A brief history of videogame arcades

There was a time when a pocket full 
of change meant an amazing afternoon  When entertainment was powered by pixels 
and high scores created by local heroes  This was the era of the arcade The golden age of videogames Our love of videogames began 
with a little game named Pong and soon the overflowing cash boxes helped 
pave the way for many icons of the industry  Well they come as if from outer 
space in a variety of weird guises, Defender, Pac-Man, Asteroids and Jumpman that plucky little plumber 
who'd soon be famous by another name The years between 1978 and 83 are generally 
considered the golden age of videogames  It was the era of fluoro parachute 
pants, Sony Walkmans and the birth of MTV  when a Ferrari Testarossa was 
the ultimate status symbol  and the sound of synthesizers 
flowed from every speaker  Initially seedy bars and smoke-filled halls
housed the burgeoning videogames industry but pretty soon they needed a 
true home of their own: the arcade The popularity of videogames meant that arcades 
weren't just a place to check out the latest game  They were the place where you'd 
meet and hang out with your mates  to take your date, or if your mum forced 
you, your little brother or sister  Yellow creature gobbles dots while 
being pursued through maze by monsters  In suburban Franklin Park 
you'll find Midway Manufacturing   feverishly turning out 350 Pac-Man games 
every day in three different cabinet styles The pizza shaped protagonist of Pac-Man was 
specifically designed to appeal to girls Oh my god Phoebe you're on fire!
I know!  This changed the way that we viewed arcades No longer were they seedy 
smoke-filled dens of iniquity They were a place for everyone
The golden age was a period   of technical innovation
Driving games had steering   wheels and pedals and even hydraulics that jolted 
you around as you swerved or crashed on screen Vector graphics in games such as Tempest 
and the classic Star Wars arcade cabinet   wowed players with their crisp 
lines and faux 3D art style Videogame manufacturers in the 
1970s didn't have the luxury of   butter smooth graphics or 
giant quad core processors They were limited by the humble pixel Big blocky thing that could be seen 
from the other side of the room When it came time to design typography and 
lettering they had to think in terms of squares  The result: an entire generation 
of arcade fonts were born  The most influential font 
is called Atari Quiz Show   and you've probably seen it thousands of times
usually in the form of "game over"  Videogames fever has prompted 
a number of businesses to try   to cash in on that billion dollar craze
Book publishers and even movie producers are   trying to make videogames pay off for them
As they became a part of popular culture   videogames started appearing in movies
often when characters went to play in the arcades and by the 1980s they became central to the story typically in these films the otherwise 
virtual activities within videogames became   tied to real world stakes and consequences
and the development of players' game skills became connected to some type 
of life or death conflict Arcades also appeared in a bunch of films at 
the time such as Fast Times at Ridgemont High my name is Bond, James Bond The Karate Kid
and many more Outrun released by Sega in 1986 redefined racing 
games and encapsulated the aesthetic of the 80s  The game's soundtrack was one 
of its most memorable features  It blended 80s arcade synth with Latinesque beats and players could select tracks to race to creating a personal connection 
between the player and the soundtrack Inspired by the game, French electro artist 
Kavinsky named his debut album Outrun which also happens to feature a 
Ferrari Testarossa on the cover  Kavinsky is most known for his notable synth 
pop sounds inspired by 80s arcade games  His song Night Call was featured 
in the Ryan Gosling vehicle Drive  Director Nicolas Winding Refn is often 
drawn to neon hyper-saturated visuals   reminiscent of the vaporwave aesthetic The TV series Stranger Things heavily 
incorporates synthpop into its audio soundscape  It features the scene with Dragon's Lair, the   1983 arcade game most famous for its 
graphics and eye-watering difficulty  Another reimagining of the era can be seen 
in the Black Mirror episode San Junipero  The episode takes place in an ethereal 
vaporwave interpretation of a golden era arcade  We see the main character playing 
games like Bubble Bobble and Pac-Man  Whilst arcades reached a peak in the 90s the 
exponential improvement in home videogame hardware   has seen a virtual death of the arcade
at least in Western Society  however places such as Akihabara in Tokyo continue 
to show an ongoing fascination with the arcade with a whole city block 
dedicated to capsule games,   the brightest and shiniest new arcade technology While the golden age of the 
arcade may have come and gone  its impact and influence on videogames lives on

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