Two of my personal favorite arcade titles right next to each other
Newsfeed 1041 via 
(Image of the New York-New York Casino arcade via Dragonslairfans.com)
The US economy continues to stagnate along with unemployment rising again and one place that is still trying to get back on it’s feet is Las Vegas, a city which has been hit particularly hard by the economic environment of the past few years. When money gets tight for consumers, entertainment and leisure can take a big hit and the circumstances of Vegas have been a particular example of that. One can find some great arcades inside many of the big casinos on the Strip so as those resorts have struggled to attract visitors to their site, how have their arcades been faring (while adding to the equation that notion some still hold that arcades in America are completely dead/extinct/non-existent/etc.)given the downturn?
This article by the Las Vegas Review Journal takes a look at that subject and finds that at a few casinos such as the New York-New York, Excalibur and Circus Circus, their arcade venues have been doing well despite downward trends in other areas. To be exact, here’s an important line from the article: “Indeed, overall visitorship has been down and gaming revenue has declined for the past few years, but the arcade/theme park business has remained fairly steady.” The article does point out that a few locations have scaled their arcades back and for those that have the arcades don’t get much play but for those who have maintained a large arcade presence, they have been rewarded for it. It’s obvious that a large arcade is always going to be more attractive than a smaller one, especially in a flashy place with diverse entertainment options to pick from like Las Vegas. I recommend reading through the article as it’s a great example of what’s attractive about arcades when they are done properly.
it would stand to reason that arcades are actually a very economic way of gaming… but i haven’t read the article yet – thanks for posting as always. I still have never checked out LV, let alone the arcades – i should put that on my to do list pronto.
I’ve said this before but prefacing posts with “people say arcades are dead but look at this they’re not dead!” only serves to perpetuate the meme. Makes it sound like the industry has an inferiority complex. Best way to promote something is focus on the positive. It’s like if you tell someone “don’t forget your keys” they only hear the forget bit it’s better to say “remember your keys”. When you write “arcades aren’t dead” people just think “arcades dead”.