Zeon Atack!

[Evangolis]

Not really, but it got your attention.  Got mine too; here is the original headline:

Zeon Attack!
Japan's game arcades are far more extravagant and addictive than those in America.
Is that a good thing for a country with a youth employment problem?

This is a superficial but interesting article I ran across on the Japanese arcade culture.  I reckon the link will get crunched for the next column in a week or less, so I'd read it now.  Hard to say from here in the Midwest how much of the writer's points are hype, and how much serious, but having spent a lot of time in American arcades before the home computer age, the story held my interest on that topic alone.

[Margalis]

The depiction of what Japanese arcades are like is very accurate. Often divided into floors with different themes, with the first floor typically redemption and photo-booth games.

The analysis - I dunno.

[Samwise]

I miss going to arcades.  All of the really good arcades that I went to in my youth (including the one at my university) have gone out of business.   

[Teleku]

Its mainly because Japan has a more comunal gaming culture.  They go out to play games publically, be it an arcade, net cafe, or hanging out on the corner with there DS.  Most people here rather play in the comfort of their own home, on their computer for free (minus cost of buying the damn thing), rather than shelling out cash for each game.  So you end up with the multi story arcade's ever block in Japan, while they struggle here.

Having said that, I must say, when I was in Japan, those 10 story arcades where filled with crap.  They had floors and floors of elaborate looking machines, yet nothing I god damn wanted to play.  They were all either beat games like dance dance revolution (or drum playing, guitar playing, ect., which I despise), very generic crappy shooters, fucking crane games (they had floors of these), and these wierd card game arcade machines (I dont know how they worked, but some of them flashed you pictures of hentai as you scored points......).  The only games I actually enjoyed in Japan were the ones I can play in the arcades here in the US, like time crisis or guilty gear.  Maybe I just had bad luck though, but I went into like 10 different ones, and it was all like that.  Anything worthwhile from Japan gets shipped over and can be played in your average arcade here.

[Strazos]

But finding the arcade is the hard part over here. I spent a few hours in a Namco Zone in London, which was pretty decent, and more than I had seen anywhere in the US.

[schild]

Arcades are dead to me.

[Telemediocrity]

I always avoided arcades, precisely because they made the gaming experience communal.  Seeing fellow gamers firsthand made me lose any desire to play games, much as seeing the people who eat at McDonald's makes me lose any desire to eat there.  It's not a matter of smugness - I've just always found arcades really, really depressing.  You see a guy conquering some uber-complex song on DDR or launching a 9 million hit combo on a fighting game, and you think to yourself...  "Wow, they spent all that effort.  And for what?  Imagine all the more productive things they could have done with that time.  Imagine the better colleges they could have gotten into."

Of course, one could look at me playing MMOs and say exactly the same thing.  Which is why I prefer that nobody looks at me while I'm playing MMOs.

[schild]

Then why'd you use a picture of yourself as an avatar?

[Sky]

I used to love arcades when I was a kid. I didn't like the infinite amount of microtransactions necessary to keep playing. And people bitch about mmo costs.

I liked Track & Field, Gauntlet. Games sucked when I was a kid.

[UD_Delt]

I liked Track & Field, Gauntlet. Games sucked when I was a kid.

Gauntlet was awesome. Personally, I was awesome at dig-dug.

[Ironwood]

Then why'd you use a picture of yourself as an avatar?

Is that really him ?


Cripes.

[HaemishM]

Then why'd you use a picture of yourself as an avatar?

Is that really him ?


Cripes.

It all becomes painstakingly clear, doesn't it?

[Sky]

Next week we should all use ourselves as our avatards.

[HaemishM]

As usual, I am ahead of the times.

[Strazos]

We've seen my picture before. We don't want to play this game.

[geldonyetich]

Which came first in Japan:

The rapid Japanese Arcade culture
or
The having an arcade game place on every other block

Because I could see that going either way.

[schild]

Pachinko.

