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| Decline of the arcade |
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| sandheaver:
--- Quote from: ark_ader on April 30, 2013, 07:43:43 pm ---Unfortunately the big names like Nintendoh would not give the roms away for $2. That would set a precedent which would interrupt their revenue stream. Besides that $2 rom is worth more every year. We see home console spin offs, anniversary editions, and the XBLive reboots are just a drop in the ocean. Sega is another entity that would suffer from a $2 rom sale. Folks like Atari who have been sold off to every tom, dick and harry might lend a trademark or two for licensing but even their game roms are owned by Hasbro. Something along the lines of "only over my cold twitching corpse before I sell my IP for $2 a pop" which seems to be a very smart move. --- End quote --- It will not make the business leaders happy, but it will generate new revenue, because they do not sell or license the original games in their original forms, at all, anymore. It will take some willing licensor to make the leap in order to prove that I am right or wrong. It will all be income; there is very little infrastructure required to release ROMs, and there will likely be DRM surrounding the ROM, but if that enables me to play an arcade game, legitimately, which I do not own the board for, then I will accept that with open arms. --- Quote from: ark_ader on April 30, 2013, 07:43:43 pm ---Wait until we migrate to the new Orwellian system where M$ and Apple start cataloging our HDD contents and reporting IP violations to the owners. It will make patent trolling a game of the past and turn it into IP trolling. It will happen, so I would be keeping your cabinet off line from now on if I was you. --- End quote --- To which new Orwellian system are you referring? I am surrounded by them in my daily life, so you'll need to be more specific. Also, there will always be Linux, which I recommend you gain experience with if you've not already. That includes all readers afraid of Orwellian stuff. --- Quote from: ark_ader on April 30, 2013, 07:43:43 pm ---The decline of the arcades? I do not think so. Arcades are not dead. Just because you do not see a cabinet in every liquor store, laundromat or Pizza Hutt. You just need to whip out your Galaxy Note and fire up a few games. You just have to buy the $2 apps from Namco.... :lol --- End quote --- There has been a most definite decline in arcades. There is zero argument on this point. We, as arcade hobbyists, do not see it because we surround ourselves with other people who talk arcades and play arcades and build arcades and restore arcades, continually. Drive to a small town. Any one, pick one. That town used to have an arcade, if it has 2k residents or more. Where is that arcade now? Drive to the next town, and the next, and the next. When I was a kid, every single town large enough to have its own school district had an arcade. Every last one. Now, it is hard to find a proper arcade in a town smaller than 50k residents. I work in an urban region with 400,000 people in residency and there is 1 arcade with 67 machines, and that's it. There were over 40 arcades of that size in this area 30 years ago. The arcade business has most definitely declined. We are not as apt to see it, though, as we blanket ourselves in arcade stuff constantly. |
| thefox:
--- Quote from: ark_ader on April 30, 2013, 07:43:43 pm --- Unfortunately the big names like Nintendoh would not give the roms away for $2. --- End quote --- I agree on this point. But they could sell ROM's for use on mame for, say, $10, or $15. Would you buy them, for this price ? I probably would. What if you could then build mame cabinets around those roms and legally allow them for public use in local bars/stores etc ? |
| mcseforsale:
No. They built their entire businesses on these games and the revenue has been dry since a long time ago. Being my age, I was probably personally responsible for several developers' salaries from about 79-85, so I don't think that would be an adequate price for home use. Public/Vendor use? Maybe. For home use, I'd say something more along the line of $.25 to $.50. That seems more in line since this is a dry stream being re-invigorated anyway. I could budget for $100 for 200-400 games on the cabinet, but $2000 to $3000 for 200 games? Not gonna happen. AJ --- Quote from: thefox on May 02, 2013, 02:49:34 pm --- I agree on this point. But they could sell ROM's for use on mame for, say, $10, or $15. Would you buy them, for this price ? I probably would. What if you could then build mame cabinets around those roms and legally allow them for public use in local bars/stores etc ? --- End quote --- |
| sandheaver:
--- Quote from: bradx on May 01, 2013, 04:41:10 am --- --- Quote from: sandheaver on April 30, 2013, 11:39:48 am ---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. --- End quote --- yeah! i went there with some friends right when they opened. less games but a way more authentic and satisfying experience. --- End quote --- I'm going tomorrow. I'll take pictures if anyone wants to see what an actual arcade can be today. edit: Here's some pictures I took the last time I went. http://imgur.com/a/qMwA5#0 |
| thefox:
--- Quote from: sandheaver on May 03, 2013, 08:25:10 am --- I'm going tomorrow. I'll take pictures if anyone wants to see what an actual arcade can be today. edit: Here's some pictures I took the last time I went. http://imgur.com/a/qMwA5#0 --- End quote --- I would love to see that place. It would almost be worth flying the 4,000 miles to see it ! ;D sandheaver, are you able to take some video for youtube ? Would be nice to see a "video tour" of the place. It's the distinctive sounds and atmosphere of a busy arcade that I miss. That's what you can't easily replicate at home. |
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