Play Meter

UP FRONT
U.S. manufacturers
playing catch up
Back in the late '50s and early '60s Japanese
automobile manufacturers began exporting to the
U .S. small cars that didn 't use much gas. Americans
looked them over and laughed. They compared
them to the chrome giants they were driving , and
because gasoline was so cheap almost no one gave
them a second thought .
Americans continued their love affair with
chrome and luxury and bought cars on the theory
that the bigger, the better. Meantime, the Japanese
kept 1mproving their little cars that were gas con-
servative .
Then a funny thing happened . Arab producers
embargoed oil in 1973, and gasoline prices sky-
rocketed . Lines formed at gas stations, and news-
paper classified pages became filled with ads for
used gas guzzlers that Americans had loved so
dearly .
Those economical Japanese cars suddenly
were in great demand. Gas mileage was promoted
as a special feature as luxuries had once been .
Thirty miles to a gallon of precious gas was all that
counted , and the Japanese were the only ones who
offered what car-buying Americans wanted . Ameri-
can manufacturers rushed into production of small
cars , but they couldn't match the quality and relia-
bility of the Japanese cars.
Manufacturers beseiged the public to "buy
American ," but there was little American at the time
to fit the needs of car buyers . American customers
weren't being disloyal to American companies , it
was the manufacturers who had failed their cus-
tomers.
In the '70s a Japanese manufacturer of video
games licensed a little game to a big American com-
pany. The game was called Space Invaders, and the
rest of the story is well known in the coin-op
amusement industry. Video games took off in
popularity from this game, and soon everyone had a
space-themed game to offer a video- game-crazy
market.
In the early '80s a Japanese company licensed
PLAY METER. March 15, 1986
another video game to the big American company ,
and , presto, it was a hit-though , to be fair, not an
instant hit. Space games were dominating the
market, and there were doubts that a cutesy game
could be successful. The game, of course , was Pac -
Man, and it wasn't long before everyone had a
cutesy game.
Someone said he couldn 't believe that the
Japanese were so much smarter than Americans . " I
think the Americans are just waiting for someone
else to do the work," he said . And looking at the
video games in America today, dominated by
Japanese product and companies , it certainly looks
like the Japanese are smarter. And Americans are
waiting for them to do the work .
But-
1 don 't be lieve for a minute that the Japanese
are that much smarter than Americans, even if about
every video ga me on the market is Japanese-
developed . American know-how and creativity is
here , finally showing itself in the automobile indus-
try, and I think it will show itself in American manu-
facturing of amusement games . Pinball is an
American-dominated game , and American engi-
neers have developed some good pinballs .
Jukeboxes, pool tables , electronic darts, and other
kinds of equipment are primarily American
products . Maybe Americans just realize where they
are strong and where they are not. Nevertheless ,
Cinematronics, Atari (ironically named after a move
in a Japanese game}, Bally Sente (likewise) ,
Premier, Bally Midway , Williams , and some new
companies on the horizon, like Grand Products, have
American engineers developing American games .
They are not waiting for someone else to do the
work .
Valerie Cognevich
Editorial Director
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