INSERT COIN TO CONTINUE (Part Two)
We were supposed to be connecting our frontal lobes to cyberspace, engaging in gratuitous virtual sex and generally living our wildest fantasies vicariously. But it's 2002 and all we have are dodgy video pool titles, redemption games and a raft of derivative light-gun cabinets. So, where next for the coin-op industry?
Survival of the fittest
For the established AM (Amusement Machine) business the battle is on to prove that video amusement can bounce back and has a part to play in the future of arcade gaming. The Japanese manufacturers, that still dominate coin-op development, have shrunken considerably from the glory days of the early 90s. Those that remain have focused on forming alliances to share technology to ensure dominance.
The situation in the arcade sector became so bad that past enemies, Sega and Namco, formed a close partnership. The most obvious manifestation seen with Sega's independent studio Wow Entertainment (formally AM#1) working with Namco to create Vampire Night. Sega worked on the sacred Namco System 246 architecture, while Namco benefited from the creativity of the team behind the legendary House of the Dead.
But other covert plans have recently come to the fore. As the GameCube was being designed and manufactured, a secret coin-op plan was being put in place. As a replacement to the Dreamcast Naomi arcade hardware; the GameCube has been developed into an amusement variant. Under the TriForce name, both Sega and Namco have developed games for this new flexible system.
"Sega amusement systems are among the most powerful and flexible systems on the market. The graphic quality and the flexibility it offers our 1000 R&D engineers are second to none". Sega Enterprises of America chief Al Stone.
Exciting times could be ahead. The second and third TriFroce games will see AM versions of Star Fox AC to be handled by Namco, while Sega will develop F-Zero AC, (in the capable hands of Amusement Vision (previously Sega's AM#4)). The use of a dedicated tournament system for both of these games, linked to a storage card feature, an essential component for its ultimate success. The use of networking, seen in the success of the VF-Net system - applied with the recent Virtual Fighter 4 - offers a magnetic card, and internet scoring system encouraging tournaments. It's a decisive factor in holding wavering players to play repeatedly.
The TriForce has received a low-key launch with Virtua Striker 3: Version 2002, the first game to utilise the hardware in the arcades. But the recent announcement to develop the cross over TriForce products jointly with Namco and Sega, will hopefully push the GameCube memory card into a 'must have' arcade fashion accessory for 2003.
"New business models are emerging all the time as the coin-op industry tries to find a model to replace the largely videogame model of the late 70s to the mid 90s. Hardcore players have long gone and have been replaced by a more casual player. Games are evolving, locations are changing and methods of payment/types of competition are changing. Tournament play is part of the new formula". Kevin Hayes, President of Namco America.
At the same time, having seen the System 246 at close quarters, and as chip stocks dry up for the Dreamcast derivative Naomi 1 and 2, Sega has turned to another generation of arcade hardware. Codenamed CHIHIRO, the Microsoft Xbox based arcade architecture has been incubating within the heart of Sega. Influential games series such as The House of the Dead III and Out Run 2 are about to be launched, offering the most direct arcade to home route to-date.
However, a spark of non-console based development does burn within the Japanese manufactures. The lavish budgets that were once bestowed on the AM R&D teams have evaporated, but still major AM projects exist that hope to separate out-of-home entertainment from home gaming. Along with large network tournament games the development of new 'mega' graphics environments are in the works.
Sega has at least two projects that use nicknamed 'Naomi 3' architecture, blasting the graphic performance of the previous Naomi 2 (or TriForce), to develop games that could not be emulated on the existing console hardware. Meanwhile Namco's plan is simple: entice you into the local arcade emporium by making your head spin. The venerable company has developed the O.R.B.S (Over Reality Booster System), a fully enclosed gaming capsule, promising the sequel of the Star Blade phenomena. The use of the latest stereo sound system, and a all encompassing spherical screen to drop the player in the centre of the game, offering what has been called a 'better than home' experience.
"Namco has been using PS systems since the mid 1990s and is currently using PS2 hardware as the base for its system 246. As you know we did use Dreamcast hardware briefly and we will be using TriForce in the near future. It is not viable any longer to use custom designed hardware for coin-op and I don't see that changing. Companies like Namco, that are heavily in the console market, will use console derived hardware. Companies that are not [in the console market] are mainly using PC based hardware". Kevin Hayes, Namco.
Massmarket Gaming
The need for the player to play more, rather than less, and feel satisfied about the game experience has become a fundamental part of the new thinking in video amusement. The development of tournaments and networks is nothing new, but the latest technology is being applied to build a complete network, far beyond consumer network gaming.
