Where Have All the Video Arcades Gone?

["Cane Dewey" Johnson]

www.theverge.com/2013/1/16/3740422/the-life-and-death-of-the-american-arcade-for-amusement-only

I wonder if movie theatres will one day disappear like video arcades have as more and more people watch cinema at home just like how the majority of video gaming in North America (consoles and PC gaming, not to say smartphone gaming) is done at home.

[Welfare Willis]

Great article, but your comment got me thinking.

In the 1950's it was theater owners worried that television would kill movies, but they adapted with the widescreen format. I'm not saying this is the same because televisions are getting cheaper and bigger and streaming is offering more variety, but I do think there's some different with watching a movie in a theater in a packed theater as opposed to alone. I remember watching Halloween III in a theater recently and picking up some of the more humorous points in the movie because others were laughing. I don't think the economics of movies are sustainable with hundred million dollar budget sequels and re-treads filling up all the air.

[Deleted]

To heaven.

Not hell, because we ARE in hell right now.

[Blindkarevik]

See, I go to Chuck E. Cheese now with my son... and it depresses me. Everything there is "Do this, win tickets." I mean, Skee-Ball is awesome.... shooting baskets, awesome... I have no problem with ticket-based machines. But when that's all that's there, and most of them seem to fall in the "Push a button, see if you win" territory, it makes me sad. I remember being a kid, going there, eating some pizza, then playing Double Dragon or TMNT or something. I miss walking through an arcade, hearing the sounds of the games, the dark room with chasing lights.... and it makes me sad it's something kids will never experience again, it was a 15 year ride that is now lost in time.

Granted, the main reason arcades have died is because home consoles have outdone what the arcade was capable of. We want long, intricate, beautiful games now.... the arcade was best at quick entertainment. Get as far as you can on one or two quarters and call it good, see how many points you can score call it good, line up to fight the local Street Fighter champ and see if you can win. All that can be done online now.

Personally, I think the only way to bring back a true arcade is to treat it like the movie industry in a way. Like, before a game comes to a home console, they go to arcades set up with the consoles. You can buy time on each game to try them out... then maybe a month or two later, it's available to buy in stores. Maybe even treat it like a beta test in a way.... people can come in, play early versions of a game, provide feedback and developers can tweak it before final release or something.

[Perd]

Good luck getting an answer. " Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" cane out like 15 years ago and Paula Cole's still waiting.

[Djm Doesn't Find You Funny]

I think video arcades could come back if the business model were altered.

Turning going to the arcade into a social event, in my opinion, would be a better way to go. Make it a more enjoyable experience than sitting at home on your console with your headset on. Have old-school gaming nights.

The old arcade model is looong dead, but it can evolve.

[Deleted]

I've seen quite a few bar and restaurant/Video Game arcade hybrids like Philadelphia's Barcade.

[Deleted]

I think Movie theaters will die when there is a service you can watch movies currently in theaters in theatre prices that let you record them and pause and rewind in theatre prices or if a studio starts making blockbusters on streaming services only. But that'll never happen because not everyone has a good Internet connection and it'll be hassle international countries with various of copy right laws. Plus if one person records a DVD quality it'll be over on the Internet.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

Seconding two other posters' comments, I agree that possibly using arcades as a token-operated demo run for certain types of games coming to stores, and also promoting them in the same fashion as films might be beneficial.

It might be a bit of a financial gamble for the company that dared to set up such an experiment, but if it paid off, any issues players had with the inital arcade versions could be modified, resulting in a more playable home version on the first release without having to wait for second editions or too many patches. It could be the gaming equivalant of going to see a film, enjoying it but having a few nitpicks, and then possibly having those nitpicks addressed in a Blu Ray release.

But yeah, I miss my old Tilt back in the days of Northwest Plaza. I always had to get in some Time Crisis and X-Men vs. Street Fighter anytime I went there. Best of all, I didn't have to worry about people throwing out homophobic/racial slurs over their headsets and threatening to beat me up because I won.

[Deleted]

In a way, the arcade was a sort of beta-test for the home consoles way back when.

You funnel in quarters to play at the arcade.
The consoles would buy the rights to the game and put it on a cartridge.
You buy it, you complain about the graphics, gameplay, etc. and never play it again.
Go back to the arcade, find a different game.

Shampoo, rinse, repeat.

[agent817]

It seems like the only arcade outlets I see are movie theaters and pizza places. Even then, it's always the same thing. Rail gun shooters or racing games. Dammit, I feel like playing fighting games when I go to an arcade.

[EvenBaldobombHasAJob]

Jul 6, 2013 0:33:30 GMT -5 Clash, Never a Meter Maid said:

Seconding two other posters' comments, I agree that possibly using arcades as a token-operated demo run for certain types of games coming to stores, and also promoting them in the same fashion as films might be beneficial.

It might be a bit of a financial gamble for the company that dared to set up such an experiment, but if it paid off, any issues players had with the inital arcade versions could be modified, resulting in a more playable home version on the first release without having to wait for second editions or too many patches. It could be the gaming equivalant of going to see a film, enjoying it but having a few nitpicks, and then possibly having those nitpicks addressed in a Blu Ray release.

But yeah, I miss my old Tilt back in the days of Northwest Plaza. I always had to get in some Time Crisis and X-Men vs. Street Fighter anytime I went there. Best of all, I didn't have to worry about people throwing out homophobic/racial slurs over their headsets and threatening to beat me up because I won.

honestly with internet trolling being such a huge issue I have no idea why Microsoft or Sony don't make it easy to turn off people's mics so you don't have to listen to them bitching.

