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Pong creator Nolan Bushnell to enter MMO space
The man many call 'the Father of Videogames' -- as he is responsible for founding Atari and creating Pong -- Nolan Bushnell was recently interviewed by GameSpot at this year's GDC. The piece reads along smoothly enough, with Bushnell offering up his opinion on the marginalization of game arcades since the 80s, how to monetize casual games, and the importance of socialization.On this line of questioning, GameSpot asks 'Do you have anything in massively multiplayer games?' After a long pause, Bushnell confirms he does with a single 'yes', but reveals no further details, saying intriguingly ' ... as compelling as World of Warcraft is, it too shall find that there are other ways to play a game.'It's a given that he knows a lot about the industry, but that's not necessarily a quality guaranteed to create a fun game. However, he does know quite a bit about creating social spaces, which could be a big advantage in designing an MMO. What do you think, could something interesting come from Nolan Bushnell?
Namco blames Wii for arcade closures in Japan
Namco Bandai is shuttering between 50 and 60 arcades in Japan, and it's laying the blame squarely on Nintendo's shoulders. "A lot of the types of games that people played at an arcade can now be done at home," said company spokesman Yuji Machida. Namco figures that Japanese kids are saving up their pocket money to buy the latest and greatest Wii game or accessory, which is clearly unacceptable. Sega Sammy also has plans to close about 100 of its arcades, but there's no word of finger pointing from that camp. While we're certain the Wii's popularity has a little something to do with it, perhaps Japanese gamers are just beginning to learn something their American counterparts got down years ago: why leave the couch? Ever?[Via Joystiq]
Silent Hill: The Arcade makes us jealous
The death spiral of the arcade in America is a vicious cycle. If more people were populating arcades, we'd probably get more games like Silent Hill: The Arcade, released in Japan last month. Of course, if our arcades included more games like Silent Hill and fewer sweaty meat sacks trying to lose that last 230 pounds on a DDR machine electronically beeping out a prayer for a quick death, we'd probably be more apt to go there. Luckily for us, we have footage like the above clip. Just make your fingers into a gun shape and go to town. You don't have to pay any money and (best of all) you don't have to keep yourself from staring at Chunky Brewster performing his Slurpee rehydration.
Diner used arcade cabinets to hide video poker machines
In what sounds like it could have been a scene straight out of a Prohibition-era speakeasy, Tennessee law enforcement officials raided a Sevier County diner last Thursday and discovered that two of the arcade cabinets had been retrofitted to play video poker as well. After receiving several complaints from locals presumably curious about the recent popularity of Sharon Tarwater's Speedway Diner ("Come for the pie, stay for the poker"), sheriff's deputies moved in on the establishment and caught patrons right in the act -- despite the fact that the machines had been rigged with a remote switch to instantly change their functionality a la Moe's Pet Shop. Authorities found a total of just $338 in the pair of machines along with two located elsewhere, which would seem to suggest that Ms. Tarwater could have made almost as much loot just leaving the cabinets unaltered and charging $5-a-pop for the latest title to hit the home county of Dollywood, Street Fighter II.[Via Joystiq]
