Virtual Ping Pong

Russell Hancock asked:


Arcades have come a long way since their inception as simple coin operated games long ago.

The earliest coin operated games showed up in the 1930’s as pinball machines. In the early 70’s the world was mesmerized by the video game called pong. Then Atari came into the picture as the first major player in the industry.

New arcade games were developed and seemingly overnight they appeared in restaurants, grocery stores, bars and movie theaters all over the United States and other countries. Games such as Space Invaders, Galaxian, Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong were especially popular.

The simplest arcade games are still fun to play but the most advanced games challenge you more, and generally provide a more gratifying user experience. Arcade games are products of someone’s imagination. Someone who took a simple idea created an interactive product that appeals to the masses of gamers out there. Some games become extremely popular, others do not.

At one time the only place you could play an arcade game was at a public establishment such as movie theaters and bowling alleys. They started out being the size of small refrigerators. Then we had home gaming systems which over the years were developed and got smaller, and much more powerful with better graphics. There are home gaming systems, handheld games, games on cell phones and about any other electronic media with a screen.

What fascinates me about the games is the endless variety. There are free games available all over the internet and they are all fun to play. If you find yourself sitting in front of a computer waiting on a download you can play a free arcade game.

You won’t have any trouble finding an arcade site, there are literally thousands of them on the internet today.

A lot of the game sites allow you to keep score and challenge others to beat your score at a particular game. Some have a link you can embed into your social networking page which will allow other users to play the game. Most of these web arcade sites have upwards of 3000 games or more.

Arcades are indeed a lot of fun. They have come a long way from years ago and I expect that the popularity of arcade games will not diminish anytime soon. They are sure to be developed further as time goes on with more advances in the next few years than we have seen in the last 20 years.

Anyone young and old can play arcade games. It is great exercise for the brain and is fun and challenging at the same time.

Check out some of the great arcade sites out there and play away.

Brad Campbell asked:


People are playing free flash games on the world wide web. The internet is being flooded with free games to play online. Kids, teens, and lazy employees around the world have discovered online arcades and are taking advantage of the free flash games they offer.

The thing with internet arcades is that they have free games to play. Not only are the games free but you can’t lose or break them. Flash games don’t typically have great graphics or as long as traditional games, but there are many very fun and challenging ones if you look in the right places.

Some online arcades can be very uncomfortable due to excessively flashing ads and popups. That often turns people away from them but without advertisements there would be no free online arcades. Operating a website isn’t free and in order for the owner to keep providing free games they need to makes some money from it.

Many of the companies that make them are now coming out with some very exciting and elaborate flash games to play online. Because of the extensive work that goes into creating them some are not free. Luckily flash games are cheap and almost always have a free demo online with a couple levels to give you a taste of the game offers. A select few of these games had such success they became regular non flash video game. The two most known are Diner Dash (Became a PC game) and Alien Hominid (Became a Playstation 2 game).

The most advanced form of flash games are MMORPGs which stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. This type of game is a lot like an Xbox or Playstation game online in the sense that you can communicate with other players inside the game. MMORPGs sometimes have free trials or modes, but don’t have as much if you don’t upgrade to the paid monthly fee. The benefit of upgrading is that these games don’t really have an end. The creators are constantly coming up with new features and contests to keep you interested.

A lot of free internet arcades allow you to register for free. If you register you get a profile showing everyone how many games you’ve played and your personal avatar image. Some online arcades have a private message feature that lets you communicate with other members just like email. With that you can make friends and ask people how they finished the level in whatever game your playing or whatever else you think of talking about.

So many websites with free games to play online are some of the most popular sites in the world. There is no questioning the reason for that right? Having free games to play online from anywhere with an internet connection is really great.

Cristian Malita asked:


Since the advance of modern personal computers there are very few people that go out to play arcade games. Also the development of graphically-advanced games like Unreal 3 or Crysis seems to have made arcades disappear. But what happened to the classics like Donkey Kong or Mario? Did they disappear?

The answer is no. They are all to be found on online gaming websites that lets you play them for an unlimited time at no price. The advantage of this kind of games is that they can be played from home, on almost any personal computer that has an internet connection for free. All that you have to do is type an online arcade website`s address in your browser and choose from thousands of free games to play.

The reason why webmasters make this websites to offer free games is that there is no need for a large amount of money to establish them and they can also make big amounts of money from the advertisements placed on the site. While establishment a real arcade might cost you up to $50000, establishing an online arcade might cost less than $20.

The average online arcade has about 1500 games distributed in categories like action, adventure, strategy, role-playing, driving, shooting and sports which can satisfy gamers of any age with any preferences. In addition many of this online arcades offer gamers a social environment in which they can comment, rate, bookmark or add their favorite games to social networking sites such as myspace or hi5. Some even offer more fancy ways to socialize such as forums and chat rooms.

The games themselves are developed using software such as adobe flash or adobe shockwave. This programs are very easy to use, so almost everyone can create a game. Some online arcades are taking advantage of this and have the ability to allow users to submit their own games to the website. This can be a great way for online game developers to express their talent and gain popularity.

Online gaming probably has the biggest effect on teenagers especially girls that prefer less sophisticated games. They are also a good option for adults that don`t have anything better to do or boys that can`t afford a powerful computer or complex 3d games. Another significant source of traffic comes from poorer countries where people can`t afford a Personal Computer, so they visit local cyber-cafes, and the fact that they don`t have to pay extra for the games they play gives them a good reason to spend time on those sites.

There are also arcade gaming sites that offer mobile solutions, so a user can go online with their mobile phone, download a game in java format, play it leave comments or even more.

Some online gaming sites organize contests from time-to-time and award the winners with cash or gifts. This gives people a good opportunity to make money or win stuff for free and also helps to advertise the website.

In conclusion, online gaming is gaining popularity very fast and will probably be one of the biggest forms of entertainment of the 21st century, competing with sports, television and 3d gaming.