Note

Actual Blog Post

This article is dead on. The popularity of console gaming and online play, where people can play other real people from the seat of their own house is too good to pass up just to go to an arcade so I can see a person face to face. In my town of Hamilton I can't even find a legit arcade, the closest thing we have is a place called Pownz which is more or a console scene than anything. Weirdly made cabinets holding Xbox 360's and a 10 dollar cover charge to play for the day. Its fine, buts it's not the same as an arcade. A place as specialized as that only really gets the "elitist" gamer whose sole purpose of being there is to show you his combo he's been working on and then call you out for not playing well with comments like "Well it seems they let anyone play here now." Note: Someone actually did say that at Pownz, it was the douchiest thing I've ever heard.

The arcade scene is also very daunting to people who just play on consoles, especially with fighting games. A 2 hour drive from my house is a mall with an arcade; it's really sweet, sit down cabinets, Japanese versions of 3rd strike, the whole deal. But a lot of people don't go in because the whole place is pro. I had fun messing around with Makoto in 3rd strike but as soon as someone sits down to play you there's no mercy. I get double perfected because I don't know how to parry and dude on the other side might as well be J playing Makoto as well. So I end up just playing at a empty Tekken 6 cabinet.

As said in the article I think the problem with arcades now is not only the type of people it brings (most elitist players who will call you out for being a noob) but also the business model. Tokens and coin slots are too easy to manipulate, if they change to something like a reloadable card you can buy for that arcade specifically then load money onto it when you feel like it and that money doesn't expire off the card I think that would be a good fix. But of course it might be to expensive for arcades to implement since they're not making that much money as is.

In the end, I think that having a home console, playing friends online from your own house is better for most people than going to an arcade and getting "serious" about a game. Sure they might have games like DrumMania or GuitarFreaks but even those have come to home consoles. The way things are moving, I'm sad to say that arcades (at least in North America) is on the edge of its life. Unless you city, town, or even neighbourhood has a scene of some sort arcades aren't going to be around other than some mall or pizza shop having a old Time Crisis machine or something. Arcades have to become a inviting and cost effective place for people to want to go there.
 

Question to the Reader

What do you think, can the North American arcade seen come back to its previous state or is it never going to come back? Did you even enjoy arcades when they were around? Can you think of anything that would help the arcade scene?

Arcades are cool, but I'm never in a mall long enough to go in one anymore. I have a better time playing video games in the comfort of my own home though.

Sacramento lost an arcade when the mall near my area was dismantled for a Super Wal-Mart. Now the only places that can have arcades I can think of are the Century theaters. They though don't have that much and are unlikely to have 3rd Strike setups. Just almost two hours west is Starbase Arcade which has weekly Super Street Fighter IV matches (and are streamed) but that is still the console version.
 
I loved playing arcades when I lived in the Bay Area. Living in Fremont, nearby is Newark and its mall Newpark Mall. It was tremendous to see people group up and watch people play Tekken 3, Tekken Tag, and Street Fighter Alpha 3 back then. The arcade there got relocated somewhere else in the mall and has a DIY cab running the Xbox 360 version of Street Fighter IV. 
 
I wish the Vewlix cabs and Taito Type X2 machines were cheaper to transport and order but if the arcade is weak in profit, then there is no point. Fucking economy...

Breaking news, just remebered about a make shift arcade in a strip mall 15 mins from my house. SF Alpha 2 is there, UMK3, Ms Pac Man, Tekken 3. Plus games are only a quarter... This is awesome lol.

I never went to an arcade but I heard they were awesome. How do places like that lose interest? There are still Xbox days of arcade and games going retro. It be nice to play these away from the house with other gamers. I can't schedule 3 people to come to my house to play Scott Pilgrim!

Arcades started dying in America in the early 2000s, and I see no return in the future unless large machines become more affordable and aspiring small business owners start picking better locations and learning how to fucking promote these things. I drove by one every single day for apparently a whole year. By the time I found out about it, I went twice and it closed a month later.