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If you play arcade games, read the article below for information:
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, typically installed
in businesses such as restaurants, pubs, video arcades, and Family
Entertainment Centers. Most arcade games are redemption games, video games
or pinball machines.
History
The first popular "arcade games" were early amusement park midway games such
as shooting galleries, ball toss games, and the earliest coin-operated
machines, such as those which claim to tell a person their fortune or played
mechanical music. The old midways of 1920s-era amusement parks (such as
Coney Island in New York) provided the inspiration and atmosphere of later
arcade games.
In the 1930s, the earliest coin-operated pinball machines were made. These
early amusement devices were distinct from their later electronic cousins in
that they were made of wood, did not have plungers or lit-up bonus surfaces
on the playing field, and used mechanical instead of electronic scoring
readouts. By around 1977, most pinball machines in production switched to
using solid state electronics for both operation and scoring.
Golden Age of Arcade Games
In 1971, students at Stanford University set up the Galaxy Game, a
coin-operated version of the Spacewar computer game. This is the earliest
known instance of a coin-operated video game. Later in the same year, Nolan
Bushnell created the first mass-manufactured such game, Computer Space, for
Nutting Associates.
In 1972, Atari was formed by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari
essentially created the coin-operated video game industry with the game
PONG, the smash hit electronic ping pong video game. PONG proved to be
popular, but imitators helped keep Atari from dominating the fledging
coin-operated videogame market. Nonetheless, video game arcades sprang up in
shopping malls and small, "corner arcades" appeared in restaurants, grocery
stores, bars and movie theaters all over the United States and other
countries during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Games such as Space
Invaders (1978), Galaxian (1979), Pac-Man (1980), Battlezone (1980), and
Donkey Kong (1981) were especially popular.
By the late-1980s, the arcade video game craze was beginning to fade due to
the reputation of arcades as being seedy, unsafe places as well as the
advances in home video game console technology. The last gasp of the youth
arcade subculture, as it once was, may have been the advent of two-player
fighting games such as Street Fighter II (1991) by Capcom, Mortal Kombat
(1992) by Midway Games, Fatal Fury (1992), and King of Fighters (1994-2005)
by SNK.
By 1996, 32-bit home video game consoles and computers with 3D accelerator
cards had reached technological parity with arcade equipment — arcade games
had always been based on commodity technology, but their advantage over
previous generations of home system was in their ability to customize and
use the latest graphics and sound chips, much as PC games of today do.
Declines in arcade sales volume meant that this approach was no longer
cost-effective. The arcades also lost their status as the forefront of new
game releases. Given the choice between playing a game at an arcade three or
four times (perhaps 15 minutes of play for a typical arcade game), and
renting, at about the same price, the exact same game — for a video game
console — the console was the clear winner. Fighting games were the most
attractive feature for arcades, since they offered the prospect of
face-to-face competition and tournaments, which correspondingly led players
to practice more (and spend more money in the arcade), but they couldn't
support the business all by themselves.
To stay in business, the arcades themselves were reinvented as "fun centers"
such as Chuck E. Cheese's, with arcade games being supplemented by a variety
of other attractions, most notably the redemption game. Many old video game
arcades have long since closed and classic coin-operated games have become
largely the province of dedicated hobbyists.
Today's arcades have found a niche in games that use special controllers
largely inaccessible to home users. An alternative interpretation (one which
includes fighting games, which continue to thrive and require no special
controller) is that the arcade game is now a more socially-oriented hangout,
with games that focus on an individual's performance, rather than the game's
content, as the primary form of novelty. Examples of today's popular genres
are rhythm games such as Dance Dance Revolution (1998) and DrumMania (1999),
and rail shooters such as House of the Dead (1998) and Time Crisis. However,
with the increase of Internet cafes opening (which also provide gaming
services), the need for video arcades and such arcade games are reduced, and
many have been shut down or merged with the cafes as a result.
Technology
Virtually all modern arcade games (other than the very traditional
midway-type games at county fairs) make extensive use of solid state
electronics and integrated circuits. Coin-operated arcade video games
generally use custom per-game hardware with multiple CPUs, highly
specialized sound and graphics chips and/or boards, and the latest in
computer graphics display technology. Sometimes, arcade games are
controllable via more immersing and realistic means than either PC or
console games, and feature specialized ambiance or control accessories,
including fully enclosed dynamic cabinets with force feedback controls,
dedicated lightguns, rear-projection displays, reproductions of car or plane
cockpits and even motorcycle or horse-shaped controllers, or even highly
dedicated controllers such as dancing mats and fishing rods. These
accessories are usually what set modern arcade games apart from PC or
console games, as they are usually too bulky, expensive and specialized to
be used with typical home PCs and consoles.
Arcade genre
Arcade games often have very short levels, simple, easy to grasp
controllers, iconic characters, and rapidly increasing difficulty. They are
designed as quick bursts of adrenaline-fueled thrills, as opposed to most
console games, which feature more in-depth gameplay, and stronger
storylines. This is due to being coin-operated, where the player is
essentially renting the game for as long as their game avatar can stay alive
(or until they run out of tokens). Games on consoles or PCs can be referred
to as an "arcade game" if it shares these qualities, or if it's a direct
port of an arcade title.
Arcade racing games are those which have a simplified physics engine and do
not require much learning time, in opposition to racing simulators. Cars can
turn sharply without losing speed or overdrifting, and the AI rivals are
sometimes programmed so they are always near the player (rubberband effect).
Emulation
Emulators such as MAME, which can be run on modern computers and a number of
other devices, aim to preserve the antiquated games of the past, but have
been subject to controversy; users are asked not to emulate games they do
not actually own, but many abuse this system and download games they do not
own, thus violating copyright.
Locations
In addition to restaurants and video arcades, arcade games are also found in
bowling alleys, college campuses, dormitories, laundromats, movie theatres,
supermarkets, shopping malls, airports, truck stops, bar/pubs, hotels, and
even bakeries. In short, arcade games are popular in places open to the
public where people are likely to be waiting on something.
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