UPDATE: Arcades Are Still Dead
Posted on Monday, May 13 2013 @ 14:18:00 Eastern

[Editor's Note: As Kevin Schaller is a staff writer for us, this of course won't be counted in the monthly Vox Pop prize. But this post is awesome, nonetheless. Maybe TOO awesome.]

I've been a bit perturbed lately, so I decided to do something that always makes me happy: I drove to one of my two childhood arcades the other day, and was seriously disappointed. Most arcades are outright dead nowadays, but even so, walking through this dirty, smelly, disintegrating place makes me think of what an ancient of the faithful might think of their crumbled, barely-standing place of worship today.

Maybe that's a bit overdramatic, but the sentiment is there.   My classic arcade, the one that always made me happy as a child, was the Scandia Mini-Golf and Arcade of Fairfield, CA.
 
(Picture from BudgetInnOfFairfield.com)
It has the aforementioned mini-golf course and arcade, batting cages, bumper boats, a rock-climbing wall, and even a small go-kart track. Clearly, everything that children would love in a location. I remember back a ways when the go-karts first opened up. I was there a week or two after and took them for a spin. Much fun was had that day.

Even after growing up a bit, I still enjoyed the place. I attended the nearby community college, only a few minute's drive from Scandia and the little rest-stop of small chain restaurants and gas stations. It was where I went if I had enough time between classes, or just didn't feel like driving the half-hour home after a long day. I rarely played mini-golf, and only one time do I remember playing around on the bumper boats (they were terrible to control), but I would always-always-ALWAYS fiddle in the arcade, especially when they got their DDR cabinets.

In the early days, that arcade was reminiscent of the arcade from The Karate Kid (the original 1984 kickass classic, not the recent one)… which might explain why I loved it so much; it's one of my favorite movies. But when I went recently, it was no longer the arcade I remembered.

It might sound petty, but one of the biggest reasons was because of this:


There are no more tokens. I can understand and even appreciate the rationale of not creating any more unique tokens for an establishment, but it was one of the touches that made any arcade awesome: a jingly-jangly pocket filled with play money. Seriously, on birthdays when my mom could give me ten dollars in tokens I felt like a friggin' millionaire. I'd stick my hands into my pockets and just fiddle with them like Scrooge McDuck swaming through his riches.

But when I got to the front after figuring out that I'd need a card, I gave the girl five bucks and was given this:  
I didn't take a picture of it since she was right there, but I also saw their conversion chart. See, with no more tokens, they've developed their "credits" system: each credit is worth ten cents. And because they're credits instead of tokens or quarters, they can charge more… classics are now 30 cents, not 25. A round of DDR, my whole reason for going there in the first place? No longer four quarters, now $1.20.  They need the extra nickel per quarter they couldn't get before after cutting out the expensive, specialized tokens?

To top it off, the games I wanted to play were all broken in some way. The DDR cabs wouldn't even accept the card, the Robotron 2084/Joust cabinet had a broken second stick, Player One on the Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 machine didn't work at all, Metal Slug 6 was plugged into a generic cab so the button placement was awkward and unmanageable. The only game I got some enjoyment out of was from what looked like a MAME cabinet filled with classics... I got a few games of Ladybug in, but even then the generic stick was too stiff and the play onscreen was sticky in maneuvering around corners.

The games dotted around the place didn't even look good, with their control panels either flaking or completely ripped of any decor and the carpets sticking to my shoes when I stood in one place playing for more than a minute. One might think it's time to change the flooring situation when the "carpet" from 1983 hasn't seen so much as a vacuum for a decade. To say it's not a shadow of what it used to be is an understatement, almost an insult to the great times that used to be had there. It's just gross now. There's no other way to say it: it's simply a disgusting location with broken games and jacked-up price points.

One of the first features I ever had published was about the death of arcades, and it's a dream to try and discover the locations that might still exist that don't recreate the "good ol' days" of dark rooms lightened by glowing neon and electronic pops of the jukebox in the background. But as of today my own classic experience is, officially, dead to me. Nothing lasts forever, we all know that, but it's still sad to see the end.

Game over, man. Game over… unless you, dear reader, know of a place. I would LOVE to hear about arcades around the country (or the world even) that still kick in the best of ways. Please, I BEG you, if you know of one please let me know. I might have to plan a road trip.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you at the next continue. Insert Coin?

(Originally published on my site, http://kevinss.net. All images provided by me personally unless otherwise noted.)

The opinions expressed here does not necessarily reflect the views of Game Revolution, but we believe it's worthy of being featured on our site. This article has been lightly edited for grammar. It has been submitted for our monthly Vox Pop competition. You can find more Vox Pop articles here. ~Ed. Nick

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Gaming's Not A Fad - A Brief History (In Song)
Posted on Wednesday, September 12 2012 @ 16:03:42 Eastern

[Since KevinS is a writer for us, this won't be considered to win Vox Pop. But I still think it's fantastic! ~Ed. Nick]

I was bored one evening, and before I knew it I had this all written out.  If you enjoy it, let me know in the comments... I'm pretty pleased with it!

(to the tune of "I'm My Own Grandpa" by Lorenzo and Oscar, click on the link to listen to the song)

It's sounds silly, I know
but it really is so!
Gaaaaaming's not a fad!

Many, many years ago in 1972
Magnavox empowered Odyssey inside a vacuum tube
They pioneered the industry of gaming on TV
with Ralph Baer holding patents, suing everyone indeed.
But Atari soldiered on with Alcorn making arcade Pong
and inspired me in writing up this silly little song!
Fairchild C&I may have invented separate carts
but Atari took control and kicked then in their wallet parts
with VCS, their entry into independent space
and lost tread to Activision in the independence race.
Then Space Invaders came out and it took a hundred yen
that's about the time we found out that arcades were heaven-sent!

Gaaaaaming's not a fad!
Oh gaaaaaming's not a fad!
Sounded silly back then
but the game's back again!
Gaaaaaming's not a fad!

In 1980, PAC-MAN came a-chompin' through the land
and the critics started thinking games were really just a fad
In 1983 they may have just been proven right
when ET came out and nearly killed the market overnight.
About that time, Nintendo gamers never lost their stride
with the FamiCom and TVs advertising mustache rides.
Super Mario controlling players all abound the land
and the US stores were chomping at the bit to get their hand
on the mushroom-filled sensation that would sweep the USA
and resuscitate the industry to what we see today
Metroid and Castlevania, Kid Ic to name a few
and to record sales proving that our playing wasn't through!

Gaaaaaming's not a fad!
Oh gaaaaaming's not a fad!
Sounded silly back then
but the game's back again!
Gaaaaaming's not a fad!

Oh when the 1990s came and arcades began to die,
Sub-Zero and Chun-Li would fight to keep them still alive.
Super N-E-S and Genesis were chugging right along
killing NeoGeo and 3DO to keep alive my song!
With Mario and Sonic kept their platform chasing quick
the PC games like Doom were making motion players sick.
The PSOne and Saturn quickly took over the fight
with Nintendo's 64-bit monster late into the light.
Sony took the victory, but at the decade's end
Sega's Dreamcast shocked the world with Sonic's second-coming trend
Too bad it couldn't bring them back, but awesome was their plight
PS2 was on horizon and left DC in the night.

Gaaaaaming's not a fad!
Oh gaaaaaming's not a fad!
Sounded silly back then
but the game's back again!
Gaaaaaming's not a fad!

Now into the millennium, the console race anew
as the heavy-hitter Microsoft decided to come too.
Bringing out the Xbox and when flipping it around
with 3D models breaking new developmental ground.
The Gamecube wasn't quite the hit Nintendo sought to find
so they tried a new approach and called for players to unwind.
"Invite the fam and come on over, bowl a little game!
It's a controller, but Wii all know it just isn't quite the same!"
Xbox the 360 is the Mass Effect machine
taking shots at good ol' PS3's Blu-Ray capabilities
With WiiU, the PS4 and 720 close at hand
The battle be-gins once again, now come strike up… the… baaaaaaaand!

Gaaaaaming's not a fad!
Oh gaaaaaming's not a fad!
Sounded silly back then
but the game's back again!
Gaaaaaming's not a fad!

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Under 100K Club: Gitaroo Man/Gitaroo Man Lives! (PS2/PSP)
Posted on Sunday, April 24 2011 @ 19:46:36 Eastern

One of my favorite rhythm games was brought back to my attention recently... actually, about when I came up with the idea of this "Under 100K Club" blog series.  Many gamers seem to already know about the crybaby hero of the planet Gitaroo, but I don't know how many people have actually played the game to know why he's important.  So first, for any newcomers, a quick history lesson.

