So what does the Injustice Arcade Edition represent to you?

[voltz]

Just seen this posted again by Arcade Hunters on youtube and I have to say that I'm quite perplexed on this one.  For years it was always about arcades having the best versions of any game, but up until a couple of years ago, I've been witnessing this reverse trend where mobile games were getting ported to arcades instead of the other way and it just seems rather dumb that they're going for the non-console version of this game to support the so called consumer demographic over at Dave and Busters. 

Personally this is one heck of a red flag if there ever was one.  All I know is what we used to take for granted about this industry since the 80's is clearly becoming one hell of a distant memory by this point.

[vwalbridge]

Your first mistake was assuming D&B was an actual Arcade.

[BadMouth]

I think it follows the pinball trend of every new machine needing to license a popular theme/characters.
Only a tiny portion of the public is interested in pinball for the sake of pinball, but if it has noises from their favorite band or TV show, they'll put some money in it.

EDIT: To elaborate.  1. Comic book heros are hot right now. 2. Put comic book characters in an arcade game with the least amount of work. (use a game that already exists)  3. Profit

[BadMouth]

Oh, I see.  They ported the mobile version. 
http://arcadeheroes.com/2017/07/13/injustice-gods-among-us-coming-to-arcades-via-raw-thrills/
The arcade game doesn't even use joysticks.
In that case, it is just dumb.

[voltz]

It's obviously a shame that that you have to build a custom cabinet just to get the proper experience, but given the state this industry is in it's quite asinine we have to see things like this happening.  There really isn't a place for real gaming anymore, unless you're at home.

Your first mistake was assuming D&B was an actual Arcade.

Actually hardly anything passes for a real arcade these days, unless you live near Galloping Ghost or something.

Edit: Actually I have to make a note on something that should be addressed.  Arcades did exist even before videogames came into the big picture.  I just find it kind of odd that it's going back to being that way after seeing all the kiddie and redemption games they would rather have on the floor instead of something the rest of us would be into.

[keilmillerjr]

Games "on rails" is the newest trend because people are now lazy snowflakes and can't control their own character. Freemium is a new trend as well, and the ticket system in an arcade has the same feeling.

[jennifer]

     I am not familiar with arcade hunters, But don't really need to as the mentality has been around quite some time now, Few know what its like to drive a bucket T down the strip, sneaking a keg into the drive in... or what a real game actually was, Poor graphics on unreliable, experimental hardware. Cant blame them I s"pose, for trying to modernize it to be what they know, just makes the real deal the subject of theoretical conjecture and things to come.

[voltz]

It's too bad Boon never contracted anybody to ever get his games into the barcade scene.  I think if we're trying to figure out where our demographics are, then I'd like to see better then just classics and nostalgia.

MK reboot and X could have been a revival on that scene.

[jennifer]

     Aint so sure its going to stop Jenn, I don't play games anyway (as classics or nostalgia), But if I was forced to choose direction, it would be culmination of innovational concepts, such as interactive holograms and lasers.

[voltz]

I've seen all of that on Star Trek.

Even with sci-fi predictability, we still haven't come that far yet.

[jennifer]

I've seen all of that on Star Trek.

Even with sci-fi predictability, we still haven't come that far yet.

  Well.... Revenge from mars came really close as far as games go, and laser pointers have become so common even dollar stores have trouble selling them anymore.

[DolansCadillac]

Your first mistake was assuming D&B was an actual Arcade.

Quick rant. So what's sad is the first Canadian D&B I ever visited a decade ago wasn't anything like the flaccid wasteland it is now, it wasn't actually bad at all. It was pretty evenly divided into half ticket-based amusements and half classic cabinets - proper golden age games, versus fighters, solid sports games, plenty of cabs I'd want in a dedicated arcade if I built one. Plus plenty of well-maintained pool tables and a bar with good service.

Recently they opened this giant one much closer to where I live, and my friends and I were stoked to check it out. Of course it was absolutely miserable: Rows of tepid rail shooters tied to whatever license, cellphone games you'd play on the can now in full-sized cabinets with one-button inputs, flavorless driving games that looked and played like a C-tier Playstation 2 effort. All of us left with cards nearly full of our initial credit purchases.

What really took the experience from flat to dreadful was that my two very young nephews came along for about an hour, and by the tail end of it they were both just completely bored, despite being attacked from all angles by sounds and lights. I remember watching my eldest nephew's face light up like it was Christmas morning when he spotted a Transformers enclosure cabinet, he was so hyped that him and I were going to play this thing. Literally bouncing up and down with a huge grin on his face. We played maybe two credits worth of this soggy, sleepy, utterly brainless rail shooter and he looks at me, just bored to ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---, and says let's play something else. I look around and that's the face of every younger person who's there to hang out but hasn't hit drinking age - most aren't even playing anything, they're just standing around, looking tired.

No classics, no versus fighters, no sports games, no pool tables, nothing that could inspire a lively competitive atmosphere of any kind. Even the Skee-Ball machines were these compressed-size space-saver deals that felt silly to play. It's like everything about the experience was tailored to be as lukewarm and shallow as they could get away with. And that was my nephew's first impression of a 'proper' arcade.

[pbj]

I go to Dave and Busters to drink Guinness and play Virtua Tennis 3 and DDR.  I leave satisfied.

[DolansCadillac]

I go to Dave and Busters to drink Guinness and play Virtua Tennis 3 and DDR.  I leave satisfied.

You lucked out then. Ours has no VT or anything close to it, both DDR setups were busted, and getting a beer was a twenty minute effort.

I did play a few games of that giant versus Pac-Man thing, that was decent.