Imagine getting a call on your mobile phone when your score is beaten or receive a challenge from a player in a local facility. The main objective of 'site linking' facilities, however, is the ability for players in one site to play in real-time with players in another distant facility. The latest game from Taito (Battle Gear 3) will boast not only a dedicated tournament scheme, but also the hope for 'site link' competition. If human nature is anything to go by then the competitive spirit could boost the sector.
In the States and Europe the use of a tournament system has been applied for cash prize application. The phenomenally successful Incredible Technology Golden Tee Fore, is a golf game that comprises a ITNet tournament feature, with players across the states and England battling each other for considerable cash prizes. Last year Incredible Technologies paid out $3 million in prizes with an estimated 20,000 units hooked up to tournament networks. A new golf game has been developed based on the Electronic Arts Sports PGA Tour Golf game, ported for amusement application by Global VR, who hope to create their own high scoring tournament system.
The popularity of the tournament game has seen arcade machine scaled down to a simple touchscreen terminal that resides in bars and clubs. These simplistic games offer a very short burn entertainment, but their simplicity belies an addictive nature that has also seen their tournament schemes encourage high participation. In this guise video amusement has reverted to a clever network prize system.
The future for the traditional videogame market might be to embrace the gaming sector, which has remained popular throughout. Some companies have already started to offer video SWPs: driving games, which pay out for fastest laps of the course, for example. People want prizes. People are not that interested in trying to be the best any more that was only ever going to attract the real gamers in the first place. People want accessible entertainment, which is simple and immersive. Trying to remember button combinations in order to make characters do karate chop back flips is like trying to stuff a mushroom - too much like hard work for very little satisfaction, Stephanie Norbury editor of the trade publication Coin-Op UK.
Indeed, one of the industries founding fathers, Nolan Bushnell, did not miss the possibilities of these short 'play-for-play' terminals. In attempting to be a prominent player in this emerging sector Bushnell created uWink. The company represents one of the prominent developers of terminal units for the bar and club market.
"uWink was to have been the first out of the gate to fully implement the ability to 'pay for play' by having a credit card swipe feature. The other plan was to have interstitial advertising between tournament game rounds as a means of generating additional revenue. The advertising could be nationally known brands, as well as advertising tailored to the area the unit was in. The company also promised free game downloads to locations on a frequent basis". Ex-Atarian, and founding member along with Nolan of uWink, Loni Reeder.
New horizon
Another emerging field, bizarrely, is virtual reality. Once the buzz of the industry, the term is now only uttered with an accompanying snigger. Yet there are companies that want to explore VR using the latest technology. It seems that Virtual Reality never went away - it's just been waiting for technology to catch up with the 'high' concept.
Once the industry's Emperors New Clothes, the science claimed to offer so much, but the hardware delivered so little. The video amusement industry rushed to support VR in 1994 as a new means to incentivise players back to the arcades. Both the UK designed Virtuality VR hardware, and the licensed Sega derivative, were heralded as the new frontier. The games, however, proved unplayable, and the hardware was prohibitively expensive. But some eight years since VR machines appeared in arcades, the concept has finally found a place in the re-emerging market.
American based GlobalVR has produced the Vortek VR platform that allows the player to view and control the action via a special mounted goggle system. One of the big successes of the amusement market, the Vortek's ability to run converted consumer PC titles has become a big smash in US arcades. The ported Wizard Works blaster 'Beachhead' has proven a real money-spinner and is rated number one among vendors.
Over the Horizon
Without the grand old men of Japanese video amusement to drive the market, the trade associations and the trade publications have become the gathering points video coin-ops. Leading trade publications including US based RePlay Magazine and the European alternative AB Europe / Coin Op UK now find themselves leading the sectors opinion.
"We are trying to keep a good eye on these emerging businesses, which are essentially modelling the ideas put forward by Microsoft and Intel five years ago, while continuing to serve the traditional coin-op market dominated by staples such as music, pool, novelties and touchscreen video hardware and software." Influential editor of RePlay Magazine, Steve White.
New arcade technology has created unique ways to perceive the gaming environment, interact in the game experience, and compete with other players. Some even believe these advancements have led to a whole new industry, rather than the reawakening of the old video arcade sector.
Leading the rally to get players away from their sofas are the latest generation of urban entertainment sites such as Dave & Buster's. These centres attempt to combine adrenaline and alcohol for a new amusement mix.
Interestingly, the arcade sector is learning from the consumer games industry. Facility operators are now focused on buying systems that draw players away from their home games. There are even developments afoot to build systems that use home games content in a new amusement mix.
