Thought everyone might enjoy this article about arcades....

[GroovyTuesdaY]

http://www.1up.com/article2/0,4364,1526151,00.asp

STATE OF THE ARCADE INDUSTRY 2004
Very interesting article.  Enlightening as well.

Enjoy!

groovY~

Edit by moderator: fixed the URL

[Lilwolf]

hehe... just about to post it... you beat me there...

[Sephroth57]

interesting article...

i think the bad spot arcades are in right now is really the worse it can get, and that they will start doing better soon. i think one of the main things is operators unwilling to take risks with original games. stuff like this, http://www.highwaygames.com/products/dragon_treasure.php, is really cool looking but never make it here, maybe in a few big arcades in the US but thats it. In the arcades near me you can count on your fingers the amount of normal upright cabinets. they hardly make any new traditional games also.... i dunno im just kinda mad that arcades are dieing i grew up playing in them. but i love the new japanese games coming out theyre just hard to find here

[GroovyTuesdaY]

I beleive that arcades as we know are over.   The few that are surviving now are the ones that tailor to little kids and give tickets that you can redeem for some crappy toy. lol   I really don't think there will ever be arcades in the sense that used to be.   Games just cost too much and like the article said, they just aren't getting the return on them that they used to.  
Long live the great memories of yesteryear  in the arcades.

groovY~

[Stingray]

I beleive that arcades as we know are over.

As far as I'm concerned, this has been the case for a long time. But then when I think arcade, I think smoky little hole in the wall place that's got maybe 15 games -none of which are DDR or Beatmania- and isn't attached to any other (pizza place, movie theater, etc) type of business. I haven't seen what I think of as a "real arcade" in years.  

-S

[greywolf22]

Yup I agree, the mall/pizza parlor/bowling alley arcades are not the same as the original smoke filled, extremely dark, people all crammed in with quarters lying on the machines to reserve spots (can't really do that to well with those card readers...just doesn't have the same effect)  

[allroy1975]

i dunno im just kinda mad that arcades are dieing i grew up playing in them.

Don't say that!  NEVER say that!

GOONIES NEVER SAY DIE!

[GroovyTuesdaY]

Yup I agree, the mall/pizza parlor/bowling alley arcades are not the same as the original smoke filled, extremely dark, people all crammed in with quarters lying on the machines to reserve spots (can't really do that to well with those card readers...just doesn't have the same effect)  

My bowling alley isn't too bad really. Even though nowadays they have seriously slimed down on how many games are available, compared to back about 15 years ago.  Back then , they had like 10 of the hottest games were at that time. The guy who took care of the maintenance  on the cabs, would rotate the games out of the bowling alley and bring in news when the games would stop making much money.  It was always great to be at the bowling alley when that guy would show up, because he would always drop a buck or two of free coins into the machine, just so he could test the coin mech. and make sure it was working. I would always burn up the freebies before alot of other kids would show up heheh.
Screw'em lol.

groovy~

[paigeoliver]

Arcades are long dead, and yet still continue to die.

How many game manufturers even support the US market anymore? Williams/Bally/Midway/Sente, Atari, Konami, Nintendo, Capcom, SNK, Taito, along with all the classic manufacturers have either gone out of business, retreated to Japan, or moved their focus primarily (or totally) into gambling.

Sega, Namco, GlobalVR, and I'm sorry I can't think of anymore of them are all that seem to be left. Sega seems to be refocusing itself as a software company, and Namco has really scaled back the releases (as the article puts it, they just prefer to plunder their back catalog now), and GlobalVR puts 3rd rate $9.99 type PC games in cabinets that cost a fortune.

[Sephroth57]

well i think we all know the obvious solution to this. whos in for a group buy on plane tickets to japan?!    seriously, i would love to go to japan i definately plan on going for at least a week sometime in the next couple years, I have a couple friends that went in school with their japanese class as exchange students, makes me wish that dumb guidance counselor in 8th grade didnt convince me to take spanish cause its easier and more used.... damn spanish propaganda!!!

[allroy1975]

My fiance and I talked about going to Japan for our Honeymoon...because I figured Namco has a museam or something...does anyone know if they do?  I would LOVE to see something like that....play old pac man machines...in someone elses basement...hehehe...

That's all..I just want to know if there is any kind of museams over there of Arcade stuff as opposed to just a bunch of nice big arcades.

Allroy

[Sephroth57]

yeah when my friends went there they went to this sega museum thing it had everything from their original system to their newest arcade games on display, you could play some of them. and right next to it was the massive sega arcade which is like 2 floors.... i was jealous =P