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Arcades. That’s such a beautiful word which brings back a lot of good memories for me. I spent as much time as possible during my younger days in the local video game arcade, feeding quarters into my favorite machines. Eric called from California the other night to talk about the olden days, and to ask my thoughts on where the future of arcades in the U.S. is heading.

I know that in some countries, game arcades are still a huge deal. I honestly think it’s the social aspect that attracts people. However, I’m not sure why we aren’t as social here anymore. Have we really turned in to a country that would rather just stay inside alone, rather than have to interact with others? I hate the thought of that.

I do still love classic games. Heck, I have a video game system right in my office! I can’t begin to count up how many hours I spent shooting things in Asteroids, or trying to rescue the princess in Donkey Kong. We cannot leave out PacMan, Mario and so many other awesome games, either.

Do you still play classic arcade games? Do you GO to an arcade, or do you prefer to play games in the confinement of your home?

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What is the Future of Arcades?

One of the items in my personal gift guide is a homebrew arcade machine. I have a feeling that it’s going to be my “midlife crisis” acquisition (though I’m hoping midlife won’t hit me for another thirty years). I didn’t really grow up inside arcades, but arcades certainly grew up with and around me. I still remember walking into Happy Joe’s pizza parlour and begging Dad to let us play a few rounds of Donkey Kong.

So, while I was surfing around for the ultimate home arcade game cabinet, I stumbled across Starcade.tv. What a blast from the past! If you never watched the show, you can view a few of the episodes in this archive. Starcade was one of my favorite TV programs when I was a kid – right after G.I. Joe and The Transformers, of course. I wonder what happened to all those old Starcade contestants? Did they ever get proper haircuts? I remember watching them play Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace, thinking that video games couldn’t get any better than that.

Remember Starcade?