Video may have killed the radio star in America, but we all know that it was the home console that led to the inevitable downfall of the hangout we affectionately referred to as the arcade. According to recent reports, that trend is showing signs as being active again, and this time it has taken aim at Namco Bandai.
Speaking to Reuters, a company spokesman told the press that the struggling arcade operator would, in addition to downgrading its net-profit outlook by 38%, soon be closing a fifth of its businesses due to a couple of factors -- including the popularity of the Wii:
"A lot of the types of games that people played at an arcade can now be done at home."
Yuji Machida also cited rising gasoline prices as another reason, since families are frequenting malls less, in favor of staying at home and making due with whatever entertainment they have on hand (in this case, a Nintendo console). I have to hand it to Nintendo. For a company that is constantly ridiculed by many as offering up a novelty item with a limited lifespan, they sure are leaving their mark on the landscape. Even if the Wii eventually fizzles out and is overtaken by Microsoft or Sony, you won't be able to say that they went out like punk.
To those of you in Japan, I offer you some advice. Go to the mall each week and spend a little cash, or you too might suffer the same fate as us. Arcade gaming isn't going to be around forever. Trust me on this one... you'll miss them when they're gone.
[Via StrategyInformer]
Contest:
9:18 AM on 02.07.2008
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I've never really liked Arcades. Too many people and the places always smelled of BO, Cheetos and Coke. They were gross, dimly lite, greasy places that you went because your parents were shopping and you had an hour to kill.
So I don't really care that they're slowly going the way of the buffalo.
I'm not even that old (22) so I may have only been able to enjoy the tail end of the whole arcade scene, but I still miss it for sure. Now commence the Nintendo hating...
Well if you ever get the chance, spend some money.
I miss the arcades too. But Jim is right, most arcades suck balls. Luckily Seaside here in NJ still has plenty of the older games, like X-Men and The Simpsons. I loved those two.
Now all we need is 40 player Daytona USA setup on dedicated servers for the home... and arcades will be dead for ever.
What?
Gameboi, am I the only one who picked up on the dodo image? Nicely done, my friend...nicely done.
Unfortunately, the arcades (at least in my area) that are still around have changed. Gone are the beat em ups, classics, fighters, and shmups, and in are the DDR clones, racing games, Deer Hunter shooters, Golden Tee, and that god damn Stacker game. I might not actually mind so much, except that these games cost an arm and a leg to play. I'm sorry, but I don't want to pay a dollar or more to stomp on a dance pad or race one race for a couple of minutes at best. Even that god damn Stacker game typically costs like 3 quarters.
Give me an arcade with some good games that cost a reasonable amount to play, and I'll give you my quarters.
They were only a quarter per game, so that helped out a lot too.
My arcade closed right after they took out the DDR machine, it was their biggest moneymaker and they replaced it with stepmania, the arcade didn't last much longer after that.
1. They were as advanced in relation to home-consoles as their 80's counterparts. Most games I see in arcades now look worse than my 360 - they just have a plastic gun or a dance pad.
2. Market it at the 20-somethingers and bank on the nostalgia. Sell beer and good pizza. Put neon on the walls. Van Halen on the jukebox. Don't fill the place with DDR and those damn ticket machines. And charge 25 cents so I can play for a few hours, not 10 minutes and leave with an empty wallet.
The industry got lazy and stopped trying years ago. We might see some cool arcades survive in areas like new york or chicago, but the neighborhood arcade is probably dead in the US for good.
Boo!
When I was in LA in October there was a pretty good arcade at the Santa Monica pier. Quite a few machines and a pretty good selection of titles. So there is at least one out there. ;)
As for the arcade comment, yeah, they are dying. But that's because they're still sticking to the old business model. You know, the one that doesn't work. Opening 9 to 5, when all the people who want to be at the arcade are actually working (they grew up and have jobs now) and their target audience are in school (who don't really want to spend money at an arcade when they can just go home and play on the family X-Box or whatever, unless it's DDR to show off to their friends), obviously it isn't working.
Having an arcade open AFTER 5pm, when the people who actually WANT arcades have finished work and want to wind down, with beer, food, music and video games would bring in the business. It could be like a bar, but with arcade machines everywhere. And people could get drunk and play a decent fighting game, like SF2Turbo, instead of that Tekken shit that the kiddies play because they won't touch anything without the third dimension in it.
There's a Timezone here in Wollongong, but it's pretty shit. Not one fighting game, not one shmup. The one pinball machine they have is broken. There are eight lightgun games (half by Namco, now that I think about it) and three racing games with a total of eight seats all up, and those ticket machine games. Their biggest money maker is a sole Dancing Stage thing, on which dumbass mall goths with heavy boots stomp their way through shitty music that drowns out everything else in the arcade and after which no one can play it because they wreck the fucking buttons.
I'm angry now. Stupid arcade people. =(
All of the genres that made arcades successful are non-existant in the machines that are left.
Fighters, shooters, multi-player action/adventure, racing all have been superseded by their console counter parts. I guarantee if you find any machines in these genres they are severly outdated compared to the pace they were putting out in the 80's and 90's.
The only things left are novelty games like golden tee or DDR (if you can find it)
Also, maybe combining an arcade with a LAN gaming center, and also having the motion simulation games like After Burner Climax Super Deluxe, and some of the other games of that type. Also MORE PINBALL.
good and loud. Also, I managed to get my local bar here in San Francisco to
upgrade the stupid video golf game with an old school console with 40 games
in it! It seems that the only places to play arcade games are at bars and movie
theaters.