/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.6969495]

Why are arcades still dead, /vr/? Playing in person is cozy, not too expensive, and lets the game developers choose what hardware best suits their game. Is everyone still afraid of pedophiles? We can let only adults play if it makes the Karens feel safer...

[Anonymous No.6969520]

They're still plenty alive in Asia because of the more high tech machines over there being made that only give the experiences they do through said machines.
No western bowling alley or cinema arcade section is going to bother importing one of those things for thousands of dollars and probably not seeing any profit from the purchase for years while they instead just buy what basically amounts to gambling games (for tickets) which end up making them a lot of money compared. Also doesn't help that there's a pandemic going around still which is just another nail in the arcade's coffin in western countries.

[Anonymous No.6969537]

>>6969495
It's costly to buy machines, costly to maintain them, costly to rent space and taxes can fuck you over.
An arcade is first of all a business and it doesn't make financial sense for the most part.

[Anonymous No.6969625]

They've been in kind of a resurgence for the last decade, just in modern forms that make sense from a business perspective.

[Anonymous No.6969642]

>>6969495
Peds are not as much of a.problem as prrtyy much any arcade becoming a drug dealers paradise.

[Anonymous No.6969696]

>>6969495
>Why are arcades still dead, /vr/?
As others have mentioned the traditional arcade model is dead. It's only sustainable as a gimmick to get you in to buy beer. All that being said, arcade hobbyists are very alive and well.

t. basement arcade guy

[Anonymous No.6969705]

>>6969696
I wanna be like this guy

[Anonymous No.6969724]

>>6969495

Maintenance, insurance, taxes, overhead, fixed cost. You won’t be able to cover all that and have a positive cash flow from an arcade.

It’s virtually impossible unless you can find a way to attack a service or product to it.

[Anonymous No.6969738]

>>6969625
Yeah definitely. Things like barcades are pretty much the future of arcades as we know them when it comes to them actually making a profit in the current time.

[Anonymous No.6969743]

>>6969537
In the FGC there seem to be gaming spaces that are loterally just dedicated to smash, street fighter, and tekken. Why is there no modern 4 player cabinet with eivals of the aether or power stone vibes that doesn't retail for an absurd amount? Why do cabinets cost so much when you could just run a computer underneath or even stream from dedicated racks to the machines... there should be no restrictions on size or shape of cabs anymore.

>>6969642
Sounds like a bonus desu.
>>6969696
Is that you, giga-chad?

[Anonymous No.6969852]

>>6969520
>Also doesn't help that there's a pandemic going around still which is

Fake pandemic is fake.

[Anonymous No.6969854]

Arcades still do exist, in a lot of forms--but they cater to children, and the kids wanna play Doodle Jump and redemption games and stuff.

[Anonymous No.6969873]

>>6969854
Modern arcades are a joke. Literally just phone games on a big screen. Back in the day arcades were about showing off the highest end hardware that you couldn't get at home, which is why they died off because it became easier to get that "arcade experience" with home consoles.
So to answer OPs question, arcades died because it was easier and more efficient to get the same experience at home on a console or computer. Virtual reality is probably the only thing that will revive arcades since it's still a niche and quite expensive for the average consumer.

[Anonymous No.6969907]

>>6969495
Because they no longer turn a profit.

Who is going to go out and pay 50+ cents a play when they already have probably over $1000 of gaming hardware at home?

The only places arcades survive are in bowling alleys, movie theaters, yuppie bars and the occasional shopping mall (themselves another dying 80's 90's thing) where they're basically just unsupervised daycare centers.

[Anonymous No.6969919]

>>6969852
The lockdowns sure as hell aren’t fake.

[Anonymous No.6969925]

>>6969873
>Virtual reality is probably the only thing that will revive arcades since it's still a niche and quite expensive for the average consumer.

I can't imagine it happening. 85 iq dumbasses are just too likely to break VR equipment by falling over and swinging into things.

The maintenance costs would be untenable.

[Anonymous No.6970032]

>>6969873
>Virtual reality is probably the only thing that will revive arcades since it's still a niche and quite expensive for the average consumer.
VR costs a few hundred bucks, there's the Quest 2 coming out in a few days which is cheap as hell in comparison to the rest of the market.

