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There once was a time when if you wanted to sample the most exciting and thrilling games, you had to leave the comfort of your sofa and venture to the nearest smoky amusement arcade, where you would rub shoulders with other like-minded players and watch slack-jawed as the local Street Fighter 2 expert took on all challengers, or gasp in amazement at the lush 3D visuals showcased by Virtua Racing, Daytona USA and Ridge Racer. These days, the closest most people get to a traditional arcade gaming experience is the battered Sega Rally and Time Crisis cabinets which sit awkwardly in the local bowling alley - their 3D prowess now looking considerably muted compared to the latest iOS titles you can carry around in your trouser pocket.So what happened? How did this vibrant social scene die out?
The perfect person to answer this question is Kevin Williams. Williams has done it all when it comes to the "Digital Out-of-Home" entertainment industry - a fancy term for any form of interactive location-based entertainment which takes place outside the living room. He worked on Virtual Reality before it became the buzzword of the early '90s, and has collaborated and consulted with companies such as Sega, Disney and Infogrames. He is the founder of the DNA Association, which runs the DNA Conference - the Digital Out-of-Home Interactive Entertainment sector's leading showcase event, held in London in 2011 and in California last year.
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