Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!pyrdc!gmu90x!gmuvax2!jbaker
From: jbaker@gmuvax2.gmu.edu (John Baker)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.games
Subject: WHY NO ARCADE GAMES
Message-ID: <1620@gmuvax2.gmu.edu>
Date: 12 Jun 90 19:24:32 GMT
References: <2054@mindlink.UUCP> <8039@mirsa.inria.fr>
Reply-To: jbaker@gmuvax2.UUCP (John Baker)
Organization: George Mason Univ. Fairfax, Va.
Lines: 24

I don't like the arcade games from the past few years.  When I still
used my Atari 800 regularly, I played LOTS of arcade games on it.  They
were GREAT!  I had all the Atari classics, many Williams games, the
early EA stuff - MULE, etc.  I couldn't quit!  But there is little that
excites me now, for several reasons.  First of all, it seems that today's
arcade games are not original.  There are endless clones of clones with
little or no creativity.  One of the major causes of this was the Atari
VS Commodore situation.  If Atari had not split the arcade game dept
from the personal computer group, and had not lost the Amiga, then we
would see all the classics on our 16 bit Atari game machines, and we
would get all the best arcade games soon after they were released as
coin-ops - sort of like video movies.  But now we don't have such a
"blockbuster" game company.  The closest we have is Nintendo.  They had
some nice stuff at first, but maybe due to their monopoly, all the
Nintedo games taste the same.  Blah.  So we just have to make do with
technically advanced machines with lame (in my opinion) unoriginal
games.  But there ARE a FEW people writing some original games, many
of which are adventure or strategy games.  Things like Zak McCracken,
Millenium 2-2, Stunt Car Racer, Shufflepuck Cafe, Ocean Beach
Volleyball, to name a few.  But there isn't anything like the old
arcade classics - Pooyan, Berserker, Ms. PacMan, Frogger, etc.

John Baker
jbaker@gmuvax2.gmu.edu