You still have people going to Internet Cafes.
You know a better, more likely to survive business concept: The Barcade
Arcades can’t run solo anymore like they did back in the 90s.
Most of the ones that you see constantly open have a companion business (whether it’s involved in making food, showing movies, serving drinks, etc.) that helps make the money. The arcade section is just there for the goodwill of the customers.
One of the best ways we can move forward is with ventures like Skisonic and Steve H throwing tournaments at Dave & Busters to convince the establishment that there’s a demand for fighting games.
Or have an establishment like our local Strange Matter barcade in downtown Richmond, VA: the atmosphere just reeks of the nostalgic 90’s. They get good business from our FGC and from those who don’t play fighting games.
There is a place for arcades in the modern era of sitting at home playing video games all day, we just need to show it to the world.
What’s the point of going to the arcade when my small arcade at home is > then any arcade in my whole state…I was fortunate enough to live when the arcade scene was still booming & the games were so fresh to play. Part of the reason why i started collecting arcade cabs & games…For arcade lovers, you can do your part by buying arcade cabs & keeping it at your home & preserve it from going to the landfill…Do gatherings at your place with it…Bring it to tournaments & play “REAL fighting games” not these shit fighting games out right now…If anything, to help the scene we should try to keep the classics alive…
Sadly I have to agree with most of you. The arcade scene is dead and I see no chance of survival. Still I wish that Capcom, Namco, and other companies would release arcade cabinets just at least for hobbyist to buy. (But I guess it is easier to build a at home cabinet). I still prefer face to face competition with people that just walk and put the quarter up on the machine, and that the arcade sticks are built into the game. But with new downloadable networks such as PSN and Xbox live it gives small time companies on chance to make a new IP like Skullgirls. But it won’t stop me from reminiscing about the good ole days lol. When I saw a group of guys and girls talking around an arcade machine without headsets or smartphones etc but using good ole fashioned talking. But I think fighting games have evolved I personally like the new mechanics there introducing, the online game play aspect, and the chat room lobbies(Soul Calibur V is my fave lobby room cuz it allows text and mic chat). But I just miss the big stage aspect. Basically online fighting games are like Television and the arcades were like the Theatre.
Great topic, I am surprised I never got heavy in the arcade scene. I remember in the 2nd grade after school my dad would take to me to the local bodega (grocery store) which had a Double Dragon cabinet. He mentions how the first week we would be heading back home within a few minutes and how by the end of the month I running through the whole game.
Arcades used to work because they were like movie theaters, you go play a game 6 months before consoles got it and obviously it looked and sounded better because the console was more powerful. Its never going to be that way again. hypothetically though if you could put cod in an arcade 6 months before release running om super high end pcs tons of people would come to play it.
This is not really relevant for 2D FGs, but I’ve always though there could be real possibilities for good hardcore motion games, if we only combined the various technologies available on the different consoles:
- PS Move with gun encasement (or sword) for detailed tracking (and physical feel) of a weapon or item.
- MS Kinect (several at the same time, from different angles) for body tracking.
- Nintendo balance board (in a larger scale) for movement - lean or step in a direction to move in that direction.
- VR or panoramic screen technologies.
In the past all of these things would have been ridiculously expensive. But now they are just cheap consumer technology, but still maybe a bit too expensive for most people, but cheap enough for a business.
With some reverse engineering (or official APIs), all of these things can be hooked up to a PC. It just becomes a software problem of making them all work well together, and the legal problem of making games that combine the functions of these competing products.
But once those problems are solved, we have the possibility of having some amazing arcade games using amazing technology, that aren’t practical, affordable or possible for most homes. (unless you can afford to dedicate an entire room to be a virtual play space.)
I agree with this, back in school this was the way I’ve made alot of friends playing so many fighting games in 90’s was great, even down to this day we still hook up and fight. Not only that this was how we all got out the house and meet up. You still got different venues but most cities don’t have places to group up and head out to meet at a gaming venue. Now it’s everything is household nothing wrong with that cause you can have a good converstion across the world but face to face was a way to get good and associate. Technology has evolved but also keeping us indoors not good.
We have an arcade in the Cincinnati area (Arcade Legacy) that’s been fostered by our community for the past three years. It’s pay $10 at the door and stay all day, or $5 for an hour. People that come for our Thursday fight night are charged $5 for all day instead of the usual $10. We have tournaments and ranking battles on some Saturdays.
I think the goal for an arcade to thrive nowadays is to have something else to bring money in. Our arcade’s owner also has a used game/music/movie section where people can buy stuff at pretty good prices (way better than retail, better than most internet prices) and sell stuff for store credit or cash. He also sells stuff on amazon while he’s working at the arcade.
Arcades aren’t really dead, and can work. I think it’s moving towards a pay once and play all day fee more than typical coin-op. A lot of arcades don’t have that extra source of income like ours does…it’s the thing that kept the arcade afloat when business was slow.
While I happy that some arcade owners have found ways to make money other then the traditional coin-op aka like the Mana bar in Australia by charging admission for a day etc. I am not sure even if this business model will work. Gameworks and Arcade Infinity(which I am unsure if is closed or not I believe it is because of this) [media=youtube]yySlhGki4Dk[/media] I see arcade/bars/restaurants working such as Dave and Busters etc. But even so I still feel that redemption games and motion based controller games will be more popular versus fighting and retro arcade games. But who knows what the future holds. Maybe with the Unreal engine 4 coming out and better graphics coming out it will become a point in the industry were it will better to make an arcade machine versus a new barrage of consoles lol(Highly doubt it thought). But I do find it kind of funny of how despite arcades being dead everyone fondly remembers them even Disney lol [media=youtube]1OGkov7sj64[/media]
After so many years, I finally met a MAME cab that had all sort of fighters inside:
Garou, Last Blade 2, KOF 2000, SFA2 etc
Problem was, it had only 4 buttons for all games, plus they assigned both the taunt and C button at the same button for SNK games.
