Today I have come across two positive arcade articles, one from Forbes magazine and the
other from a blog discussing the state of arcades in the Philippines. The Forbes article focuses primarily on the trend of older gamers collecting classic games for themselves despite remakes abounding on services such as Xbox Live Arcade and doesn’t say much about modern games where one collector (who also happens to be a game designer) states:
“I like the older games because they are so much more creative than what is in the arcades now. Today, everything is a fighting or shooting or driving game,”
I know a number of game designers love collecting old arcades (I bought Crystal Castles from one) but what it is that keeps them from wanting to make a new arcade game themselves is a mystery. It’s either money or the company they work for doesn’t want to touch it but if any of these designers need a new job in the field, I know of a couple arcade companies are looking for designers. 😉 [Forbes Article via Arcade Renaissance]
Anyways, the second article talks about a chain of arcades in the Philippines called Timezone. Apparently the arcade scene is booming there and in the article I see the standard themes as to why – the superior social experience, interest in the new games and the catering to people of all ages. While most media outlets seem to enjoy jumping on the demise of arcades saying that consoles are superior in every way, I find it interesting that arcades continue to appeal to people despite the large amount of hype the console industry gets. [Timezone sees arcade boom via Hackenslash]
