Blog Tesla Invites Consumers to Experience the Tesla Arcade

After Tesla recently announced plans to offer more gaming options for the entertainment systems available in its cars, the automaker said Tuesday it is inviting consumers to showrooms to “experience the new Tesla Arcade.”

The company also tweeted a teaser video for a new racing game, Beach Buggy Racing 2, that is controlled with the vehicle’s steering wheel when the car is parked.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1141041018835353600

Chief Executive Elon Musk recently said on Twitter that the company is working on porting the Unity and Unreal video game engines, which are among the most popular development platforms for games.

Musk first revealed Tesla’s efforts to bring games to its cars last August when he announced the “TeslaAtari,” which includes classic titles like Centipede, Asteroids, Missile Command, Super Breakout and 2048.

Check out Tesla’s invitation to “Experience the Arcade” below.

Experience the Tesla ArcadeGlobal Tesla ShowroomsJune 18 — June 30Bring your friends and family to a Tesla showroom to experience the new Tesla Arcade until June 30.Access the full library of games directly from the vehicle’s touchscreen to play gaming classics like Atari Missile Command and Asteroids – or experience our newest addition, Beach Buggy Racing 2, a kart racing game where you can careen, blast and launch your way through 22 tracks. Players can recruit new drivers (see if you can find our favorite) and use the steering wheel controls for the most immersive gaming experience.If you’re interested in stopping by, kindly RSVP and visit a store near you.Learn more about the latest performance features during your visit or schedule a test drive for the real thing.

 

[tinm]

Also, I want my cassette and CD player back.

Seriously though: I once had a huge music and audiobook library (as in, months of nonstop music), but since we moved on to Spotify, we rarely look at it any more. In the car, Spotify and TuneIn cover almost every need, even for the kids. The few exceptions are stored on a smartphone and are thus also available in the train or on the bike, and not just in the car. Also, the smartphone does have better playing software (and better voice control for playing music).

Sorry, I could care less about Spotify, or in the U.S., Slacker. I have a vast music collection including content that the Spotifys/Slackers of the world do not and probably will never have in their limited database, plus, living in New Mexico where streaming music (or map navigation, etc) is often an iffy proposition given that the car's cellular data connection cuts out due to lousy AT&T cell tower coverage, streaming is not a solution.

So laugh all you want, ridicule the request as quaint iPod-loving, equate the request with requests for compact disk players and cassette tapes (surprised you didn't mention 8-track tape too), but my request remains, and I could care less about games and other pointless distractions in the car until some decent music support comes standard -- like every fricking other car on the planet. (Seriously, the even super-cheap cars have thorough USB support)

 

[groovidad]

Interesting discussion here. Elons vision, quirky as it may be but, he obviously believes in this "gaming issue". The only utility I see with this is entertaining yourself at a SC or waiting on the wife that's shopping for shoes. Letting kids mess around with a $35K-$70K+ piece of equipment that can be "twitchy"......your call. That aside, I'm curious what you all think: What do you believe is the average age of a Model 3 owner?

 

[shellderp]

I don't really mind them adding games, except I'm worried they will add more and more bugs. In a recent version there was a bug after playing an atari game, the volume would change when you change gears. These games are a novelty at best. They're simple games with poor controls and an inconvenient display. If you really wanted to play while charging bring your nintendo switch. So not only are they wasting resources on building games, they're harming the rest of the software. Now that they're involved with the steering control, I'm even more worried about bugs. And who even wants these games other than Elon? My best guess is they're doing this for the media attention. Oh and they keep showing the accelerator pedal being used for controls when it's not actually going to be usable for this.

 

[whitex]

And some us understand you can have multiple teams working on different things.

So the team working on games is working for free, or paid by Elon personally? If they are taking money from Tesla, how about taking that money and applying it to fixing real problems, like people's yellowing screens for example, or customer service? Service tech are being laid off while wait for an appointment is a month long and no option to speak to a live person for help, but gaming devs are essential?

