(contmued }rom page 18)
out the room . Everyone thought he was losi ng his
senses. In an article in one of the trade magazines, when I
was still with Universal, I predicted the increase in kits
and everyone thought I was crazy too.
But you don't have to be a visionary to look ahead
and say: If we can make something that makes the
operator a lot of money and is inexpensive to replace ,
then he will buy it. The drawback to the earlier systems
was that they did not have any st rong games. T hey were
not able to compete in the marketplace. You can't put
out a lot of three games in a ten marketplace.
Operators felt cheated when Sega/ Gremlin
No because certain parts of the system are
patented . No one else could make software for ou r
<>ystem, for example, without getting certain parts from
us needed for the software to work .
So they would have to g o through Nint endo to be
able to d esign games f or th e VS . System s?
Yes, because some of our patented hardware. And
we use a different one in each game so they would have
to get that part from us .
I relate it to a juke box w he re any numbe r of
different c ompanies can make records for t he
jukebo x .
This is different because it's like we have the needle
and in order to play those records they would have to
come to us .
Wh y would an operator c ome out be tte r by buying
a system than he would us ing s ome of the old
games h e's accumulated o ver the y ears to install a
kit. Then he would have a ne w game, it would cost
less than buy ing a whole new game, and he
wouldn't have to change th e game.
What makes him think the kit he puts in his game is
going to do any better than the game he converted? An
operator can convert his old games to a system game .
Then he has the ability to change it two or three times.
T hat's what the UniSystem is all about. He doesn't have
to buy complete hardware .
Bill C ravens takes time to talk with operators to find out
their feelings on the industry.
professed the advantages of conversions but
brought out its next game, Zaxxon, as a dedicated
game. Will that happen today?
Nintendo has taken the best games from its home
market in Japan. We have done in reverse what the
home market was doing he re. C oin-op games were being
made into home but we take home versions and remake
them into coin-op. W e can get them cheap because the
R&D has already been done. O f course, we have to
make modifications but they are the best games avail-
able.
Isn't Nintendo introducing into the United States
its home computer system, popular in Japan?
Yes, and I think it is a big mistake at a time when
popular computers in the U .S . are selling so cheap and
the market is falling. The video game bust was nothing
com pared to what the home computer ind ustry's bust
will be. After the first of next year, when they can't sell
their inventory, it will be devastating.
Then what is the reasoning behind Japan 's deci-
sion to introduce it over here?
T hey say: Let's try it! And of course, the Japanese
have tried other things that have been right.
We talked briefly about other manufacturers
developing games to fit in your hardware.
However, will a time come when a company can
design and manufacture games for systems
without going through the system manufacturer?
50
Bill Cravens u;as instrumental in the success of the
Pennsyll!Onia state show. Here he works an auction at the show.
Do y ou t hink system s are a long term solution or
not?
I think they will be a segment of the industry. There
will be other things. Just look at electronic darts . They
are coming on strong. There are a lot of different ways to
entertain people . Systems will be one of those ways. But
I'll emphasize, it will be only one way. Operators must
diversify and be able to react to this marketplace . And
systems are a part of that marketplace . Just like in the
video boom days when everyone was making the same
game with only minor variations, all of a sudden the
people weren 't entertained anymore . So it takes more
than one thing to make this a successful industry.
•
PLAY METER. October 1. 1965