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Pong/Atari/Chuck E. Cheese creator attempts to reinvent the concept of an arcade
RayB:
This reminds me of how a local place called "The Frag Shop" just opened up. It's basically a lan gaming center. We'll see if they stay in business. In my opinion, if you're into PC gaming, chances are you have net access. Why pay to go to some place to do the same thing?
Crazy Cooter:
--- Quote from: AlanS17 on August 10, 2005, 02:01:32 pm ---It doesn't matter how long the wait is. If someone is staying longer it's because they're playing. If they're playing then money is being made. Everyone else can sit and wait for their table all night. It's not like a regular restaurant where the amount you spend has relatively little to do with how long you stay.
--- End quote ---
$0.25 per ~5 minutes... = $3.00 an hour. Not very much. An owner would be better off serving pizza and "recycling" the table to a new group of people every half hour.
SirPoonga:
--- Quote from: LiquidFire on August 10, 2005, 02:14:11 pm ---Seriously, I hope he still has some friends back in gameland that will license something cool in the tables. Aren't most of the games that are multi player just for two, the crowd he seems to be after are a group-okay what does that leave, Japanese Boxing? Oh yeah, the Simpsons. Maybe they won't have to worry about people staying too long after all.
--- End quote ---
Didn't you read the article, games like Texas Hold'em. So it isn't classic arcade games, just games.
It will be alot like Buffalo Wild Wing trvia game. The restaurant will probably end up coming first and not the arcade games, but having a large choice of games to play with your gorup while you are there will be the attraction. I go to BW3s with my friends often and we love oding the trivia game against each other.
Havok:
--- Quote from: RayB on August 10, 2005, 02:26:13 pm ---This reminds me of how a local place called "The Frag Shop" just opened up. It's basically a lan gaming center. We'll see if they stay in business. In my opinion, if you're into PC gaming, chances are you have net access. Why pay to go to some place to do the same thing?
--- End quote ---
We had something exactly like that, in one of the malls here. Lasted 10 months, then closed up...
I can't see this business model working. People just don't do arcades for socialization anymore. I would say just make it a bar. Alcohol and games mix well: you start to suck at the games, pump more money in, and buy more drinks. There should be a fair amount of people turnover, so the wait won't be too bad. Plus, you can drink while you wait - money coming in no matter what.
Hmmm... I think I'll do it. And just to make it successful, throw in hot waitresses and bartenders!
tetsujin:
--- Quote from: Havok on August 10, 2005, 02:42:20 pm ---I can't see this business model working. People just don't do arcades for socialization anymore.
--- End quote ---
But part of the idea here is that games normally aren't set up for socialization. And normally video games are the "main attraction" or else not present at all. (Home consoles, for instance, are mostly single-player, or at best network multiplayer, and generally not something a new player could sit down and learn quickly. They're great games for gamers, but not so great for people who want to have a shared activity with non-gamer friends.)
Take the six-player cocktail table described in the article, for instance. Now let's say it's loaded with some relatively simple game, maybe a bit less complicated than Bomberman, something with an easy learning curve and good multiplayer dynamics. Now let's also say you're a gamer, and you've managed to get five non-gamer friends to come to the place with you for drinks and food. While you're eating, the game's in attract mode. Maybe (this would be fun..) it's even a really clever attract mode, and the table knows where the drinks and plates are, and the sprites interact with them. After you're done eating, you challenge your friends to a quick game or two. Fun is had. So goes the theory anyway.
I don't know if it'll be a big success - but I think the important thing to remember when viewing this thing in the context of the "home console age" is that this aims for a different experience - not one that's impossible on a home console, but generally rather difficult at least. You've gathered people around a game system in a way that doesn't require them to feel they've gathered around a game system. You've made the required extra commitment require for the people to play the game low. In effect, you've created a scenario in which people who might not otherwise have played a game will feel comfortable playing a game. (It's one thing to drag a non-gamer to an arcade and hand them some tokens... but they may be rather self-conscious about standing in front of a machine to play, or even to get a good enough idea of how the game works to decide if they want to play. The casual introduction of the game into the social setting is the goal, I think, rather than the idea of creating a social setting made to revolve around a game.)
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