Halo 3

Discussion of other non-rhythm/music games

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SoDeepPolaris
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Post by SoDeepPolaris » Sun Dec 10, 2006 11:43 pm

Man, Oregon has basically no fighting games in its arcades. Tilt is basically the only exception, and they do have a great selection.

But Wunderlands suck. Majorly. Nickle arcades can DIAF, they are so late on new games it's ridiculous.
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Post by WhiteDragon » Mon Dec 11, 2006 12:25 am

SoDeepPolaris wrote:But Wunderlands suck. Majorly. Nickle arcades can DIAF, they are so late on new games it's ridiculous.
You can say that again. I went to the one on the north side of Portland once. I'm not sure which was more annoying. The selection of games, or the droves of tiny children running around.


By the way, I also lived in Battle Ground WA, about 40 minutes from Portland OR, for five years.
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Post by elcuebee » Mon Dec 11, 2006 12:31 am

WhiteDragon wrote:
liquidblue aka DBV wrote:SVGL, MGL, and my own home modesto arcade, have a constant (throughout the day on weekends, about 50% of the time on weekdays) 4-5 person line on ALL the fighting games.

literally on weekends at SVGL, the line on CvS2, MvC2, 3rd strike, soul calibur 3, KOF, Tekken, and Guilty Gear XX all have at least three or so people constantly in line, all day long.

On weekdays it fluctuates. MGL is even more, usually having about seven or eight person lines, it's almost impossible to even move through the arcade most days.
I've never been to the Sunnyvale Golfland (though I plan to next time I'm out there), but I have been to the Milpitas Golfland multiple times. I've been there a few times on Thursdays, a couple times on Saturday, and at least once on a different weekday as well. I've also been to the Castro Valley Golfland a ton of times, on pretty much every day of the week. Anyway, I've never seen constant lines on all the fighting games. At times when it would get really busy a group would gather around a particular machine or two, but I never saw it last terribly long. Granted, I was generally more attentive to the music games at these locations, but I can't recall there ever being anywhere near as much demand for the fighting games as you claim. In fact, the game that I remember having the biggest lines was probably Initial D. DDR/ITG/Other Bemani usually would form some nice lines as well.

Anyway, from what I've seen, the racing games seem to be a hell of a lot more popular than the fighting games out there. I seem to recal Initial D and DDR/ITG getting lines more often then the fighting games.


By the way, I'm originally from the Castro Valley/Hayward area, and I'm usually out there visiting friends and family at least a couple times a year. I've been out to the Modesto area multiple times, but I've never been to the arcade out there. Most of the time I go to CVGL with my friend, due to the fact that it's close by, but we've been making it a point to make at least a couple trips down to MGL each time I'm out there. Next time we'll have to pay SVGL a visit.
The fighting game boom has only happened within the last year or two: this is because all of the bemani players have stopped playing bemani and instead basically play fighting games.

also, yes, fighting games are centered in california, but this is again like saying that bemani basically makes enough money in california alone to spread it across the entire USA evenly in popularity, to make them still (all around the USA) more popular than say, racing games as a whole.

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Post by TaQa » Mon Dec 11, 2006 12:41 am

Its pretty hard to compare money in California to the other states. Jobs, on average, pay better, since the cost of living is higher, and thus they charge more for things (we'll say games because it relates, and is true). Yes, they make quite a bit of money, and the arcade scene may be booming there. California, generally, is a more active state than say, Indiana. Arcades in Indiana are...meager at best. The console generation has taken over the youth here, and kids just aren't interested in going out if they can do things just as easily at home.
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Post by WhiteDragon » Mon Dec 11, 2006 3:52 pm

liquidblue aka DBV wrote:The fighting game boom has only happened within the last year or two: this is because all of the bemani players have stopped playing bemani and instead basically play fighting games.
I was out there over this last summer, right when Supernova started showing up, and I was at the Milpitas Golfland three times, and the Castro Valley Golfland at least three times. There were still a decent amount of people playing the Bemani games, and I really don't recall there everr being a massive rush on the fighting games while I was there.

Hell, I remember being at CVGL when they had SCII at the end of the back room by the racing games and almost never seeing anyone playing it.

Well, like I've said, I may have just not been hitting the peak times, or something, but I still think you may be exaggerating a little.
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Post by elcuebee » Mon Dec 11, 2006 5:56 pm

WhiteDragon wrote:
liquidblue aka DBV wrote:The fighting game boom has only happened within the last year or two: this is because all of the bemani players have stopped playing bemani and instead basically play fighting games.
I was out there over this last summer, right when Supernova started showing up, and I was at the Milpitas Golfland three times, and the Castro Valley Golfland at least three times. There were still a decent amount of people playing the Bemani games, and I really don't recall there everr being a massive rush on the fighting games while I was there.

Hell, I remember being at CVGL when they had SCII at the end of the back room by the racing games and almost never seeing anyone playing it.

Well, like I've said, I may have just not been hitting the peak times, or something, but I still think you may be exaggerating a little.
You must have went when:

A) somehow everyone was at the other arcade, as they all go to SVGL one day, and then MGL the other day, alternating

B) there was a tournament

C) people were out of town

I go to MGL every weekend and literally, in the arcade section, I have to weave through the crowds. All of the games in the back, the fighting/pinball games, are PACKED with lines.

