[OmegaNemesis28]

Quote:

Aside from a few thriving specialty outlets in America's larger cities, we think its safe to say that the U.S. arcade industry is on its deathbed. To make matters worse, it seems that one title that could have ostensibly served as short-term life support for the dwindling arcade scene, Street Fighter IV, will not be coming to U.S. arcades, according to Chris Kramer, senior director of communications and community for Capcom. Japanese arcades have enjoyed the company of the wildly popular brawler since July, and a few law-disregarding American arcades have imported SFIV cabinets with tremendous positive response. However, as Kramer explained, SFIV (or any other game) won't be enough to resuscitate "an industry that died off seven or eight years ago." Sorry, quarter jockeys, it looks like you'll have to get your fix on one of America's illicit imports -- for as long as they're around, anyways.

Source

I don't blame them for this.

#1 - US arcade numbers are dwindling like you wouldn't believe. They are only popular during the summer on boardwalks. It's sad.

#2 - Most recent arcade games suck massive balls anyway. Time Crisis 4? Fail. House of the Dead 4? Meh. Ghost Squad? Eh. Teken 6? Blah.

#3 - Quarters are the past anyway. Most arcade machines get refitted with card slides.

#4 - The expense for some of these machines are horrendous. Even the old ones still go for like 1.5k~3k. For the half decent Time Crisis 4 machine it goes for like 4k I believe. They have smaller ones but who wants to play a co-op game on a 5inch screen with a GunCon - really?

 

[UberN00B]

id love to play SSIV in an arcade, but the truth is that consoles have taken over. Besides, usually all the arcade games that come out can be played on consoles. The last time i was at an arcade was maybe 4 months ago, and the one i know is huge (PMall for those in Toronto), and its usually busy all year round. Other than that, i agree with all your arguments.

 

[SyncMaster753]

yeah, when i was a kid, there were 3 dedicated arcades i could chose from to go to.

now there are none locally

the only pseudo arcades that still exist are tiny ones in theatres/bowling alleys that desperately need to update their games.

its true though, if i had online multiplayer in consoles when i was younger i would probably skip out on the arcade.

 

[Licht]

I will tell you what killed arcades. $20 in 10 minutes. The ridiculus amounts spent.

 

[OptimusPrime]

Quote:

Originally Posted by UberN00B id love to play SSIV in an arcade, but the truth is that consoles have taken over. Besides, usually all the arcade games that come out can be played on consoles. The last time i was at an arcade was maybe 4 months ago, and the one i know is huge (PMall for those in Toronto), and its usually busy all year round. Other than that, i agree with all your arguments.

Yes they have taken over, but Japan has the same amount of consoles. Our culture is very fickle with things like this. Actually allot of arcade games take quite a while to come out on consoles and there are a ton of arcade games nobody knows about in the us.The US just loves to drop things fast. In japan its part of a sub culture. Especially for SHMUPS (space shooters) (or manic shooters/bullet hell a)and fighting games. There are still allot of SHMUPS that haven't come out for home consoles yet, amazing ones. But i wouldn't expect allot of people around here to know whats up with that... its a niche addiction... Thats another reason why i dont believe a PC is the best platform for everything, especially shmups and fighters. But even myself, i would rather play from home, but still miss the arcades as they were.. dark, dingy and full of machines

Quote:

Originally Posted by Licht I will tell you what killed arcades. $20 in 10 minutes. The ridiculus amounts spent.

lol yes.. it got expensive fast

 

[thecheeseofmanynames]

most arcades i see now are like $1 per play...its disappointing

 

[Locool676]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thecheeseofmanynames most arcades i see now are like $1 per play...its disappointing

The DDR at my bowling alley is $1.50 per 3 songs. That's killer.

 

[FieryCoD]

I used to go to a place called Golfland when I was in California with my aunt and uncle. Goddamn, I loved it. $15 per person on Tuesdays for a golf game and free arcade play.

 

[hellyea]

I think there is one in the student center in my university (San Francisco State University).

http://kotaku.com/5041391/

 

[Dirtyerny]

I don't really understand why the arcade machines are so expensive.

 

[OmegaNemesis28]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Licht I will tell you what killed arcades. $20 in 10 minutes. The ridiculus amounts spent.

but if you go to really good arcades like the Sega Gameworks ones (one in Las Vegas I'm VERY fond of) - it's like $40 for an all day pass to play as many games as you possibly want to. And their arcade is the largest I've ever been to.
Like over 100 arcade games in 1 room, not counting the duplicates of each to boot.

 

[snowman88]

Arcades will survive.. Racing sims, light gun games, and fighters are all great on cabinets.

 

[DaMirrorLink]

i remember the last time i went to an "arcade" (was a very crappy one), it was coming on 4 years ago, and it was less than stellar, only game that was worth it was tekken 4, but the difficulty was on that of where a 2 year old could win

 

[OpTicaL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hellyea I think there is one in the student center in my university (San Francisco State University). http://kotaku.com/5041391/

I can confirm that.

 

[drbadass]

i don't know where he's getting this from... there's a SFIV here in austin...

http://www.arcadeufo.com/arcade.html

 

[OmegaNemesis28]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drbadass i don't know where he's getting this from... there's a SFIV here in austin... http://www.arcadeufo.com/arcade.html

probably not going to sell it anymore. This is coming from the Capcom guy himself

 

[Choggs396]

Every once in a while, when I'm at the local mall with my girlfriend, I stop at the arcade. She's usually like "you're such a kid when see you see that arcade." But she doesn't complain when I pay for all the games. She always beats me in the NASCAR racing game...

There's a bar around here too that has a pretty nice arcade. I like having a few beers and dropping a few dollars (usually ends up being ~$20) there.

It's just not something I do all the time, as it gets kinda pricey, and I have quite a few games at home anyway. I used to love playing when I was little when games were just a quarter. But with the advancement of PC's and consoles in people's homes, arcade games do seem to be a dying breed.