Actual arcade cabinets were thousands of dollars new, and they offered visuals that were insane for the time period.

I had hopes that VR would revive the arcade mentality, given it's such an exhausting experience to put on your headset, charge your controllers, and clear some room just to play a game, so it was really designed for 30 minute stints rather than modern 20 hours of shit story wrapped up in a game that plays itself. But it turns out that indie retards can't hope to compete with actual developers, and all the real arcade devs quit or lost their souls decades ago.

[Anonymous No.6970039]

>>6969852
That's not the point, the point is that governments have made it illegal to go out and do things or have large places open and so on.

[Anonymous No.6970043]

>>6969738
Not just barcades, though most modern arcades I've been to do have refreshments on offer and one did have a bar, but more as a destination and local hangout club rather than as a pay-per-play arcade. All the arcades I've been to in the last decade were pay-to-enter, free-to-play. Places like the Arcade Club and so on where you could buy a membership that let you in or pay a tenner or so on the door.

[Anonymous No.6970065]

>>6969919
No, but the Pandemic is fake. What's going around isn't even close to being a pandemic.

[Anonymous No.6970070]

>>6970043
Oh yeah, pay to enter then free to play arcades are pretty much how you have to run an arcade if you want it to make any money if it isn't something like a barcade or a Dave and Busters.

[Anonymous No.6970079]

>>6969925
>break VR equipment by falling over and swinging into things
Virtual reality was a thing in the 1990s, I played it once, it required one attendant to operate and supervise while the player stood within a small railed off circle thing, impossible to fall over or to swing into anything.
It was a gimmick and expensive to play but would draw crowds.

[Anonymous No.6970110]

>>6969495
arcades relied on being the showcase for state-of-the-art graphics. they were screwed as soon as pc gaming got popular.

[Anonymous No.6970119]

>>6969696
your dad on the right

[Anonymous No.6970123]

>>6970039
I'm sorry you live in California, anon. People in North Korea probably have more freedom than you do there.

[Anonymous No.6970159]

VR is fucking gay and would be an arcade disaster at scale. You guys ever fucking play Beach Head? Someone always managed to take a shit inside the helmet or blow a huge fucking snot rocket into it, and best case scenario some sweaty pig with greasy hair would jam their disgusting fucking head into it and then you're stuck playing a shitty game, looking like a retard, and catching a communicable disease.

The big issue with VR is that it doesn't have any games. I think VR could lead to some pretty unique interactive experiences, but I think it will be for games what CDI technology was. Definitely not the best way to use the tech.

Listen, I get butt-blasted about the shit I see in modern arcades too. Has anyone ever seen the arcade port of Injustice: Gods Among Us? The first time I played it I laughed out loud--it's a port of the fucking phone version. It has two buttons.

Japan has arcades still and they are actually very good, and a place like Round One is like a lot of Japanese arcades in a lot of ways. Some classic games, a lot of redemption games, and then some very cool racing/light gun/rhythm stuff.

The kiddos have been tricked into loving blind box toys and lootboxes etc so ticket games are super hot and they probably will be for at least another five years. But I think the possibility that we start seeing more large attraction arcades LIKE Round One with a heavy focus on imports could soon be more and more normal. When this stuff happens, though, you're going to have to have an open mind about it because even if it becomes really good it's not going to be full of classic arcade games. That's boomer shit. Every small city in the country has a retro barcade now, and guess what? Those guys aren't arcade operators and they weren't arcade operators. So absolute best case scenario you get a weird cross-section of cabinets half of which do not work, and absolute worst case scenario is just a bunch of 600-in-1 MAME cabs because boomers can't tell and don't care.

[Anonymous No.6970179]

>>6970110
This isn't true now and historically wasn't true either. When the home video game market crashed in the early 1980s, it only had a very mild effect on arcades, and it did not effect the home PC either--although PC-as-gaming device was a way bigger thing in Europe then than it ever was here. also here's another two cents: pc gaming is really fucking gay

[Anonymous No.6970180]

>>6969495
The arcade I did maintenance for went out because a group of "teens" broke in and destroyed all the machines

The youngest "teen" was 28, and ethnicity was completely left out. They also pulled a gun on the police and their friends went on news yelling about how they went there to play a game and have fun and were being framed.
It was all on camera with clear face views and they were caught by police during the act.

