What changes should Happs make

[paigeoliver]

Japan has held the social aspect, and everyone in Japan lives in such tiny apartments that I imagine they don't spend much time at home.

[Gunstar Hero]

The Japanese didn't "grow out" of arcades like we did.

It's common to see businessmen in 3 piece suits playing a round of Guilty Gear or KOF or whatever the latest thing is.

I went to a local mini-golf place last night for awhile. It was BUSY. but all younger traffic, kids and teens.

That new Ghost Squad gun game by SEGA is damn cool. Tekken 5 is like Tekken 4, but nicer graphics. And that Madden Football machine was always busy!

[paigeoliver]

That new Ghost Squad gun game by SEGA is damn cool. Tekken 5 is like Tekken 4, but nicer graphics. And that Madden Football machine was always busy!

REALLY! The ones I have seen on location are eternally unmanned.

[Dartful Dodger]

I'm willing to bet the average BYOAC user is closer to 30.

Seriously where do teens go to get out of the house these days?

I'm sure that the usual places apply... Bowling alleys, Mini Golf (both places with arcades usually) the mall... but did anything replace the social/competitive atmosphere of the mall arcade?

I meant they are online.
At the arcade you play against 2-4 people from the neighborhood, online you are playing against 20+ people from around the world.

[DYNAGOD]

so the problem isnt our becoming technologically jaded, its purely a social issue..
I think we sadly came to the realization too late that video games are an adult form of entertainment..
We were all told that games are for kids and were a childish thing to do.were bombarded with distorted social opinions like "People who play games are geeks", and "only shildren play video games"..so when we became adults as a generation, many put their games aside..
The japanese on the other hand equate adult values and activites with video games.Their adult entertainment,their adult films, their adult music are all tied into the video game industry in one way or another..hell they go to the arcade to drink!

[versapak]

Arcades are gone (IMO obviously) for a few reasons...

The cost of going

[RayB]

When I was a teen, we went to the arcade to play games, not really hang out. Cuz the general attitude of arcade managers was that if you weren't spending money, Get out!

In the early 90's, most teens I knew complained there wasn't anything to do. I think it's still the same now. Businesses dont want teens hanging out. Teens don't have that much cash. So a bunch of rowdy people hanging out at your establishment not spending money isn't good business.

Arcades won't come back for the social aspect cuz teens today have text messaging, internet chat, and all that for socializing.

Japan, as mentioned already, is a whole different social dynamic. In that society, people go out all the time and the population is so condensed.

[DYNAGOD]

The whole movement for "better than home performance" (BTH) has been one of the arcade industries attempts over the last 10 years to revitalive from the perspective that consoles were the sole culprit..but as paigeoliver pointed out, when you make cost prohibitve amusments you essentially put people out of work..
i guess we all need to move to japan then

[Dexter]

Joining the thread a bit late guys. Anyone else experience bad customer service from Happ uk? I've had problems with them returning mails, giving accurate times for them receiving items from the states and not contacting me in relation to delays.

[NiteWalker]

A few things Happs needs to do: Color pics, lowered shipping (what is this Happs or ebay?), NOT charging your credit card twice for some retarded method of verification, give you shipping before you complete your order and give better bulk discounts.

And in my opinion the only reason arcades almost completely died is that 98% of arcade games are console available. If arcades have any chance of coming back it'll be when a hardware developer makes an uber powerful hardware arcade machine that cannot be ported to consoles and have some developers make some new games for them. 

[Dartful Dodger]

And in my opinion the only reason arcades almost completely died is that 98% of arcade games are console available.

100% of the movies in the theaters will be available on DVD and video.

[NiteWalker]

You bring up a good point about the movies but the difference is that when new movies come out they're almost guaranteed to hit theatres first. It's not the same with arcade games. Let's say capcom makes Marvel Vs Capcom 3 (even though they're not), and they make it on a new super powered arcade hardware machine- something that can't be emulated on home consoles. I bet it gives at least a little bit of life back to arcades. What I was trying to get across is that if games were like the way they were way back when arcade games couldn't be reproduced faithfully on consoles then maybe there may be some renewed interest in arcades. And look at the turnaround time. Tekken 5 arcade november 04. Tekken 5 console feb/march 05. Only 4 months. What people need is a reason to go to arcades which really isn't there much anymore. I just wish arcades weren't in the state they're in today.