 

[joosii68]

Tires rubbing against the ground while you are playing games? No No NO!!!!!

 

[whitex]

I understand your point; however, if you've ever met a computer programmer, you'd know that you do not want the average programmer working in customer support!

(This is not a dis to computer programmers. I am one myself [my job is more complex than just that, but programming's part of it]. I would not do well in customer support, and neither, I think, would most of my colleagues.)

How about lay off the programmer working on games instead of the service techs or customer service?

 

[whitex]

I don't think so. On the surface, maybe, but there are many factors to consider.

• This is probably an intern or internal startup project with new employees fascinated by Tesla. You can't just arbitrarily shift people around in the company, you have to do this according to their abilities. You also want to keep people motivated.

Since when does the company have to hire people regardless of their abilities and then find something for them to do? It's like saying McDonnalds should build a rocket to go to space because an ex-employee of Space X applied for a job there and they must find them something to do according to their abilities. Unless those interns or internal startup employees working for free on their own time, fire them and hire people with the abilities to do what Tesla needs, not have Tesla do according to their employee abilities.

• This feature will make every Tesla a crowd magnet on every show, car park, party, or whatever. Also because nobody has ever done this yet. People will want to see if it's real, experience the Tesla interior and be curious. It's a million times better than paying for advertising.

Yea, it will make it a joke of every show. Oh look, the car has phone integration from last century, and games from that century too! Looks like the screen was made last century, with all that yellow patina building on the edges. Tesla, the retro-car.

• Remember when games on phones were a totally dumb idea for all the so-called experts? Batteries draining too fast, screen too small, what if somebody calls you while gaming, and why don't they fix the audio quality / reception / whatever bugs first instead?

Are you suggesting that Elon is inventing a new market here? Automobile gaming? Put wear and tear on your car (and tires) while you play games on an under-powered game console?

 

[whitex]

How long before someone plows into their living room because they accidentally shifted into gear. How about having alcohol while playing the game, is that considered operating the vehicle? So many potential issues with this model.

 

[Big Dog]

to me, this is about as valuable as the Dancing Cars in a recent update....perhaps spend the resources to continue to improve the user experience of Sentry mode?

 

[Golden Ears]

I certainly don't think Tesla is short sighted about doing this.

First off.

Tesla needs to copy Mercedes and BMW and other successful service center strategies at this point because their attempts at reinventing the car ownership experience were awful at first for delivery (I was given a damaged car with door dings and EVERY EXTERIOR PANEL SCRATCHED, and then Service after being given a different car with written instructions not to "Clean " the car managed to scratch every single interior panel. Then when replacing those panels installed scratched panels ????. They have attempted to fix an issue with my window not sealing when driving for about 7 failed attempts. Plus they also damaged my car again the last time I brought it in. sheeesh. So of course I could agree that resources are still needed in Service. Sales seems good and I assume delivery is way better now than in 2016.

However stripping off a simple porting of video games won't help customer service one bit. Would that programmer be an ace with customer service skills, possibly but I bet his skills are better at adapting software to the Tesla Platform.

Let's be a little forward thinking here.

Here's what I would like to see as a potential benefit. Let's say I let an elder Uncle drive my car, but before he drives it... I let him play the driving game. It notates his reaction times, and how his driving skills fade, how he apexes a turn etc.. and uses that information (and so much more info gleaned from similar drivers in the Tesla fleet ) to "CUSTOM" tailor the emergency warnings and application of the brakes, steering assist etc. in an emergency situation to best assist the driver to NOT get into an accident even when not using autopilot.

And if said 77 year old Uncle scores really horrible.....errrr. I might call him an Uber. Instead of just letting him get hit and proving Teslas safety cage is absolutely amazing and losing my lifetime free supercharging to a total vehicular loss.

They used to use the Game Tempest for fighter pilots. I'd like to see that in my Tesla. Also Defender and the much improved Stargate game.

