Could this be the future of arcades?

I was at the nearby Valley View mall in Dallas and stopped by the arcade there. They had the usual head to head Marvel VS Capcom 2, Tekken 4 etc, etc, but roped off in the back of the arcade they had PS2 and Xbox units connected to net. For $5 you could play various titles like Halo, Socom and several other network games.


I've also seen places that are dedicated to just console and PC network gameplay. With current arcade games becoming rarer each day, could this be a way to get gamers back into the arcades? Thoughts?

I think if this were to take off it would suit the internet cafes more so than the arcades.

About six months ago Game Informer ran an interview with the guy from Midway who designed Smash TV. He said they were trying to implement an online strategy for years, but that it didn't really work out for economic reasons.

Regus probably remembers that interview better; wait till he finds this thread.

I think it's a good idea, especially for people who don't have broadband in their homes.

We have a place like that here. But I dont think the systems were online. I think all you did was pay to play a console game. I think they may of had some linked too. joy.

Regardless of where the systems are, online gaming IS the arcade of the future...

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Originally posted by gamevet
but roped off in the back of the arcade they had PS2 and Xbox units connected to net. For $5 you could play various titles like Halo, Socom and several other network games.

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doesn't sound quite legal, for some reason..

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Originally posted by johnk_
doesn't sound quite legal, for some reason..

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I doubt it's illegal, internet cafe's have been around for some time and this is just an extention of it. I would'nt think that MS or Sony would have a problem with it either, as it is just another way of producing product awareness. This arcade seemed to be fairly busy because of it.

I thought that internet cafes were the future arcade? You play games and they're pretty packed. Once CS goes, so do the internet cafes though.

The arcade around here does that with Counterstrike, full PC version and all. It definitely is the future, judging from the numbers of people playing it. The future of somebody else's arcade, not mine.

James