Dying? Or will they survive?

This is a rather interesting read:

http://www.1up.com/article2/0,4364,1526151,00.asp

I certainly hope they never completely die out. I also feel the need to help one out now at least once a week with at least $10.

Arcades are already dead...the only time i see people playing arcade games is at tonaments like SNK vs Capcom and stuff like that

I just wish they still made pinball machines.

Heh. Off to Cliff Yablonski with this!

Someone should submit a few of the Chicago pics to Yablonski. :P

Ahh, I spent many good years in arcades. Some of the best gaming experiences I've had, really - it was a more social kind of thing than gaming usually was.

Crono said:

Arcades are already dead...the only time i see people playing arcade games is at tonaments like SNK vs Capcom and stuff like that

They aren't like that around here. The arcade near my house usually has people lined up to play DDR, Time Crisis 3, air hockey, and the racing games. Same thing with the arcade down by the college I go to.

I don't even know where to go to find an arcade...

I stopped playing all those years ago because the bastards started charging a buck a pop for a game.

Arcades in the US freaking suck.

Danarchy said:

I just wish they still made pinball machines.

I wish they made a realistic pinball computer game. I have yet to see one.

I find it difficult to believe that bananas would just disappear in 10 years from fungus attacks after being around for centuries or millennia.

At least I assume they've been around that long.

I still enjoy playing shooting style arcades, but they are gettting rather expensive.

AndrewB said:

I wish they made a realistic pinball computer game. I have yet to see one.

MS Pinball Arcade is pretty realistic. All the tables are based off real tables. I don't really like it though, I pretty much just play the skee-ball type game that they have on there (it was the predacessor to modern pinball).

I find it difficult to believe that bananas would just disappear in 10 years from fungus attacks after being around for centuries or millennia.

False

Arcades often have to deal with executive owners of malls and shopping centers because of the youth element it attracts. The town in which I grew up had about four arcades in the area; they're now all gone.

I'm surprised no one has addressed this side of the equation. "Mall rats" have become a bit of an undesirable status. The mall by my parents' house(which pretty much replaced high school for me) went through three arcades in five years before ridding the place of them entirely. You'd figure that a place of congragation would make us more manageable; and hence easier on the mall security.

Oh, but we did run our little house of horror there... I'm sure we've cost Big Simon(the guy who's snatching up all the malls in America) a few million in renovation...

I wish they brought Sega Sonic Arcade over here.

I myself don't really paly arcade games, I am too cautious with money.

*plays metal slug till the emulator crashes. agian.

they really should lower prices. nickle and dime games would seem very effective, while popular games being only 25 to 50 cents.

reason i dont go to arcades is the prices. even if say an admission fee or buy hours of game play (ie have to use a card for hours and such) would be nice

honestly they could still be popular if they where re-designed. i think price, lack of selection, poor buildings and lack of thrill drives people away.

Sephiroth said:

honestly they could still be popular if they where re-designed. i think price, lack of selection, poor buildings and lack of thrill drives people away.

In some ways I agree with the price. It costs $1 to play Time Crisis 3 at most of the arcades near me. Some games are cheap (5 songs in DDR for $1, which is cheaper than average here), but not many. I've seen it as much as $1 for three. There are a few Nickle-A-Play places around here, but of the games are older games (which isn't a bad thing at all since I love older games). Although, the cheapest DDR I've found is in one, which is a nickle a song.

The buildings around my area aren't bad, in fact they're quite good. And the game selection is nice, too, for the most part. I'm starting to wonder if I just happen to live in a good place for arcades.

Still, I wonder how they'll compare after I get back from going to Japan this fall.

I kinda miss the 25 cent days of arcade games... But now days the industry does seem to be dying. :(

Luckily for me, there is a Gameworks in Seattle. They have everything from old arcade games to DDR to whatever the latest thing is.