[Anonymous No.6970185]

>>6970180
larp

[Anonymous No.6970206]

There is still a GameWorks and a Round One where I live. GameWorks definitely isn't what it was 20 years ago, but it's still cool if you're not being an old boomer bitch about it.

I'd love arcades to be what they were 25 years ago too but you're just never going to get that. There IS a very cool retro arcade near me that is only open because it's the hobby project of a very rich guy, but even with talented on-site techs there all the time, it isn't like you can source parts in a jiffy when shit breaks. Sometimes stuff goes down for months.

There needs to be a real push for a video game museum to be created because we are coming up right on the edge of a lot of this shit being gone forever in a catastrophic way. So many cabs get destroyed literally every day to be converted into MAME cabs that sell on FB marketplace.

[Anonymous No.6970217]

>>6970179
>When the home video game market crashed in the early 1980s, it only had a very mild effect on arcades
Arcade traffic and sales of new machines did actually fall off a lot.
>also here's another two cents: pc gaming is really fucking gay
You must be 18 to use this website.

[Anonymous No.6970239]

>>6970217
yeah as if anyone on /vr/ is under 30 except for the rare tourist.

[Anonymous No.6970248]

>>6970239
Oh I dunno there's a lot of underage posters. The Famicom pulse thread had quite a few of them.

[Anonymous No.6970262]

>>6969495
In many ways they grew largely obsolete, as it's easier than ever to actually get arcade experiences at home, such as through ports, emulation, and what arcade-like games we still get in this day and age.

I don't think arcades as a concept are well and truly dead, but a lot of the previous draw was fancy graphics and stuff, things which you could now get even in a shitty phone game. I think you would need some kind of physical draw which is not easy to get at home, at least for some games; you can get shooters and racing games at home, but not everyone has a flashy lightgun or an entire rideable motorcycle rig that tilts and vibrates as part of how they play games at home, for instance.

>>6969852
Whether or not it's real is irrelevant to his point, Corona makes for a worse business climate for arcades.

[Anonymous No.6970273]

Honestly the social aspect that died when the arcade went away took another decade to finally die on the home console or PC. and in a way, games are more of a social thing than ever, but in a way stupider way. I miss playing fighting games and stuff with my friends.

[Anonymous No.6970296]

Regular arcades aren't a profitable business model, as others have said. But barcades can do well. Even my hometown, which is a very small city, is managing to sustain one.

Otherwise, it's the sort of thing I can only see picking up some steam again if the economy really starts to boom. There's definitely an audience for it, it's just very niche.

>>6969907
I've seen a few places that have you pay a certain amount of money for a bracelet that lets you play as much as you want for a given period of time. That seemed to be working pretty well for those guys, although it was also in a pretty big college town.

[Anonymous No.6970316]

>>6969495
Because rents are too high, wages are stagnant and arcades are a very risky investment. Stop voting for fiscally incompetent conservachuds like Trump and we might see this change one day.

[Anonymous No.6970737]

>>6969495
Niggers.

[Anonymous No.6970756]

>>6969852
schitzos pls go

[Anonymous No.6970761]

Arcades are still around and still getting games.

Usually play Sound Voltex, Time Crisis, Maximum Tune, and Gunslinger Stratos on the average visit.

[Anonymous No.6970775]

There are plenty of barcades around these days. Go outside for a change.

[Anonymous No.6971252]

>>6969738

The games are usually trash in these places.

[Anonymous No.6971332]

The only arcade near me is some hellhole where 90% of the cabs are fucking MAME emulators that have horrific latency and the other 10% are broken pinballs and racers.

He still gets good business from the local FGC even though the delay in some games is half a second

[Anonymous No.6971352]

>>6970079
It is a thing in a similar way now, though you have more room to move around. Tethers are typically to an overhead structure.

[Radiochan !FhErN6z1NQ No.6971356]

>>6969495
>why are arcades still dead
gee, I wonder why

[Anonymous No.6971484]

>>6969495
> Local Chuck E. Cheese at the mall near me
> Walking by one day, look in through the outside windows
> They have an Afterburner Climax cabinet inside
> Full setup, including the cockpit seat that moves and shakes
> Fuck yeah, I love me some Afterburner
> Go inside, have to go through an airlock
> Employee inside is confused, asks if I'm there with someone's party
> Tell him I'm just there to play some Afterburner
> He wants me to wear a paper wristband
> Keeps looking at me weird
> Finally get in, get some quarters from the machine, play Afterburner for a while
> Employees are all watching me like a hawk
> Feels weird, finish playing
> Have to "check out" with one of the employees at the exit
> He makes me give the wristband back so he can throw it away
> They all watch me while I leave through the airlock
> Later find out that some kid had been kidnapped and molested at that place like two months previous, which is why they were so paranoid

For fuck's sake, I wasn't there to diddle any kids, I just wanted to play some fucking Afterburner.

[Anonymous No.6971958]

>>6970761
Round 1 is the only company that's keeping the arcade experience alive in America, and it's a Japanese franchise company doing it.

[Anonymous No.6971983]

>>6969495
I just want my goddamn pinball machines back. I don't miss dumping quarters into arcade games.

[Anonymous No.6972027]

>>6971958
I hope they get exa arcadia machines in soon, I wanna play gimmick exact mix

[Anonymous No.6972047]

>>6971484
should have just went full retard on them and they would let you be
>"Um sir w-what brings you in today?"
>"AFTAHBUHNUHHH"
>"Oh its you Landon, she's all warmed up for ya buddy, have a great time"

[Anonymous No.6972048]

>>6969495
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqSosWb3FCE

[Anonymous No.6972050]

>>6971983
Hmm, I can think of at least 4 bars around me that have at least one pinball table. I guess I am lucky.

[Anonymous No.6972057]

>>6972027
I wonder how long it'll be until they start getting IIDX 28 Bistrover upgrade kits for their IIDX machines.

[Anonymous No.6972063]

>>6969495
Because you're a small minded "person" and nothing that exists outside your "mind" is real?
Because youtube told you?
Because even pedos wouldn't go to a place where vile ugly children like you hang out?
Because allowing too many losers who identify as girls and/or animals into one place could cause a cringularity and destroy the entire universe?

[Anonymous No.6972064]

>>6969495
too short games,
you see all the levels in 30 minutes
credit feeding is a dumb default way to beat them
doing personal challenges is unsatisfying like speedrunning;
grinding routes is boring and unrewarding
they died for many valid reasons
nothing of value lost

[Anonymous No.6972081]

I went to a Round One a couple times before the chinavirus because the girl I was dating wanted to and it kinda made clear what I already knew back in the 90s even as a kid, that this is an inferior experience in some insurmountable ways. Lots of distraction, parents giving you shitty looks everywhere, and greatly limited playtime, a lot of games now just cut you off after one course even if you win, like like the Inital D and Wagan Midnight machines. You do get an experience you can't get elsewhere with those and the lightgun games but I'm not sure it's worth the trouble. Most of the other machines are some weird gimmick like having a seat that moves or a Pong game that moves little pieces with magnets that are not that interesting. It is nice to have a place where you can stop in to have a beer and play a few rounds of skee ball but if you're like 20 now and only got to see the sad end era of traditional arcades places like that now aren't dramatically different than they were in the 90s. Maybe in the 70s and 80s when it was the premier market things were a lot different idk

[Anonymous No.6972084]

>>6972064
true desu
pc gaming masterrace

[Anonymous No.6972087]

Arcade machines were once technological powerhouses that would offer the most cutting edge graphics and game design. All of the social stuff was secondary to the sheer spectacle of a game that looked beautiful and played incredibly. Much of the history of consoles was a race to close the gap between home technology and arcades, trying to make "arcade perfect" ports and games that felt as thrilling as the stuff you'd see there.
Once the technology gap was closed and console games offered not only accurate arcade experiences but also deeper and more lengthy design, there was no reason to go to arcades anymore short of playing competitive games or just fucking around for a few hours, and even that was no longer necessary once online play became the norm. There's just nothing an arcade can offer anymore that's unique beyond the nostalgic feeling of being around these machines with people who also love them, and that's just not something you can base a sustainable business on.

