casino's are still going strong so there is still a audience for these kinds of distractions. That's a stretch.

Phone games are hardly big budget attractions.

Re: Virtual Reality Will Bring Back the Arcade

#40

Post by nsxwolf »

drawkbox wrote: post #30

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…

Battlezone's visor would get nasty. I wonder how many pinkeye infections were spread from that game.
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