For some years now, one argument has dominated the existence of coin-op arcade games in asking whether they are relevant in today’s world. Some sources say no; that arcades are dead and so unless someone ports a hugely popular title like Guitar Hero or Metal Gear over to arcades for some wacky reason, then there is no reason to waste time on them. On the other side of the fence are those of us who say yes, they still are relevant and worth noticing. Arcades have needed to adapt to changing tastes and ideas and they certainly haven’t handled that as well as they should have but they are still here and this article I am linking to today discusses how coin-op video as well as locations that host such games are adapting to current circumstances. Topics discussed are price to the player, what kind of games it takes to interest people, how older games play into the mix, and the trends which are currently affecting the industry. 
The article also discusses how many businesses are using console games to shape their business, which brings us to this mention of how Cedar Fair Amusement parks will be using the game Rock Band as a park attraction this summer (which Kevin Williams who sourced this post wants to remind us, was covered first in the Stinger Report e-newsletter). Why a business would use console games as opposed to coin-op is simple to understand – they are capitalizing on the popularity of things like the Wii, even though I’m not 100% sure if all legal questions have been ironed out with those things yet and a lack of knowledge/understanding about the current state of coin-op video games. This is changing a little bit as more coin-op games continue to grab headlines as they have in the past year but we still have some work to do. There’s no reason to limit coin-op games to just an arcade/FEC facility, in fact on reason why arcades were popular in the early 80’s was because they were installed in locations such as offices, bars, etc.
Anyways, enough of my analysis, here is the article at IAAPA.org
