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Went to an Arcade Tonight.....WoW!
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oldsage:

--- Quote from: bigfuz on April 10, 2005, 09:21:58 pm ---Last time I was at my old stompin ground, the Jersey shore :laugh: (Point Pleasant Boardwalk, and Seaside Heights) the arcades were still in full swing.
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Timstuff:
I think that the biggest knock against arcades is that they don't get enough exposure and there are very few chains.  Although I do love mom & pop owned arcades, if there were chains then the "franchise" arcades would likely reach areas that don't have an arcade.

The other big thing is that arcades don't advertise. Arcades used to be to videogames what cinemas were to movies, but not any more. And what do theatrical movies have that has helped keep them in the public's mind? Advertising. Why is it that when an arcade gets an anticipated new title, the only way to find out is by going there or through word of mouth? Imagine opening up the newspaper and seeing an ad saying "Tekken 5: Play it at Starcade!" followed by the location of the arcade. Or, they could do commercials on TV. Game commercials are quite common, but when was the last time you saw one for an arcade game? They manufacturer could send out a 25 second commercial to the arcade owners, and they could then tack on the remaining 5 seconds to tell people the name of their arcade and the location.

Things like this are what the industry needs to make a comeback. Also, people need to BUILD arcades and keep them updated. Perhaps the changable software arcade machine concept used in most home arcades could be applied to arcades. The arcade owner could change the disc inside the arcade machine when it becomes unpopular, and simply swap the marquee with one for the new game and possibly a control panel overlay change. This way they don't have to risk alot of money on a new, unproven game and if a game becomes unpopular they don't have to worry about figuring out what to do with that huge expensive machine. Just put a more popular game inside, and you're all set.
quarterback:

--- Quote from: Timstuff on April 10, 2005, 11:34:33 pm ---Arcades used to be to videogames what cinemas were to movies, but not any more. And what do theatrical movies have that has helped keep them in the public's mind? Advertising.

Why is it that when an arcade gets an anticipated new title, the only way to find out is by going there or through word of mouth? Imagine opening up the newspaper and seeing an ad saying "Tekken 5: Play it at Starcade!" followed by the location of the arcade. Or, they could do commercials on TV.
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Do you have any idea the amount of money that is spent on P&A for a feature film?  Millions of dollars.  That ain't gonna' happen for an arcade.  People aren't skipping the arcade because of a lack of advertising.  They're skipping the arcade because they either play video games at home on a computer, at home on a console or not at all.  They're skipping the arcade because they have better use of their time and/or don't want to hang out in a teen-infested storefront with few games they want to play.

For the vast majority of people in the world, the experience of seeing a feature film cannot be compared to playing a video game in an arcade.  They're two completely different things.
Timstuff:
But, keep in mind that with feature films, the entire advertising campaign is handled by the movie distributor, not the theaters themselves. I'm not saying that ads in the newspaper should be as common as movie advertisements, but they should still be there. In a newespaper you'll often see advertisements for restaruants and such. So why can't arcades just put out ads? Also, this ties into my idea that there should be more arcade chains. A chain would be much more capable of putting out an ad in print or on TV, because they'd be reaching much larger audience because they'd be able to list many arcades in alot of different areas at the end of the commercial or in the ad, rather than just one. Advertising is not something that a mom and pop arcade would be able to do. It would have to be done by an arcade chain that has arcades all over the state. And what better way to draw people in than to tell them what hot new games they have in their advertisements?
paigeoliver:
You are also forgetting a massive strike against the arcades.

They aren't coming out with a lot of games anymore. The number of new arcade games last year was miniscule (like less than 10 new games, and software updates for another 10), and this year will be worse.

It is really all just grinding to a halt.

I just browsed Shaffer Distributing's website to see what was actually available right now in the way of new games. 23 non-Megatouch titles are currently available, and MOST of those came out in 2002 and 2003 (and some are even older than that).

Out of all those games, only ONE of them used a joystick, the Namco reunion machine (which I shouldn't have even counted, since I didn't count any of the other rerelease machinesO., the rest were driving, gun, complex simulator, or were titles for the Vortek V3 virtual reality cabinet (the Beachhead cabinet).

I also checked BMI's listings, slightly better, they have 27 titles available (not couting assorted classic era rereleases). The majority of them are just this years version of last years game. Only 2 of the games use joysticks (Madden and Tekken 5). Also, Tekken 5 is priced at a rediculous $6875, pretty pricey for a game that will have to be replaced in a year, better hope that sucker racks up 28,000 plays in one year, allowing the operator to at least break even (after the location split, but before maintenance, repairs, or labor), before he has to spend $1500 to upgrade the machine to Tekken 6.

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