[YAKMAN is ICHIBAN]

Jul 5, 2013 23:46:53 GMT -5 @irontyger said:

I've seen quite a few bar and restaurant/Video Game arcade hybrids like Philadelphia's Barcade.

Yeah, there are two or three of these in the greater Chicago area.

[snopes]

Its def a bummer kids will never know about them, but ya know youll never miss what you never had. Hell, my neighbor told me this past winter snowfall the kids were all online having digital snowball fights. No wonder the streets seemed so much quieter.

There is a great pinball documntary online about the rise and fall. Recent too. Check it out, believe its on both netflix and youtube.

[The Scuba Guy]

Jul 5, 2013 23:46:53 GMT -5 @irontyger said:

I've seen quite a few bar and restaurant/Video Game arcade hybrids like Philadelphia's Barcade.

We here in Columbus have/are getting a barcade as well. I'm excited for it.

[xCompackx]

Jul 6, 2013 0:13:17 GMT -5 @supersweetbotch said:

I think Movie theaters will die when there is a service you can watch movies currently in theaters in theatre prices that let you record them and pause and rewind in theatre prices or if a studio starts making blockbusters on streaming services only. But that'll never happen because not everyone has a good Internet connection and it'll be hassle international countries with various of copy right laws. Plus if one person records a DVD quality it'll be over on the Internet.

Not really any different than what we have no though, to be fair. What's stopping someone from recording a movie in theaters and posting it on the Internet? A random theater usher walking in? I think some (reasonable) DRM would be at least a barrier between content and piracy. But about video arcades, I think there's still some game developers trying to evolve the idea. You're starting to see mobile games be adapted into arcade machines like Cut The Rope, Fruit Ninja, Doodle Jump and I think that's a really smart strategy.

[Deleted]

Jul 6, 2013 15:47:07 GMT -5 xCompackx said:

Jul 6, 2013 0:13:17 GMT -5 @supersweetbotch said:

I think Movie theaters will die when there is a service you can watch movies currently in theaters in theatre prices that let you record them and pause and rewind in theatre prices or if a studio starts making blockbusters on streaming services only. But that'll never happen because not everyone has a good Internet connection and it'll be hassle international countries with various of copy right laws. Plus if one person records a DVD quality it'll be over on the Internet.

Not really any different than what we have no though, to be fair. What's stopping someone from recording a movie in theaters and posting it on the Internet? A random theater usher walking in? I think some (reasonable) DRM would be at least a barrier between content and piracy. But about video arcades, I think there's still some game developers trying to evolve the idea. You're starting to see mobile games be adapted into arcade machines like Cut The Rope, Fruit Ninja, Doodle Jump and I think that's a really smart strategy.

Have you tried watching a blockbuster on cam? It's horrible

[Deleted]

Beats me.

The last arcade I went to, Gameworks at Circle Centre, closed years ago.

[Deleted]

Jul 6, 2013 0:33:30 GMT -5 Clash, Never a Meter Maid said:

Seconding two other posters' comments, I agree that possibly using arcades as a token-operated demo run for certain types of games coming to stores, and also promoting them in the same fashion as films might be beneficial.

It might be a bit of a financial gamble for the company that dared to set up such an experiment, but if it paid off, any issues players had with the inital arcade versions could be modified, resulting in a more playable home version on the first release without having to wait for second editions or too many patches. It could be the gaming equivalant of going to see a film, enjoying it but having a few nitpicks, and then possibly having those nitpicks addressed in a Blu Ray release.

That sounds oddly similar to location tests, which some places still do like in Japan or on the US West Coast.
But it's mostly for fighting games which were the games most in need of being "patched."

As for arcades, it's a bittersweet thing to me.
There are tons of memories I have of them when they had a chill environment, dudes didn't take shit personally and the occasional kid who was a veritable beast at something. Something in me almost misses dealing with the people in person, just because all them little and not-so-little jerks on the outerwebs NEVER talk that racist shit to my face. These same dudes who talk that mess online would be the guys who would clear the cabinets acting like their mouths were wired shut if I so much as decided to put a quarter up, so I do miss seeing those pissworms in real life.

However...sometimes the arcade really turned into a dudebro, testosterone-poisoned mess. With online, I can just decide not to play with people not my friends, at least on all this team-oriented shit the gaming industry wants to shove out there.

It seems to me most of the arcades have gone into online matches.
Now if only 90% of the US internet wasn't this overpriced, throttled mess we get shoved through ancient copper wire that a good chunk of the country still can't get...

[Glitch]

In order for arcades to be successful(or at least survive) again they need to focus on what made them a profit to begin with. Which was providing something that you can't play at home. From the time span from the Atari days all the way to the 16-bit era, this would have been providing games that ran on processors much more advanced and expensive than the average joe could afford, and had big screens with four players controls . During the 32 bit era it was ddr(which probably saved a lot of arcades). You could buy the ddr game and play on a cheap plastic pad, but it in no way compared to the big sturdy, metal floor pad used in the arcade(and was probably really expensive). And of course the giant ddr community that arose, and all the social gatherings that came out of it.
Japan's arcades have also declined but they had way better luck because of how much they focused on music games.

Arcades should focus on big cabinets that let you do what normally would be too expensive to do if you tried to buy it. Maybe have shooting games with giant screens not only in front but to your sides as well. Perhaps a driving game with three screens. Just my idea but I definitely think new and unique arcade cabinets are the way to go.