Does anybody think that online networking could have helped the arcade scene?

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Every time my XBOX 360 connects to XBLA or I log into the PSN for a game of Tekken Dark Resurrection Online ... I wonder, would online-networking have helped keep the arcade scene alive?

If you've never thought about it before ... stop and think for a minute, imagine if during the biggest down-swing in arcade popularity, say, 1997-2003 (which was mainly contributed to the increased quality of the home console experience and the growth of online gaming on PCs and home consoles), if you could walk into an arcade, pony up your fifty cents in a Marvel Vs. Capcom machine and instead of starting a game against the computer or a live opponent on the 2nd player stick, you entered your online ID and connected to an XBL style interface that searched all the other "connected" machines around the world.

Of course there would be minor impracticalities to deal with in a system like that ... but, with creative game design anything is possible.

Imagine an arcade where the most popular multiplayer games (DDR, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, King of the Fighters, etc.) were not only available to play against a live opponent in person, but against somebody halfway across the world.

Sure, arcades were always about "live" competition, but, at one point, so were home consoles. Even Sega Net and the Playstation 2 network adapter were gambles for Sega and Sony at first ... and who knew then if online multiplayer would EVER take off on consoles like it has ...

... I think that maybe, just maybe, that same formula could have easily applied to arcades in some fashion, and potentially added a new element to going out to arcades to maintain your global rank, etc.

Were there ever any arcade cabinets that were online networked for play in Japan?

[mills]

Right off the bat I can say that it would be and is more fun to play versus someone who's right next to you. I can picture that if it was the other way around, we'd be wishing to paly WITH someone and not just over a network.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Wow, I had nearly given up on anybody ever responding to this ...

... and while yes, it is fun to play versus games LIVE with a person right next to you, my original questions/points still stand :

Computer controlled opponents, or live in-person human opponents in arcades were the only choices gamers EVER had.

Those choices were obviously not enough to keep arcades "alive" to date. (And yes there were several OTHER contributing factors to the demise of the modern "arcade".)

Online networking / live global ranking systems - to my knowledge was never even experimented within the arcade environment ... so how can we REALLY know whether or not it wouldn't be "fun" or "MORE FUN" than playing against a live in-person opponent OR at the very least JUST playing against the computer.

Even if the networking was ONLY used to keep track of a global scoreboard ... it would certainly have turned the world of competitive gaming on it's ear ... as everything from DDR to Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 still drew "tournaments" at local active arcades over the past 5-6 years.

[CartCollector]

You know what would bring back arcades?

Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Imagine, instead of showing off your fake guitar/drum/singing skills to just your friends, you could have the whole arcade cheer you on! This would also benefit from an online connection; the list of songs available could be updated instantly. That, or they could charge arcade owners for a subscription to all of the latest songs, and also sell them individually, iTunes-style.

Oh, and don't give me "But there's Guitar/DrumMania! What about that?" Both of them sucked because of crappy controls and crappy song selection. Imagine DDR with Guitar Hero songs. Horrible, isn't it? Now imagine Guitar Hero with DDR songs, and you have an idea of what GuitarMania is like.

[Flack]

When I first saw Quickcams I thought of this idea, that arcade games could somehow be linked via the Internet and cameras on each end could show players' faces. Never happened, but I thought it would be neat.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

You know what would bring back arcades?

Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Imagine, instead of showing off your fake guitar/drum/singing skills to just your friends, you could have the whole arcade cheer you on! This would also benefit from an online connection; the list of songs available could be updated instantly. That, or they could charge arcade owners for a subscription to all of the latest songs, and also sell them individually, iTunes-style.

Oh, and don't give me "But there's Guitar/DrumMania! What about that?" Both of them sucked because of crappy controls and crappy song selection. Imagine DDR with Guitar Hero songs. Horrible, isn't it? Now imagine Guitar Hero with DDR songs, and you have an idea of what GuitarMania is like.

There's an arcade on the Seaside Heights NJ boardwalk that has an XBOX 360 unit in some type of pay-cabinet running Guitar Hero II ... you get something like 5 minutes of play time for a dollar (yeah, I know what a rip-off) ... but you're absolutely right it ALWAYS draws a crowd.

I wonder what the legality of that unit is ... it's definitely NOT a licensed Microsoft rig, but it does look like it was mass-manufactured by one of those MAME-cabinet-manufacturing companies.

[InsaneDavid]

I think networked online play could have saved Virtual World for a little longer (but there are a lot of other reasons why we can't go play Battletech and Red Planet anymore) as it would allow local teams to play in regional and national compeitions on a daily basis.

I think tournaments are what would get the arcades going again. I'd sign up for a national Daytona USA tourney in a heartbeat as I'm sure a lot of other people would as well. Since nearly every semi-large arcade is moving to the swipe card (a shame for the quarter / token era but it has its advantages) it's time for a standard to be devloped, especially among the larger chains. In the same way casinos use cards to track slot machine play a more advanced arcade swipe card needs to be devloped that will allow you to make and track a profile. This way your card would keep statistics about your playing whereabouts, how frequently you play a game, what competitions you've been registered in, and so forth. It would allow you to build teams with other players across town or across the country. e-mails could be dispatched for upcoming competitions to those who have a history of playing the game(s) that would be featured. Additionally high scores, game completions, gameplay averages and the like would be used to build a stat tracking database. These could be entered by onsite attendants which would require no additional modifications to the games' program code.

If this all is sounding kinda like the system used by the XBox Live Arcade and similar services that's because it is - although I've been kicking around the above idea in my head since 2002 when I spent 12 hours playing Daytona USA in the Casino Arcade in Santa Cruz. The difference here is it's all live and in public. Of course a system like this requires cross arcade connectivity as well as a database that players could interact with from any terminal with 'net access. A whole community could spring up around this idea.

Maybe Dave & Buster's should look more into developing something like this and less into putting the freaking Golden Tee machines right next to the non-bar seating... I swear, I'm sick of freaking businessmen getting plastered on their lunch hour within three feet of me.

[Radiac]

Online networking / live global ranking systems - to my knowledge was never even experimented within the arcade environment ... so how can we REALLY know whether or not it wouldn't be "fun" or "MORE FUN" than playing against a live in-person opponent OR at the very least JUST playing against the computer.

Even if the networking was ONLY used to keep track of a global scoreboard ... it would certainly have turned the world of competitive gaming on it's ear ... as everything from DDR to Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 still drew "tournaments" at local active arcades over the past 5-6 years.

These features are pretty standard in newer racing games. This goes back as far as 1998 with Daytona USA 2. Daytona cabs were equipped with a broadband connection and could link up with 39 other cabs over the internet. They also kept track of the players score on a global score table.

Unfortunately, I don't think that this feature was explored much -at least in the US. I'd kill to be able to race head-to-head with 39 other live opponents.

[cyberfluxor]

Maybe Dave & Buster's should look more into developing something like this and less into putting the freaking Golden Tee machines right next to the non-bar seating... I swear, I'm sick of freaking businessmen getting plastered on their lunch hour within three feet of me.

Wonderful. The card idea is great though and quite feasible. Maybe a method to collecting credit card data locally for game credits loaded onto an account linked to your gamers card. Then there's a central game server online that'd host competitions or forward multi-player games, of course an option in the game menu added to turn off net-play. But yeah it's all possible but unlikely without good industry backing.