Video's Third Generation Will Transform The Industry
Arcade, Home Games Are Beginning To Merge With Each Other And With The Internet, Through 24/7 Broadband Connectivity
LONDON -- Just when the U.S. amusement industry has become comfortable with video games that "phone home" once every 24 hours, the next generation of online amusement machines is now appearing on the horizon. This new generation consists of games that have a broadband or satellite network connection that is permanently live and permanently active -- 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This level of connectivity is now available on games in Japan from SEGA, Namco, Taito, Sammy and Konami. Now, 24/7 connection technology appears headed soon to the U.S. and Europe with upgraded versions of games such as Sega's 'Initial D: Arcade Stage' and Taito's "Battle Gear 3."
Meanwhile, American manufacturers hope to join the trend. Examples include GlobalVR, which plans a permanent online connection for its driver, "Need for Speed." GlobalVR executives say they are gearing their connectivity for dial-up at present, but will be ready to expand to a more-ambitious interface when enough U.S. locations have broadband.
Whether Incredible Technologies also plans to get aboard the 24/7 connectivity bandwagon, remains to be seen. The company has said only that its new 2004 golf game platform, launching this fall, will offer radical and revolutionary new capabilities for arcade video.
Finally, Ecast executives have informed VENDING TIMES that they plan to offer radically new video paradigms with broadband later this year, taking the humble connectivity of the current terminal touchscreens in a new direction with a broadband tournament capability for future countertops beyond conventional dedicated video amusement.
A 24/7 networked video game offers several advantages for both manufacturers and operators. Among them:
(1)Greater profit and promotion opportunities. A 24/7 connection allows the possibility of marrying arcade games with their home-based console equivalents and with the Internet. This means, among other things, that players can use the arcade game's 24/7 connection to access specially-created websites where they can buy "upgrades" to their players characters (horse, car, or fighter) thus putting more money into the manufacturer's pocket (revenue generation boosted by credit card facilitation using this connectivity).
(2)Increasing player "ego incentives" to play more often. With a 24/7 connection, individual online player rankings can be updated minute by minute, rather than every day or so. In addition, 24/7 connections make it possible to post score comparisons on an international basis (i.e., "America Beat Japan On Tuesday" as well as "24-Year-Old Tokyo Player Tops World Rankings"). Players find such incentives more exciting, and therefore can be expected to play more frequently to keep their names on top of the lists - especially a worldwide list. Other medium employed to get the message to the player such as mobile phones and email.
(3)Greatly expanding the player base. A 24/7 connection that marries home and arcade games will also eventually make it possible to stage live, realtime, head to head competitions for nationwide or even worldwide tournaments. This could attract huge player participation, exceeding any interactive game experience currently available - even beyond that of the current Internet-based Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG).
(4)Ease and frequency of game updates and bug fixes. The opportunity to provide new software, patches and corrections, plus player hints, cheats, and tricks, is far greater using 24/7 downloading from the manufacturer to the individual game on location.
(5)Bigger prizes; more variations on prize reward structures and timelines. A much larger player base facilitates much more lavish prize and tournament rewards, and more publicity. (These factors create a positive cycle which draws still more players, of course.) The 24/7 connected game era will see prizes go far beyond the mere application of tournament prizes such as those we have seen to date with the "Golden Tee," "Big Buck Hunter" and "EA Sports PGA Golf." In addition to much larger and more expensive and glamorous prizes, there will be "instant win" prizes, short-term and closed-circuit tournament prizes, and many more variations (legal environments permitting). Quality of game play will remain the key factor that drives player spending, but prizes will become an even more important secondary incentive, probably spreading beyond countertops and golf to every genre and every venue that video touches.
Video Has Entered Its Third Generation
Some of this has already been done in Japan, and more is coming. For example, in some Japanese arcades, players of Taito's 'Battle Gear 3: Tuned' can use the storage ignition key to compete against home-based players who are enjoying the same title online. In addition, home players of this Taito driving game can use a unique player ID to log onto a dedicated website, where they can spend more money to create and store enhanced vehicles for future use. Their high score placing monitored and reported via their mobile phone.
