What are your views on current arcades?

I come a long ways from the early 80’s scene, so if you know what that’s like, I’ll spare you the details. Today’s arcade culture after it went through it’s downfall has been on the slow but steady rise and it’s quite a lot different then what many of us are used to. Mainstream titles like you see on console gaming aren’t abundant, plus the number of fighting games only stay in asian territories either remaining exclusive or coming home via console port. What passes for AAA games are either thrill rides, licensed products, or that cancerous ticket and redemption crap that has overtaken the majority of bigger locations that still remain. You can’t typically find a real arcade anywhere unless you’re in some big city area and unless you should happen upon something like Round 1, you’re never going to get the real experience.

Guys, what’s your take on all this? I’ve recently seen that some new games of interest are coming out (Kraut Buster for example), but I still feel we’re at the point where there’s no heading back over that cliff as the games that really matter remain on consoles. However like I said there are new games coming out and some of them do hit in our area of interest, but getting access to them is going to be one of the hardest challenges to deal with if you don’t have a location in your area.

Non existent. I can’t name one in my area of any note. When traveling I’ve found a few regions that do still have a good arcade presence, barcades being pretty popular, and I enjoyed the ones of those that I went to even if some could be more bar then cade. The downside with those that I’ve found is that the good ones didn’t really have any “modern” games.

On the plus side MAGfest starts this coming weekend. Again not going to find much in the way of modern games but it’s 4 days straight of all I can play. Beggars can’t be choosers.

I live in a seaside tourist part of the UK. The many arcades around are exactly as your describe and t reason is this is what makes money at the moment. It’s a business, not a collection.

Every machine on the arcade floor has to pull its weight - if they don’t they’re replaced. That is, if a machine stops bringing in its quota of money, or becomes too unreliable thst repair costs drop it below quota. I was told this when I offered to donate a GTi Club twin can to one of my local arcades - they politely refused and told me the above.

That said, they do get the occasional new game of note. But they’re governed by trends and big names as much as consumer gaming is.

They’re non-existent, but I can’t be mad about it. That video arcade type of business model just doesn’t work anymore.

Kids get to experience the newest technology and games at home now. That person to person social aspect of the arcade is gone, but that really applies to just about everything in today’s culture.

So yes, I wish kids could walk in to that glow in the dark carpet show floor, crazy lights and sounds going off and feel the excitement that we felt, but it’s not going to happen. Video arcades for children have gone the way of the malt shop, VHS rental stores and tube TVs.

In the UK we have www.arcadeclub.co.uk which has is about to open a second venue after the first one grew exponentially through two premises

I think I’m fortunate to live very close to two great arcades:

http://www.gallopingghostarcade.com/

and

http://www.pixelblastarcade.com/

Arcades were definitely part of my childhood experience, but not to a huge extent because of the expense. Also the environment tended to be on the dark/dirty/smokey/gross side which was always a bit of a downer. Probably my best memory is the hype and crowds that came when Street Fighter 2 was released. Fighting games were never really my thing but damn if I didn’t get into that.

I’ve been to various arcades over the past few years, almost all of them adopting the strategy of setting everything on free-play and charging by the hour or in blocks of hours.

I find it fun, and I think I this model is the way to go, but having everything on free-play does usually means we bounce around from game to game, brute force our way through some, and then we’re kinda over it. Still, I think this is the way to go if trying to run an arcade this day and age, unless you’re a barcade.

Barcades I really don’t enjoy. That’s mainly because I don’t drink and I find the settings to be needlessly loud and obnoxious (I’m and old man at heart), and they’ve all run on token systems, which I think is antiquated.

I haven’t been to an arcade in 14 years.

I saw a Time Crisis machine at an airport once and a Tekken 4 machine at a movie theatre earlier this year. That’s about all there is left here.

This is exactly why modern arcades don’t interest me in the slightest, and I wouldn’t take my kid to one. They are literally teaching your kid to gamble, much like the hundreds of blind collectible figures you see in all the toy stores. Oh you’d like to get that 1 in 100 chance figurine? That’ll probably cost you $1000 or so.

There have been a recent surge in classic arcades in the last few years, and they lack any of the new bullshit that’s been so popular. I would love to take my son to one of these once he’s tall enough to reach the controls.

The arcades here in Toronto are awesome! The “classic” arcade has long died but the “barcade” is on the rise with lots of free play retro cabinets and pinball machines and lots of beer on tap! I’ve been to Dave and Busters a few times with all the newer games and most of it is junk. The Luigi’s mansion and Mario Kart GP are alot of fun though!

I was in Japan earlier this year and the arcade scene there is awesome. Seeing huge SEGA and TAITO signs outside of buildings made my heart melt

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It really makes me sad to see so many locations come and go in Green Bay as of late. PC gaming centers don’t last long. Arcades vanished from the mall and the stadium. I guess the only good place is the lodge, which is mainly for guests, but I’ve had to sneak in a few times and the selection is pretty poor aside from being lucky they had LA Machineguns.

One of the more recent attempts was this spot called Press Start Rec Room which housed a couple of classic games and provided rental space for people who can play as groups on their massive HD sets. The cabs they had on hand… most of them had broken controls and those which replaced their screens to lcd were just flat out ugly. Opened spring this year, closed in fall. Right now we don’t have a real place to go to, so I’m guessing everyone else is pretty afraid to try anything. I think there’s a Chuck E Cheese in my area, but that’s too damn kiddie for my tastes.

I still can’t get past when I first visited this place and they had some awesome places like the Gold Mine. Ten years later I move in and everything’s nearly gone.

I still enjoy barcades. Went to one today for the first time in months in fact.

Barcades are nothing but old classics. I would like to see the industry model change to take advantage knowing the 80’s demographic and release new titles that cater to our interests.

I think I’ll put up another thread that might be of use on this.

we have zero arcades in the dc area that i know of. I ran into a massive pinball arcade near the outer banks, nc. It was amazing. It’s built into a gas station, but it’s so worth the trip.

Head to MAGfest this weekend for your fill.

Oh yeah, I wanted to go but no cash.

Japan still has an arcade scene from what I understand. Ever go? It could be a cool thing to check out if you plan a trip.

Up until a couple months ago I hadn’t been to an arcade in decades (like Alladin’s Castle timeframe). In the last couple months I’ve visited two local barcades and both were really cool. The OG arcade is dead for good in the US it seems.

I’m planning on getting a local get together later this month via reset for some Killer Queen action. I’ve only played it a couple times but it is fun in groups. I’ve heard there are leagues local to me (Seattle) but I haven’t looked into it.

Shit is one of the busiest cabs at magfest every year. To the point that I don’t even wanna try it since everyone else is so passionate about it. Sorta like the fighting games in that regard. Fun to watch though.

There’s tons of arcades in Japan but it’s worth noting that they are mostly full of stuff I would consider garbage.

A typical 5 floor arcade in Japan looks like this:
Floor 1: gotcha games/ claw machines
Floor 2 : music and rythm games
Floor 3 : these TCG games where you play real cards on a digital screen.
Floor 4: Gundam ex vs (awesome game)
Floor 5: retro and fighters

It was pretty hit or miss to find the arcades with a decent retro and fighter selection but my advice is follow the cigarette smoke and you’ll find them!