Wakeup, Shoryuken E056 - Henry "Next Level" Cen

Today’s guest is one of the cornerstones of the East. Henry “Insert Nickname Here” Cen is a name you should know, as one of the golden boys who took home a top 8 finish in Evo 2010’s SSF4 competition. What you might not know is that he has been the operator of the famous, but now closed, China Town Fair arcade, and is opening a new gaming business called Next Level. Hear all about it in this week’s Daily Cup.

Great episode. I was particularly interested in hearing about Henry Cen’s forthcoming project, the Next Level. One thing that I’d like to get some clarification on is the concept of targeting mid to high level players for Next Level. It didn’t seem like Henry Cen was suggesting that his store would be neglecting novice players. Throughout the reminiscing of Chinatown Fair, Cen seemed to express a degree of dissatisfaction with the loiterers and button mashers. By offering memberships at Next Level, I think Cen will be able to get paying customers, at all varying levels of play, to commit to actively participating with the community and playing arcade games. Get the hardcore gamer then you can get the casual player.