Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Japanese gaming arcades are on their last life

japantimes.co.jp

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 74 posts

Re: Japanese gaming arcades are on their last life

#61

Post by lrvick »

fxtentacle wrote: post #49
toyg wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've also lived in South Korea and visit quite often (only a 2 hour flight). The arcade scene is HUGE. I wonder what the difference is. Just a tax thing, or novelty...?

I believe it's a culture thing. The more wealthy the average citizen becomes, the less they need to share with others. And once you're starting to get used to having everything to yourself on-demand, it becomes difficult to accept that in an arcade, you might have to wait for someone else to finish playing before it's your turn.

This is real. I don't have arcades near me, so I converted my garage to an arcade.

I think a lot of private collectors like me are sweeping up old equipment that doesn't have a profitable public home anymore.

Would -love- to open a non-profit retro arcade/hackerspace in the peninsula area some day if I can secure a building somewhere, but in the mean time I'll just keep collecting equipment to selfishly enjoy at home.

Re: Japanese gaming arcades are on their last life

#62

Post by computador »

Lived in Tokyo in the 80's as a teenager. Game centers where the place to be after school and meet kids from other schools. Loud places, usually close to train/subway stations. Games where between 50¥-100¥. Some game centers offered free melon soda. My game center was managed by a young and friendly Chinpira(low ranked Yakuza).

Re: Japanese gaming arcades are on their last life

#63

Post by lrvick »

werber wrote: post #6

I live in Detroit and within the past few years 3 arcade bars have opened within walking distance of my apartment and another is about to open. These are the places I tend to frequent (actually about to go to one to after writing this and went to another last night). The thing that separates them from console or PC games for me is pinball. I cannot justify buying a machine, but I’m loving the resurgence.

I went cheap in other areas of my life so I could get a Stern Jurassic Park pinball machine.

My wife and I play it every day. It is a constant dopamine supply.

So what if it means driving an old used car when my friends drive Teslas.

Would do it again.

Re: Japanese gaming arcades are on their last life

#64

Post by lrvick »

nikanj wrote: post #57
trzy wrote: post #2

I certainly miss 90’s arcades but what made them special was limited access (my parents would only take me every now and then) and the gap between arcade and consumer hardware. There was a little bit of socializing but it was mostly with the friends that came along. I wish location-based VR experiences like The Void would become a modern substitute but the economics don’t seem to work.

There's a massive gap between arcade and consumer hardware today, too. The arcades are filled with machines from a good 20 years ago, pushing less polygons than a PS2. Why would I pay good money to play with extremely outdated hardware?

There is something very zen and kind of time-travely about playing a 40yo arcade cab made in the US that still works.

They were each built to do one thing and do it well with no need for ads or internet connectivity or yearly hardware upgrades.

I for one love them and wish we still approached technology this way.

I also still read paper books like a cave person. I'll go back to my corner now.

Re: Japanese gaming arcades are on their last life

#65

Post by ilammy »

computador wrote: post #62

Lived in Tokyo in the 80's as a teenager. Game centers where the place to be after school and meet kids from other schools. Loud places, usually close to train/subway stations. Games where between 50¥-100¥. Some game centers offered free melon soda. My game center was managed by a young and friendly Chinpira(low ranked Yakuza).

> usually close to train/subway stations

That's a significant factor in how those places survived. You could easily drop by there on your extended way home from school/work/whatever. Nowadays people have smartphones, internet, etc. for casual entertainment.

Re: Japanese gaming arcades are on their last life

#66

Post by werber »

lrvick wrote: post #63
werber wrote: post #6

I live in Detroit and within the past few years 3 arcade bars have opened within walking distance of my apartment and another is about to open. These are the places I tend to frequent (actually about to go to one to after writing this and went to another last night). The thing that separates them from console or PC games for me is pinball. I cannot justify buying a machine, but I’m loving the resurgence.

I went cheap in other areas of my life so I could get a Stern Jurassic Park pinball machine. My wife and I play it every day. It is a constant dopamine supply. So what if it means driving an old used car when my friends drive Teslas. Would do it again.

I love that table, I played it last night!

Re: Japanese gaming arcades are on their last life

#67

Post by chucksta »

lrvick wrote: post #61
fxtentacle wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe it's a culture thing. The more wealthy the average citizen becomes, the less they need to share with others. And once you're starting to get used to having everything to yourself on-demand, it becomes difficult to accept that in an arcade, you might have to wait for someone else to finish playing before it's your turn.

This is real. I don't have arcades near me, so I converted my garage to an arcade. I think a lot of private collectors like me are sweeping up old equipment that doesn't have a profitable public home anymore. Would -love- to open a non-profit retro arcade/hackerspace in the peninsula area some day if I can secure a building somewhere, but in the mean time I'll just keep collecting equipment to selfishly enjoy at home…

I coincidentally, was looking for a DDR machine yesterday. How do you fine your cabinets (any not just DDR)? It seemed there were a couple small national sites, and one or two local, and their inventory was it

Re: Japanese gaming arcades are on their last life

#68

Post by moogly »

newfriend wrote: post #45
Waterluvian wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never realized until now that MOBA is a pretty terrible acronym unless you already know what it means.

There's an even worse alternative acronym for this genre, which shall not be named.

Ah yes. 10 letters, "Aeon of Strife-style..." etc.

Re: Japanese gaming arcades are on their last life

#70

Post by logbiscuitswave »

phaseshifter wrote: post #22
tmm84 wrote: post #15

Having lived in Japan for the past decade I can say that game centers (arcades to those outside Japan) have changed. I remember playing rhythm based games (pop-n-music, taiko drum master, etc.) and some fighting/shooting games for a few years. But, within the last two years or so, the NFC card requirement for almost all games has come to fruition. Wanna play that racing game? Gonna need to "grind" a vehicle and save…

I'm surprised you have that takeaway for NFC since you have played some rhythm games at least. For the most part I'd say on most rhythm games I've played (IIDX, SDVX, Groove Coaster) it's pretty much storing your song scores so you can see what you've played before and you can go to another arcade and have the same data there too. I feel it's less of a grinding thing and more of a player convenience there. An interes…

I remember back when you could store DDR scores on PlayStation memory cards.
Post reply on HN