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Document Type

Article

Abstract

“Innovation, Imitation, and the Continued Importance of Video Games” frames the development of the video game industry as one defined by a dialectic of innovation and imitation between arcades and home gaming. These complexities are simplified if not completely overlooked in the numerous game compilations, emulator collections, and plug and play devices, all of which have an effect on the nostalgia of players. The industry experimented with innovations in graphics and immersive gameplay throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, at which point compilations of classic video games (generally speaking, pre-1983) started being released for home consoles and in arcades. The revitalized interest in classic games during this time might be seen as a reaction to the technological arms race occurring in the shrinking pool of arcades.

Retro arcades, which began appearing by the late 1990s, are approximations of the arcades of 20 or 30 years ago in terms of game availability but little else. The arcade, once primarily a space of commerce and a showcase for technical sophistication, has shifted primarily to being a space of nostalgia. Manufacturers of full-size emulator collections promise authentic game play in their marketing but their built-in joystick and buttons alters the experience of games that were originally played with different controls. An ever-diminishing supply of original arcade games is steadily being replaced by emulators and compilations of classic games for home consoles that, playing on nostalgia, emphasize authentic experiences but largely fail to deliver on that promise because the games, the spaces in which they are played, and the players themselves have changed.

Finally, communities of players and enthusiasts have generally documented and archived video game culture better than institutions, though the best of these preservation efforts can only recreate the spatial context of classic video games, not the temporal.

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