Recently, one of my favorite places in the whole world, my local cyber-cafe/arcade was turned into a pool hall. It was the last of its kind in my wonderfully dull neighborhood, and it was one of the only game-bearing places that wasn't virally infected by 6 year olds who pretend to play racing games by maniacally turning the steering wheel in sync with the demo on the screen because their mothers will not give them quarters. All of the machines were working, all of the games were good, and the atmosphere was great. There was always pool tables, but gamers still had a home in the back, where all the arcade machines and gaming computers stood up wondrously.

However, being a public place in the suburbs of New York City, no one really cared about the games. They came for the music, the alcohol bar, and the pool. After all, why would you go out to play games? That's incredibly anti-social, isn't it? I mean, playing Street Fighter III won't get you laid.

So, the owner of the place removed all of the machines, except for the DDR machine, and put even more pool tables in their place. Now the place is just a gathering of popular preppy teens.

Now, my point here is, I think this is what killed the arcade industry. It wasn't the lack of originality. It was the lack of personality. In the 80s, arcades were popular social places. All kinds of people went there to play, and they weren't criticized for doing so. Today, the arcade industry needs to appeal to everyone, just like the console industry does. Arcade games haven't upgraded to meet the popular American play styles, they're just translations of Japanese arcade games. Fighting games were never that popular in America, aside from Mortal Kombat, and racing/ddr machines are all too expensive to purchase.

I think someone should step up and create a brand new arcade experience for America. An affordable, attractive, and casual experience. Once this experience is created, arcades will become popular, and hardcore arcade games can sprout between the casual, popular arcade experience, sort of like how Pac-Man attracted older people and non-gamers to arcades in the 80s. I hope that someone out there thinks the same way that I do, and tries to fix this. Gamers need a place to go that isn't their bedrooms.