I guess if we can pony up a thousand dollars for people to hit the arcades, we’ll fix the whole arcade problem! Sure people are willing to play on console when there’s big cash prizes. The incentive is wholly different that way.
What I think we can do, at least now that could be productive is to embrace what these gaming centers are trying to do. I realize it’s not a classic arcade formula, but in my experience (and this may just me from where I am) these sorts are more numerous. I think the biggest draw of why people liked Arcades was the community. You got to go hang out with people who liked to play the games you do, play to your heart (or wallets) content, and you could grow relationships from there. It was a cool place because of that, and you got the face to face experience the internet cannot give you. You could make real buds instead of buddy lists, heh.
Anyhow what I’m driving at is that these gaming centers have the same type of mentality. Because they are a neutral place it’s a lot easier to go in there and meet people than it would be to go to say, some dudes house to play games. By embracing these sorts of places a bit more, I think we could save the most alluring aspect of arcades, which to me was the community and the people.
You can in the US too, some places like Main Event and Dave and Busters have a rule for no one under 18 allowed after 9 or 10 PM. I know at the Dave and Busters near me your allowed to smoke after that time. I don’t smoke, so it doesn’t really effect me.
Yeah…it would be nice to have centralized areas for people to meet up and play games like 3S and other fighters like back during the old days but I think those days are long and gone with the descent of arcades in the US. It’s too far deep of a hole we made to all of a sudden bring arcades back. If we could actually make arcades lively in the US again that’d be great but I think there’s other ways we’ll have to liven the fighting game scene in the US.
Probably the biggest reason is exactly what stabby said on page 1, they have such a huge population in a small space… and we dont. That causes many of the other reasons people are posting, so its defiently one of the biggest reasons. Plus the fact most people just dont like fighters in America =(…
arcades are dyin cause of us dumbasses (me too)… ohh you anti streetfighter or you anti guilty gear or anit DDR or anti initial D…so if they dont have a guilty gear slash then you dont go…if they dont have cvs2…so and so dont go…if they dont have DDR…the nerdy white dudes dont go…get where im going…no arcade has every game that everyone loves…so the population is small…I support alot of games…thats why im probably mediocre at them…cause i play alot…yeah i have favs but if no one in the area plays the one i play then at least i can jump on an alternative…
Ok, so here is the big question. Would you pay $1 per play for the japanese aracade style experience in the US? I’m talking about a clean cool enviroment, sit down cabinets that always work as well as friendly knowledgable fix it guys that listen to your needs and wants? As an extra perk, I’d even go as far as making all fighting games 5 rounds instead of the usual 3.
What I’m asking here is what would make the perfect arcade enviroment for you to keep going to and would you pay $1 to play games granted that they’d be out in about 6 months on console? Any good location suggestions by state and city?
You obviously haven’t heard of Tokyo Game Action. It’s the closest you can get to a Japanese style arcade in the US (every game there is head to head, and they have games very few have, such as MB:AC, Kof XI, GGXX:AC, ST).
I love in New Jersey, and TGA is literally two or three states away from me. It costs me around $80 in total to get there (round trip Greyhound). When I get there it costs me another $15 flat fee to play all damn day (as everything is on free play). So I’m more or less paying $100 everytime I go.
I’ve been away from the states for so long, I don’t know what they have there anymore. It’s good to know that a place like that exiZt though. Is it always packed to the roof with gamers whenever you go? How long has it been there and have you ever spoke with the manager to find out if what they got going is good buisness or not?
Umm…people in Japan wouldnt call anyone a pervert for doa.
You forget thats the country where people arent considered perverted for buying tons of porn because its seen as “normal”…
Yet another big difference about JP and US. US people care far more about “whats cool” and “what isnt” and “who’s cool”, “who’s perverted” “who’s a loser” etc. Japan pretty much doesnt give a crap.
It depends. At my school, which has about 400 gaijin or so (its a language university), not at all. In areas where lots of foreigners visit like in the famous parts of Osaka, not as much, but in like, smaller places and stores where its mostly japanese only, then yeah, stares do occur. I dont really look gaijin enough (my dad is of japanese descent) to attract too much attention, some people can tell im a gaijin (i know cause theyll try to speak to me in english), others cant. If im with other gaijin, then its assumed im one as well, and if we’re getting stared at, i assume its cause theres a group of us. But me personally, ive never really been stared down, but im sure if i was 6 feet tall and black, i definitely would be.
Well, more and more gaijin are showing up in Japan, and its not like, OMG A GAIJIN its more like, you’re walking along the street and as opposed to just looking forward, people will glance at you for a bit instead and then go back to staring straight ahead at whatever. You prolly wont even notice a lot of them, i have friends that are tall and white and we go out places all the time, and if “stares” are the worst of it, then i dont think its too bad cause when we’re just walking along talking, i dont even really notice too much. Japan is fun if you’re a gamer and an anime/manga fan, depending on where you go of course. There’s plenty of other cool things about it, but theres plenty of other topics on that and im already a bit off topic here.
The only real competetion I get now is OGSF2 and Tekken (Because I play with some of my brothers, old friends, and old peeps whom all used to play against one another back in the days), everything outside of that, I would have to drive at least 2+ hrs to get to a decent arcade…and to me that shit ain’t worth it anymore. I don’t play FG’s like I used too…getting old…25 in like…4 months…also, why do we even need to ask if arcades are dead…they are dead. The 2 biggest arcade scenes that used to be in my city have been gone for like…almost 4 years now, and it was dying 8 years before that.
Where an endangered species, the gov. should put us under protection and push funds for us, so that we may replenish the population again.
Ps: Will be going to Japan either next year, or 2009 for at least a month visit, can’t wait to experience the arcades scene over there.
it’s impossible to recreate the japanese experience really, of course you can emulate it, but its still not the same. because the USA does not have the infrastructure for gaming here. example, like tekken.net, vf.net and allt he gamse that are onilne etc. I had the same experience as HeartNana, IE, I’m not used to relying SO heavily on coins, and I’d often have 500 yen or 100 yen coins in my pocket…which felt a LOT like quarters. So subconsciously, when I’d wanna run shit back it felt like a quarter, before I knew it, I spent 1000 yen mad quickly.
But honestly if I was gonna spend a dollar a game here, no thanks, I’d rather pay 7-12$ and play at a lan cafe or whatever, or pay some kind of flat rate. The american fighting scene is not big enough that I would pay a dollar per game…I don’t really mind it in Japan, because in the city there are like 10+ arcades at every station stop and I wanted to sit down and play so many different people, so in the end it was worth it. In the USA, if you’re a random person I don’t know, chances are you probably suck, since I have known and played most of the good players in my years of playing. Not so in Japan - this is part of the reason why id pay a dollar over there and not bat a eye.
But you know, I havent had the chance to play at a Japanese style arcade in the USA so I don’t really know, but I probably wouldnt unless it’s mad hype…and really what it is is a lack of competition thing. You should probably ask how the guys at Planet Zero in Houston are doing, iirc its another japanese style arcade and the games are expensive, i believe.
Umm, Japanese people in Tokyo and other areas have FTTH 100 mbps readily available. Internet there is superfast in general and a lot of ps2 fighters are online. But guess what…people still play in arcades :looney: