Who here plays games at an arcade?

[MechDeus]

Does Jillian's count? No? Then no arcades exist in my city. None that I know of, anyway.

I told you that it's pretty fucking obvious.

Well, that certainly clears everything up.

[Dolemite]

i dont think some of you younger gamers really understand what arcades used to be

Dude, I so totally relate. When I was a kid, arcades were fucking magical. When I was in my teens and early 20's, they rocked. Now that I'm in my late 20's, they've all but dried up and gone to hell.

Does Jillian's count? No?

Sorta. But it's not a REAL arcade. Fuck, the one in Farmingdale didn't have ONE fighting game for the first few years that they wer eopen, until they finally got in Mortal Kombat 4. The one in Garden City is a little better.

I need to get my ass to Chinatown some day soon. Probably the last good arcades in NY are there.

[Sl1p]

Fortunately they don't have an Out Run 2

I corrected your post XD!!

PS: Every arcade should have VC3 so that people will stop wasting their money on Time Crisis 3.

[Ex Ranza]

It's like what someone mentioned earlier... a HUGE part (for me) of what made the arcades so special was that, technology-wise, the games were leagues beyond what was available in the home. It was almost like a sneak preview of what might, if I was lucky, might eventually be coming to the Genesis. And it was a big deal when, like with Strider, the home rev actually came close to duplicating that awesome experience you'd had in the arcade.

[lithium]

Dude, I so totally relate. When I was a kid, arcades were fucking magical. When I was in my teens and early 20's, they rocked.

A culture that only certain generations can appreciate.

[SmoothCriminal]

AFC in Westland has a great arcade, thats a bit of a drive from my house though.

[MechDeus]

Sorta. But it's not a REAL arcade. Fuck, the one in Farmingdale didn't have ONE fighting game for the first few years that they wer eopen, until they finally got in Mortal Kombat 4. The one in Garden City is a little better.

I don't think my local one has any fighting games. In fact, I think they only have like five machines and the newest one is Crisis Zone. Granted, I haven't been in there in over a year so maybe things have changed, but I doubt it.

Maybe one of these years I'll see a VC3 machine. And maybe, just maybe, I'll eventually get to play one.

[seen]

Aaaw fuck, now I'm depressed. Bring back my Gamefan and arcades you 3D cock smoking mother fuckers!

With that out of the way. I guess it will never be the same. Like Lithium said, not many can still appreciate the time. All the arcades I knew closed down, 17th and Chestnut, Oxford Valley Mall (twice), Champion's on Cottman ave. Fuck the next gen whateva. Those people have no feel for games, and you see that because they got no soul.

The only hope we got is that someday the IDSA will lose it's hardon for ROMZ and let us build MAME type cabinets all over the place, with Capcom, Sega, and SNK games. Actually as far as I know copyrights expire in 20 years unless they get extended.

I suggest we create a petition to bring some old Arcade games to the public domain and legalize them. Capcom stuff during the 80's, they won't make money off them anyway. Place restrictions on the games like, they could only be used in Arcade type cabinets and not on handheld and portable computers, like those antisocial computer troll prefer.

seen

[Timber]

Light in the tunnel? Well, Dave & Buster's actually isn't bad. The prices per play actually beat GW, and they are better at updating. You'll find Virtua Cop 3 and Derby Owners' Club there. VC3 kicks, especially when you go into E.S.Mode and start shooting down bullets. Unfortunately they don't have an Out Run 2 (it's time to get rid of that damn Crazy Taxi and put this in its place). Even better is the D&B in Springfield which has an Ultracade featuring a lot of Capcom games (1941, to name one. ) and Robotron.

Are you talking about the D&B on the west side of Columbus? I haven't been there in a little while and the last time I was there they didn't have VC3 or Derby. Methinks I'll be checking it out this weekend.

And the last time I was at the Magic Mountain over on the east side they had an ultracade cab. Back when I was working there they didn’t have shit besides a few decent Sega games.

[NeoZeedeater]

You've got to be s!!ting me.

You can't be serious about that.

Okay, "death" probably wasn't the best word as I don't want to see it disappear but I see the shift to a console-dominated video game industry as a very good thing. Would you really want gaming to return to its 1980s state where the most advanced and often best playing games weren't available at home(at least not available in as good of form)? Having home gaming at par with arcade technology is great. It's what I wanted in the '80s yet never thought would happen.

I'm not saying I want arcade-style design to die out either. We can still have those type of games at home(Wario Ware, F-Zero GX) without the arcades.

I have enormous nostalgia for the arcades but the days where you would struggle for the top spot to put your initials in are over and the glory days of the arcades are long gone. I'm much happier having the best developers focusing on console and PC games instead.