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Well? What do you think? To me, arcades are pretty much an extinct breed of gaming. Gone are the days of wandering down to you local arcade to have a go on Pac-man and Defender, to me anyway.
In place we now have very few proper arcades. Search across the country and I am sure you will find it hard to find many large arcades. I think that the reason for this, is that the games are so expensive to play.
£1 a go? A bit steep if you ask me. As I write this (different day to posting it) I am next to a bar i which the arcade games cost 100 pesetas a go. This is roughly 40p. So why is it that us poor people in the UK have to pay over twice as much for exactly the same games?
It could be down to arcade machines being expensive to buy, it could be down to economics. To tell you the turth it could just be people being stingy. Whatever it is, it isn't very fair. For some reason in the UK we have to pay more for everything, cars, clothes, homes and now even arcade machines.
Mind you price is just one of the problems. Another has to be the fact that many of the games in larger arcades are in reality very similar to each other. In the days of Pac-man this wasn't the case. But now, it normally goes something like this: 3d shooters (Time Crisis 2, Crisis Zone, House of the Dead 2, Virtua Cop and Jurrasic Park: Lost World) Sports games (Virtua Tennis, NBA2k1, Virtua Striker, a skateboarding game and a Jet Ski game) Beat 'em ups (Marvel vs Capcom, Streetfighter "whatever" Tekken and Soul Calibur) Racing games (18 wheeler, Crazy Taxi and that good Ferrari game which I can't remember the name of). Now obviously the sports games have variety, the other three most common genres however are very samey.
Each of the 3d shooters are very, very similar, albeit with each having a certain thing the others don't. The pedal to duck on Time Crisis and Crisis Zone (machine gun with Crisis zone), and the car that moves (gives you whiplash) and blows air in your face (on certain machines, which happen to cost £2 a go to play) in Jurrasic Park. But the question you've got to ask yourself is, do these little extras make it worth paying out another pound to play? For me it isn't really and as a result I just tend to have a go on Time Crisis 2 or Crisis Zone. The same type of thing applies to racing games and as a result I don't think that bars and arcades bother paying for a machine just like the one they already have. Because of this arcades tend to be small.
So, after reading what I have just typed, do you think that the arcade is extinct or do you think it is alive and kicking?
In place we now have very few proper arcades. Search across the country and I am sure you will find it hard to find many large arcades. I think that the reason for this, is that the games are so expensive to play.
£1 a go? A bit steep if you ask me. As I write this (different day to posting it) I am next to a bar i which the arcade games cost 100 pesetas a go. This is roughly 40p. So why is it that us poor people in the UK have to pay over twice as much for exactly the same games?
It could be down to arcade machines being expensive to buy, it could be down to economics. To tell you the turth it could just be people being stingy. Whatever it is, it isn't very fair. For some reason in the UK we have to pay more for everything, cars, clothes, homes and now even arcade machines.
Mind you price is just one of the problems. Another has to be the fact that many of the games in larger arcades are in reality very similar to each other. In the days of Pac-man this wasn't the case. But now, it normally goes something like this: 3d shooters (Time Crisis 2, Crisis Zone, House of the Dead 2, Virtua Cop and Jurrasic Park: Lost World) Sports games (Virtua Tennis, NBA2k1, Virtua Striker, a skateboarding game and a Jet Ski game) Beat 'em ups (Marvel vs Capcom, Streetfighter "whatever" Tekken and Soul Calibur) Racing games (18 wheeler, Crazy Taxi and that good Ferrari game which I can't remember the name of). Now obviously the sports games have variety, the other three most common genres however are very samey.
Each of the 3d shooters are very, very similar, albeit with each having a certain thing the others don't. The pedal to duck on Time Crisis and Crisis Zone (machine gun with Crisis zone), and the car that moves (gives you whiplash) and blows air in your face (on certain machines, which happen to cost £2 a go to play) in Jurrasic Park. But the question you've got to ask yourself is, do these little extras make it worth paying out another pound to play? For me it isn't really and as a result I just tend to have a go on Time Crisis 2 or Crisis Zone. The same type of thing applies to racing games and as a result I don't think that bars and arcades bother paying for a machine just like the one they already have. Because of this arcades tend to be small.
So, after reading what I have just typed, do you think that the arcade is extinct or do you think it is alive and kicking?
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Mystique wrote:
> ah but give me £10 in 2p's and i'll be heaven
HAH! Yeah, those machines where you put 2p in the top and then it falls on the sliding shelf and pushes more 2ps out the bottom.
They are such a con! (but I play them anyway...)
:D
> ah but give me £10 in 2p's and i'll be heaven
HAH! Yeah, those machines where you put 2p in the top and then it falls on the sliding shelf and pushes more 2ps out the bottom.
They are such a con! (but I play them anyway...)
:D
ah but give me £10 in 2p's and i'll be heaven
OK, the arcade pro is here. No I really mean it, my dad runs a business selling Change Machines mostly but also arcade machines and stuff.
Arcades are dying. Whichever way you look at it, it's true. The market has moved on. A few years ago 80% of sales where to arcades using universal type cabinets where you could change the game every few weeks. Nowadays everyone wants arcade machines that you can sit in, stand in, shoot at etc etc etc. These machines cost money. I have in my hands a copy of InterGame, "The Specialist Games And Gaming Business Magazine". These types of mags and newspapers (there's loads) are full of ads for the latest and greatest arcade games, and after a quick flick I can't find any machines for less than £2,500, and I've even found one or two over the 10 grand mark. So that is the reason arcades are so expensive, and people want these games but still want to pay what they did to play on a liitle universal cabinet. It just ain't gonna happen.