Gitaroo Man was originally released in the first few years of the PS2's lifespan, and was met with little fanfare.  Between the small release numbers, the lack of widespread advertising and the quirkiness of the game itself, it's not surprising that the sales were pretty poor.  There was a reprint from the Game Quest Direct, but unfortunately I couldn't find ANY sales numbers on either printing.  But I know it wasn't a huge run... just ask any of your hardcore gamer buds if they've played it themselves, and chances are even that number is slim.  Thankfully, the PSP incarnation, Gitaroo Man Lives!, has some sales numbers to go off of, and they're not especially promising either.

According to VGChartz.com, a grand total of 36,612 copies have been sold in the US.  That's pretty measly for such a fun, unique, original game with a fresh take on a then-burgeoning genre.  Instead of what we expect from a music game - the "hit the right button at the right time" take on playing a song - the songs themselves are weapons, and the button presses are to either attack or defend against an opponent.  The full breakdown can be found here, and it's a fair enough breakdown of how the game plays out.

Why didn't it take off then?  Unique art, all-original music, a playing style all its own, cult-classic... maybe that's it.  Maybe it wasn't destined for anyone but the kids crazy enough to want something so off the beaten path, so different from what was available already, that they would show it the proper amount of tongue-wagging and tail-shaking it deserves.  But then, it's presentation isn't so terribly different from two well-of titles - Parappa the Rapper and Um Jammer Lammy - which both did well enough in cold hard dinero, so that might not be the right though.  Is it the play, too difficult for the casual player?  Naw, it takes some getting used to but isn't terribly difficult to pick up... I give up, I don't know why it didn't sell.

Maybe it WAS just that Koei only delivered about 20 copies to US store shelves.  'Tis a shame, really.  But at least the PSP incarnation is still easy enough to find for most players... a quick search on Amazon has it coming up for under twenty bucks, too!  Sure it's a little short, but it's especially worth the purchase for a budget price.

Have you played Gitaroo Man before?  Share your thoughts in the comments!  Until next time, fellow underdogs...

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Under 100K Club: Retro Game Challenge
Posted on Friday, April 15 2011 @ 22:14:33 Eastern

I always find myself cursing the market for allowing some of my favorite games to go by unnoticed and un-purchased, so with my space here I think I'll start harping on at least...   read more...

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Super Genny Brothers
Posted on Thursday, August 26 2010 @ 21:04:35 Eastern

Surfing eBay is a blast.  Where else is the bulk of crazy, off-beat knock-offs and hacks at just a quick type and tap of an enter key?

Super Mario Brothers... on the Genesis!

When I worked retail a few years back I ...   read more...

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Happy Birthday!
Posted on Thursday, August 26 2010 @ 16:25:40 Eastern

It's not entirely sure as to what day it was released, but the Magnavox Odyssey was launched back in August of 1972.  In doing so, it launched the market for electronic games played on a television.  So happy birthday Odyssey, getting e...   read more...

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DN:F Release Date TBA?
Posted on Thursday, August 19 2010 @ 00:36:37 Eastern

God I hope this rumor is true.

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2010/08/rumour-borderlands-studio-reviving-duke-nukem-forever/

According to Kotaku, Gearbox might have taken up the mantle that 3D Realms and George Broussard left ...   read more...

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CGE: Gorf on GBA
Posted on Sunday, August 8 2010 @ 00:03:38 Eastern

I was able to attend the Classic Gaming Expo in Las Vegas this year, and while I wasn't there in any "official" capacity I was able to play some new stuff, mingle with some interesting people and buy some brand new stuff.  And noth...   read more...

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Fanboyism Just Won't Die
Posted on Sunday, February 14 2010 @ 14:39:45 Eastern

Follow the link to see them all (this one here, BTW) to see ALL of the craziness, but this is one of the most mind-boggling online comments I've ever, ever seen.  In an article about the top 25 best-selling PS2 games of all time, one commented t...   read more...

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Ready to Review the WSOP
Posted on Thursday, May 21 2009 @ 18:58:34 Eastern

So I'm taking a short hiatus from reviewing - for anyone who might be interested - in order to go and hit a BIG game: The World Series of Poker!

This is my first time going to the event, and hopefully I'll actually be able to play (I don't...   read more...

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