9/11 And The Arcades...
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9/11 was in 2001, about a year and a half after the PS2 came out. Arcades died because of the second golden age of home consoles, not because of 9/11. It began with the SNES and Genesis, picked up with the N64 and PS1, and by the PS2 era they were completely booted out of the market. Now only a few arcades remain in certain places, purely as places of nostalgia. The fact that 9/11 happened at the end of the arcade era is merely a coincidence. It was a long time coming. The N64 and PS1 really tipped the scale, as well as the Gameboy and Gameboy Color, and by the PS2 era gaming was completely back on consoles.
The reason consoles booted out arcades is because by the PS2 era they simply offered way more arcades ever could, and they were much more convenient and economical (or at least it felt more economic to the kids and parents--buying one console and games every now and then as opposed to constantly flushing away quarters at the arcade). Not to mention they offered bigger experiences. Again, the N64 and PS1 really started this trend, but the PS2 was the final straw.
The reason consoles booted out arcades is because by the PS2 era they simply offered way more arcades ever could, and they were much more convenient and economical (or at least it felt more economic to the kids and parents--buying one console and games every now and then as opposed to constantly flushing away quarters at the arcade). Not to mention they offered bigger experiences. Again, the N64 and PS1 really started this trend, but the PS2 was the final straw.
Those were affected by 9/11, but for completely different reasons. People were offended about "The Two Towers" for the same reason they were offended by the movie that came out just last year about wannabe cops who overreact and shoot an innocent kid in a neighborhood--it is eerily similar to a tragedy, and while both films were in production long before their respective tragedies, it still appears to people that they are trying to cash in on a tragedy. And cashing in on a tragedy is never in poor test. Same with the Spiderman movie.gamernerdtg2 said:
an entire mission arc in GTA III was cut out of the final game, Rockstar removed children NPCs, changed the police cruiser skins from an NYC style to generic Black and White and clipped the wings of the Dodo airplane and removed some gore effects. their offices were located near the world trade center so 9/11 had a profound effect on rockstar games
You know, I forgot about Rockstar being based in NYC - wow that's crazy how much it actually changed the game.wrightguy0 said:
You know...we're all into the Nazi thing b/c we were focused on Hitler. Stalin was much worse, so there's some fodder for games for sure. I have to read up on Stalin, but he would not only kill you if you were against him, he'd kill your family and wipe them out of the history books. That dude was no joke, but we don't really focus on him in the US b/c our beef was with Germany. The Russians dealt with Germany too, but I'm saying that Stalin would make a way scarier villain in a game. I don't even know if we could do that without catching flack from Russia now somehow... I'm not even into Call of Duty, but I've thought about this for a while.Requia said:
If anything, Call of Duty is very anti-American. Americans are usually portrayed as either inept or evil and it's up to the European nations/Russia to make things right. Task Force 141 in particular is shown in a good light, and that's a multinational group which focuses heavily on the British and Russian members.Requia said:
Lilani said:
I appreciate that last bit about "cashing in on tragedy". Never a good idea.
As for the arcades - there was more to them than nostalgia. They were the standard before that second age of consoles you mentioned. 5 bucks in quarters per week (back in those days) went a long way. 60 dollar games and $300.00 consoles may have saved you money in the long run, but arcades were less expensive for me. I was actually good at them, and would make other folks spend money on games where you could compete.
Consoles brought the arcade experience into people's living rooms and made it more convenient to game. The gameplay we got in the arcades was brought home and improved upon. To me, that's more than nostalgia. Any game that borrows from the gameplay that the arcades offered is going to be a good game, even if the story is terrible. Dragon's Dogma, for example... and that story isn't terrible. (It's not the best but it's not the worst either).
As to 9/11 and the content of games - there are some really good observations that some folk have written about like what happened to GTA III. Very interesting.
The only thing I remember was that Red Alert 2 got to have its cover art changed. Since it starts with the Soviets attacking New York and has burning NYC in the background... I think they only removed the towers from it though.
As for the Lord of the Rings title thing, I didn't notice the offended people and haven't even heard of the thing before the counter-outrage. As usual with those things, it seems that 99% of exposure was generated by snarky "dumbasses want to censor everything!" posts on the interwebz.
I guess there could have been some impact on the arcades, because of that whole "terrorists were trained on videogame flight simulators" craze after 9/11, but on the whole, I would blame the successful home console market and lowering PC prices. Arcades were closing all over the world at the time, and while 9/11 was big news outside the US, it wasn't nearly big enough to affect people's gaming habits.
You have stated yourself that you "have to read up on Stalin". Nazis are an instant easy villain. You don't need to explain their goals or motivations. You can even give them goals which were contrary to what they, historically, wanted to achieve. Nobody would care, because they're Nazis!
What I'm saying is, if knowledge of both regimes was equal, Stalinist USSR would work as a much scarier enemy than Nazi Germany. But it's not, and so Nazis work better.
As for the Lord of the Rings title thing, I didn't notice the offended people and haven't even heard of the thing before the counter-outrage. As usual with those things, it seems that 99% of exposure was generated by snarky "dumbasses want to censor everything!" posts on the interwebz.
I guess there could have been some impact on the arcades, because of that whole "terrorists were trained on videogame flight simulators" craze after 9/11, but on the whole, I would blame the successful home console market and lowering PC prices. Arcades were closing all over the world at the time, and while 9/11 was big news outside the US, it wasn't nearly big enough to affect people's gaming habits.
Stalin was worse in terms of oppressiveness of state and bodycount (not just him: you can substitute Mao or Pol Pot), but he wouldn't make a particularly good villain precisely because his acts aren't as widely known. During WW2, FDR administration would circulate Soviet propaganda because they wanted Stalin's support against Japan. They knew of the Katyń forest massacre, for example, but hushed it up and forbid anyone to mention it. Add to it that the Soviets were way better than the Nazis at covering up their crimes. And later romanticization of Communist revolutionaries in pop culture.gamernerdtg2 said:
You have stated yourself that you "have to read up on Stalin". Nazis are an instant easy villain. You don't need to explain their goals or motivations. You can even give them goals which were contrary to what they, historically, wanted to achieve. Nobody would care, because they're Nazis!
What I'm saying is, if knowledge of both regimes was equal, Stalinist USSR would work as a much scarier enemy than Nazi Germany. But it's not, and so Nazis work better.
Video arcades were rubbish; they were all pay to win, money-sponges. The 21st century saw consoles able to provide "arcade-perfect" graphics as a matter of routine which, when combined with advanced features such as saving and being able to play DVDs, meant that the video arcade became irrelevant.
So the arcade became more expensive, 50p or even £1 per continue, whilst not losing the ridiculous difficulty curve from bosses that instakilled you with unavoidable attacks.
Fuck arcades, but they weren't killed by Al-Quaeda; they killed themselves.
So the arcade became more expensive, 50p or even £1 per continue, whilst not losing the ridiculous difficulty curve from bosses that instakilled you with unavoidable attacks.
Fuck arcades, but they weren't killed by Al-Quaeda; they killed themselves.