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Post by WhiteDragon » Mon Dec 11, 2006 6:00 pm

Meh, perhaps I was just missing the peak times. I do know, however, that there were definitely lines forming for DDR (granted it was SN and had just gotten there), ITG2, GF, and DM when we were there on Thursday evenings. I definately didn't get the impression that the bemani games had lost their fanbase. Hell, even PPP was getting some usage while I was there.
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Post by Pheonixguy » Tue Dec 12, 2006 9:35 pm

TaQa wrote:Its pretty hard to compare money in California to the other states. Jobs, on average, pay better, since the cost of living is higher, and thus they charge more for things (we'll say games because it relates, and is true). Yes, they make quite a bit of money, and the arcade scene may be booming there. California, generally, is a more active state than say, Indiana. Arcades in Indiana are...meager at best. The console generation has taken over the youth here, and kids just aren't interested in going out if they can do things just as easily at home.
Ive been asked repeatedly by people why i play ddr at the arcades when i have it at home, we're just all tight wads
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Post by elcuebee » Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:09 pm

WhiteDragon wrote:Meh, perhaps I was just missing the peak times. I do know, however, that there were definitely lines forming for DDR (granted it was SN and had just gotten there), ITG2, GF, and DM when we were there on Thursday evenings. I definately didn't get the impression that the bemani games had lost their fanbase. Hell, even PPP was getting some usage while I was there.
you must have went into some alternate reality arcade or something

in the six years i've went to MGL, past 2002, *NO ONE* plays GF or DM there, save for one or two random people who rarely play, and there has never ever been a line at any point.

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Post by WhiteDragon » Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:22 pm

Well, like I said, I did go right after they got SuperNova, so I'm guessing that caused an unusual surge of bemani players. However, there were definately at least half a dozen different people who were playing DM and GF (and waiting on eachother at times) one of the Thursdays I was there.
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Post by Dyme » Tue Dec 12, 2006 11:52 pm

Pheonixguy wrote:
TaQa wrote:Its pretty hard to compare money in California to the other states. Jobs, on average, pay better, since the cost of living is higher, and thus they charge more for things (we'll say games because it relates, and is true). Yes, they make quite a bit of money, and the arcade scene may be booming there. California, generally, is a more active state than say, Indiana. Arcades in Indiana are...meager at best. The console generation has taken over the youth here, and kids just aren't interested in going out if they can do things just as easily at home.
Ive been asked repeatedly by people why i play ddr at the arcades when i have it at home, we're just all tight wads
i really hate those fuckers who do that. then u try to explain y and they just look at you funny. ive actually hit a few ppl cause they pissed me off
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Post by sam » Wed Dec 13, 2006 8:06 am

last year or two?! are you insane?

what about cvs, cvs2, gg, sc2, sf3 etc etc etc

fighters were way bigger back in 2001-2004.


hell i remember going to the union in bloomington and playing samurai showdown on the huge mvs cab they had and it was played quite often by people.
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Post by Frank918 » Wed Dec 13, 2006 1:22 pm

I agree, fighters were WAY bigger in the first two years I started playing DDR - 2003 and 2004. Granted, during that time a lot of people in my hometowm played DDR as well, I'd suffice to say that an equal number of people played SC2.

Despite what a lot of people used to think back then of "Oh DDR is the only thing keeping this arcade going," I have to disagree. DDR may have brought in quite a bit of cash from a select group, but I'd bet that the main dinero came straight from SC2 and the hordes of people who came to play Time Crisis 2 and 3.

..Not to mention the kids who play all of the games geared towards the young'uns. And you can't deny the large appeal the diversity of racing games had to people we would consider "non-gamers".

This might be anecdotal, for it's based simply on observations from the arcade I played at, but I assumed it to be pretty standard for most midwest arcades and wouldn't doubt if these things applied to most other ones.

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Post by MonMotha » Wed Dec 13, 2006 2:07 pm

As of two years ago at the Terre Haute Time Out, ranked by gross token revenue per week:

1. Bozo the Clown (yes, that's right - that stupid redemption game)
2. Time Crisis 3
3. DDR
4. Time Crisis 2
5. The tornado redemption thingie
6. Soul Calibur 2

So DDR was the number 2 non-redemption game, behind the fairly new (at the time) shooter. That info comes directly from the manager, so I have no reason to doubt it. There were a few weeks (perhaps 1/4 of the time) where DDR did better than TC3, making it the #1 non-redemption.

In general, redemption makes a boatload of money. After all, people will drop a token to play a single round of colorama to win 15 tickets (the rough average for that game with the default payouts). It takes about 50-100 tickets at most places to get a prize worth perhaps 25 cents. A game takes approximately 10 seconds. Compare with DDR or Pump, which costs 3-4 tokens and lasts about 10 MINUTES. There's a reason almost all arcades have a large redemption area: they make money. While the operators tend to hate those stupid games as much as you do, they bring in revenue, and that's what it's all about.

The Bemani type games tend to do fairly well because they cost a lot compared to most other games, and most casual players aren't particularly good, often failing after one or two songs. This brings the game time down to a more reasonable (from the op's point of view) 3-4 minutes for $1. They're nice to their regular/hardcore players because they do generate revenue, and repeat business is always good. Also, many passer-bys will see somebody who's really good at DDR/Pump and decide to try it out. That doesn't happen nearly as much with shooters or fighters as those games aren't as exhibitionist.

[I guess this is completely OT, but it is in reponse to the previous post]
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Post by ShammerS » Wed Dec 13, 2006 2:43 pm

MonMotha wrote: [I guess this is completely OT, but it is in reponse to the previous post]
The last 3 pages of this thread are off topic, but it really doesn't matter.

No new details about Halo 3 have emerged yet. :wink:

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