 

[dipper]

Another smoke and mirror show by Elon Musk. FSD must be having problem again.

 

[whitex]

Another smoke and mirror show by Elon Musk. FSD must be having problem again.

He just likes media attention, like his "deleted my Twitter account" tweet - whatever will get him the spotlight, however briefly.

 

[Golden Ears]

Well, looks like I just got Tempest. Whole lot of fun if you ask me. Used some wired knock off PS4 controller with it. ( GF's son...."Hey has anyone seen my controller ?" (I am heard snickering in the background).

As for Elon wanting attention..and struggling with FSD Let's pretend you were him under the exact same amount of pressure...wouldn't you want to have a little fun with the company you built?

You DO REMEMBER that Elons first business venture he attempted was to start his own arcade at 16 and his Dad and uncle stopped him.?

Well, with some delay and perhaps more fanfare, he did it a few decades later but made it free, and this time his parents couldn't stop him.

Gotta love that.

 

[whitex]

Well, looks like I just got Tempest. Whole lot of fun if you ask me. Used some wired knock off PS4 controller with it. ( GF's son...."Hey has anyone seen my controller ?" (I am heard snickering in the background).

As for Elon wanting attention..and struggling with FSD Let's pretend you were him under the exact same amount of pressure...wouldn't you want to have a little fun with the company you built?

You DO REMEMBER that Elons first business venture he attempted was to start his own arcade at 16 and his Dad and uncle stopped him.?

Well, with some delay and perhaps more fanfare, he did it a few decades later but made it free, and this time his parents couldn't stop him.

Gotta love that.

He's free to start as many arcades as he wants to, with his own money. Here he is spending Tesla money, while ignoring issue and not delivering what he already took money for. Had Elon delivered on everything he sold, people would be cheering on his free arcade. It's all about context. The context here is he's ignoring real issues, like laying off service personnel while service waits keep growing, while he's paying game developers to develop a free arcade.

 

[Golden Ears]

Tesla owners should show up at the stores and instead of watching the Tesla Arcade demo, they should ask when will Tesla have full support for USB music devices like every other car company in the world. Fast, responsive support for browsing music by artist, genre, album, track title, and playlist. This is music 101, and every car company in the world other than Tesla pretty much has support for this. It continues to be inexplicable that Tesla refuses to provide this support. I frankly could care less about the games, the farts, and the other easter eggs: I want decent music support, period.

I am frustrated that I have to transcode all my ALAC files to FLAC. No apple play, no support of high Rez audio, no analog in and no USB in.

Plus its very hard to upgrade the audio system (And yes I actually know Larry Ho and Gavin Fish formerly of Light Harmonic, and was talking with Paul of PS Audio about his Tesla experience and trying to put a PS audio Bitstream DAC into a Tesla.

It's all about In Car Entertainment (ICE). And yes Games are part of that. I foresee a future where you could video conference while your car drives you and others to meeting spot that is convenient for all of you (Like a equidistant Starbucks , or some restaurant).

I see the internet as virtual, but FSD cars can make it reality by bringing groups of people together easier. The ICE is just to keep us occupied until we are a real group.

 

[Golden Ears]

He's free to start as many arcades as he wants to, with his own money. Here he is spending Tesla money, while ignoring issue and not delivering what he already took money for..... snipped....

Well how much really does it cost to download a game into a computer and assign a few buttons? I agree it is probably an intern type thing done for free or very low cost and perhaps as a test.

Tesla has to attract new buyers. My best friend who is also 55 used to play these same games with me in the arcades. He was thinking of buying another Ford Focus, but after sending him video of me playing these games in my loaner MS75d he might just go for the Model 3 because its an emotional push. My GF has an Autistic son who plays these dreadful Lego video games, I might have fun with him introducing these games to him.

I make fun of the guys at Game Stop every so often asking for "retro games" and saying I'm devolving to "Pong" in Black and White, and after that I might get a real ball and go play "Catch".

