/ga/ - Games

>>11787
wouldn't that just be like a room that has PCs and game consoles

>>11788
With short games that you pay some money for each playthrough attempt.

Isn't it a ripoff to have to pay each time you play?

>>12091
What if the game is just that good?

Because returning to an arcades style business model would make the falling rate of profit even worse.
Arcades machines of the 1970's, 1980's and some of the 1990's were built around a minicomputer architecture. Meaning that they was no single processors doing everything like in modern computers.
That's why they all required their own hardware for the most part. You couldn't just buy a new arcade game and plop it into your old hardware. Every arcade game was written for it's own custom hardware.
The Sega Saturn was the last console to be built with a minicomputer configuration and it was notoriously hard to program for and failed spectacularly in the market.
No that everything is on a microcomputer architecture there's no need for big bulky arcade units with one off boutique internals.
Round One is bringing back traditional arcades but most of their machines are rhythm games with huge novelty inputs like drums, turntables or mini dance floors that can detect if you're moving your body correctly. Things that can't be replicated in the home easily.

>>11787
>Is it bad that my favorite class of games, arcade games, were the original nickel-and-dimers?
You probably like those games because they have very tightly focused game-play mechanics. The arcade business-model was kinda mid, not the best but also not the worst, you got to play games and you got a social gathering place. In these days computer technology was so bulky and expensive that it was either that or nothing. The only real downside to arcades was that people payed money an never ended up owning any games.

>In fact, why haven't we seen a resurgence of arcades
That might be coming tho, i've seen a youtuber talk about a arcade store owner opening a second venue, i think they just charge a small entry-fee and then all the games are free. It's mostly retro stuff but they are still building new games too apparently. For modern games there is arcade potential too: Good quality fully featured VR-gear with "full-body immersion" like a strap-in walking simulator rig and full body temperature/kinetic simulation, that stuff costs about the same as a arcade cabinet way back when. It's also very bulky too. All in all very suitable for arcades.

Whether there will be a retro and VR arcade revival, will depend on some factors:
If this becomes a open technology scene, with a organic culture that freely shares technical expertise, and builds on top of free open source technology models, it'll take off. But it could also just become a corporate walled-garden trying to build a locked down franchise model, that will completely flop. Because this has to be tinker friendly for it to not be a sterile environment with lots of out-of-order arcade booths, guarded by disinterested under-payed corporate serfs.

Btw: the Soviets had publicly funded arcades that worked like a public library. Tho most of their games were WW3 simulators, because most of computer scientists that build those, started out as technicians in the military.

>the video game industry has continued to struggle with the falling rate of profit
I think the video game industry struggles more with the falling rate of spending power of the masses. Capitalism diverting more surplus towards war and militarism lately is what's squeezing the entertainment industry. The falling rate of profit is eventually going to catch up with gaming as well, but it definitely hasn't yet, the ratio of variable capital over constant capital in that sector is still high enough to generate lots of profits.

My guess is that people will move away from common denominator big-budget game production towards indie titles, because if you can only afford a few games you're going to go for the ones that run on the hardware you can afford and scratch your particular entertainment itch the best. So cost-effective open platforms like the steam-deck are probably the future of gaming for the masses.

Check out this form-factor:
https://farside.link/invidious/watch?v=W4PHhurAhwc
If valve ever makes something like this, they'll probably call it steam-board/slab/plate. And it probably would displace consoles if it can compete on price against the combined cost of a console + a tv. People don't automatically already own a tv anymore, so the cost of a tv is now something many people add to the cost of console gaming.

>>12093
that Chad Gendo tho