Pro Gaming by Penny Arcade
Aris ON Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 12:07PM 
I know next to nothing about Penny Arcade, but a good friend of mine, Seeso_2D sent me this link and I found it to be very interesting. It's a video explination of what is standing in the way of gaming as a sport. I may be flying solo on this one, but I don't embrace the concept of fighting games becoming an Esport. I know my mentality is archaic, but to me, FGs belong in the arcade. If only there was a way to keep them there and have them grow at the same time. I know my mentality is unrealistic, but I consider people like myself the counter balance to the current boom of console and online FGs. I do not consider myself the opposition to FGs as an Esport, however, I simply would hate to lose the charm of playing FGs in an arcade.
Check out the video by following the link below.
Reader Comments (11)
FGs belong in the arcade, yes I completely agree with you Aris. But unfortunately, arcades are dead and gone.
Common man, give it up! Archades in USA are almost dead and gone. Most European countries don't even have them at all.
I don't care about playing fighting games online due to the obvious reasons (lag, punishers not being able to punish, rage-quitters, etc) but consoles are the way to go. People should invite over friends and have sessions and then have local/ national tournaments in some random hall or whatever proper location that fits the bill.
It'll never be the same situation like in archades with all the testosterone and the anger and the competition, but still somewhat fun. Whats wrong with fighting games being e-sport? It doesn't look like TTT2 is coming to America after all. Do you think people will still play Tekken in archades for a whole another year? Highly unlikely!
I'm in Eastern Ky and we had a Namco Arcade, untill the whole Mall closed.I wish we had turnaments and a Fighting Games community localy. Maybe some day a rich guy will start one. i have seen stranger things happen.
Arcades have become a regional term in this country. Talking about arcades is kinda asking someone in Kansas to go to the beach. I know arcades are important for you, but it isn't even a matter of debate for most people. I recently found an arcade while on vacation, it was the first one I had seen in 10 years. It was all skee ball and ticket machines. They had a KOF2002 machine in the back, but the second player joystick was broken. That is the closest arcade to my home and it is a 4 hour drive.
For me any money a dev spends on arcades could and should have been spent on making a better game for consoles or saved so that they can afford the $10,000 it takes patch the title after it comes out.
For esports, arcades could be the stadiums for fighting game events in the future. Pay per view is a long way away, but making the locations for tournaments and streams better should be a goal. I have to imagine that South Town and Super Arcade have been benefiting from the streams being held at them thanks to the crowds and free adverting.
when ttt2 comes out im sorry but consoles are how we will have to play this game . street fighter is far from perfect but the best still play online. and ttt2 will be just as bad online . this generation of consoles cant hold tags engine . so fucking deal wit it . see you online
"Arcades have become a regional term in this country. Talking about arcades is kinda asking someone in Kansas to go to the beach. I know arcades are important for you, but it isn't even a matter of debate for most people."
You hit the nail on the head dude. It's important to have the pro-arcade voice still in there but for better or for worse we are a console nation now.
I agree with all 4 of the points but I think they left out the fact that video games in general still get looked down upon by the mainstream audiences. it's getting better but until we get rid of the "waste of time" mentality as a whole and treat it more like poker it's going to be rough going. It's just a matter of time though since it's going in the right direction.
its sad to know that the arcades are dying in a sense. over here in MA there was a place i went to play tekken. Goodtimes in somerville was the place to play arcades all day, but it was close down for good, for something i dont know.
but i just hope that harada and his team on working out a new advance of dealing with internet lag, or create a special type of service for this game like having special servers on certain places you know. or advance pack compressor for the online thing. its truly worrying. sadly aris people cant say they wish to play on the arcades since there isnt. over here in ma there isnt unless you willing to drive to framingham.
Their excuses about GGPO are bullshit imo.. they just cant be bothered rebuilding their engine around it.
There is no point having dedicated servers for a fighting game, that just add's another link into the mix and would actually make it worse it has to be p2p.
I general I find my self agreeing with Aris, but cant on this subject, Arcades are gone man, time to mourn it and move on...
I think E-sports are a good thing if they're done properly. They create slews of new, competitive players thanks to the amount of content they develop through live streams and articles and whatever. People watch, and people get competitive. If fighting games became so immensely popular that everyone started playing them, what's to stop arcades from coming back in force thanks to a revived population of competitive players dying for a fix of solid offline play with new opponents around every corner?
I don't believe arcades will be worse off due to E-sports existence. One does not siphon off the other. It's simply something more. FGs need every foothold they can take, and I think FGs are a lot farther along than most games, since a lot of the fundamentals are interchangeable across titles.
The biggest hindrance is a lot of the huge companies trying to force E-sports into popularity (Like terrible TV spots, corporate meddling, etc). It doesn't really work that way. Community-run productions and tournaments with sponsors like what's being done now seems to be bearing a remarkable amount of fruit for what's being put into it (See the numbers for every major tournament over the past year.)
While it sucks that arcades are being dragged along for the ride, what can you do? There needs to be more players willing to play in arcades if they're going to come back, or at least stay afloat.
Consoles are what killed the arcade seen in America.
$5000-$7000 for a arcade machine
$250-$350 for a console
Go figure.
I used to work for major distributor (CCME) and i watched all the manufacturers die off.
To be fair what killed arcades is two major factors.
1. The community not willing to pay/not able to pay 1$ per game and funding the oh-so expensive arcades to actually keep the arcades running.
2. Population density, if you don't have enough people willing to pay the ever increasing price of games in arcades, they will die. If you had a compact population with eager people who could pay, it would survive. Most cities in North America no longer have this and the general interest level or fighting game players has diminished substantially in the past couple years. I hate to say this but the reason is mainly economical.
Where these games are successful is Japan, Korea and so on. The reason being ,I'll speak about Japan in specific having lived there, is their population density can support it, not to mention the players there are willing to pay the equivalent of a 1$+ per game when the games come out (generally games get put to 2 plays for 100yen or 50yen each after being in the arcade for a while mind you).
With these factors in places their arcades will never die even though they have access to the newest consoles and console releases generally before us.
There is a much greater supporting reason why they won't die in Japan. You don't really invite people over to your house, space is scarce and they use outside means to meet and play even if they have consoles, not to mention the fact that their player base is so large no matter what it is more beneficial to play outside rather then in even if you know a couple good players. This is mainly true of Tokyo and other large cities in Japan but keep in mind the majority of their population live in the large packed cities.
So in short
Interest
Economics
Population Density
On a side note, Aris/Rip you guys going back to Japan soon? This is Shyft from Canada I met you guys with Lychee during S.B.O.in Tokyo. I'll be there again from May on.