Well today has been nothing but catching up for me. I still have report #3 on Amusement Expo 2013 that I am working on, just waiting on a few pictures from The Stinger Report to properly complete that. This is also not the only location news I have, I have a few stories from the US to cover but I will compile those into a Location News USA post that I will probably run tomorrow.
So for Europe, Toby Nakhorn sent us some information about some things going on in the UK and France. First for the UK, London in particular. An existing arcade has moved and is set to open soon in Central London called The Heart of Gaming. Owner Mark Starkey has saved various cabinets and games from the Funland Trocadero and is giving them a home, along with other content. That will also include game consoles. The arcade is set to open on April 13th at 12PM noon. From the looks of it, the venue will have strong support for fighting games, including “Super Street Fighter Turbo, Street Fighter Third strike, Classic KOF’s, Killer Instinct 2, and Mortal Kombat” among others. There will be an Initial D there too. This will be a real gamer’s arcade so we wish them the best of luck in the business – you can find a Facebook page for them here.
Before we head across the channel, there is news that Konami has some new offices opening up in the UK. The news is through Highway Games which covers amusement/digital out-of-home stuff but the story doesn’t really say that Konami Europe is going to be jumping back into the thick of arcades. So I won’t hold my breath on that just yet, but who knows. It could have some implications for Konami restarting an amusement presence down the road.
Back to the tips from Mr. Nakhorn, he made a visit to a couple of arcades in Paris France. I think we may have mentioned one of them, the Arcade Street before, but the other, the “La Tête Dans Les Nuages” (roughly The Head in the Clouds) is one I don’t recall hearing about. They have the largest Facebook presence I have seen for an arcade so far, with over 18,000 likes to their page. Toby describes the latter arcade thus:
“Les Nuages is a big arcade on two levels, with around 10 sit down cabs (3rd Strike, Metal Slug 6, KOF 02, Fist of the North Star etc), and a healthy player scene from what I saw. I was definitely surprised to find the brand new Dark Escape 4D, along with the huge 8 player Outrun 2 SP, a full sized Lets Go Jungle, a game shop, cafe & bowling, with free wifi being the icing on the cake. Also lots of well maintained music games including DDR X and several Pump It Up’s.”
For the likewise excellent Arcade Street, Toby provided a video he made of it below, which also uses the title “video game heaven”. Just watch to see why. You can also check out the Arcade Street Facebook page here.
I was in La Tete Dans Les Nuages in the 90’s. Huge place. Looked like it had quite a bit of money behind it they had everything you could want to play.
Pity to see Goodge Street Casino getting dismantled. It’s been a great spot for old school arcade gaming forever. Hopefully The Heart of Gaming is a success. I don’t think that sort of arcade can really last without having the slot machines to subsidise their existence.
Just how big is this heart of gaming arcade going to be. I hope either way that it’s a success and if so they plan on extending to a bigger location. Game consoles I find pointless as you can play them at home but I’m liking how they’ve managed to save as many arcade cabinets and I hope if I go visit they have some shmups there like they had in Funland