The much vaunted Information Superhighway is set to get another on-ramp, courtesy of the Arcade Machine Operators' Association (AMOA).
The AMOA is an umbrella organisation that represents arcade operators throughout North America, and liaises with the various manufacturers on constituents' behalf.
The bold proposal put forward by the group is to construct, in the next few years, an interactive network that will electronically link coin-ops together. Similar to the interlinks that most players will be familiar with already (eg Daytona Twin, Final Lap etc), except that this time the machines may be on opposite sides of the country, or even the world.
It is the intention to not only network video games together, but also provide access for home systems as well. Imagine walking into your living room and being able to dial up Mortal Kombat Intestinal Deluxe vs Warpspeed Streetfighter or Hyper NBA Jam Super All-Star Turbo Dunk Shoot- Out Tournament Edition, and knowing it is the real thing, not a second- rate conversion?
Various interactive multimedia services, such as CD-ROM information terminals and electronic advertising billboards may also be included in the system.
The body that will responsible for implementing the proposed Arcade Superhighway is a wholly owned subsidiary of AMOA, the National Amusement Network, Inc. In conjunction with joint venture partners, TVPhone, NANI hopes to have the first stages of the network operational within a few months.
Already giant US coin-op manufacturer, Midway, have agreed to make their hit NBA Jam available to the network. Other manufacturers are expected to rapidly follow suit as the potential of the network is realised.
The contractor responsible for carrying the huge amounts of information that will be needed to make the scheme viable is the world's largest private information network, Electronic Data Systems. EDS will provide the 'backbone' for the system via its extensive fibre-optic and satellite systems, eventually linking thousands of machines, and households, together across the world.
NANI has already invested nearly half a million dollars in the project and expects to pump many millions more into it before the system is fully- functional.
This review is Copyright (C) 1994 by Nathan Cochran for Game Bytes Magazine. All rights reserved.