Xbox Coming to Arcades

Stanl writes "The San Jose Mercury News reports that Microsoft will be taking Xbox technology into arcades, including a statement that, 'arcade titles influence the kind of console games that fans buy.' That is an interesting unattributed observation."

Comments

Ummm..

[the_skywise]

What arcades?

Of the 5 malls in my neck of the woods only one has an arcade (Sega City). There's one nightclub with a gameroom, and a handful of putt-putt golf courses. Oh, and a Chuck E Cheese, which hasn't gotten a new video game in well over 3 years.

Midway just got out of the biz altogether.

Or does Microsoft just want to be the next Sega?

Maybe in the 80's

[MrByte420]

Arcades were the thing during the 80's when the newest technology really needed to fit in something the size of a refrigerator but kids barely go to arcades anymore. Nearly all the ones in my area have gone way under and I think microsoft is living in a dream world.

Re:Maybe in the 80's

[Morgahastu]

Perhaps in typical North American areas. But what about in Japan? Arcades are still huge in japan. Microsoft has a very weak grip on the japanese market and maybe if they put some of their games in japanese arcades the japanese will start buying X-boxes.

Re:Maybe in the 80's

[mikerich]

Perhaps it will raise their profile in Japan, but the problem isn't the technology - Microsoft have bent to the Japanese - smaller controllers, even a smaller box.

The real problem lies with the games. There is almost nothing that is likely to appeal to the Japanese market (and precious little to appeal to this XBox owner). Pretty much everyone agrees that the XBox has one 'must-have' game - Halo - and that's it. Halo's brilliant, but FPS don't seem to have taken off in arcades and that genre doesn't do well in Japan.

Now maybe Microsoft' strategy is to flood the Land of the Rising Sun with arcade DOA Beach Volleyball, but I can't see it selling many more machines.

Best wishes,
Mike.

Re:Really?

[levik]

Actually, this is a very good move. I'm surprised more companies don't do it. Even if cabinets themselveds make no money, it's like having an ad for your system and games placed where people go to see cool games.

This is probably going to be more effective than any other form of advertising, and all for a price of a monitor and a few plywood panels painted in bright colors. If they're smart, they'll give these owners at low prices, just to get good positioning.

Arcade Were Cool...

[LordYUK]

... when the "good" games were .50 to start and .25 to continue, and the really really good games were .75 to start. Nowadays games are .75 (average) and not really any different/more enjoyable than the run of the mill PC/console game.

I used to spend alot of time (and money) going to arcades, but now I'd rather spend 40-50 bucks and buy a game than 1.00 to play one for 3 minutes.

Re:Really?

[pubjames]

They know they have to make money in new places.

But they don't. Windows and Office are still the cash cows at Microsoft - and always have been. They have consistently failed to dominate other markets:

a) They tried to 'kill' AOL with MSN, and failed dismally. Now dial-up is yesterdays market.

b) They tried to 'kill' Palm and dominate the handheld market, and failed. The handheld market is now also becoming yesterday's news.

c) Mobiles is where the action is at, and Microsoft is really struggling to make any impact at all there.

It is a fallacy to say that Microsoft is good at making money in new markets. They are actually very good at wasting huge sums trying to dominate new markets, and failing.

Bill Gates did the clever stuff over a decade ago, recognising the importance of the PC OS and Office markets, and fighting like mad to dominate it. That has generated vast amounts of money. But their efforts elsewhere haven't been so successful.

It's only recently that they've started to take on Sony. Sony is Godzilla to Microsoft's King Kong. In the past, the giant gorilla has had an easy time swatting less powerful foes. Taking on Godzilla is a whole new ballgame. My money is on Godzilla.

Knees Fully Jerked.

[RatBastard]

Hands up, everyone one who bothered to read the article. That's what, six of you? Wonderful.

The article states that Sony and Nintendo are also working on arcade versions of their systems. Is anyone crying doom and gloom over this and claiming that Sony and Nintendo are idiots who must be desperate? No? Okay, why is (almost) everyoine saying that about Microsoft?

Do I need to even ask? No. I don't. It's the typical unthinking knee-jerk "M$ is a bunch of stupid poopy-heads and Bill Gate$ eats babies!" panty twsiting that goes on here every time a article about Microsoft gets posted.

Is the arcade scene dead? In the USA it pretty much is. But it's alive and well in Japan, the one market where the XBox is not doing well at all. The arcade scene is good enough in Japan that Sony and Nintendo also think it's an idea worth looking into.

I'm not a pro-Microsoft nutjob. They do lots of things that piss me off (XP is a disgrace, Media Player 9 is evil beyond compare, MS Bob was a joke, I dislike their embrace and extend policy) but this automatic anti-MS spew is laughable at best and sadly pathetic at worste.

By now most of you mods have decided to mod me down as a troll. But take a momet to think about this. Are we doing ourselves any favors by acting like jackasses every time Microsoft does something?