Trading Card Spotlight - Kevin Williams
Our next Trading Card Spotlight features Kevin Williams who currently is displayed on card number 4188, from the Superstars of 2022 Collection. Kevin is the founder of KWP and co-founder of Spider Entertainment, specializing in helping developers, operators and investors in the amusement and attraction industry. Kevin also writes numerous columns for the trade publications of the industry and the author and contributor to several books covering the history and development of the amusement industry.
When did your business KWP open and how was the initial response?
After returning from living in the States, I worked at a AAA Publisher wanting to enter the LBE industry. After this I was fed up with the limitations of being a senior exec and started the consultancy KWP in 2004, working with developers, operators and investors. Now those same investors have encouraged me to move from support to application, and we started Spider Entertainment two-years ago, formatively as an operator of a new generation of location-based entertainment venues, while still offering consultancy services to operators and developers internationally.
What does it take for someone to be in the amusement business today, and what advice would you give a person who would like to get into the industry?
I would advise anyone wanting to be in the amusement trade to look closely at what they want to achieve. If they want to develop video amusement products, then a grounding in consumer game design and development is the key. But working on the next generation concept, joining a trade association like IAAPA or the TEA are great ways to meet the people behind the development. Also, there are great resources of information, along with our own news service that will help shape someone’s plans to work in this sector.
Which time in your career was the hardest on sales and why?
I see all major financial upheavals over the years as difficult, but for amusement, as it now is pressured by new entertainment opportunities in the social space, things are very difficult, as the market is superseded by its future successor. I feel for those in the traditional amusement business, as they can see the writing on the wall. That said, amusement is recession resilient, and I am sure we will see the market reinvent itself, while the rest of us move towards the new opportunities.
Do you remember when you played your first arcade game and what do you remember about the experience?
Oh, that would have been first ‘Lunar Lander’-ATARI-1979 and then ‘Xevios’-ATARI-1982, at a UK arcade – both left a major impression on me. Lander was just so compelling, especially with its Vector graphics, and that amazing thrust lever. It was my first experience of immersion and proved a draw for the rest of my career. It was also the impetus to get involved with the early microcomputer clubs and start to play and review games starting with coin-op and then moving to consumer. My schoolbooks, at the time, full of doodles of how to make a better Lander game.
What are your opinions about today’s generation of arcade games? How do you compare them to older, classic games?
We still seem to hark back to the original classics, with games like ‘Space Invader Frenzy’-Raw Thrills-2016 and ‘Centipede Chaos’-ICE-2019 trying to recapture that lightning in a bottle. The reality is for me, the classic games can only really be revived as Arcade1UP releases, capturing an all-new audience to their unique fun. While modern amusement and LBE releases are now feeding more from theme park attraction technology and console Gamification. The new generation of immersive simulator and VR/AR experiences are ploughing a whole new furrow and the reality seems to be that interactive immersive entertainment will be championing a new approach to social entertainment – what many of us hope will be an “Arcade 2.0”
What is your favorite portable gaming device and why?
I was greatly impressed by the Valve ‘Steam Deck’ (nicknamed the “GabeBoy!”), but as a diehard SNK fan, there is always a soft spot for the ‘Neo Geo Pocket Color’ – never owned one but have it on my bucket list.
When did you know you wanted to be in this profession for career?
I was hooked on videogaming since the start. I wanted to be part of this revolution and was lucky to become part of its continued growth. This however is not a profession for me, it’s a vocation I am passionate about, and do not see it as working.
Do you prefer arcade or pinball machines and why?
I am video amusement all the way, while I love pinball, and have worked with several developers, I just love the ability of immersive escapism that the digital medium offers.
What arcade games do you play today and what are your favorite genres of games?
As a reviewer, evaluator, and advisor on video amusement, I play them all. I spend a good amount of time on the VR based games, and just finished playing ‘Ghostbusters Academy’-HOLOGATE-2022. Of the latest video amusement, just finished playing ‘Fast & Furious Arcade’-Raw Thrills-2022 and ‘HALO: Firestorm Arcade’-Raw Thrills-2022. I am a fan of Light-gun action, and a good SHMUP if there is one available.
What is your greatest memory of a gaming conference you have attended so in your career?
Amusement conventions are usually all work for me, but I do remember one of the Amusement Business UK trade shows (ATEI) back in 2009, where I took part in a Guinness World Record attempt on ‘H2Overdrive’-Raw Thrills-2009 and was awarded the certificate, appearing in that year’s book as the world record holder.
Is there a demand for Virtual Reality and how have they evolved over the years?
