Slashdot Mirror
The Dave and Buster's Experience
The Game Chair has a piece looking at the lackluster experience offered by one of the few remaining American arcade chains, Dave and Buster's. From the article: "Dave & Buster's is perennially in my bad books because they don't have Dance Dance Revolution. Each time, I enter with the hope that they might have seen the error of their ways, and each time I am crushed. Honestly. What kind of arcade does not have DDR? Although Dave & Buster's merely possesses pretensions, rather than aspirations to be an arcade, the lack of dance games except for one lonely Pump it Up: Exceed 2 machine is nigh unforgivable. I know DDR isn't so popular in Japan anymore, but unless I am totally mistaken Dave & Buster's is not Japan."
Why is someone's blog entry whining about a random arcade worthy of /.?
Hail Eris, full of mischief...
E pluribus sanguinem
First place I ever played DDR was a D&B, maybe your local one doesnt have it but mine does. But then again I live in jersey where the arcade has yet to die. Infact every summer I make it a mission to go to the "Flashback" arcade, a little mini arcade inside of a huge one which is packed with 80's and 90's games.
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Odd placement on /. aside, this article is also odd because it doesn't pay any mind to the target D&B audience. This place is specifically targeted as an entertainment destination for adults--kids can't even get in without a guardian. Gambling-style games, poker tables, shuffleboard, etc. populate much of the restaurant's real estate. These are not the kinds of patrons who hop around on dance pads or whip up 40-hit combos in hardcore fighting games; they want to shoot stuff, race in cars and play games that require as little learning curve as possible.
Every D&B I've been to has DDR, but very rarely is it used. Most often, D&B is used as a place for drunken ski-ball, arcade style basketball free throws and overly elaborate pachinko style gambling. Any other game is something to do while waiting for something else. Video games are now HOME entertainment.
The article's pretty content free, so lemme crosspost a comment I left on this guy's blog.
The problem with D&B is not DDR. It's the entire attitude that they will house NOTHING but 'casual games'. They're not appealing to arcade fans, they want people who come there to drink and eat, and MAYBE play some games... so, the games have to be playable with no instructions whatsoever. Anybody can drive a car or shoot a gun, so, those are the dominant forms.
Fighting games are more esoteric, since you need combinations of joystick moves and button presses to succeed; unless you read FAQs or are a fan from the console versions you won't do well in them. There is no longer a real fighting game subculture in this country, at least not one that goes to arcades.
Another category they utterly dump is classic games, things from the 80's and 90's. You'd think they'd at least throw in a Donkey Kong or such for nostalgia value, but the problem is that these games don't pay well, don't have a ton of 'continue?' style profit chances, and are costly to upkeep (unless you buy a re-released game like the Space Invaders Anniversary, or Ms.Pac-Man/Galaga combo).
The bottom line is money. They don't make enough money off anything that you can't play for 20 seconds with no prior training and then dump more credits into for another 20 seconds. It's a global problem on the arcade scene, and D&B, which is an arcade secondarily, will never be the answer.
I can see it now... DDR: Irish Dancing.
From a famous comic: "Leave it to the Irish to come up with a dance where you don't spill your beer."