What happened with Williams???

[Arqueologia_Digital]

It´s very stupid :P , because i´m a fan of Williams games, but i never understand what is the problem with this dudes and why they closed the factory and only works in Pinball machines, anyone can explain me???, thanks

[Captain Wrong]

It's the whole death of the arcade thing. It's just not profitable for companies to still put out the coin ops. AFAIK, Namco, Konami, and Sega are the only ones left.

(Wasn't Williams folded into Midway a long time ago? I haven't seen the Williams name in the arcade since high school.)

[furor]

Williams broke ties with midway a couple of years ago. They only do slot machines now.

As for profitable arcade companies...don't forget Incredible Technologies.

[Arqueologia_Digital]

But what was the matter between midway and williams????

[Arcade Antics]

Probably nothing beyond the usual business arrangement stuff.

[furor]

Midway was bringing Williams stock prices down or visa versa...I can't remember.

[Daniel Thomas]

There's no money in video arcades anymore. The advances in technology has almost rendered the whole coin-op idea obsolete. Just look at what consoles today can do.

Personally, I think it's a tragedy if the arcade scene disappears forever. I remember growing up in the '80s and '90s, where the arcade games set the standard for videogames. Today's games are great, of course, but we're losing that instant-gratification feel of games like Gauntlet and Roadblasters and Smash TV and Ghouls 'N Ghosts (to name a few). If kids are gonna dig videogames, then they need that old-skool arcade fix.

Maybe if somebody could come up with a new business model, then arcades could flourish again. The whole idea of using quarters or tokens is laughably out of date. Sadly, I have no idea how you would do this.

[Dobie]

If kids are gonna dig videogames, then they need that old-skool arcade fix.

I agree totally there. Making the games $0.25 per play again instead of a $1.50 for ten seconds probably wouldn't hurt either. There's an arcade in my hometown that is 3/4 "newer" type games, and 1/4 "nickel" (yes, five cents) arcade games. The nickel arcade has tons more people (especially kids) than the usually barren "new" section.

A couple bucks will keep me at the Pacman machine for two or three hours. Profit margins are probably slim, but its always busy in there. I can't count how many times I see younger/teenage kids in there playing Bubble Bobble for $0.10 per play, and digging it just as much as the $3.00 NASCAR Super-duper racing simulator.

[zektor]

There's no money in video arcades anymore. The advances in technology has almost rendered the whole coin-op idea obsolete. Just look at what consoles today can do.

Personally, I think it's a tragedy if the arcade scene disappears forever. I remember growing up in the '80s and '90s, where the arcade games set the standard for videogames. Today's games are great, of course, but we're losing that instant-gratification feel of games like Gauntlet and Roadblasters and Smash TV and Ghouls 'N Ghosts (to name a few). If kids are gonna dig videogames, then they need that old-skool arcade fix.

Maybe if somebody could come up with a new business model, then arcades could flourish again. The whole idea of using quarters or tokens is laughably out of date. Sadly, I have no idea how you would do this.

You CAN do this! It's called Dave & Busters! I have been to this arcade once before, and it's great! You use a credit card on the machines which you can "re-load" when money is short, and when you reload it on one of the machines it actually shows you every game you ever played in the arcade using that card. Ohh, and I forgot to add, they have a huge bar right in the center of the arcade! Nothing like playing Tapper and drinking a Bud

[Tempest]

The only way arcades can hope to survive is to offer something that you can't do on a home console. The only things I can think of are games which require a large apparatus to play which is what you mostly see in arcades now, or virtual reality assuming the technology gets better. Other than that, home systems can do just abotu anything arcade games can.

Of course there's the whole social interaction thing that arcades offer. OF course with on-line play some people might argue that home systems offer that too.

Tempest

[bargora]

Arrrrrrr. I'm a relative old-timer, I guess. I walk into a Dave & Buster's, and I wonder where the regular upright cabinets are. But Tempest pointed out what I'd only submliminally realized (because my conscious brain rejects it screaming)--that basically the arcade scene is entirely "large apparatus" now, and the basic upright cabinet arcade game is obsolete.

Ha. *bitter laugh* 2003, and the consumers have arrived at an inescapable conclusion--the Robotrons are obsolete and must be eliminated.

[Daniel Thomas]

I'll tell ya, the arcades are still great for social interaction, especially with fighting games like Virtua Fighter or drivers like Daytona. There's a new GameWorks in downtown Minneapolis, at an infamous block (next to the First Avenue nightclub from "Purple Rain") that lay empty for two decades. The Dreamworks is nice, especially when you want to bowl a game over some cheap beer. But I have to say again, this whole idea of using quarters, tokens, or credit cards to videogames is obsolete. You need something more, like perhaps a per-hour fee or something.

The problem is that you have to offer something that you can't find elsewhere; and thanks to the Internet, I can reach the whole world. Everything is becoming more and more decentralized -- look at the record industry, another business model that is obsolete and headed towards extinction.

Dobie has a good idea going. Maybe if someone made a "retro" video arcade, in that dark, dungeon style of the old Aladdin's Castles; stuffed it with the great arcade games from the '70s, '80s, and '90s; and then charged by the nickel or dime. Those machines are still expensive (for some baffling reason), so you would need to bring in some collectors who owned a lot of arcade games. That way, your only costs would be salaries and rent.

Heck, put in a stage and have local bands play; that way, you can charge five bucks a head. Throw in a big-screen TV and have console gaming tournaments. Feeling really lucky? Add in a bar and really make some money.

Just an idea. Someone should do something with this.