The market has now shifted to gambling. Big time. Most of the machines I see nowadays coming in and out of the workshop and out at customers places are fruit machines. This is where the money is. One of my experiences proves this exactly, and will put you off gambling.
A few years back I did some testing of a new type of Electronic Coin Validator (the bit that works out which coin you've put in). I put through a fruit machine £10,000 in pound coins, I was taking note of how many coins were rejected etc. but the biggest thing I noticed was this. During the hours I spent playing this machine, I only ever won about £150 tops. So that means that the machine has made a profit of £9,850! This is where the money is, why make £50-£60 a week when you can make thousands.
The arcade is dead. You'll never bring it back without a major technological breakthrough to make these things cheaper or a serious atitude change to make people willing to pay that extra few quid.
Arcades are dying. Whichever way you look at it, it's true. The market has moved on. A few years ago 80% of sales where to arcades using universal type cabinets where you could change the game every few weeks. Nowadays everyone wants arcade machines that you can sit in, stand in, shoot at etc etc etc. These machines cost money. I have in my hands a copy of InterGame, "The Specialist Games And Gaming Business Magazine". These types of mags and newspapers (there's loads) are full of ads for the latest and greatest arcade games, and after a quick flick I can't find any machines for less than £2,500, and I've even found one or two over the 10 grand mark. So that is the reason arcades are so expensive, and people want these games but still want to pay what they did to play on a liitle universal cabinet. It just ain't gonna happen.
The market has now shifted to gambling. Big time. Most of the machines I see nowadays coming in and out of the workshop and out at customers places are fruit machines. This is where the money is. One of my experiences proves this exactly, and will put you off gambling.
A few years back I did some testing of a new type of Electronic Coin Validator (the bit that works out which coin you've put in). I put through a fruit machine £10,000 in pound coins, I was taking note of how many coins were rejected etc. but the biggest thing I noticed was this. During the hours I spent playing this machine, I only ever won about £150 tops. So that means that the machine has made a profit of £9,850! This is where the money is, why make £50-£60 a week when you can make thousands.
The arcade is dead. You'll never bring it back without a major technological breakthrough to make these things cheaper or a serious atitude change to make people willing to pay that extra few quid.
Same here mate, the only time i ever play arcade games is while I am on holiday. While in Ibiza I had the pleasure of fighting a scouser at some fighting game. His exact words before playing where.
"You wanna fight like?" :D
VKTR
"You wanna fight like?" :D
VKTR
Its been ages since Ive been to an arcade - I would rather play video games at home anyday!!
I just hate those sorts of people who tell you how to do things in games, you do what they say and you die, its not till they play that you find out why. They are either complete and utter rubbish or they were just trying to rush you so they could have a go.
arcades are a bit 'out' now.
it's cheaper to play a games console.
in a comfortable chair.
without anyone saying 'you shouldn't have done that' over your shoulder.
without the smells.
it's cheaper to play a games console.
in a comfortable chair.
without anyone saying 'you shouldn't have done that' over your shoulder.
without the smells.
I remember the day when 1 credit on an arcade game was 20p, then slowly the prices rised until they reached 50p - possibly because the government put vat on to the price you pay for 1 credit, then came the 1 pound arcade games.
from the games machines in america that I have seen the cost of playing soul calibre is about 17p
and other games a bit more.
however I have not ventured far enough to find a proper arcade yet.
from the games machines in america that I have seen the cost of playing soul calibre is about 17p
and other games a bit more.
however I have not ventured far enough to find a proper arcade yet.
hmmm...
Indeed, arcades can offer FAR more than console games. Faster games, better peripherals, better cabinets... after all, can anyone play F355 with 3 screens, surround sound lighting, and proper gear levers in their home? No... obviously. So arcades can be great...
But they are becoming extinct. So extinct that Sega, Sony and Namco have actually teamed up in many arcade efforts in Japan as the scene dies away. Whereas people used to play so much space invaders that Japan had to print more coins (no joke!), now the turnout is far, far lower.
It's dead. Or dying at least... and not much will stop that
Indeed, arcades can offer FAR more than console games. Faster games, better peripherals, better cabinets... after all, can anyone play F355 with 3 screens, surround sound lighting, and proper gear levers in their home? No... obviously. So arcades can be great...
But they are becoming extinct. So extinct that Sega, Sony and Namco have actually teamed up in many arcade efforts in Japan as the scene dies away. Whereas people used to play so much space invaders that Japan had to print more coins (no joke!), now the turnout is far, far lower.
It's dead. Or dying at least... and not much will stop that
Vektor wrote:
> 10 times longer for 10 times the amount of money? Whys that better? Oh sorry, I
> get you know Mystique, what you mean s that 10 pounds on LANarena will last 10
> times as long as 10 pounds would last in an arcade. Point taken. One of the
> reasons I don't think arcades are very popular anymore actually.
>
yes
> 10 times longer for 10 times the amount of money? Whys that better? Oh sorry, I
> get you know Mystique, what you mean s that 10 pounds on LANarena will last 10
> times as long as 10 pounds would last in an arcade. Point taken. One of the
> reasons I don't think arcades are very popular anymore actually.
>
yes
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