What does all this mean for the amusement machine business? It means the industry is finally beginning to understand how to best exploit the "third generation" of arcade video technology.three years after the "Gen3 era" actually began.
To provide a bit of historical perspective: the first arcade video generation (roughly 1978-1994) established the bedrock genres that define video amusement. The second generation (1995-2000) saw the application of advanced computer technology to achieve online interfacing (like "Golden Tee") and photo-realistic graphics ("Daytona USA" and "Time Crisis"). But the third generation (starting in 2001) sees the video game experience continually transformed by a constant live connection. Gen3 will also see the once-competitive home, arcade, and PC-Internet game markets joined at the hip for mutually expanded profit.
However, this light is dawning slowly in some circles. Despite what has already been achieved in actual locations, many manufacturers, designers and executives remain locked into Gen2-era thinking about tournaments and marketing possibilities. These lagging individuals and companies continue to think of leagues, for example, only in terms of an element that can support a tournament. It's true that American companies like Incredible Technologies have achieved impressive success with strong marketing of such programs, supported by relatively low-tech platforms and connectivity. But Gen3 technology opens the doors for many additional types of promotional possibilities that cost relatively little, yet yield much.
Online gaming experience, for example, shows that leagues can also be strong player-recruiting and maintenance tools, by giving players a way of creating voluntary affiliations and communities that have nothing to do with specific tournaments. Manufacturer-supported, web-operated players leagues can thus have a direct impact on the revenue power of a machine. In addition, using the Internet to communicate directly with players, gives manufacturers a powerful communications channel - the ability to go around the operator and talk directly to the player. The very control of the video arcade market, therefore, could easily shift from operators to manufacturers, thanks to Gen3 technology and its possible applications.
Gen3 Technology
A complex array of different player interface technologies are in use already in Asia to facilitate the 24/7 connected game era. Memory card readers and dispensers, online player entry systems, etc., have been deployed on games such as Sega's "Derby Owner's Club", "F-Zero AX", and "Out Run 2".
Behind all of these various interfaces and applications, however, are one or two basic, underlying communications platforms. The 24/7 connected video amusement cabinet can be linked to the Internet by using a facility-based server that resides in the location; or the game can be connected to the Internet by using an onboard modem that connects to a server in the manufacturer's headquarters. Either way, the 24/7 connected game can directly modify the gaming environment and player features linked to the player ranking information updated from the central server on the Internet.
In the R&D and testing phases, Japan's leading developers of coin-op video games often employ a third basic communications technology: wireless modems that report back to Internal Network servers at a manufacturer's location. A precursor to the applications of 3Gen, as it was used only on one or two test machines but an example of the future of closer manufacturer scrutiny to the player's habits on their games.
Real-World Applications Of Gen3 So Far: Online Ranking
As stated, the above-described technologies and applications have already been widely introduced into the real-world arcade market in Japan. The catch-all phrase used to describe Gen3 video so far has been "Online Ranking" (OR). This phrase doesn't sound very exciting and it hardly conveys all the developments that have occurred under its auspices. Even less does the monicker "OR" suggest all the future possibilities of Gen3.
Three different interface technologies have mostly been used for Japan's arcade video game applications of OR to date:
(1)Direct Connectivity: the inclusion of a live network card sending to the manufacturer-controlled server, and via that on to the company player web service.
(2)Network Tournament: the connecting of the cabinet to the facility internal network, then forwarding the date collected onto the manufacturer controlled server and then player site.
(3)Online Entry: the collection of data by the player, with the special security number at the manufactures player site, then incorporated into the ranking system.
The most extensive usage of all variations of Gen3 technology is seen with the SEGA release 'F-Zero AX', which incorporates the Memory Card Reader and Dispenser (MCRD), but is also equipped with cross-media support with the inclusion of the Nintendo Memory Card, all leading to a Internet based Ranking system. In Japan a number of national competitions have taken place boosting the 'legs' of the game (the length of player popularity).
