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[DW74]

I grew up in the 80s, during the heyday of the arcade. Loved my first Atari, and NES. In the here and now, I’m totally into computing, games, gadgets...stuff like that.

Now I will be the first guy to admit that my knowledge on the incoming topic is fairly limited. I’m friends with a guy who once owned an arcade in the early 90s. So I’ve seen inside some of them. But I’m a far cry from any kind of expert.

I think it’s safe to say that the number one enemy of a computing device after water, is heat. Whether it’s a tower pc, laptop, console, tablet, or a room-filling supercomputer, heat is the boogieman that we spend a lot of money on to defeat. Or at least contain.

Tech has come a long way in 30 years. We have gotten much much better at building tech that generates much less heat. We’ve also gotten much better at containing the heat that is actually generated. You can pack a lot of performance inside the shell of a gaming console nowadays. So, every now and then, my mind inevitably drifts back to the idea of an arcade machine.

A typical arcade machine from the 80s or 90s has a lot of space inside of it. I would think that, with the level of tech that we have today, we could design an arcade machine that would be a technological wonder. A huge cabinet with so much space and ventilation would be able to pack in a lot more “stuff” than you could in a console or any kind of desktop computer.

So I wonder, why don’t we still have arcades that are filled with incredible machines that far exceed the capabilities of home consoles and PCs? Maybe VR cafes or something?

I’m sure cost is a big factor. Sure wouldn’t be spending a quarter for a game ha ha. But cost was a big factor even back in the day. And yet we had them. Thoughts?

 

[DansDans]

You already said it, cost is the factor

Arcades nowadays are about redemption machines - the video game element of the arcades isnt so big, and its no longer the platform for brand new experiences

Go to a modern arcade - you'll see stuff like: Halo (in an awesome cabinet), Tomb Raider and Raving Rabbids (in massive front projection screen cabinets) - they just run off PC hardware. No need to push the boundaries with bespoke hardware anymore when PC components are so common and compatible.

Heck, even in places where arcades are still thriving, like China, only have fairly average looking racing and music games. They arent pixel pushers anymore - just good enough to get things done (they've even downgraded. I swear the Chinese version of Razing Storm runs worse than the normal world release, it has horrible slowdown where it shouldnt signifying that the localiser modified the hardware for cheaper components - and its not a bootleg, but the official Wahlap version)