Contrary to that thought, the scene of the local arcade appears to be standing strong, both young and old customers can be seen playing, specifically on a few selected ones that I noticed that the adults seem to be paying lots of attention to.
For instance, there were several table-like consoles with multiple controls on its edges, providing several available playing seats of seemingly up to 8 players at one time. The players’ objectives was to use the control stick provided, guide their avatar’s cannon tube in the right direction and fire a torpedo which explodes into a fishing net, capturing any fish that comes into its path and the points rake up. Surprisingly, the prize of the game actually dispenses more arcade coins for the players to collect and they continue their streak.
On the other corner, was a section of the arcade room space reserved for a row of game stations that utilizes special playing cards when being played on a Infra-red sensitive panel, and the player controls their virtual army seen on the screen before them, engaging in a battle involving historic Chinese characters from the story of the Three Kingdoms.
Not surprisingly the said game is in its third season, clearly indicating a successful run with this game strategy. But what really caught my attention was the fact that the players me and my classmates encountered were seemingly from the ages of 30 or 40 years old and above. As far as 10 years ago, the arcade was usually a place where children, teenagers, and young adults make up the bulk of the arcade’s financial staple. But now, one of the older customers that I have spoke to even claimed to have taken part in major competitions, having a mass collection of the cards, and even being knowledgeable about the cards’ market.
With the gaming industry dishing out their punches with Microsoft’s XBOX360, Sony’s PlayStation 3, and Nintendo’s Wii, not to mention the handhelds and the ever improving Personal Computer, one would have thought that the only external establishments that continues to rake the cash would be the local Local Area Networks (LAN) shops.
But from the more recent additions to the arcade’s selection, I could tell that it might not be as far-fetched as I thought. For example, from what I have observed a couple of times when I was in a casino I noticed that there were rows upon rows of electronic slot machines, amounting to perhaps hundreds as far as I could see. Even more so was the number of patrons playing those very games.
When being compared with the ones I see in the arcade, I could not help but notice a similarity between the two. Take the machine that looks like a arcade coin jackpot for example, players place each coin on two rotatable slopes that the coins can roll into the glass case, land on a space made possible by a mechanical piece of plate, that continues to push any coins until excess coins drop into a waiting dish below for the players to collect. Though these machines have been around for quite a long time, the additions include slot-machine-like bells-and-whistles and special bonus stages on a compact LCD screen inside the case.
The players? Clearly people in their forties.
Of course, as I mentioned earlier that the LAN shops are certainly here to stay as long as popular multi-player PC games continue to be published, which was also what I discovered as part of the arcade’s premises.
Besides the new additions, I too noticed that old arcades titles like the fighting series King of Fighters and shooting ones like Time Crisis 4 are visibly around though not as crowded as before. Even so, I could still spy players putting in their coins for their fighting or shooting rush. Though not as popular now, I see it as a reasonable choice.
Normally for titles like these it is hard to find them in the current market, even if a handful does get ported over to the consoles. But the feeling that player experiences in an arcade might greatly differ from playing it on a home console or even on a handheld and that could be the main reason why some players still return back to the arcade.
Additionally, large gaming machines like Time Crisis 4 that comes with the gun controller and the feet pedal, though being ported into a PlayStation 3 title, simply trying to recreate the feeling and atmosphere in one’s home might not be possible, considering the lack of space and considerations for the neighbors, for people living in HDB flats.
Like LAN shops, the arcade can also be a social location in which friends can gather and play together, or one could even make new friends when playing a new attraction.
Thus, as long as the arcades’ management foresees the need to attract the older audience, continue to update and upgrade their selections, and the occasional attempt to set new benchmarks in terms of environment experience, the video arcade scene will not be going away any time soon.
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