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Post by Kash Flagg on Jul 6, 2013 16:26:19 GMT -5
If places would charge a flat fee (say 5-10 bucks per visit) and let people play the games as much as they wanted, they'd might gain some business. It makes people think they are getting a bargain, and you could sell drinks and easy to make foods like hot dogs for extra profit.
If the all day thing didn't work, you could do it in 4 hour blocks of time.
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Jeremy
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Post by Jeremy on Jul 6, 2013 16:29:05 GMT -5
I work in one. One in a pizza place. But I work in an arcade.
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Brood Lone Wolf Funker
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Post by Brood Lone Wolf Funker on Jul 6, 2013 16:31:03 GMT -5
.This is one of the reasons Wreck It Ralph made me sad because I miss the arcades. I remember going to Chucky Cheese and playing X Men and not knowing what I am doing the same with the arcade games with the peripherals like jet ski you had to sit in. Maybe it is the cost of the machine itself that is causing them to disappear
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Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on Jul 6, 2013 16:31:30 GMT -5
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... Huh. I guess I lucked out, my prefered arcade was mostly frequented by geeks, little kids with their parents, and the occasional bro with a geeky streak. And a guy in a cowboy hat who dominated our NFL Blitz machine- he'd always pick Arizona, beat everybody without much trouble, and say "ain't I great?" Jarrett style.
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Post by SHAKEMASTER TV9 is Don Knotts on Jul 6, 2013 16:49:01 GMT -5
Are arcades still popular in Japan? How do they keep customers?
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Post by xCompackx on Jul 6, 2013 18:10:10 GMT -5
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 True, but it still happens. I'd be willing to bet that with the right camcorder and the right group of "I don't care" moviegoers, a pirate could easily capture something watchable.
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Post by Hit Girl on Jul 6, 2013 18:28:29 GMT -5
Arcades were awesome. Not just for video games, but also many hours spent putting 10p coins into those stupid horse racing machines in Blackpool.
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Welfare Willis
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Post by Welfare Willis on Jul 6, 2013 18:39:48 GMT -5
Are arcades still popular in Japan? How do they keep customers? That's a great question. Last I heard about the Japanese gaming industry was that the Japanese were huge mobile gamers... more so than the states.
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TCM
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Posts: 1,887
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Post by TCM on Jul 6, 2013 18:56:16 GMT -5
If places would charge a flat fee (say 5-10 bucks per visit) and let people play the games as much as they wanted, they'd might gain some business. It makes people think they are getting a bargain, and you could sell drinks and easy to make foods like hot dogs for extra profit. If the all day thing didn't work, you could do it in 4 hour blocks of time. Galloping Ghost in Ogden, Illinois seems to be surviving. Open until really late (2 or 3AM or something like that), and after just paying fifteen bucks, all machines are free to play, and you can leave and come back as long as you have the receipt and not have to re-pay for that entire day. Of course, not every machine is running, but most are. Place stays pretty packed considering where it is (if you aren't looking for it, you'll miss it).
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Post by Kash Flagg on Jul 6, 2013 19:12:08 GMT -5
If places would charge a flat fee (say 5-10 bucks per visit) and let people play the games as much as they wanted, they'd might gain some business. It makes people think they are getting a bargain, and you could sell drinks and easy to make foods like hot dogs for extra profit. If the all day thing didn't work, you could do it in 4 hour blocks of time. Galloping Ghost in Ogden, Illinois seems to be surviving. Open until really late (2 or 3AM or something like that), and after just paying fifteen bucks, all machines are free to play, and you can leave and come back as long as you have the receipt and not have to re-pay for that entire day. Of course, not every machine is running, but most are. Place stays pretty packed considering where it is (if you aren't looking for it, you'll miss it). That's awesome to hear.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2013 21:38:39 GMT -5
I think you all are looking at arcades with rose coloured glasses.
By the mid 90's they were pretty bad.
In My town there was the main arcade "Timezone" which was the major arcade. Like your Tilt, might have been the same company. A second arcade called "The Track". The Bowling alley had loads of machines as well and finally the local go kart track "Village Fun Center" (We just called it Village).
Games in the 80's were cheap. Timezone was 60c a credit, while the other 3 were 40c. Timezone had the better variety though.
The owners of Beercade are right, It became all fighting games. Why would you play Street Fighter 2, then Tekken, then Mortal Kombat, then Killer Instinct, then World Heros, then the other clone and the other clone? It was boring, the Track had 12 Street Fighters. Timezone had 2 Mortal Kombat's and 2 Street Fighters. The price also went way too high when it rose to $2 a credit. It just wasn't worth it. Some games were even $5 a credit, not surprisingly, no one was playing them. (one game was a western FPS that looked interesting, but I couldn't pay $2 a credit, so never even tried it.)
By 1992, The Track became a local gangs hangout, and it seriously got to the point where they would attack or rob you, or both if you went in there. ( A boy came right up behind me once while play TMNT and demanded money. When I refused, he hit me in the back 5 times!) So it died.