Nicknamed 'Player Terminals', and building on the short play environment of the touchscreen market, these machines offer casual gamers a thrilling 'burst' of gaming entertainment. Packaged in a system that moves on from conventional upright cabinets and are more suited to projected locations (cinemas, bars, FEC and retail outlets). Seen as a totally new strand of the amusement sector these units are the new wave for the coin-op industry.
Bone shaking
Indeed, companies are investing huge sums of money into out-of-home attractions. The IALF (International Association of Leisure Facilities) and AMOA (Amusement & Music Operators Association) now make a distinction between coin-ops and the larger behemoth machines. These 'out-of-home' attractions are large experience driven rides that attempt to offer theme park levels of enjoyment and often have a large through put of riders.
Certainly, Motion Simulation, in specialist capsule systems, has become a big draw, taking players on a roller coaster ride without the need to drop hundreds of tonnes of steel. The leading provider of such systems is Maxflight Corporation, a company that has installed a considerable number of their VR2002: Roller Coaster system round the world. Spinning the two riders in a 360-degree, 2-axis motion envelope, it's the most physical motion ride to date. And all at your local shopping centre.
But what makes this technology stand out is its 'interactivity'. In some systems the player can even build their own insane coaster track. And the company has gone one step further with the development of a monster truck variant, allowing two players to drive their vehicle round an intense course. The system offers an experience, rather than just a conventional game, as addictive as riding the latest steel coaster.
"The MaxFlight platform is definitely an (out of home) entertainment attraction. It provides the reason to get up off the couch and go to an entertainment venue. MaxFlight systems are usually the lead attraction to a facility. Once the customer is there they will spend money on other attractions and services". Believes Frank McClintic, CEO of the Maxflight
The use of a PC based arcade system also allows these machines to run the latest crop of PC games. Another successful Motion Simulator developer is Tsunami Corporation, who has created a single person motion seat, that the player rides while taking part in various games based on successful PC content. Along with 'Beachhead', Tsunami has incorporated MechWarrior 4 and Crimson Sky licensed in a special agreement with Microsoft. The vigour's motion offers its TsuMo unit an exciting addition to the gaming experience, a hundred times more intense than a simple rumble pack on a joypad.
So, can video amusements addict a new generation of players, and more to the point, bring in those who were once its lifeblood? The answer is uncertain, but in order to emerge from the flames, video amusements will have to offer something significantly different from a home console experience, be affordable, and simply, be a whole lot of fun. It is now up to the coin-op industry to provide these players with enthralling entertainment rather than dream of past glories.
Games That Broke the Arcade Back
1971
Computer Space
The game that nearly caused videogaming to be stillborn. The unique manufacture, and complicated controls proved that Nutting would be left with a large supply of unsold stock (which now are worth their substantial weight in gold to the Retro fans).
1981
Radar Scope
The quirky vertical shooter would prove a big failure in the US for Nintendo, with a warehouse full of unsold titles, but from failure came incredible success when a game was developed to salvage the failed hardware, and so was born Donkey Kong.
1983
Star Rider
Midway laser disk bike racing game that would play its part in starting the 'crash'. In 1985 Sega would release a similar presentation with their own 'ride on' cabinet, HangOn, a better game in a better package that effectively pulled the arcade sector out of the doldrums.
1987
Spy Hunter II
Midway again starts to shoot itself in the foot, regurgitating poor games and hiding behind past glories. This two player twin screen reworking of the original fell woefully flat, baring a disturbing resemblance to another Midway failure the previous year, Max RPM.
1997
Round Trip RV
SNK's first (and last) first person driving game on their abortive Hyper NeoGeo 64, 3D architecture, the game would squander the last of the company's R&D funds and would start the collapse of the amusement operation some four years later.
1995
Indy 500
Sega's big hope for the invigoration of a tail end in big 3DGC games from the company, the world of Indy Car (attempting to interest the US players) proved weak, and left hundreds of unsold cabinets littering Sega's warehouse.
1999
Road Rash
The penultimate arcade game from Atari, and a very poor motorbike racing game that would cement the closure of the Atari R&D team. Not even the following launch of RUSH 2049 could save the operation.
2000
Artic Thunder
The very last amusement game released by Midway, the game held the fate of the whole R&D and manufacturing operation when released. The failure of the game to even scratch the surface caused the closure of the whole operation (not that Midway wanted to pull out already).
(First published in the November 2002 issue of EDGE Magazine)
END
|
