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Thread: Arcades Are Not Dead

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    Default Arcades Are Not Dead

    I'm not sure why people think that arcades are dead. I've been going to arcades since I was little and I know hundreds of poeple that still do. I mainly go for ITG [In The Groove] or other skill games like Drum Mania. But I know plety of people who play the classics like Pacman.

    Long story short...

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    Authordreamweavervisionar yplusactor Arcade Antics's Avatar
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    I'm guessing that this post was supposed to be a response to the "what year..." thread? Gonna lock this one since the topic title is vague and it can continue in the discussion below, thanks!

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    >> UNLOCKED <<

    I'm training Jenn from the store in Clifton - please continue the discussion in this thread.

    Sorry for the exec override, brother

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    I guess arcades may be well and alive in some areas but I'm not sure what the overall picture is. I know that mine went bellyup last year and closed down. This means there are no arcades (NONE) in my area. It doesn't really affect me that much as I wasn't attending the one we had left when it was open (though I might have if it had had any classic games) th0ugh I feel sorry for those that do like to frequent them.

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    When I was ten (1981) the following arcades were around:

    Malibu Gran Prix (Medford)
    Bally's Great Escape (Cherry Hill)
    there were arcades in all three of the local malls (including the Cherry Hill mall which was across the street from Bally's...the Echelon Mall had an arcade inside, and a small arcade in the movie theater)
    there were two arcades in Cape May, at least five in Ocean City, and probably more than five in Wildwood
    there were local arcades and arcades in strip malls

    By 1990:
    no more Malibu
    no more Bally's
    there was a mall arcade in Deptfod and a big one outside the Echelon Mall...none in Cherry Hill
    most of the shore arcades were still around
    no more local arcades
    no more strip mall arcades

    now:
    only one mall arcade (Deptford)
    almost all of the shore arcades are dominated by redemption and gambling machines

    So they may be around for a while in some manner, but I don't think we'll ever see anything like the explosion at the beginning of the 80s again.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Kid Ice
    So they may be around for a while in some manner, but I don't think we'll ever see anything like the explosion at the beginning of the 80s again.
    Nailed it.

    I think (though I could certainly be wrong here) the sentiment that "arcades are dead" comes mainly from folks who remember how prevalent (and "mom & pop") they used to be.

    Arcades used to be all over the place, and came in all sorts of sizes and styles. These days, if you can even track down an arcade, it's practically guaranteed to be a GameWorks kind of deal where everything is DDR / Driving / etc. - the really expensive stuff that smaller arcades couldn't afford. Sure, they always have a few token (pardon the expression) classics like Galaga and Ms. Pac-Man, but I'd bet it's difficult to find any modern arcade that would have more than a dozen or so of the classic games. And understandably so -- for the most part, the big draw is the new, expensive stuff.
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    The thing about "arcades are/aren't dead" posts is that - and forgive me if I'm saying something I've already posted elsewhere - you can't even get folks to agree on the definition of an arcade or, for that matter, arcade-related death these days. Up to a certain point, I knew arcades as dark, dimly-lit places where the only light in the room came from the screens and the marquees and maybe one strip of neon or blacklight tubes up by the ceiling. Then they kinda turned into what J.C. Herz called the overlit "Clockwork Orange" color scheme and started being more skee-ball than Star Castle. And that, to me, was the death of the arcade. I still hung out to play the games, but I felt like the atmosphere was destroyed.

    So, depending on who you ask, they're still alive now, or they died in the 90s, or they died in 1982. I think the arcade is still around now, but less prevalent (because of the sheer expense of the machines), and just simply not in a form that I recognize as being an arcade. And it's never just an arcade anymore - it's always attached to a restaurant or some other "attraction."

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    I agree with many of the posts here. Basically the "arcade of the good ole' days" are being replaced with all these family attraction Gameworks type places. The classic arcade is pretty much dead and is being pushed out by these corporations that have entertainment stuff as well in their establishments. It's like Las Vegas where the old Las Vegas of yesteryears of the mob is being replaced by these family attraction hotels with their own themes. It just ain't the same anymore. It's all about the big corporations these days. :/

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    Default hmmm

    It would be cool if there was still a classic arcade around so younger people (like myself) can expirience arcades of classic games, not just the new popular ones with 1000000 bit graphics <<overly exajerated>>

    But you get my point. :/

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    There are loads of arcades still open in Blackpool, UK but admittedly the video game content is getting thin on the ground. When I was a kid they used to be all video games, but now they're 50-75% fruit machines or horse-racing games and the like...

    The big name arcades there like Coral Island and Mr B's (Now Mr T's - change of ownership I believe..) are still around, along with the ones on the piers and there are still quite a few up and down the Golden Mile, but the video game content is quite old. I would say half of the machines are from the late 80s through the 90s as dedicated arcade machine production is definately thinning out (at least in Europe and North America) these days.

    It's all to do with the quality of home systems nowadays. When I was a kid, it was a big thrill to go to Blackpool and play in the arcades with my friends as the games looked so much better than anything on our home systems. Nowadays the quality gap isn't so much, so the 'pull' isn't there.

    Take 'Ridge Racer' on the PSX compared to the arcade version. Granted the arcade machine had a huge monitor with much higher resolution than a normal TV and a moving cabinet with a wheel, pedals and a stick shift, but take away the 'snazz' and the PSX version wasn't that far off the mark.

    Some of the more recent arcade cabinets are even just 'ramped up' versions of the home consoles. Sega's 'Naomi' system was a beefed-up DreamCast in an arcade cabinet. And Rare/Nintendo's Killer Instinct arcade games ran on N64 hardware.

    Granted, up-to-date games do still look impressive, but they're mostly things like 'Dance Dance Revolution' and the like, which don't appeal to some gamers.

    It only seems to be Japanese companies that are making arcade machines any more as well.. Sega/Sammy and Namco appear to be the only ones still in the market (And maybe Konami - who are rumoured to be merging with Capcom).

    So basically the market seems to be bottoming out.. Like Kid Ice said in his post, they will probably stick around for a while, but I doubt they'll be 'big news' again..

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    It depends where you live. NH has the (second?) biggest classic arcade in the world - Funspot.

    And that's the only arcade in the state of ANY size I believe. The newest game funspot has is Mortal Kombat 3.

    So, having a mame machine sitting right next to me for classic games, and the only arcade within a hundred miles of me having nothing in the past 10-15 years. I can safely say that arcades are dead for me.
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    To me the thing is that no game developers are producing anything I'd want to play. All this dance/beat stuff doesn't interest me at all, nor do the driving games. Good ol' action games with a joystick and some buttons are dead in the hole. I've never seen a modern arcade offer things like Cave/PSiKYO shooters, fighting games ( maybe a Tekken or something), Neo Geo MVS, etc.

    Maybe in other places, are any of you big-city californians getting any of that?

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    A sk8ting rink here in KC used to have a bunch of neogeos and some other late 80s games, but as always they replace'em with those crap ticket games. The only way to experience the oldies now is auctions.
    ppl say im crazy, they don't understand

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    I agree with what most have already said. Most of us actually do go to arcades to play those big ass arcade cabinets that we could never have at the house. Sure, we can get the same game at home, but the experience isn't the same. I grew up in the 80's arcade scene, so I do miss them, but arcades (in general) are not dead, just re-defined.

    I wonder if those PC LAN stores will be the arcades of the near future? They are popping up in many places.

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