Video games have experienced a spectacular evolution from arcade machines to consoles. Since Pong, the Pixel Games or the appearance of 2D with Super Mario Bros, we all have very specific memories of our first gaming experiences.
The industry and the world of gaming have certainly evolved, but let's face it, it's with a pinch at heart that we think back to arcade games.
If today we can play online everywhere: at home, on the train, on all supports, in multi-player mode and in front of players from all over the world, it is without ever finding the atmosphere of the rooms. arcade. Nostalgia, nostalgia when you hold us ...
If we are melancholy when we think of arcades, it is because they have fulfilled a social function and they also hold an important place in the history of video games. .
The release of Space Invaders in 1978 is generally the date chosen to mark the start of the Golden Age of arcade video games. Then come the 80s with the classics of the genre : Tetris, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Mario Super Bros and other casino games . These games were found in rooms that are now part of our cultural and social heritage.
They were a living place, in which we found ourselves. Even if we must admit that we were playing alone against the terminal, it was frequent that a group of friends formed around to assist and comment on the performance: Each played in turn to try to beat the score of the 'other.
It was an opportunity for exchanges and from there we could continue in another place and build relationships. Pong developed by Sears in 1975 was the first console of its kind, a console that would bring the arcade game home.
The appearance of the first consoles, however, offered a rather lonely experience: alone doing on TV (or two to play Pong). Even if the controllers would later allow a family or friendly experience, we lost the social aspect of the arcades, its sounds, its hubbub, its shared emotions.
This is how the term pejorative of geek was born to designate the follower of video games. Note that as new technologies evolve, the geek has become “cool”: once mocked, he is the one who masters new technologies, the friend we call when we are dumped and who bluffs us with his skills !
Today, arcades are part of our culture: how many films from the 80s incorporate scenes that take place in arcades. More than that, these games also testify to their time. Take Space Invaders for example (launched by Atari in 1978) a kind of you against the world, which testifies well to the spirit of the Cold War.
Recognized as an art, video games are now classified in the same way as books and music as a cultural product.
With its ever more realistic and breathtaking graphics, the contemporary offer is the result of the meeting between art and technology. A few years ago, the famous Museum of American History (Smithsonian) in Washington DC, proposed an exhibition entitled, The art of video games. We no longer count exhibitions or articles on the subject because arcade games are very present. Did you know that the first pop star in gaming is none other than Pac-Man!
After experiencing ups and downs, video games now represent the 2nd cultural industry in France. The BNF (National Library of France) offers several thousand titles of video games for consultation, in order to retrace the history of this new culture in full evolution. There are even museums dedicated to it, like the video game museum near Strasbourg .
And, good news, our arcade games are not dead: thanks to Virtual Reality, arcade rooms are reborn around the world today ! Phew.