[Anonymous No.6972449]

>>6972087
>There's just nothing an arcade can offer anymore that's unique beyond the nostalgic feeling
I get what your saying and your correct in regards to most titles but you can't replace the experience of some games. For example Afterburner. Yeah, by the Saturn the arcade port was perfect but your playing with a controller. Sit in the moving deluxe cab or hell even play the stand up model. Nothing at home can compare to using an actual flight stick(with shaker motor), throttle level, and flashing lock on lights. Same with a lot of racers. I'd rather play a sit down Daytona over an arcade perfect port at home everytime.

[Anonymous No.6972503]

>>6969495
My town still had a lively arcade scene that they also turned into bars. But then, well, a certain pandemic hit.

[Anonymous No.6972542]

>>6972503
What pandemic hit in this 2030 fantasy world where you're world enough to go to bars?

[Anonymous No.6972682]

>>6970185
>dey dindu nuffink
>dat wity probly sed the n word he desarve it

[Anonymous No.6972889]

>>6972449
This is the kind of shit which arcades would have to focus on to get a real foothold again.
Fancy recoiling guns for shooting games, fancy cabinets for driving and flying games, etc.

[Anonymous No.6972904]

This is what arcade games are like now.

[Anonymous No.6972908]

>>6972889
There's all kinds of 4D gun games and such still being released, very impressive but you probably need a very drunk and financially irresponsible audience to turn a profit.

I've been to some barcades that emphasize the 'bar' part and basically there are just some old cabs turned down to lowest difficulty for window dressing, the same way a cafe will have shelves of books nobody reads.

[Anonymous No.6973019]

>>6969495
Every arcade I've been to since 2010 has been phone games inside an arcade cabinet, or was lackluster compared to the golden years of legit fun games.
There used to be a place called Fast Eddies around here. Three floors. New games in the front, older in the back, retro on the second floor. Third was a museum of hard to find games that you had to ask to play. And they were free. But you were monitored as you played.

After a few years the third floor was sectioned off, but it was still worth visiting for all the great games on the first two floors.

I miss that place.

[Anonymous No.6973271]

Modern arcades are so fucking bad
I went to one and it was just phone games in an arcade cabinet
They literally had Flappy Bird arcade

[Anonymous No.6973778]

>>6969495
You know what else is dead? Those bar top touch screens. I get it since you were basically paying for games you can now play for free on your phone but those things used to be at every bar not that long ago. Miss playing the naughty photo hunt while drunk with friends.

[Anonymous No.6974096]

>>6972904
Literally a slot machine.

[Anonymous No.6974997]

>>6972449
You're right, but that's hardly a big enough draw to run a business. Movie theaters have been doing a similar idea - offer a luxury experience that you can't get streaming a movie at home, like big comfy seats and fine dining and shit, and they're still losing money. Yes, you could come and play Police 911 and lean around with a light gun or sit in a Tokyo Wars tank, but is the novelty of doing that really going to be enough to want to do more than once or twice compared to the consistent, if less exciting, satisfaction of sitting at home with a good game? Not to mention that the investment will just keep going up to buy and repair these complicated machines.

[Anonymous No.6975667]

>>6969852
Schizzos gonna Schizz.

[Anonymous No.6975682]

>>6969495
I don't want to be "Muh Emulation" but to be honest I absolutely agree about the form factor of the arcade machine, Now there are those reasonably simple to mod arcade1up streetfighter cabinets and I would absolutely love to mod one, but for all of the amazing games that don't fit the 6 button layout (I fucking love crazy taxi, that game is a steering wheel setup) it can be kinda hard. The coronavirus is absolutely a giant nail in the coffin, I went to an arcade that for some reason was open, it was a total gross experience. Finding a Crazy Taxi cabinet (which I've been wanting to play for a long time) wasn't even worth it. All in all I really think enthusiast home emulation would be the future of arcades, and I really wish someone would rise up to compete with Arcade1up in the area of affordable (sub 500 dollars) arcade cabinets so there could be an incentive to improve, Arcade1up basically owns the entire consumer-level home arcade setup right now. Also inb4 someone says the buttons on arcade 1ups are sub par, I know they are, and they are replaceable.

