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Decline of the arcade
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sandheaver:

--- Quote from: bradx on April 30, 2013, 03:29:51 am ---
--- Quote from: sandheaver on April 29, 2013, 04:27:33 pm ---There's an arcade just like this in Chicagoland.  $15 gets you in for a day, and all machines are set to free play.  384 games currently available for play.

http://gallopingghostarcade.com/

--- End quote ---

yeah its cool but the vast majority of the games are missing art, no custom controls, or are available to play in mame with no real difference in gameplay.  i went there with some friends and spent all night there, in and out to grab some food or drinks, then back to play some more games until i believe it was close to 2 in the morning, after midnight for sure. 

shooting games still seem to be out on route locally, multicades, and trackball games.  driving games too, pretty much nothing with a joystick tho.  some pins are still out there, theres a couple at a laundromat near here. 

you know those old electro mechanical rifle shooting gallery type games from the 60s and 70s?  i bet if someone designed something like that using new technology it would bring in some real money.  a pizza place near here has a brand new skee ball so i think its possible and would be profitable, but i suppose people figure "why bother?" when they can just put a quarter pusher instead and make ten times the cash for 1/10th the investment?

--- End quote ---

If you're near Illinois, there is a great arcade in McLean, IL that runs nothing but older stuff, with maybe 3 exceptions.  These are complete cabinets which have been restored to near perfect condition.  As with any arcade there are always a couple that are out of order at any given time but in general it is great.  It's small, but they're expanding into the neighboring storefront soon.  I want to say something like 60 machines.  By far the newest machine is a DDR machine at the front.  Everything else is early 1990 & older.  May be some new-ish pinballs but most are golden-era.

I recommend a visit if you've the time.
JDFan:

--- Quote from: mcseforsale on April 30, 2013, 11:24:55 am ---console games are so boring anymore.  Walking around blowing up the same crap for hours.  I get the quest, but the puzzles remain the same. 

AJ

--- End quote ---

Totally agree with this -- in addition the stupid cut scenes for every kill and advancement in the game completely destroy the game play - every few minutes of gameplay you have to sit and watch 5 minutes of some stupid cutscene totally pulling you out of the game.

As far as Arcades go - the main thing that I think made them drop off also was a lack of competent staff at the arcades to maintain and repair the machines - every game in the local arcades seemed to always have at least one or more broken aspect (either buttons that didn't work - screens that had burn-in - etc.) and the cost of a single gameplay (Once they started charging $1 or more per game and had them operate on a timed play rather than experience level where you had to keep putting in more credits just because the timer ran out rather than you messed up somewhere.)   
mcseforsale:
I finally moved my arcade into the basement.  My daughter also has her bedroom down there.  She had a "sleepover" weekend with a friend and her friend was ALWAYS at the arcade.  At 14, she was more interested in that than playing on the PS3 or LOL-ing on facebook.

What was most peculiar were the games she was enjoying.  I have about 400 games in Mame....most of which I have never played.  She picked up on some obscure ones for sure.  She ended up playing vs. Tennis most of the time, but was in and out of stuff I had never seen in the 80s arcade.

AJ
sandheaver:

--- Quote from: mcseforsale on April 30, 2013, 11:24:55 am ---console games are so boring anymore.  Walking around blowing up the same crap for hours.  I get the quest, but the puzzles remain the same. 

--- End quote ---

Look at what it costs to play a console game.  A 1-time purchase of the console that you keep, then games that you keep.  A $60 game that you play for 80 hours is FAR cheaper than 80 hours of arcade play, assuming $0.25 gets you an average of 10 minutes of game play with an arcade machine, which is a stretch.  Also, you don't have to drive anywhere, get in line, fight the change machine or deal with operating hours.

Arcade machine vendors really, really need to work on their pricing, and open up licensing avenues for those who cannot afford or do not want to buy a full machine or a legitimate JAMMA board.  Why the hell doesn't Namco license games for emulation at home for $10 or commercially for $100?  This would be a HUGE boon to them, and it would allow operators to legitimately expand their inventory for peanuts and get new people playing. 

Arcade gaming could quickly move into popularity again if demand rose, and game makers would see that and develop new games.  The key to increased adoption is increased accessibility, and the key to increased accessibility is low prices and new product. 

Valve has hard proof that decreased pricing increases sales to a level beyond what normal pricing provides (your gross & net income is higher when you put things on sale, long term or short term or both) but it is a hard sell to folks with degrees in business who were taught the whole time that the opposite is true.

Why can't Namco offer an anniversary Pacman machine for less than $2500?  They are stuck in 1983 with those prices; they're insane.

Give the hobbyists like us some avenue to legally enjoy and expand our hobby, without attempting to tear us a new hole with the pricing or requiring that we source a very rare piece of hardware that may or may not work.  Please.  Demand is low because the bone-headed pricing makes supply rare.

end rant
mcseforsale:
+1.  If the big names really want to guard their ROMs, they should offer a pay service to distribute/support ROMs on a one on one basis.  All of the major copyright (is that what's used in software anymore?) could combine and create/pay a central, third party vendor to monitor and distribute/support these ROMs!  It could work just like the app stores on our phones.

I'd gladly pay a quarter for a "home only" copy of Donkey Kong or even 2 bux for a "commercial" version of ANY popular ROM.  It would be an entirely new revenue stream for these corporations and would allow us to come out of the shadows and truly participate in their business model. 

Just make it viable for the home hobbiest!  Afterall, *MOST OF US* were the source of their original revenue back in the 80s anyway.  We were customers then, they should treat us as customers now.  Just showing people our arcades in our game rooms creates interest/re-interest in 80s gaming.  I know I have several people who have asked me to build them an arcade (for personal use only).  Instead of building the case, loading the entire kit up, then telling them their on their own for ROMS, I would be happy to load an app that would allow downloads on a subscription/per piece basis.

AJ

AJ
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