California Extreme Classic Arcade Game Show

Tron
Originally uploaded by Jetgirl Supreme.

This past weekend we attended the California Extreme in lovely San Jose. Was it extreme? Words cannot begin to describe...

Picture a warehouse filled with classic arcade games and pinball machines. Pumping 80's tunes. And everything on freeplay. If they only had free martinis to boot, this would be my idea of heaven.

Playing these classic games makes me think of a couple things. One is what a difference a custom interface makes. My old Atari 800 had a set of paddles that you could use to play breakout. "Paddles" doesn't really describe what they were: twisty knobs would be more descriptive. Playing games like Discs of Tron, Robotron 2048 and Tempest make me wish I had a custom controller for every game I own. They really do make a huge difference to the feel of the game. Are the games we play on our home consoles constrained by the interface? (I feel less stupid for having bought my Donkey Konga drums).

The other thing that occurs to me is the importance of gameplay. These games sometimes had an extremely loose framework "story" and of course graphics were not at their visual peak. But it doesn't change the fact that the games are fun. You can play them over and over again, unlike our modern marvels with epic storylines that take 40 hours to complete. Then, exhausted, you never want to look at the game again.

I am a firm believer that game designers need to constantly study their craft. These games, free of the trappings of beautiful graphics (though they are beautiful in their own way) and lovely stories boil the game down to the gameplay experience, allowing the student of games to easily get right to the heart of the matter.

Ironically, this week Gamasutra also posted answers to "Question of the Week: Coin Op Favorites". I definitely know which games I want in my personal arcade. Do you?