Topic: Want a good laugh? Visit your local arcade :).

[Stratos]

I always wondered why arcades just didn't adopt the consoles?  Alot of bars have consoles hooked up, not sure if it's legal but I would think publishers would want exposure to a wider market.   Instead of charging per play, charge a flat hourly rate, also give out lunch passes (meaning 20-30 minutes passes especially at a mall where there's plenty of workers).  It would be like an internet caff but with games. 

I've seen several gaming/internet/lan cafes where they have several 360s set up with big screens. They do exactly what you describe. There is one in Bonney Lake I've discovered called GameBreakerz. They also sell games, service computers and have a DDR machine and several pool tables. I've tried to buy some games from them but they are pretty slim on the Wii side of things.

[S-U-P-E-R]

Did you guys see that Taito is bringing a game-on-demand system to arcades in Japan?

I'm the world's leading game industry clairvoyant/megamind

[Halbred]

We used to have an incredible arcade/pool hall here in Anchorage until somebody got shot and the place closed down. The building is still abandoned. This arcade had dozens of machines, old, new, you name it. Bubble Bobble, Tetris, Bust-a-Move, Mortal Kombat, Primal Rage, Aliens, Turtles in Time, and tons of others. It had things like Ski-Ball, too.
 
It was called the Space Station, and it is deeply missed.

[Stratos]

How did someone getting shot close the place down? Or was it the owner who got shot and there was no one who could take over?

[Halbred]

I don't know the whole story. I suspect it wasn't the first bad thing to happen there, as the Space Station was in a (at the time) seedy area of town.

[Chozo Ghost]

I think the really shocking thing here is that the arcade was still open at all. The one at my local mall went out of business many years ago... I believe I may still have some tokens laying around somewhere.

You say there was only three people there. How can the arcade stay afloat with so few customers?

[Sundoulos]

I still see them every once in a while.   We have one at one of our local malls that has managed to stay afloat.  It consists entirely of old fighting games, light gun games, a few racers, and a DDR-type game that takes up a lot of floorspace.   

The only time I've really gone in there was to try the Mario Kart GP arcade unit; I wasn't impressed.