[DYNAGOD]

What I was trying to get across is that if games were like the way they were way back when arcade games couldn't be reproduced faithfully on consoles then maybe there may be some renewed interest in arcade

but its the operator who has to eat the cost of the hardware. so in trying to provide something thats superior to home hardware ,that op essentially now has to spend more than he can make in what by design is a .25-1.50$ per cycle redemption scheme.
Add to that, the fact that attentions spans are short on games, so its a volatile investment..unless the game becomes a classic or cult the likelyhood of prolonged returns to offset capital spent is not good.

[Gunstar Hero]

I'm thinking this is the job of a new thread!

[GodSend25]

How about the ability to view prices right on the product listing without clicking on each item.  I find that quite annoying.

[SirPeale]

How about the ability to view prices right on the product listing without clicking on each item.  I find that quite annoying.

Heh...quite right.  How hard would it be to make a script that parses the database for the current price?

[NiteWalker]

What I was trying to get across is that if games were like the way they were way back when arcade games couldn't be reproduced faithfully on consoles then maybe there may be some renewed interest in arcade

but its the operator who has to eat the cost of the hardware. so in trying to provide something thats superior to home hardware ,that op essentially now has to spend more than he can make in what by design is a .25-1.50$ per cycle redemption scheme.
Add to that, the fact that attentions spans are short on games, so its a volatile investment..unless the game becomes a classic or cult the likelyhood of prolonged returns to offset capital spent is not good.

That's why I mentioned something like marvel vs capcom 3 or street fighter 4. something to bring back the flame. Actually to think about it the whole system needs restructuring. Maybe the hardware should be the responsibility of the developers and not the ops. This way ops can rent these games and just pay a liscensing fee maybe. Just a theory but I think it'd be more effective than making an op pay $5000 for a game(madden...) and then have to have it for 3+years just to pay for itself. They could have the game, pay a fee to the developers, and start making profits right away instead of waiting.

[paigeoliver]

The developers don't want to lose the money any more than the operators do.

The fact is this. A Madden arcade game IS a viable idea yes, but not as a $5000 33" 4-player monster.

But, it is too late now. A new fighting game isn't going to revive the arcades, nothing will. Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 could come out tommorrow. they could give the upgrade kits away FREE and the game could never have a home version and it still wouldn't even make a tiny DENT in stopping the total death of arcades.

What I was trying to get across is that if games were like the way they were way back when arcade games couldn't be reproduced faithfully on consoles then maybe there may be some renewed interest in arcade

but its the operator who has to eat the cost of the hardware. so in trying to provide something thats superior to home hardware ,that op essentially now has to spend more than he can make in what by design is a .25-1.50$ per cycle redemption scheme.
Add to that, the fact that attentions spans are short on games, so its a volatile investment..unless the game becomes a classic or cult the likelyhood of prolonged returns to offset capital spent is not good.

That's why I mentioned something like marvel vs capcom 3 or street fighter 4. something to bring back the flame. Actually to think about it the whole system needs restructuring. Maybe the hardware should be the responsibility of the developers and not the ops. This way ops can rent these games and just pay a liscensing fee maybe. Just a theory but I think it'd be more effective than making an op pay $5000 for a game(madden...) and then have to have it for 3+years just to pay for itself. They could have the game, pay a fee to the developers, and start making profits right away instead of waiting.

[romperwomb]

Japan, as mentioned already, is a whole different social dynamic. In that society, people go out all the time and the population is so condensed.

I agree, but maybe if Boong-Ga Boong-Ga were brought over, it might start a revival!



I recently had a "Cyber Arena" start up in my town, basically just some high end PC's for LAN party games and several consoles hooked up to big plasma's.  They charge hourly rates for you to come game.  They do tout themselves as the "Arcade of the future".  We plan to start a League at work, way cooler then a bowling league IMHO. 

Will it go out of business in 6 months?  Probably... 

[paigeoliver]

Will it go out of business in 6 months?  Probably... 

I have seen lots of these places open and close in the past 7 years.

These days if you want to run an arcade then open a bar and put in a nice game selection and pretend it is an arcade. The games might not make any money, but they MIGHT be drawing bar business that you wouldn't otherwise get. I know my friends and I tend to go to "The Pink Galleon" just because they have a few games. We might only play $2 in games, but we will spend plenty on beer. If the owner was looking at it from the games perspective then it looks like his games aren't making much, but we would go someplace else if they weren't there,

[RacerX]

My friends and I frequent a certain bar for similiar reasons.  They have NTN Trivia.