The second goodbye: closing arcades in japan

(tags game, arcade, failure)

I hear the news about some Japanese arcades closing through Internet, namely through Subatomic Brainfreeze. Obviously I don't go to arcades and I don't buy the monthly magazine Arcadia.

I doubt very much that flagship sites like Taito's HEY or Akihabara's Club Sega are going to go down, so go to Tokyo or Osaka for your hardcore/midcore arcade fix. But I expect little rinky dink or remote arcades in my neck of the woods will be drying up. It seems silly to attribute the arcade downturn to the Wii, because they provide different experiences and cater to different audiences.

Will this mean more experiments in arcade gaming like Idolm@ster, those card-based soccer/action games (the sit-down type for adults), those crazy hardware games like walking the dog or riding a bicycle or using a sword, and gun games dry up too? And what of those get-em-while-they're-young mini-arcade games like Mushi King and Love and Berry that are nested in family-friendly malls and Toys R Us? Never mind the hardcore games from the likes of Cave and SNK.

Consumer home game consoles and high gas prices are taking their toll on Japanese arcades, according to the Namco-Bandai spokesperson. Stay at home is the mantra this recession.