Basic Info: Richard Hutnik

•{ How long have you been a videogamer? }•

I have been into games much of my life, starting when I was a kid under 5, going way back (I am in my 40s now).

•{ What is your favorite system? }•

I don't have a favorite system now, but I have a bias towards Atari. Type of games I have interest in is old school stuff. Currently, I am doing tabletop game design which can be seen at GamesByRich.com . I also have a Facebook group on casual, retro and indie games at caders.com .

•{ What is your interest in CADERS? }•

CADERS has been going a few years, if that is what you were talking about. The cores is refugees from the Microsoft fiasco known as Game Room. Big picture, I want to get a videogame version of what pinball has going. Much work there. Did you join the group? I saw someone signed up.

As far as it goes, it was Game Room (Not Big Room), an effort by Microsoft to make old ROMS viable, which failed miserably. They didn't secure the content and those who did the emulation sucked at it, and they had the product crash a bunch. It was just miserable in nature. Stuff ended up being overpriced also, with everything being $3 a pop.

In regards to arcades, one thing I do have as an interest is a revival of community, and people meeting others in public venues. We have too much play online and not enough people getting together and meeting others. So, I would like to have some viable model work to have play out of the home work. It is an arcade of sorts.

My interest is in getting what pinball has with the IFPA and PAPA, to have a player's association for retro and indie game stuff. Pretty much old school style. I call it a "PGA for Pacman". Idea is to get a pool of generalist together, best of breed, to see who is best in the world. Get them coverage and work to enable them to make a living at it. We could have an interview to discuss this and the state of the industry.

Being able to foster a professional class of players would help with promotion and also give Indie developers a greater shot to make it. I want games that can be played as sports. There is a bunch here I can go into.

•{ Why is it that so many places with arcades have similar stuff around them? For family fun there will be laser tag, and a play place. For old school arcades there will be a bowling alley. }• I would suggest getting ahold of the book "Bowling Alone" or watching documentaries like "Special When Lit".  There is a trend to do socializing at home, and go out to eat.  Places that are fun centers will usually now be centered around food, with the play secondary.  You see Dave and Busters fitting into this.  You go out and dine and do other things.  As far as what people play at these spots, it is usually physical (analog) activity and not digital.  Videogames are so easy to play anywhere, you really don't see them as much elsewhere.  End result is you don't get videogames much in arcade set ups.  What you have as arcades now are ticket redemption for prizes places, like a carnival midway. •{ Arcades are getting old? }• Due to the fact you can get videogames anywhere, makes the need for physical venues far less important.  This is part of the reason why we don't really have much in the way of video arcades.  They can be very much a solitary experience, or online against disembodied voices.  It also undermines the ability to form community offline, because it is too easy to just play alone. A funny thing about arcade games now, they very much look like what was out before Pong.  Today, you have gun and driving games.  You had the same before Pong.  Pinball is one game lost in the shuffle though.  It seems like a callback to the old days, for some reason.