Another Arcade closed!

[Category]

Well, another of my local arcades just closed. Is this the same everywhere? Are arcades really dying, or is it just the geeks in my locale that don't like the coin-eating forefathers of modern day gaming?

So get your ass down to your local arcade, and support them by playing a few games!

But if you do just say sat at your computer, tell me why we should save and support, or explain why we should let them close...

Would you take your grandparents off of life support? (Nothing like a radical comment to spark off discussion!)

[Luzid1]

Depends on the arcade. Most of them suck, full of shitty "ride the canoe" gimmick-prop 'games'.

I miss the old days, with SF and KI, when fighters were king and games didn't need a bullshit fake piece of expensive molded plastic to 'experience the wonder of virtual snowboarding!'.

You know, when arcades didn't SUCK.

I'm not convinced arcades filled with American games are worth saving, frankly. But if you tell me one with a bunch of Japanese imports is going out of business, then you've got my attention.

[illgill]

yeah the golden age of arcades was pretty much frogger. its sad, but at least the games are better now.

I once got punched in the face over "gauntlet" in an arcade.

[LogicOne]

Dude arcades have been dead. I'm shocked you actually had local arcades to close.

[Spork]

Alot of arcades have gone the way of the dodo, just a fact. Even DDR and the like seem to be losing power now. The only reason the ones in my town stay open is because they're attached to other tourist traps. (Waterpark and Gokarts) Guess that's the one bonus of livin' in Daytona.

[ABLE-X]

I think we ought to let them close. I spent alot of time in arcade's growing up, but they've pretty well priced themselves into oblivion.
When I was younger, I had no problem feeding the machines quarters. But when you go down now, and it's a buck a play, that's just too much money. I'm not about to keep feeding the thing dollar bills vs. feeding it quarters.
It's simply failure to adapt, much like certain other industries. At least these guys aren't suing us for playing the games at home though ;).

[LogicOne]

That was always my problem with Block Party. All the games were between 75 cents and a dollar. Just way too much to spend on arcade games. And Luzid was right too. The games in most arcades are shit like Hydro Thunder and Skateboarding games with enormous interfaces. I want to go into an arcade an sit down at the Virtua Fighter machine or stand there and school boys in Tekken or KI. Or how about some Defender? Never saw anyone get punched over Gauntlet unless the Wizard was supposed to get the food and the Fighter snaked it or something.

[Category]

See, to me it's the crazy games with the stupid interfaces is what arcades are all about - gaming experiences I can't have anywhere else. If I wanna whup people at virtua fighter, I'll dust of my Saturn and get my mates round.

The odd interfaces are what stand out, and always have. From Battlezone to Top Skater, Prop Cycle to that crazy white water rafting game, there the games that interest me in arcades. And now there are no more arcades around, it's an experience I'm really starting to miss.

If only more companies were making games like Steel Battalion. That is the closest home version of what makes arcades great - stupidly awesome custom controls. It adds so much to the game.

[MadHatter]

Shit, that's not a radical comment. I think I might miss my old arcade ahead of missing my own Grandmother. Haha.

Yeah, it's sad... here in Wichita the arcades closed down or shrank right after DDR came to town... now, I don't mean it to sound like DDR's fault, in fact it's what made the big bucks. It was the height of it all. But then some pricks got hired from Namco and took over and fucked everything up. Banning people from using hands/moves, etc... banned people for cussing once, even borderline words... (Shit, how can you lose at MvsC2 and not say something along the lines of "penis?") And being dickheads to the little kids... Not fixing machines, etc.

I dunno how Namco does everywhere else, but it was like a horrible corporate takeover.

Oldschool arcades DO seem to be dying, at least in this area. We have a theme-park type place, although it's very small... and there may be two good machines mixed in with a hundred lame ticket machines. Places like Tennessee and parts of Texas still have stories-tall arcades, and I wish I could live in the attic of one, heh.

It's honestly the same story with comic shops. If you don't live in a huge town, local shops are dying. People aren't going anymore, and it sucks... But yes... arcades...

Makes me miss the old days when I go to the pool halls and see the poor, abused, dusty cabinets that we used to pump quarters in, and they're still classics... but they're broke or don't even power on.

If any of us win the lottery, we gotta make a promise to eachother to Scrooge McDuck us a 10 story arcade apartment complex, ya dig?