Village had the go kart track and sold food....sadly there was a McDonalds just up the road, so I doubt they made any money with food. The Go Karts only ran on weekends, so by 94 they were dead too. People at school were claiming that they were getting pickpocketed there. I had my bike stolen from out the front of Village.
The Bowling alley moved to the top floor of our shopping center and now days only has ticket machines. My friends used to bowl every week and no one was playing the games. That was 1995.
Timezone also moved into the shopping center, and was full of kids begging for money (One kids begged me for bus fare, then turned around and put it straight into a game!) and strange adult men that would stare at you...I'm not joking. They lasted a lot longer. I had my very fist job upstairs and would play games on my lunch break. I loved Marvel Superheros. But they just became a ticket machine place as well and died. (I'm not sure when).
There currently is an arcade on the top floor, and I walked in there last year some time, but felt like a pedo, so quickly left.
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Post by SHAKEMASTER TV9 is Don Knotts on Jul 6, 2013 22:09:27 GMT -5
Are arcades still popular in Japan? How do they keep customers? That's a great question. Last I heard about the Japanese gaming industry was that the Japanese were huge mobile gamers... more so than the states. I just decided to google the question and it seems Arcades are still doing well in Japan. The articles I read were from 2012 so it's very recent experiences from the authors. Some of the machines they have are quite impressive. I know some FAN members have lived in Japan and was hoping some could comment. Some things I took away from the articles, people go to arcades to relax in the same way after work someone in America would stay at home and play their home console. On the other side, people also gather socially in arcades. Maybe it's the same way bars are here.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Jul 6, 2013 22:15:14 GMT -5
There is an arcade here, Diversions, which keeps alive by maintaining its machines, and changing some of them out every few months. They also get people to spend a little more by giving you more tokens if you pay at least 5 bucks instead of a quarter or one dollar to get tokens from the machines.
Only downside of the place is that they have no redemption games, outside of claw machines. That is a bit of a bummer, as I do like cheap crap.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2013 22:35:48 GMT -5
Definitely missed...I remember being so happy to save up my allowance so I could go to the local bowling alley and blow it on WrestleFest and The Simpsons
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SOR
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Post by SOR on Jul 6, 2013 22:47:53 GMT -5
I'm from a regional Australian city of about 300,000 and was having this discussion with a friend literally about a week or two ago. I made mention to her that this city and it's surrounding area's used to have 3-4 arcades and now it has zero. As a matter of fact the closest arcade to me is in the massive city of Sydney.
What do I remember? I remember an arcade in my town right next to the video store so the Friday night ritual would be hiring a few movies with my mum we would then order pizza and as the pizza was being made I'd spend 25-30 minutes in the arcade. I think I was usually given 5-10 dollars and that got you about 30 minutes of gaming so it was a bit of a rip off. This was when arcades were leaving us this was like the late 90's possibly the early 2000's.
That arcade was relatively small but there was a bigger one in the regional city about 20 minutes away. On school holidays I'd get to go there whilst my mum hung out with friends. I'd usually get like a 20 for this and you'd get an hour or so out of it. This was a Timezone Arcade and it was a massive building and even in the late 90's and early 2000's they were pretty packed most of the time you had at least 5-6 kids in there, In the Afternoons and Nights you'd have tons more.
Eventually in like the early 2000's (Maybe mid) the arcade shut. The one in my town had been gone for awhile and is now a fish and chip take away store (Or something like that) but that big arcade shutting was a big deal to me personally.
As for why I think the arcades have almost died out completely. There just isn't a market for it. In the 90's a lot of games were a lot like arcades. For example, Mario. We're all familiar with it, Early Mario is basically an arcade game (I think it may actually of been one), Street Fighter was an arcade game, Double Dragon was an arcade game.
These days you can't put anything new in an arcade because the machines can't handle it. Top that with the fact that the draw of multiplayer is gone thanks to the internet and the arcades can only really do business with parents leaving their kids there for a little bit whilst they have a coffee next door or something. This leads to maybe 10-15 5-10 dollar customers a day and soon you go out of business.
The only type of arcade machines I see these days are in take away restaurants (And those are usually skill testers) or in bars (Usually shooting games or again, skill testers) it's really sad because I had a lot of good memories at arcades. The beloved video stores seem to be going the same way the arcades are also.
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Dr. T is an alien
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Post by Dr. T is an alien on Jul 6, 2013 23:02:00 GMT -5
I like the idea of trying to remake the arcade industry.
Envision arcades as a preview industry. For the price of a few machines and the operating costs of the arcades themselves (which would be shared by the various software companies participating), you can create a demand for several games from different franchises at once. It also serves as both a testing ground for the evolving market.
