[Arcade] Do Arcades still exist?

Well, CHz has some pictures of an awesome arcade in San Jose.

But on topic, I don't think that arcades really exist anymore. I remember going to some in the early 90s as a kid, but they had definitely faded out by the time I was in high school in the early 00s.

However, I think your assertion that people play video games in isolation is patently false. Firstly, the existence of MMOs: people are now able to play videogames with a massive number of people online. Secondly, starting with the N64, game consoles increasingly have come with better multiplayer capabilities. Take games like Mario Party, which is essentially a game you can really only play with other people.

As gaming (re-)enters the mainstream, it's been becoming more and more social by necessity -- humans are social creatures, and for an activity to hold our increasingly small attention spans (we're busy creatures nowadays), it needs to be engaging and interactive. Look at the rise of other sorts of social software elsewhere in the computer industry.

So while I agree, the arcade is probably dead (although Dave & Busters is doing an OK job of reviving it, kind of), I reject your assertion that people play games in solitude. Hell, just look at this website. Gamingforce. If gaming was a solitary and isolating activity, this website wouldn't exist.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

A slight bit of hijacking, but I think the DDR is horrible for arcades. A number of people have mentioned it.

The machine is large and ugly, has bright flashing lights all over the place, and makes a ton of noise. Plus it attracts weeaboos who have no interest in playing any games except that. I know it's a turn off for me to see a machine in an arcade, and I'll bet a lot of other people who aren't interested in playing DDR feel that way (perhaps they're not even aware of it). Since less non-DDR people come, and you can't sustain an arcade on JUST DDR players, the arcade will eventually close its doors.

Sure, there are a ton of other reasons why arcades are closing, but DDR sure isn't helping, IMO.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by nuttyturnip

small scale arcades that used to fill every mall can't keep up. Places like Dave and Busters will survive, as long as newer innovative arcade machines are built.

That's what I was talking about. Should have made it more clear. I'm talking about the hole in the wall arcades that I remember. I've seen them add DDR machines and then all shortly go out of business (or in the case of arcades inside other establishments, the arcade machines were removed and replaced with something else)

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Originally Posted by Kaelin

Hehe, yep. Or at least I was. Just at the end of the past year I moved up to MD, but since I lived in VA for so long, I still think of it as my local mall and town and such.

Where in MD did you move? There are some OK arcades in some of the movie theaters near DC. I don't know much about the Baltimore area.

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