[Kail]

I used to love arcades when I was a kid. I didn't like the infinite amount of microtransactions necessary to keep playing. And people bitch about mmo costs.

You see a guy conquering some uber-complex song on DDR or launching a 9 million hit combo on a fighting game, and you think to yourself...  "Wow, they spent all that effort.  And for what?  Imagine all the more productive things they could have done with that time.  Imagine the better colleges they could have gotten into."

A combination of these is what pissed me off.  As a kid, I had a tiny allowance, almost all of which went to buy genesis games, so it was rare that I had money left over for the arcade.  And the only nearby arcade in my city was small and mostly empty, except for a few guys who hung out there like, 24/7.  So every few months I'd head out, buy some tokens, try to play Mortal Kombat, get about halfway through my first match vs. the computer, and one of the regulars would sidle up next to me, drop in his tokens, and beat the shit out of me with a double perfect.  Game over, see you in a few months. 

As for the article, it sounds pretty dubious.  These kids who are spending thousands of dollars playing arcade games are supposed to be unemployed?!  Yikes.  I'd hate to meet one of the rich ones.

[Telemediocrity]

As for the article, it sounds pretty dubious.  These kids who are spending thousands of dollars playing arcade games are supposed to be unemployed?!  Yikes.  I'd hate to meet one of the rich ones.

Perhaps they're unemployed and rich?  I don't know about in Japan, but the Western media definitely has an obsession with what the trust fund babies are up to this week.  Hell, if you're a rich, aimless kid and you consider exploring your sexuality, you can get your high school social circle profiled in New York magazine!

Is that really him ?


Cripes.

Yes and no; that's just my 'O' face.

[Wolf]

Yes and no; that's just my 'O' face.

I either got that wrong or totally did not need to have this information. Tell me I got it wrong, please.

[Ironwood]

Then why'd you use a picture of yourself as an avatar?

Is that really him ?

Cripes.

It all becomes painstakingly clear, doesn't it?

Graphically.

[Sky]

As for the article, it sounds pretty dubious.  These kids who are spending thousands of dollars playing arcade games are supposed to be unemployed?!  Yikes.  I'd hate to meet one of the rich ones.

On the upside, by the time I was gigging with the band (thus totally broke), my singer and I could finish Double Dragon on 50¢ each. $1 if one of us hit the other (friendly fire co-op ftw) with a bat or something, because we'd go for the revenge throwdown.

Double Dragon was far and above my favorite arcade game. Co-op, a variety of combat moves (not huge, but it was enough, like holding an opponent for your buddy to beat up...come to think of it that's generally when the friendly fire would happen...), destructable environment and the ability to use your foes weapons.

[Margalis]

Like I said, the description of arcades is spot on but the analysis of the people in them - I dunno. Seemed like a bit of hyperbole.

I spent a lot of time at Sega World in Akiabara. They had an entire floor of Virtua Fighter and an entire floor of Capcom fighting games, and both floors were PACKED on a Wednesday afternoon. At 100 Yen a pop is does drain the wallet rather fast.

[Strazos]

you can get your high school social circle profiled in New York magazine!

Just...wtf...

[Samwise]

Next week we should all use ourselves as our avatards.

You're just trying to trick me into giving up my Lazy Town avatar.

[Sky]

I wouldn't do that ;)

[Cheddar]

Next week we should all use ourselves as our avatards.

I'll play.

[Telemediocrity]

Do you want to fuck me?

I'd fuck me.

I'd fuck me hard.

FIFY

[geldonyetich]

You should really get that neck growth looked at.

[Sky]

It's not nice to mock siamese twins. Or conjoined or whatthefuckever the PC term is this week.

[Samwise]

Next week we should all use ourselves as our avatards.

I'll play.

I'll see your eyes and raise you my entire head.  HA.

[Telemediocrity]

Samwise's quick little look to the right makes me teehee like a schoolgirl every time it loops. SUPER KAWAII