SEGA have continued this implementation with 'Out Run 2', which combines not a player data entry or storage system like F-Zero, but has applied the Online Entry system with their Worldwide Internet Ranking system, already in place to support the game. The system has been expanded to an International position beyond the Asian market, with the player website built for English and Japanese players.
The driving genre has seen the largest implementation of OR in recent days, the 'race' element benefiting from this feature. Though many people will think that "Initial D" was the first exponent of the OR technology, it was in fact the Taito 'Battle Gear' series that generated the greatest market pull. The latest version 'Battle Gear 3: Tuned' continues this move using the foundation created by the Taito BattleGear.NET internet service for players, and the tournament structure of the NESYS system. Similar to the media cross-over seen with F-Zero (between a console and a arcade machine) with the port of the game to the Playstation 2, with Battle Gear 3, the company supports the connectivity of the broadband peripheral for the console, linked to the Net Entry Key (the storage ignition key used on the arcade version) so players can actually play against amusement players online, keeping their unique ID.
This ID used when they log on to the site to amass a 'Web Garage' of player enhanced vehicles to play when required.
The Battle Gear web presence has been greatly expanded in recent weeks with two websites that encompass the International scene (battlegear3.org and bg3garage.net). These sites are aimed at players, and used by players, but are supported by Taito's two international distributors, Betson and Brent Sales. These sites include detailed forums for player chats where playing advice and scores are exchanged. The sites also offer a means to expand the leagues and tournament plays between groups. It is important to note that home players of the game use these sites even more than arcade players, but both groups find the sites an ideal common meeting ground.
Borrowing Ideas From Consumer Games
Much of how the player likes his character storage interfaces (such as the Web Garage) is based on the nomenclature created via the consumer consoles. One of the leading lights and influential titles in the driving genre is "Grand Traismo," the pivotal car driving game. Many features of this game have been emulated in all subsequent titles in this genre. The competition between broadband console applications and the amusement alternative is such that the sharing of features would be too obvious to ignore. This link to consumer games has taken on a greater impetus with the emergence of broadband console connections that have hinted at linking cabinets and console gamers live. The emerging Microsoft Xbox Live!
MMOG broadband feature has even been linked to talk of including game ranking from the console version of various arcade ports to amusement charts, and even speculation of direct link-ups - rumored to be seen in operation this year - crossover gaming taken to a new level only hinted at with experiments such as F-Zero AX / EX.
The SEGA release 'Initial D: Arcade Stage' has been the bedrock that 'F-Zero AX' concept in regarding the memory card reader & dispenser (MCRD), which allows players to store on magnetic cards various cars in this virtual garage, building on the same way that players stored their favorite horse for 'Derby Owners Club'. The popularity of the card storage system however is more of a supporter of the Online Entry system, as the player is taking his card with him, rather than accessing his database. Though this game series is also following the Gen3 route with the development of 'Initial D: Arcade Stage Ver.3' combines a direct connectivity feature with an upgrade of the MCRD system to a new 'Private Card' upgrade that can combine all player vehicles onto the new card from previous versions, supporting the data on a purpose built web service.
OR In America And Europe
The latest entrant into video amusement manufacturer has followed the racing game OR route - GlobalVR and their EA licensed high speed racing game. 'Need for Speed' converted from the PC release is a game that expands on the networking feature created for the companies golf product, and will implement a Web Garage for players to amass a selection of cars tailored to their likes including color, performance and handling. Linked to the proposed tournament (the first that will have been run in North America for a driving game).
The European market has avoided full implementation of live connectivity, since the UK's high instance of broadband is not matched by the rest of Europe. Accordingly, the third option of 'Online Entry' is normally employed. GALECO attempted to encourage operators to think on direct connections for their machine with 'ATV: Tracks' and the Online cabinet. This however proved slow to employ (a mixture of operator reticence and price limitations), the company falling back to a Worldwide Record feature that utilized player entry of their score via the web site.
