Continue?:A look into arcade gaming

A local arcade is closing down around the way,and while it's not the earth shattering news to be expected,it's certainly noteworthy.Having grown up in the Nineties arcades were loud,bright,and noisy gaming centers.In that timeframe the 16-bit generation was underway,PC gaming was always around,and even though it was top of the line at the time,nothing compared to the arcade.

Nothing.

Being able to play Street Fighter on a stand-up cabinet,quarters lined up,with competitors waiting for someone to get Ko'd.Keeping your record in Daytona USA for everyone to see.Pushing that last quarter on Ninja Turtles until you had nothing left.These were experiences that couldn't be had on a Genesis or Super Nintendo.Sure most of these games had home versions,but it was like practice for the real game.Every arcade had what seemed for an unsurmountable opponent for the cabinet in it's prime.Even if you were that local legend you had to keep your wits sharp to keep that title.

The biggest draw had to be the graphics though,the sheer power of these machines to have these huge,colorful sprites.Just like any other game,reading what was coming out next was always fun,anticipating the next big game (or when Street Fighter 3 was actually going to come out.)The main catch being these weren't games you could just OWN unless you shelled out the cash for the board and cabinet.Playing these games was almost a privilege,no matter how many games of NBA Jam you played,it was never yours.You could put all the money you wanted into Virtua Cop but you couldn't bring it home.It gave each game you played that extra bit of meaning.Imagine going to a LAN center to play Counterstrike but the game Counterstrike itself cost thousands of dollars.It's extreme,but yeah,kind of like that.


Of course this isn't the 1st arcade to ever close in all of history.Since the advent of the 128-bit era it's harder to get that pull from arcade machines graphically when you can in most cases play the game at home on your Playstation 2 or Xbox.Who wants to pay a dollar to play this game when I can just buy the home version and in some cases have online play available? A sad truth,that when coupled with the ongoing march of technology,meant the end of mainstream arcade gaming

Dance Dance Revolution still brings in people and ticket games will always bring people in,but the atmosphere as a whole is like a shell of its former self.Arcade fighting games still have a decent pull as far as far as the genre goes with games like Street Fighter 4,Virtua Fighter 5,and Tekken 6 on the market.With every passing moment though they become more and more niche,more often than not,becoming DLC on a network as opposed to getting a home release proper....and I'm not going to start in on 2d fighters today.

As online gaming improves and the gaming market changes we may never see a resurgence of the arcade as we knew it,it came back before though,and it can come back again.


~Ag

Like it was killed by a crow or something....

Been in a weird spot as far as what to play next,so i find myself playing old school games most of the time like Sonic The Hedgehog 2...on my 360. Even though Sonic Mega Collection released for every console last gen,it feels exceptionally odd playing on the 360.The 'Achievements' are pretty arbitrary as well,with the game rewarding you for getting one Chaos Emerald or being Super Sonic for one minute and the like.After playing this i went on a bit of an Assault Heroes binge.After the last entry where i hoped that people would play some of the older Arcade games I decided to do so myself.

Yeah and i know Rez HD is out as well.There will be time for that though,I still have a ton of stuff to finish/play.I've been wanting to get a good round of Gauntlet or even SoR2 as well,if people care to i can send Friend Requests for Live if they are down to play any classic stuff.

Oh and here's something cool that came into my job,The Gen-x Dualstation.It plays Sega Genesis and NES(no Master System?) games.It's definitely an odd combo,but the potential to have Contra then switch into Gunstar Heroes is too good to pass up.An off-brand system(obviously.) it has the 6 button pad form for the controller and looks like a Model 3 Genesis if only slightly.

Gonna fire up Actraiser and finish that up for now though.

~Ag

Virtous Mission

Consider this the first entry of many.Been meaning to write some kind of blog for awhile now,so here it is.

Yup.....blogging.

...

That being said I've finished up No More Heroes recently,definitely a unique game to say the least.Playing through and finishing this inspired me to check out the rest of Suda 51's games that he had a part in and upon a closer look they are all pretty closely related.Even the B-movie quality "Michigan:Report From Hell" has some minor involvement thanks to all the ZaKa TV/group being thrown around.Although just throwing it out there without spoiling,that isn't who you think it is in the ending of NMH.No Golden Gun and he's bald...plus you know..he dies.Last Suda news I'm touching on for awhile,apparently he's working on a 360 game with Konami and Kojima,here's to hoping it's a new Snatcher.

As far as 360 is concerned,I've been playing my second run of Mass Effect.It's hard to take the game as seriously when you are a complete beast with biotic powers and such,tossing people across the room with impunity...good times.Doing early missions feels like such a chore.I wish people played some of the Live Arcade for longer than a month but what are you gonna do?

Lastly all this SSBB hype from the overseas release has me on edge,but i have to restrain myself.Got burned on being impatient and buying early(lol King of Fighters XI and Neo Geo Battle Coliseum) but I have my copy reserved so all i can do is wait.....

~Ag