PSN emulating coin-op arcades with pay-as-you-go Trash Panic

If you fondly remember an age where coin-operated arcade machines were king, you may feel nostalgic about the pricing structure of Trash Panic‘s latest incarnation, which utilizes a similar pay method on the Japanese PlayStation Network. It pretty much works in exactly the same way.

With 100 Yen Gomibako, players are expected to drop 100 Yen in exchange for three play sessions. Once those three chances are up, it’ll cost another 100 Yen to get back in the game. A “Charge” button rests in the main menu, allowing customers to easily purchase more credits.

There are extra benefits, too. If you play the game on Normal Mode, you have a chance to win rewards for PlayStation Home. Further tie-ins with Sony’s online “service” are also in the works.

What do you think of this idea? It’s certainly an interesting scheme, and could really work well for a few old school arcade titles. Of course, it all depends on how much cash customers are willing to pump into these things. I’m sure if (or maybe when) a similar idea hits the West, we’ll need more than a handful of quarters like we did in the good old days.