Finished dinner at a local Mexican restaurant not too long ago, and upon exiting passed by the open door of a neighboring computer-gaming business.
It looked like dozens of (if not more) young guys were in there playing "Halo" or some other war game against each other on networked PCs. Business appeared to be good!
Mindboggle, River Ridge Mall, Lynchburg, Virginia. Spent MANY an afternoon there getting my Joust on and sucking at Pole Position. Ah, memories.
}:-)4
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
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Good stuff. I still indulge myself the occassional game of Galaga...
Sad, but there will still be pockets of places for those who remember. I mourned my beloved pinball places until I found dens of iniquity like this one http://ujuju.com . There's also a great pinball museum in Las Vegas if you want to drop quarters and not hundreds of dollars ;-)
There are only 3 acts in Ms. Pac Man.
You made me cry!
That game was hilarious (if I'm remember the game correctly). Wasn't the main character Dirk something?
Ahhh, yes....Centipede and Frogger, two of my favs. I was never good at either, but I was more that willing to pump my hard earned allowance into those machines!
Ahhh yes. Wasted many an hour at my college's arcade. Wasn't much on the regular machines, but I had a real knack for pinball machines. As a Gen Xer (born 24 Nov 1976) it makes me smile to see my 7 yr old son enjoying games like Pole Position and Galaga, even if it is on a Jakks plugin or on the Game Boy Advance.
My games were Phoenix, Dig Dug, and Tempest. I wasn't very good at them, since my eye hand coordination sucks, but there was something very social and safe (while fulfilling the need to feel like you were walking on the wild side) about them.
I remember walking past an arcade in Boston a few years ago and was surprised, thinking that the concept of arcades had gone the way of the 8 Track and pet rock. Apparently, it was just a gang hangout in Downtown Crossing. Looked seedy and unpleasant, so I wasn't surprised.
The full ROM set is pretty easy to get with Bittorent.
I was a military brat, so our arcade was the base bowling alley at the drill hall. I wonder how many hours I spent there. Cool article.
The local mall had an arcade and a bank branch side by side.
Myself and 2 other kids played Gauntlet through a bank robbery completely oblivious to what was going on around us.
Remember that day whenever I fire up the gauntlet ROM.
If I'd put my quarters into a savings account, I could pay off my mortgage right now! Oh, man, I can remember an arcade that had "$7 night" on Fridays from 5 pm- midnight, and I NEVER left there thinking I didn't get my money's worth.
My brothers had an Atari 2600 in 1980, but it just was NOT the same as the arcade sights/sounds. (I still take my 14 y/o daughter to a local "arcade", but their games suck. I'd rather play air hockey.)
I miss BATTLEZONE - driving a tank around a vector-graphics landscape, blasting the hell out of the enemy!
Good times...
Moon Patrol was my favorite. I wish I could find it for PC. I suggested to game Tap that they try to get it. The best thing about Game Tap is all the old arcade game from the 80's.
My favorite game to play at the arcade where I went to college was Gauntlet. Wasted many an hour there trying to get past all the wraiths and get that ferschlugganah turkey leg! LOL
We still have the power to turn a major American city upside down, so don't get too cocky, humans.