Mobitrends

This is the most amazing arcade machine I’ve ever seen – hemispherical immersive display, touch sensitive screen, rfid card to store player’s achievements… can’t wait to try it ! (only available in Japan yet unfortunately). Feels like going to Japan just to experience that ! Thanks Theodore for showing me this during this morning’s design session !

I just watched a nice video about the fall and return of arcade games and this had me think a bit about what kind of experience gamers are really seeking now and will be seeking n the next couple of years.

First, what’s an arcade ? It’s:

• a venue: a place where people come to gather and watch other people’s perform – obviously the Internet killed the need of gathering to share a gaming experience
• hardware : a big machine that need coins to start and with a dedicated and specific input device
• a gamestyle: very energetic, intense and fast – ideally a game should last 3mins in order for the arcade store to be able to actually earn money – thus in order to get value for money you had to deliver an awesome burst of adrenaline and fun in those few minutes

Yet, while the first point will be tough to monetize outside of a dedicated world-size event (like world gaming championships), the second is still reasonable just as the third points which makes actually a lots of sense and is often what drive people to “casual” gaming : the ability to have a short burst of fun whenever they want.

For instance Ikaruga is imho the best shoot’em’up ever, and has recently been released on the XBOX Live Marketplace for 800 MS Points. The full game, just like the original DreamCast version can be finished in under 25 mins – but you got to be really highly skilled to do that, and such mastery can only come after hours of play.

While longer games can produce deep emotional involvement and draw the gamer into a complete new world, I think there is a huge market opportunity for smaller yet highly intense and challenging games (as opposed to casual games as we know them), and as such new online distribution models makes a lot of sense. Indeed the actual physical retail system including the huge royalties asked bu the console hardware makers have pushed most of game studios into a “1€ = 1hrs gameplay” scheme, and most of the people buying those games actually only play a third of it on average.
I think it’s time to get into some creative thinking to get out of this scheme and focus more into what customers expect.