So if Elon used $4000 of Tesla money to download a few games and it generates even a single new car sale he is ahead. And if Games are a tipping point that generates 1000 sales....well right there we have more profit for improved customer service.

Oddly enough, one high end audio guy I know from NY, bought the abandoned Atari trademark a few years back. The guy has a terminal condition but might be happy to see Atari in use today.

 

[whitex]

Well how much really does it cost to download a game into a computer and assign a few buttons? I agree it is probably an intern type thing done for free or very low cost and perhaps as a test.

Tesla has to attract new buyers. My best friend who is also 55 used to play these same games with me in the arcades. He was thinking of buying another Ford Focus, but after sending him video of me playing these games in my loaner MS75d he might just go for the Model 3 because its an emotional push. My GF has an Autistic son who plays these dreadful Lego video games, I might have fun with him introducing these games to him.

I make fun of the guys at Game Stop every so often asking for "retro games" and saying I'm devolving to "Pong" in Black and White, and after that I might get a real ball and go play "Catch".

So if Elon used $4000 of Tesla money to download a few games and it generates even a single new car sale he is ahead. And if Games are a tipping point that generates 1000 sales....well right there we have more profit for improved customer service.

Oddly enough, one high end audio guy I know from NY, bought the abandoned Atari trademark a few years back. The guy has a terminal condition but might be happy to see Atari in use today.

It costs a lot to change software in automotive industry. Those 'buttons" you talk about could launch the car through your living room wall. Making sure the car knows whether you pressing the pedal to the metal for the game or real life is where exhaustive testing has to occur. When you play some racing game and accidentally bump the gear shifter, should your car launch?

Nobody is dissing retro games by the way - you can get them on phones, tablets, portable gaming consoles. If Tesla wanted to just enable the big screen for gaming, HDMI input would be a much better choice (plug in your N64 or Atari retro or Switch) - lots of those games come built into the controller they come on, so no extra hardware anyways, but no potentially destabilizing the car software and paying tons of money to develop it.

 

[thx1139]

It costs a lot to change software in automotive industry. Those 'buttons" you talk about could launch the car through your living room wall. Making sure the car knows whether you pressing the pedal to the metal for the game or real life is where exhaustive testing has to occur. When you play some racing game and accidentally bump the gear shifter, should your car launch?

Nobody is dissing retro games by the way - you can get them on phones, tablets, portable gaming consoles. If Tesla wanted to just enable the big screen for gaming, HDMI input would be a much better choice (plug in your N64 or Atari retro or Switch) - lots of those games come built into the controller they come on, so no extra hardware anyways, but no potentially destabilizing the car software and paying tons of money to develop it.

You dont understand the software development process. You just cant take 9 women to have a baby in 1 month. You get to a point of diminished returns with adding people to a project. You end up doing more work managing work and merging work then actually making progress towards the end goal. So you have people doing additional things, you take intern and challenge them with things that arent in the mainline code base. Things that are isolated. You learn about these people and learn do we want to hire this person once they graduate. Do you want them really bad or are they a nice to have. Having talented software developers in the pipeline when in many ways you are a tech company is incredibly important.

Finally doing this does not in any way shape or form get in the way of hiring more customer service and more service people and more service centers.

 

[thx1139]

Not for silly projects when you’re running in the red.

I remember attending a presentation by Amazon which had to be 10 years ago where they went into some of the silly projects that Amazon developers worked on. Projects they worked on to alleviate the stress of the mainline work. Amazon was way deep in the red year after year after year and the developers werent working on projects to make the business profitable. Amazon knew the business would be profitable.

 

[turnem]

If you were to ask 100 Tesla owners what kind of software updates Tesla should be working on, I'm pretty sure every single one of them would say "anything BUT games."

I FULLY agree. Things like this literally make me roll my eyes. I don't need a arcade in my car! LOL! If I want to play games I'll do it via one of the other 100 outlets that I have for that.