4 gamification lessons from the arcades

Images 4 gamification lessons from the arcades

When I was young, one of my absolute favourite things in the world were arcades! When ever my parents took me on holiday, I would pray that nearby would be an arcade. The lights, the sounds, the smell – everything about an arcade filled me with joy and excitement. Row upon row of cabinets fighting for my attention, adorned with intricately designed decals and pumping out sonic blasts of enticing music and sound effects.

Then there were the machines that went a step further, the ones that became a full immersive experience or even a ride! Who can forget the pitching and yawing of the Afterburner cabinet, or the skidding Outrun machine. The game that changed everything for me was the sit down Star Wars cabinet from Atari. First released in 1983, this thing of beauty gave you the chance to be Luke Skywalker piloting his X-Wing battling to destroy the Death Star. I would walk over broken glass in a vat of vinegar to own one of those! Read More ...

Looking back at my life – Computer games are in there!

Jedi logo decal 87463 Looking back at my life 8211 Computer games are in there

As I turned 36 yesterday, I started to reminisce a little about what things have helped define my life. I am not talking about family or friends, but actual things.

The first that came to mind was Games, more specifically video games. Now, I am too old to be a millennial – so I of course have not had computers in my life since I was born. However, I have had computers in my life from pretty much the first memories I have – and that is around 4 or 5 years old.

First we I remember us having an Apple II and playing Star Trek with my dad. After that it was a ZX Spectrum+ with a Micro Drive. My dad had only a few games for this, but I strongly remember Ant Attack – one of the first survival horror games!. Somewhere around this time I discovered my dads Acetronic MPU 1000, This was my introduction to multi-player games as we would spend hours playing Space War, Golf, Tank Plane Battle and Space Invaders. That system came out many times over the years! Read More ...