It has never gone away, agree that during the Global Health crisis the industry was in lockdown, as were restaurants, cinemas, bars, and the rest. But upon reemerging the hunger of immersive entertainment and VR has continued to grow. If you saw the vast number of new VR releases at the recent IAAPA trade event in Orlando, then you would see that the market is working hard to fill the demand! Now we need to see which of these new releases will prove the most successful. Regarding how things have evolved, the reality is that the progress of technology offers us incredible compute power, with amazing graphics, and also the latest headset design. But we have not seen anything yet as the latest commercial VR technology finds a home in the commercial (out-of-home) entertainment business.
Do you believe some video games are too violent and lead to violence in America today?
It seems fanciful that games like ‘Mortal Kombat’-Midway-1992 were seen as corrupting the youth and too violet. Though to be frank the amusement trade was an easy target to attack. Now with the massive business achieved from consumer videogame the lobbying ensures that complaints regarding violence are managed. I never thought amusement video games were ever that violent, though the modern consumer games seem more to enjoy the shock value, and the latest Resident Evil titles, along with others, really push the boundaries. It’s just sad that the parental age guidelines for this entertainment medium are so toothless.
Which company today, in your opinion, makes the best gaming machines and why?
As I work with many of them, I do not want to pick one out against another. But what I would suggest is looking at new titles that show interesting innovation and development. Such as UNIS Technology’s ‘Sailor’s Quest: VR’ – a two-player VR game system on a 5D motion-platform. Or there is INOWIZE with their new product ‘QBIX’ – an interactive immersive gaming enclosure for six players. And then there is TRIOTECH with their new platform ‘QUBE’ – the amusement-based enclosure offers four motion seats for players, and their own gun to shoot the action on screen. These are just a snapshot at the new innovations shaping the future amusement business, and why I am so excited at what is to come.
Did you ever think when you were younger you would be on a video game trading card?
It feels so weird to think I have made it onto a trading card. My father use to collect cigarette cards as a hobby and was well known for it. I would have loved for him to have been able to see that I had made it onto one. It’s going to be difficult to try and explain this to my family – though I do look forward to handing them out to my friends when I get some.
Have you ever received any media coverage for your appearance on the trading card? If so, where?
The announcement has only just happened, and I know that several of the amusement trade press are planning features on this. As I am a regular colonist for some, it will be fun to see what they think of this – I am in good company as other members of the amusement trade over the years have been inducted. The first announcements of the press release have started to appear:
https://arcfec.com/a/index.php/industries/amusement-games-equipment/201-leading-immersive-entertainment-specialist-has-been-immortalized-in-his-very-own-trading-card
When did you first meet Walter Day and where was it at?
I have known Walter for many many years, I think we first met back in the Naughties when he came over to the UK to host a professional game championship. After that we met numerous times at trade conventions in the States, and he has been a great supporter of our news service. I am honored that I can support one of his greatest endeavors.
If you could describe Walter Day in one word, what would that word be and why?
“Walter is the father of modern videogame competition and eSports”.
The fundamentals of what many now see as eSports, and the ability to create tournaments and championship game events were originated by his hard efforts over the years. Also, his work in the retro game scene will be seen as groundbreaking as more and more people come to understand the importance of interactive digital entertainment in shaping our modern age, and the value of recording this experience.
What is the rarest game you have sold or owned in your business and what makes it rare?
I am lucky enough to own a sealed copy of ATARI’s VCS game ‘E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial'. I keep that as a little nest-egg and as a reminder of how far we have come in videogaming. But for me, my real treasures are my original Neo-Geo selection, as one of those that worked on bringing the game system to the West, I retained my original units and games.
If you could only own one arcade game in the world, what would it be and why?
I love ‘Time Crisis’-NAMCO-1995. Have spent many happy moments perfecting my score on that game. But I may have to cheat and hack the cabinet and place all the series on one machine just for the fun of it. For me the game with the shooting element and dodge foot pedal, created a level of physicality that would mark the important point in the game experience, creating truly active gaming – while still being fun and compelling.
If you were not in this business today, what would you be doing instead?
I think I would be in military and commercial simulation at this point. I was straddling the industries before I moved into virtual reality, and then left to work with Walt Disney Imagineering. If I had stayed in simulation, I would have focused on that more, looking at the latest Vis-Sim applications.
Where do you see gaming in the next 10 years?
You will be surprised how fast ten-years can pass. Just think, I have been working with VR entertainment since 1992 (what I call the first phase of VR). Then we saw back in 2012 the next phase, with the OculusVR Kickstarter – now ten years on we have the latest VR hardware which is 100x superior to the original iterations. For my sector, out-of-home entertainment, I expect in a year or two to see more photo-realistic experiences using fx and haptics, and that will move away from confining head-mounted-displays and look at the latest OLED display technology to fully (if not completely) immerse the players. At that point we will be looking at technology that will be (as I like to call it) “unachievable at home” – meaning a true separation from console gaming and playing out-of-home. At that point I think we will be about to see another revolution in social entertainment far beyond what we saw with ‘Space Invaders’ some 40 years ago!