Eurogamer Looks At The Arcades Of The Future

arcadehero April 3, 2013 5
Eurogamer Looks At The Arcades Of The Future

Predicting the future is tricky business, as any of the doomsday predictors of 2012 might tell you. Sure the idea of a sister planet crashing into Earth was doomsday internet hit gold but it was more an idea from a classic Doctor Who episode than reality. Despite getting it wrong a lot of the time, oracles are still sought after as we are always curious what tomorrow might bring.

The world of arcades isn’t as exciting perhaps as the end of the entire world but it is what we know here. As I mention in the last chapter of my new book, we can make some pretty good educated guesses based upon what is occurring right now. Of course at any time someone could introduce a game or concept that changes everything, which has happened many times in this industry over the years. If anyone knew what that concept might be then we would probably have it already.

One person to talk to if you want to know what an arcade of the future will probably be like is Kevin Williams. In addition to cover the nitty-gritty of the amusement sector in The Stinger Report newsletter, he also created the Digital Out-of-Home Interactive Entertainment Association. That tends to go by DNA Association for short. Regular readers of our site should be familiar with him has he feeds us news fairly often. Eurogamer.net has an article called “Step inside the arcade of the future: The coin-op is dead, long live the coin-op”  where they discuss the subject of future arcades with Mr. Williams. One quote from the article:

… there’s ‘Hybrid Entertainment’, the utilization of Digital Out-of-Home technology in new areas of business including deployment with mixed reality games and alternative reality games. In this area we have wallFour, which is a great exponent of the use of gamification within a social environment. We were lucky enough to have them demonstrate at the recent DNA Association conference in Los Angeles last year, and the compelling nature of the game – which encourages the audience of a hundred players working together at a time – is highly enjoyable and unlike any consumer alternative. Another new start-up in this sector is Hide&Seek and their innovative Kinect-based Searchlight game, which sees players moving physical items to avoid being caught in the virtual searchlight.”

There is also talk of simulators and other technologies but I won’t steal the wind from the sails of the article. Suffice it to say, social gaming in the public space is going to play a bigger role in the scene than ever before. You can check out the article here. And to point out that wallFour system, here’s a video of it in action:

So what are your thoughts? Where do you think we will be in 10 years or so?

5 Comments »

  1. 60Hz April 3, 2013 at 3:58 pm - Reply

    Sega’s new puyo puyo arcade game is rumored to be free 2 play with micro-transaction model… if this is true and mobile is any indication this may be the future of arcades…

    if u understand jp: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iOSay6a61u4

    still trying to gather more info on this with some help from some jp fluent friends!

    • kiwasabi April 4, 2013 at 12:25 am - Reply

      I’ve wondered if this model could work. It would also be doable to have publishers pay for ads for AAA games on arcade games, allowing the player to play for free (or at least cheaper). Do follow-up if you find out more info on this.

      • kevin williams April 7, 2013 at 6:04 pm - Reply

        many have looked into the free-to-play model – would say that the closest we have is Golden Tee with virtual credits from promotional campaigns

    • arcadehero April 5, 2013 at 7:57 am - Reply

      I am trying to find out more about this but no luck yet. Waiting to hear back from a contact at Sega who might be able to confirm that for me. I like how the game looks though, kind of like Puzzle Quest

  2. Gabe April 3, 2013 at 4:10 pm - Reply

    That ‘wall 4’ thing would be BRILLIANT in cinemas.

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