[General Discussion] Classic Games and Future Generations?

Odd timing for this thread...I had one of those moments today when I went into a local theatre. It was like something out of the 1980's...A swarm of people over (of all things) a Ms Pac Man machine (also had Galaga) and a couple others on a Space Invaders machine (one of those Taito 20th Anniversary ones that also had Qix) and then, a Simpsons arcade game that was packed with people beating the stage 1 boss (the 4P Konami one...haven't seen one in over 10 years...bet I can guess why they got it). Sure there was DDR and Time Crisis and the obligatory line of racing games that last about a minute apiece per play with gimmicky rides, but it was something I hadn't seen in awhile...Everyone excited over those old arcade games.

I feel arcades are something that needed to evolve more than shut down. I mean, realistically, an owner can't afford to keep buying games that cost thousands apiece if no one plays them (and ask anyone who grabs a MAME ROM set...There's an insane amount of crap that's barely worth 25 cents to play. I feel bad for owners who paid $2000+ for a whole cabinet's worth of a shit game that maybe makes $50 in its' existence). I can pay $50 for a shit game, then recoup (or even MAKE) money selling it on ebay. What I would like to see are more of those classic Taito/Capcom cabinets with the 25 games or so to pick from and just have a whole arcade full of them. Also, I think they should have a set-up where you can bring in your own controller and hook it into the macine, so the crappy sticks and buttons aren't an issue. I think one of the major downfalls of arcades is owners who don't play games just not realizing how frustrating it is to play a game without working controls. Then they get mad when people beat up the machine because they feel they got ripped off (which is a valid argument).

And maybe not retro, but one reason I'm glad to see Guitar Hero-mania is because it's essentially an arcade game that offers up a quick, pick-up-and-play style (just like the rest of Konami's Bemani series, most of which didn't come out of Japan) and it's kind of refreshing after seeing game after game that has these huge time requirements to get anywhere or do anything. I imagine a set-up where you plunk in tokens to play in front of a crowd of people (instead of your empty apartment or for gangs of Youtubers) would do quite well and be a lot of fun. Or even better...Rock Band. Four people who have never met before, playing drums, guitars and singing classic music (and paying 50 cents a head per song) in front of a crowd would be insane. There just aren't many (physical) general gathering places for gamers, unless you know a lot of people.

As for "classic" game preservation...That's sort of been the whole point of emulation, a digital back-up for something on a limited lifespan. As much of a rip-off the VC can feel like, I think it's helped bring an awareness of classic gaming to the mainstream (as opposed to the emulation being an underground thing) and now people can see for themselves there's good stuff out there. Now that the casual market is growing (not to mention a nostalgic one that grew up with arcades and Atari/NES/SNES/Genesis/etc), I think classic games will do fine in the future. And there's plenty of us around to tell everyone how much better Final Fantasy 6 and Chrono Trigger are than nearly any modern RPG released today.

Jam it back in, in the dark.