#HTE

The Fascinating World of Japanese Videogame Arcades

This is hilarious, and a prime example of how Japan is able to perfectly blend old and new things to create unique experiences: They’ve got a virtual reality videogame called “Fear of Heights” where your sole mission is to rescue a cat that has crawled onto the edge of a plank protruding from a skyscraper. Here’s what the player sees:

Here’s what they’re actually doing:

Note the stuffed cat

If it’s not clear from the photo, the board isn’t quite fixed, but is laid atop unsteady supports that provide wobble. Coupled with the VR, it’s as low-tech and as hi-tech as you can get.

Now imagine you’re the designer of a virtual reality videogame with more action, like a first-person zombie shooter set in a hospital. The issue is that players can get so wrapped up in the action that they can lose their balance, get nauseous, fall and possibly injure themselves. How do you solve this?

In this case, the designers’ brilliant solution was to safely relegate the players to a wheelchair that they self-control with a joystick. For the able-bodied person unaccustomed to such limitations, this increases the terror factor of the zombie setting. And it means that wheelchair users that have the use of their hands get to play the game, too.

These are just a couple of the innovations enjoyed by attendees of videogame arcades in Japan. In the following video, George Weldman of the Super Bunnyhop channel runs through a bunch of them and explains some of the cool interfaces. He also puts on his sociologist hat and puts forth a theory for why arcades in Japan enjoy a popularity not seen elsewhere, based on the existence of both a comprehensive train system and a cash economy: