What the heck happened to this hobby while I was gone

Most anyone who bought from Escape Pod is just ignorant of how lousy what it is that they put on their game.

I guess I am not "most anyone"... I have two cabinets with art from Escape Pod, Pac Man (marquee only) and my custom Donkey Kong Remix artwork. While I am not about to get in to the "he stole my shit" fight that has been going on, I will state that the artwork I received from Escape Pod (especially my custom Donkey Kong Remix artwork) easily eclipsed my expectations and looks absolutely fantastic.

The Pac Man marquee looks good (I got it free ala the March of Dimes gig) and was the primary reason I chose Escape Pod.

I would have no problem spending money with: ToG, PA, EP, GoG... all 4 have done me well in the past... and three of the four have made mistakes (BUT MADE UP FOR THE MISTAKES)...

Have you purchased any artwork from EP Joey? Feel free to post your experiences. If anyone would like to see an example of Escape Pods custom work... feel free to check out my blog post HERE...

I wrote that blog post BEFORE the "shit hit the fan" so-to-speak between the different inkjet vendors. I am not privy to all the facts on that end of things... but it's absolutely disingenuous in my opinion, BASED ON MY EXPERIENCES to claim Escape Pod produces shit product.
 
i've got artwork on my games from EscapePod

good prices, shipped quickly, looks great on my games

most of the EO haters are just TOG sycophants (why, i have no clue)
 
Don't even compare the two. People waited for years, but they knew what they were waiting for and ToG gave refunds to anyone who wanted out, and he pulled it off. That stuff is perfect silk screened. Escape Pod rips off ToG, PhoenixArcade, etc and sells cheap inkjet garbage with inaccurate colors, etc and should be banned from this forum. Most anyone who bought from Escape Pod is just ignorant of how lousy what it is that they put on their game. PA no longer is active here because of that guy ripping him off. Those that have been in the hobby for 20yrs remember when PA was one of only a couple of guys doing silkscreen art for this hobby.


Last guy I talked to said 6 years he waited, and was VERY HAPPY, and TOG stated they sub contracted the silk screening out. So they did not actually produce it, they paid someone years later to make it. Unless I read rich's post and viewed the images posted with it incorrectly???


Silk screen is never "perfect", thats why it is viewed as an art.

You also left out Szabo, who has shown videos of some nice products.

In the end none of this matters, because they are not the original creators of the art, and are simply reproducing the work of others.

Whether scanned or traced, it is still not original works being created and sold. Because if they were original, they would be NOS not reproductions.


This is really not the thread for this debate. As most get locked and people upset.
 
Tell you what. I bought a dkjr marquee from mikes.

I have no idea who made it.

I am very happy with it. And the game is in my livingroom on display.

Mike's got it to me in 3 days from when I placed the order.
 
OP:
"The Hobby" as you term it, has greatly changed since the early 2010's.

Much like the music, fashion and movies of the time, arcade game value has skyrocketed based off of NOSTALGIA. No longer are games assessed for value based off their skill-set or controls- they are instead quantified by the emotional response they deem to the buyer at hand.
Feel me?

We watch clips and videos daily thru third party sites like facebook and youtube all the time. How much content do we watch on these channels are derived from pure memories? We can recall immediately where we were when Zach Morris and AC Slater took Kelly and Jessie to the prom at Bayside, and thus we want to relive that moment.
Nostalgia bro. 2010's have been chock-full of that. It's the same reason you and I would pay quadruple for the same szechuan sauce from McDonald's and the same reason we would pay $500 for a single moment to play a game like TMNT as we did in the late 80's. To relive something we felt when we were younger. It's the same burning fire that forces the hands of so many men before us... men who would pay 30,000 dollars for an aging 70's mustang just to cruise it down the strip to suppress their egos. Thats all.

Look at all the material involvement we have with nostalgia these days. It consumes everything. If the 80's were rehashing styles and trends popular in the 60's, and if the 90's were rehashing all things cool in the 70's, then let it be known that 2015-2020 was a time in American History where we were solely basing style on Nostalgia only. Reboots of previous movies, musical hits, and fashion all point that way. If you said "DeLorian" in 1999, nobody would give a shit......... but you say the word "DeLorian" now, and people immediately deify you based on their assimilation into that particular discipline of nerdiness. It's weird as hell.

All this is why TMNT boards will rise for another 5 years. Then Metal Slug will shortly peak. Then DDR's will be gang-raped like they were the last tub of butter on a planet of waffles.

Nostalgia. Is it good? Is it Bad? Who knows?

Does it fuck with our collector values? Yeah...100%
 
OP:
"The Hobby" as you term it, has greatly changed since the early 2010's.

Much like the music, fashion and movies of the time, arcade game value has skyrocketed based off of NOSTALGIA. No longer are games assessed for value based off their skill-set or controls- they are instead quantified by the emotional response they deem to the buyer at hand.
Feel me?

We watch clips and videos daily thru third party sites like facebook and youtube all the time. How much content do we watch on these channels are derived from pure memories? We can recall immediately where we were when Zach Morris and AC Slater took Kelly and Jessie to the prom at Bayside, and thus we want to relive that moment.
Nostalgia bro. 2010's have been chock-full of that. It's the same reason you and I would pay quadruple for the same szechuan sauce from McDonald's and the same reason we would pay $500 for a single moment to play a game like TMNT as we did in the late 80's. To relive something we felt when we were younger. It's the same burning fire that forces the hands of so many men before us... men who would pay 30,000 dollars for an aging 70's mustang just to cruise it down the strip to suppress their egos. Thats all.

Look at all the material involvement we have with nostalgia these days. It consumes everything. If the 80's were rehashing styles and trends popular in the 60's, and if the 90's were rehashing all things cool in the 70's, then let it be known that 2015-2020 was a time in American History where we were solely basing style on Nostalgia only. Reboots of previous movies, musical hits, and fashion all point that way. If you said "DeLorian" in 1999, nobody would give a shit......... but you say the word "DeLorian" now, and people immediately deify you based on their assimilation into that particular discipline of nerdiness. It's weird as hell.

All this is why TMNT boards will rise for another 5 years. Then Metal Slug will shortly peak. Then DDR's will be gang-raped like they were the last tub of butter on a planet of waffles.

Nostalgia. Is it good? Is it Bad? Who knows?

Does it fuck with our collector values? Yeah...100%

OH MY GOD ... A GOZER SIGHTING!!!

How goes it bro!!!
 
OP:
If you said "DeLorian" in 1999, nobody would give a shit......... but you say the word "DeLorian" now, and people immediately deify you based on their assimilation into that particular discipline of nerdiness. It's weird as hell.


I cared, lol and actively wanted one in the 90's but being 19 in 1999 with no money when they were cheap made it impossible to get one.
 
What he types......

OH MY GOD ... A GOZER SIGHTING!!!

How goes it bro!!!

What I actually see....

iOy7Bzx.gif
 
>Gozer Message typed on KLOV today

giphy.gif
 
Hey guys. Figured it had been...bout...five years since I was on. But Ive definitely felt the same way about the hobby changes. Prices, availabilty, and the direction games are going are certainly evolving.
 
Hey guys. Figured it had been...bout...five years since I was on. But Ive definitely felt the same way about the hobby changes. Prices, availabilty, and the direction games are going are certainly evolving.

I'm so happy to see you on here again.
 
I got into this in '99 because I thought it was awesome to collect arcade games from the 80's.

Now I collect to relive that feeling I had in '99!

Crazy, but I love it!

Good to see you Gozer.

, Bill
 
Hey guys. Figured it had been...bout...five years since I was on. But Ive definitely felt the same way about the hobby changes. Prices, availabilty, and the direction games are going are certainly evolving.

It's an evolution.... it will peak soon enough, and head back down into obscurity. I don't know about you, but I just hope not too many classics get Multi'd during this time frame.... else restoring them is going to be a real bastard.

Let's be honest here, these things aren't exactly EASY to haul around. Sure, lots of "Johnny-come-lately's" will show up, buy up games because "hey! It's the hottest thing" right now. In another 10 years or so, they'll not only have moved on from "the hobby", but be ready to change residences... THAT is when the reality of "moving that 300+ pound beast" will come into play. Assuming, of course, that they didn't just stash it in the basement/garage/closet and left untouched, and sold it when the market started down sliding.

Me, personally.... I've had two cabinets since I was 17... and they've moved with me. I have a personal attachment to one of them, and somewhat recently(you may have been "out of the loop" when that happened... I'll link the thread below) picked up another from the same owners/arcade. My collection is "personal" to me... and I have no intentions of ever selling it off. Hell, as rough a time as we've gone through, it would benefit me(especially now, with prices up) to do so... but I just won't do it.

My wife, bless her heart, knows this... and even when she "fantasy shops" for houses, looks for a place for the games. She has also never suggested that I sell any of the games. That's love, man.

Oh, and the thread I referenced above is here:

https://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=356130
 
Yeah it kind of sucks. I've been out for years and wanted a few boards recently but they are pretty expensive now. I just picked up a umk3 so far. I think renewed interest is cool though. I see there are recent projects revising mk2 and umk3, which is awesome. I'm also interested in fpga and hope more and more games are recreated that way. I have the JROK board in a defender cab. Mame keeps chugging along. Seems lots of shit is going on but that could be me just catching up a bit.
 
OP:
If you said "DeLorian" in 1999, nobody would give a shit......... but you say the word "DeLorian" now, and people immediately deify you based on their assimilation into that particular discipline of nerdiness. It's weird as hell.

DeLorean man, DeLorean. J/K welcome back! :D

Tim
 
We can recall immediately where we were when Zach Morris and AC Slater took Kelly and Jessie to the prom at Bayside, and thus we want to relive that moment.

I hear ya man ....... thats why I watch this video 10 times everyday . But I don't know if its nostalgia or the leotards .

 
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