Talk:Video arcade

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Famicom style controller This article is within the scope of WikiProject Video games. For more information, visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
Start This article has been rated as Start-Class on the assessment scale.
Top This article is on a subject of Top priority within gaming for inclusion in Wikipedia 1.0.
A request for a screenshot has been made to help better illustrate the article. (VG images department)
VG To-do:

Contents

[edit] Pinballs?

Should it here, or should it in some other article, mention that pinball machines sometimes existed in what were loosely described as "video arcades" or vice versa? --Daniel C. Boyer 01:03, 19 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Here would be a good place. But it should also be noted that their presence declined as video games become more popular. It should probably also be noted that they declined in popularity with the arcade owners because fixing them was so costly compared to video games and that retrofitting video game cabinets into new games was easy, but pinballs couldn't (normally) be retrofitted. —Frecklefoot 15:03, 19 Sep 2003 (UTC)

[edit] Purikura?

Are you sure that Purikura means "photo booth"? My understanding was that Purikura was a particular brand of photo-based machine (abbreviation of "Princess Clara"?) which also had several spinoffs.

Purikura is a combination of the japanese katankana for print (purinto) and club (kurabu) = purikura

[edit] Decline date?

"This decline is due mainly to the fact that after 1994 arcade game companies failed to stay ahead of the technology curve and would release games that had graphics equal to or worse than the video game consoles of the time."

I really question the date of when Arcades supposedly declined. In 1994, Primal Rage was released, which was a major sucess in the arcades. In 1995 MK3 was released. A big name in arcades, as was Street Fighter Alpha, and Sega Rally Championship. This is among others in the following years of the late 90s. Honestly I would put the decline around when the ps2/gamecube/xbox generation came. That would be from around 2000 onwards.

while it is true that there were some major arcade hits (Soul Calibur 2, Virtua Fighter 4, Dance Dance Revolution), most arcades in Europe and the United States closed because the lack of new visitors. Playstation 1 and Dreamcast could rival most arcade titles at the time and the arcades didn't draw new crowds because it was no longer the pinnacle of computer gaming. So the decline of the arcade machines was rather with the appearance of PS1, Dreamcast and 3D accellerator cards for PCs. Felsir 11:47, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

I have to agree with the 1994 date, as though it surprised even me to see that listed, one should take note that it states 'decline' and not 'death.' Arcades are more or less dead as we used to know them, I know that in my city alone we went from having one in each mall to just one, and it's a Namco Time-Out featuring primarily Namco products (Time-Out used to be independant, sold out to Namco when arcades were declining many a year ago). -- Dan N.

But still, until '97/'98, consoles lagged behind arcades. Basically, all 2d games were better on arcades, and just about all 3d ones were better on consoles. Is that a safe conclusion? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.122.63.142 (talk) 13:39, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
Actually, by Wikipedia standards, all this discussion is moot. We really need a reference that states when the arcades started to decline, which states when, where and why. Just discussing it here without a reference amounts to original research. Just trying to help things progress. — Frecklefσσt | Talk 13:13, 8 April 2008 (UTC)
I have statistics from Vending Times for 1996, 2004, 2005, and 2006. I'm attempting to find stats prior to 1996. Here is what I have so far:
1996 Total Revenue $6,049,705,000 (all amusement revenue)
2006 Total Revenue $6,218,000,000
For that period, amusement revenue has been flat, but has not decreased. The numbers can be broken down by catagory. For instance, video game revenue in 1996 was $1,768,000,000. In 2006 it was $935,000,000. So in that period, video game revenue was reduced by about half. In 1996 redemption revenue was $265,000,000. In 2006 it was $868,000,000. So that catagory grew by a factor of three. These numbers come from the Vending Times Census of the Industry. They are numbers supplied to Vending Times through a yearly census they take of the industry. There is too much information for me to try to give here. The numbers I just gave don't include revenue from pinball or skill cranes....Asher196 (talk) 19:04, 8 April 2008 (UTC)
This is exactly the type of referenced information the article needs. Of course, pre-1996 numbers would be invaluable. Thanks for taking the lead on this! — Frecklefσσt | Talk 14:20, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Overlapping

I think this article should be merged with "arcade game". It is useless to have two overlapping articles on the same subject --128.214.205.4 14:19, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

I agree with the anon here -- I've been disambiguating arcade tonight, and many, many pages link "arcade-style game" (or the equivalent) to "video arcade" sted "arcade game", which is pretty poor. A video arcade is not much more than a place where arcade games are played. The content from this article on the arcades themselves, on video arcades and culture, the decline of the arcade, etc. could easily be added. Woodshed 07:18, 8 August 2006 (UTC)
I disagree. While a video arcade is a place where arcade games are played, there is more information that goes along with arcades themselves than is appropriate in the arcade game article. There was a whole culture that encompassed the 1980s arcades when they were popular in the United States. While it goes largely unexplored in this article (so far), it may be expanded to include that information in the future. I think a distinct article on this topic is appropriate. — Frecklefoot | Talk 16:00, 8 August 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Confusing line, added Clarifyme tag

"presently families are the largest arcade constituent, mainly because the lack of standard new games being released in arcades (arcades now are comprised mostly of deluxe games..." -- The person who wrote this apparently assumes that readers will understand what he/she is talking about. I for one do not. What's a "standard new game"? What's a "deluxe game"? Why should the former be less popular with families and the latter moreso? -- 201.50.251.197 14:14, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Etymology

Can anyone give information about how the word "arcade" came to be used for this meaning? Balfa 15:43, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Merge Game Center

"Game center" is the Japanese synonym of the video arcade, I believe. The Japanese article defines the game center as a "facility where arcade game machines are installed." The word "arcade game" exists but for the building they use "game center" even if the place is small. The two articles should be merged unless the Game Center article is meant to cover arcades in Japan. Shawnc 13:56, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

I have to agree with a merge. But what about a larger article that incorporates other kind of amusements, like medal games, skeeball, etc, e.g. the Family fun center addresses kiddie places like Chuck E. Cheese. Maybe a Entertainment complex article is what's needed? [[Ewlyahoocom 06:29, 14 June 2007 (UTC)
Merging sounds like a good idea. Even if they are region specific, they are at the core the same concept and should be in the same article. My two cents. (Guyinblack25 talk 22:16, 6 August 2007 (UTC))

[edit] 2000s

"However, other games, such as Sega's Cycraft driving simulation game use newer features such four speaker surround sound with a subwoofer for low frequency effects." Sega was using 4 speaker surround and subwoofers back in 1995 with Super GT.----Asher196 (talk) 16:46, 27 January 2008 (UTC)