Learning from their lesson 'Tokyo Cop' which was already criticized for its high sticker price leapfrogged the Online Cabinet, originally proposed, and jumped straight to Worldwide Ranking via player entry.
Another European company implementing this player support is TAB-Austria, building on the success of the tournament service for their touchscreen, 'Virtual Pinball - Popstar." TAB reportedly plans to introduce an Online Tournament Management (OTM) for this title, allowing players to amass online scores. The next version of the cabinet is proposed to incorporate a new non-pinball game that will also be supported by OTM - though the already high price of the cabinet could be hindered by additional pricing for a live network card.
Gen3 Fighting Games Prove Very Profitable
Racing games are not the genre to benefit from OR. Fighting games have also prospered with this new technology, most notably SEGA's runaway earning success in Asia with 'Virtua Fighter 4: EVOLUTION'. After 14 months on the market, this game still tops the Japanese charts, supported only by OR investment.
Sammy, rumored to be building on the VF.Net technology used on the Naomi architecture - a Dreamcast derivative, as is the ATOMISWAVE which runs 'Guilty Gear Isuka'. The Sammy / ARC System Works developed game is the first to utilize the AW-NET, but the game is also the first to have a live multiple cabinet link-ups. AW-NET takes a big step in OR application with Mobile Rating, and Nationwide Ranking, as well as the common application of a players Web Garage (this time storing players' characters and their various costume preferences and ranking).
The one video amusement manufacturer that has across the board supported OR application is Konami. The e-AMUSEMENT system offers a gaming environment for players to amass information on games and generate online personas carried across to the Konami amusement machines. To enable onsite Internet manipulation of the data and information is the 'ee'MALL', a coin-operated Internet live kiosk that works with the Web Mall site server system. A unique feature of this system is that player can gather special features, and character upgrades by intensive play on the game, or via the ee'Mall system purchasing these features - for the first time creating a second revenue stream from installed hardware. All current Konami amusement machines now support e-AMUSEMNT, though International adoption has not been proposed. The biggest OR investment made by the 'Monster Gate Online' ST product recently released. The previous Konami Europe team (before the extensive restructuring) had been known to have utilized a player entry postcard scheme on high-scores for web entry.
The Future: New Revenue Streams, New Life For Older Titles
Taito has confirmed that their next big dedicated release in Japan, linked to a licensing agreement with toy manufacturer Tomy, will see the NESYS applied for a second time within the environment of a fighting robot experience called 'ZOIDS: Infinity'. The system like the ee'MALL concept will have separate kiosks that allow players to monitor and modify their assembled game characters at the same time buying new special features and checking ranking.
Constant connectivity offers another huge potential benefit: it can help manufacturers give new life to older games. For example, the Konami ee'MALL, and Taito NESYS' provide the ability to offer a second revenue stream from already operational cabinets. One coin drop from the player playing the game, and a second from players wanting to pay for rather than accumulate the time needed to activate special game features and hidden levels. As with so much of Gen3 and OR, this has only been deployed in Asia so far. But this capability could easily dovetail into the aspirations of the new Internet kiosks used in LAN gaming.
Throughout its history, the amusements industry has been notorious for poor communication (or even non-existent communication) with its final customers - the player base. In recent years, avid players have built up their own tremendous communication streams with each other, mainly through the Internet. Arcade game manufacturers have slowly begun to catch up, but Gen3 and its applications are now poised to bring the video game sector back to much greater strength and put arcade video back on the cutting edge of entertainment technology. Critics may complain that these developments are very late in coming. After all, the amusements industry has suffered a six- or eight-year worldwide recession, triggered chiefly by failure to compete with home video and failure to adapt to the Internet. But, Gen3 remains all the more necessary and vital to the coin-op industry, for that very reason.
(First published in the January 2004 issue of Vending Times)
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