I would set them up somewhat like an old arcade franchise I used to go to as a teen, Nickelodeon (not to be confused with the TV network). Everyone pays a small entrance fee, there is both old and new games, and the games were set up to accept nickels instead of quarters or tokens. There was also some food sold there (not allowed anywhere near the game floor, however). The updated version need not make any significant profits, however, as long as they cover most costs. The real money generated by the arcade will be in creating both cheap demand (rather than an expansive ad campaign) and saving money on developing games that don't sell well.
My version would have the game floor broken up into different sections: 70's-80's classics (the old classic quarter munchers), an iconics section for 90's cabinets (the first generation of arcade games that primed the home market for home versions of the games), a pinball section (from some very basic tables to far more advanced models), and sections for newer games. There can be a shooters gallery for both simple and more complex FPS cabinets that are linked together (playing multi-player games in the same room - what a concept!). There can be a section of racing cabinets linked together (like the Sega racing game). Hell, there can even be rooms with table cabinets (like the old Ms. Pacman tables that you still can find in some Pizza Huts, but with many more controllers and screens to allow people to congregate to play in-house Beta versions of future MMORPGs.
Now, these games need not be the full versions. In fact, they should not be. They should be the fairly short versions where a dedicated player returning to his saved games on the cabinet will only need to spend 10-20 hours completing the game at the very most, and in a few instances they can even last a very short time for a single player. There will be a few benefits to this.
For games that don't do well on the arcade market, no more development needs to be done on the game, saving a great deal of money. The somewhat abbreviated games can still go to market, but sold as a discount game as there are fewer expenses to cover. Perhaps even better, they could get sold as apps. If they do well on that market then a fully expanded home version can be developed.
For games that do well and attract attention, the demand for fully expanded home versions of the game could become considerable. In the cases of the MMORPGs, interested players wishing to act as a GM can have access to a basic editing format that the software can make into in-house designed challenges, not unlike the Dungeons and Dragons Unlimited Adventures game (people still make home-made modules for that game). Of course, to get to do so means that you sign away the rights to the design and any design that the players like can be used as a part of the final home product.
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Dragonfly
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Post by Dragonfly on Jul 6, 2013 23:02:05 GMT -5
I was in an an arcade in Valdosta, Georgia a few months back. For every one actual game, there were three "ticket" games. It was sad, especially when you consider that Valdosta is stuck in 1991. My brother also said that the arcade near where we grew up (Arcade 2000) is still around as well. The owner looks like Tony Clifton.
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Glitch
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Post by Glitch on Jul 7, 2013 3:18:41 GMT -5
I think you all are looking at arcades with rose coloured glasses. By the mid 90's they were pretty bad. In My town there was the main arcade "Timezone" which was the major arcade. Like your Tilt, might have been the same company. A second arcade called "The Track". The Bowling alley had loads of machines as well and finally the local go kart track "Village Fun Center" (We just called it Village). Games in the 80's were cheap. Timezone was 60c a credit, while the other 3 were 40c. Timezone had the better variety though. The owners of Beercade are right, It became all fighting games. Why would you play Street Fighter 2, then Tekken, then Mortal Kombat, then Killer Instinct, then World Heros, then the other clone and the other clone? It was boring, the Track had 12 Street Fighters. Timezone had 2 Mortal Kombat's and 2 Street Fighters. The price also went way too high when it rose to $2 a credit. It just wasn't worth it. Some games were even $5 a credit, not surprisingly, no one was playing them. (one game was a western FPS that looked interesting, but I couldn't pay $2 a credit, so never even tried it.) By 1992, The Track became a local gangs hangout, and it seriously got to the point where they would attack or rob you, or both if you went in there. ( A boy came right up behind me once while play TMNT and demanded money. When I refused, he hit me in the back 5 times!) So it died. Village had the go kart track and sold food....sadly there was a McDonalds just up the road, so I doubt they made any money with food. The Go Karts only ran on weekends, so by 94 they were dead too. People at school were claiming that they were getting pickpocketed there. I had my bike stolen from out the front of Village. The Bowling alley moved to the top floor of our shopping center and now days only has ticket machines. My friends used to bowl every week and no one was playing the games. That was 1995. Timezone also moved into the shopping center, and was full of kids begging for money (One kids begged me for bus fare, then turned around and put it straight into a game!) and strange adult men that would stare at you...I'm not joking. They lasted a lot longer. I had my very fist job upstairs and would play games on my lunch break. I loved Marvel Superheros. But they just became a ticket machine place as well and died. (I'm not sure when). There currently is an arcade on the top floor, and I walked in there last year some time, but felt like a pedo, so quickly left. You must have gone to some ghetto ass arcades. It is true that fighting games(especially the cheap ones) flooded the arcades but you still had some good games in the mid 90s. There were plenty of riding and shooting games that were fun. I remember a star wars shooter that you sat in that come out around 96. I think around 97 is when the decline of arcades really started to become noticeable. Although even then good arcades still came out during the late 90s, like ddr and Crazy Taxi.
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