[Anonymous No.6975690]

>>6970079
>"Technology never improves over time, so why should I ever try things a second time?!"
kys boomerfag

[Anonymous No.6975729]

Because the odds of finding a cabinet that isn't quarter-munching trash long dated by the console market is nearly impossible. If you know of any place in shithole Houston that has Darius, F-Zero AX, Afterburner, Space Harrier, or the like let me know.

[Anonymous No.6975734]

>>6975690
>because something is new to me it can't be the same old shit someone older and more experienced than me has already seen
Tidepod yourself zoomer

[Anonymous No.6975740]

>>6970316
These days you're not even allowed to vote for presidents who won't steal trillions to give to the banks and megacorporations.

[Anonymous No.6975776]

Arcades where only adults can play are already a thing. They're called barcades and they serve alcohol.

[Anonymous No.6976634]

>>6975776
The barcades I've gone to just have a bunch of raspberry pi emulation stations full of roms on LCDs and bootleg SNES controllers. One had a lone Robotron 2084 machine to go with it.

[Anonymous No.6977335]

>>6972904
sad on various levels

[Anonymous No.6977351]

>>6975776
DUDE i just LOVE the hustle and bustle of the big city, it’s so DYNAMIC and makes me feel like i’m in one of my favourite TV SHOWS. you should totally come on down to my studio apartment, it’s got EXPOSED RED BRICK walls and everything, we can crack open a nice hoppy ipa or three and get crazy watching some cartoons on adult swim! and dude, dude, DUDE, we have GOTTA go down to the barcade- listen here, right, it’s a BAR where us ADULTS who do ADULTING can go DRINK. BUT!!!! it’s also an ARCADE like when we were kids, so we can play awesome VIDEO GAMES, without dumb kids bothering us. speaking of which megan and i have finally decided to tie the knot- literally -we’re both getting snipped tomorrow at the hospital, that way we can save money to spend more on ourselves and our FURBABIES. i’m fuckin JACKED man, i’m gonna SLAM this craft beer and pop open another one!!!

[Anonymous No.6977762]

>>6977351
Thanks for the kek.

[Anonymous No.6978436]

>>6969873
>. Back in the day arcades were about showing off the highest end hardware that you couldn't get at home, which is why they died off because it became easier to get that "arcade experience" with home consoles.
>So to answer OPs question, arcades died because it was easier and more efficient to get the same experience at home on a console or computer. Virtual reality is probably the only thing that will revive arcades since it's still a niche and quite expensive for the average consumer.
Japanese arcades have been doing this for the past 15 years or so. Stuff with moving cockpit seats, gimmick controls, MX4D air blasts, 270 degree view panorama screens, and VR stuff.

[Anonymous No.6978478]

Poor sad amerifats

[Anonymous No.6978484]

>>6978478
And then there's the ones that combine digital and analog stuff where you move physical cards around on the board to control the game

[Anonymous No.6978489]

[Anonymous No.6978493]

https://youtu.be/VKxidOGmF7Q

[Anonymous No.6978513]

>>6978478
https://youtu.be/BX0WSwDOEZs

>>6978489
https://youtu.be/RrZB4Bz7nAk?t=219
https://youtu.be/rGzdIqDjgww

[Anonymous No.6978770]

>>6978489
>>6978513
I will say this: having a full mech combat sim arcade game that can save your progress and have mixed local and online play against other players around the world would be rad as fuck. I remember reading about some arcade racing game that let you create a license like Initial D and it would record your gameplay to make an AI profile of you that other people could race against. Having something like that where you could fight with/against players who aren't actually playing at the same time would be a really cool way to get around the whole "everyone has to be at the arcade at the same time to play each other" thing.

[Anonymous No.6978871]

>>6978770
>plays candy crush wish his imaginary friends
yikes

[Anonymous No.6978887]

>>6970123
Imagine being this triggered by a state lmao

[Anonymous No.6978892]

>>6970065
You're retarded, the point is that most places that would do this are not open, not whether you believe in things or not

[Anonymous No.6979749]

>>6978770
>saving a full mech combat sim arcade game that can save your progress and have mixed local and online play against other players around the world
You do realise that basically every single Japanese arcade game released after 2010 or so saves progress right?

[Anonymous No.6980490]

>>6979749
Yes, that's why I had the rest too.