But I was used so much to digital monitors and televisions and high quality arcade sticks, that the whole experience seemed like a travesty.
Stick was way off and would be better suited for shmups and platformers. No wonder I sucked at fighters back then.
Also it had an old CRT monitor with scanlines, which was very tiresome. I forgot how it was playing fighters in such a close viewing distance.
Played one session of Last Blade 2 and one of Garou. Lost in the third and second round respectively.
I dont think I could play more than 10 minutes in that cab.
Consoles and computers spoiled us…
Arcades were the best. 99% of players now stick to online or playing with the few friends that also are into their game. Most people don’t want to search or make meet ups online with strangers/FGC groups. As a result most people have either no offline experience or experience only against a few offline opponents (their friends). Why the average Japanese player is so much better is cause they play offline vs a bunch of different opponents. They see many different tactics, people who excel with just about every character in the cast of the fighting game they play, and r used to playing face to face.
I’m by Galloping ghost which seems to do quite well. You can’t have the 50c per game model, u have to go with freeplay after paying a set fee. I would also recommend having a top chef, so the food is incredible…that could bring people in itself. Erotic cage dancers in every corner of the room after 10pm. Once a month pay a top player for one of the fighting games to face all challengers. Weekly tournaments, and perhaps a team league. Ultra clean and sanitary, perhaps an art nouveau decor.
The rest of your post I agree with mostly, but damn 3rd Strike on CRT is amazing, the rain in Yung and Yangs stage is so beautiful, and you can make out the animals in the back of Elenas stage better. They have the PS3 OE of 3rd Strike at the arcade and its not nearly as beautiful, stuff is kinda blotchy. The only thing wrong with arcades is that there arent enough of them and there isnt a national chain that is multipurpose like a bar and grill that has fighting games in it. Capcom and Arksys and others need to get Dave N Busters to have a fighting game section.
Id complain to who ever had that MAME that they need to get a new control set up with more buttons and wire them better. Was it just a bad stick, or was it a 4 gate controller? I use a 8way since its the Tekken 5 Hori Stick, and the arcade where I go to has mostly 6 and 8 way sticks.
CafeID Korean guys have some decent gaming setups and their venue seems very cool, maybe they wouldnt build a castle with the revenue, but it seems to serve well its purpose (the bunker bed Idea seems great IMO):
http://www.shadowlogic.com.au/uncategorized/introducing-cafe-id
Instead of having arcades move the scene forward WE need to move the scene forward. We need to get weeklies set up, tournaments advertised around towns they happen in. Watching Canada Cup made me sad cause there were no spectators. Where was the advertising? Instead of spending $4,000 on bar tabs and limos they should have spent that money on advertising. If you dont tell people about stuff they wont show up. And since its Canada Cup why are you flying in Japanese players who will beat your home town heroes? Build yourselves up so then you can afford to fly in Japanese players, or get their sponsors to do that.
If you wanna move the scene forward you need to go f2p in order to make the games accessible and get a huge playerbase and make sure you got amazing online functionality so the scene can set up online tournaments in order to sustain a competitive scene and get sponsors aboard.
Most people on these boards are caught up in the past thinking the arcade scene was the best thing since sliced bread.
The truth though is that today almost everyone owns a console or a pc and nobody is gonna go to an arcade and throw away a quarter or 50 cents in order to play a game for 2-3 minutes, when you can play infinitely at home for a much smaller investment.
If you don’t do that, you’ll always gonna be a small niche scene with an ever declining playerbase.
Dota 2 and LoL have proven through their models that the only way to grow is free to play with well implemented and maintained online PvP.
They’re not the best games ever (especially LoL, lol) they’re only so big and got coverage reminiscent of sports events because they’re f2p and don’t make the consumer feel like he’s getting ripped off.
What happens with pay to play games is the following:
Game comes out, gets media exposure, gets lots of players.
Then bit by bit people stop playing either because they feel incompetent, the next game came out, they don’t like the game or because they can’t find enough people to play with anymore.
The new players get less and less since the game isn’t new anymore and naturally it doesn’t sell as well anymore.
What you’re left with now is the hardcore scene and depending on how good the game is and how much these remaining people love the game it’s gonna be bigger or smaller.
It’s clinically dead though since at best you get as much fresh blood as people leaving the game usually you get less new people though.
That is until the next game comes out everyone plays and the cycle continues.
What free to play does for you game though is the opposite effect:
If the game only sells cosmetic stuff and no ingame advantages, the competitive scene doesn’t feel alienated and abused by the developers and even casual gamers are attracted by this since it doesn’t feel like some pyramid scheme some hobo tries to sell you at the door.
The accessibility makes it that for every gamer that leaves the game, you got 2 or 3 people pick it up.
You’ll get new gamers and people that stick to the game until the market for that game is saturated and you’ll keep a stable playerbase given that the core game is actually high quality and fun.
What the fighting game scene or more like the publishers have to realize in order to move forward is that the arcade scene is dead or better said stagnating and you guys who played SF2 in the arcades back in the days are the remnants of the past and when you guys are dead or too old to play, that is the day when the last arcade closes its doors.
Go make decent fighting games with the internet in mind, please and do it properly.
i like living in the past. bury me in the rubble of family fun arcade
We will, next to the SF4 machine Kappa.
Was talking to Offcast about this and according to him, one of the issues is that once certain places/events got big (i.e. WNF), people just went to those and quit going to others/setting up their own. In other words, with the size of our scene now, venues just tend to cannibalize each other. We literally cannot support more than a handful of venues at the moment.