Quote:- Capcom of Japan mentioned that they are planning to cease the development of arcade business, therefore all the current arcade projects are halted or canceled, including Capcom Fighting All-Stars. It is uncertain whether Banpresto and Capcom's co-developed sequel of Mobile Suit Gundam: Federation Vs Zeon has also been canceled or not.
http://www.the-magicbox.com/gaming.htm
I suppose it's not a huge surprise with the arcade being as unprofitable as it has been lately. It's a shame because to be honest all it would really take is for the arcade to provide experiences that you simply can't get at home. Dance Dance Revolution is a good example, as is that one biking game, but they have to take it further. They need to make the arcade extremely appealing as a place to go again, instead of the place kids play in while their parents do the laundry and little more.
Capcom dropping out is a shame, even though technically any and all fighting games can easily be done at home, and that's the preffered place to play against friends. Light gun games are one thing that arcades are more well known for, but light gun games aren't exactly enough to draw crowds. There's also the existance of light guns on the consoles (well, in Japan I believe at least two of them have light guns, here in America that's taboo, light knives for us).
You know though, I have to wonder if F-Zero is going to do very well at all in the arcade. They should try and use an online competition system, where all arcade systems are using matchmaking software to compete with other systems in the arcade as well as other players around the world. That's a start anyway.
Arcades have been dying for years... and a lot of once-powerful arcade game makers are gone from the business. This one's huge... easily the biggest company to leave arcades since Midway, who for a long time was one of the biggest arcade and pinball game manufacturers (Williams/Bally/Midway)... its not doom for arcades, but arcades clearly will continue to go downhill...
Oh, and with the cessation of arcade games, Capcom cancelled the one fighting game they were making... it would have been their first one since Capcom vs SNK 2...
So they were cancelled altogether? I had just assumed it was just going to be redone for a console system so they didn't loose all the work put into it.
According to that, they were cancelled...
Oh fuck beans. They better not cancel Federation Vs. Zeon 2... Just bring it out for the PS2!
Yeah... why wouldn't they just make them console games? I'd think that'd make sense...
What happened to Williams, anyway? I remember during the Mortal Kombat heyday they were the talk of the town. Did they just go under or get acquired by someone else? I've been thinking about that for awhile now.
Williams is part of Midway, and has been for a long time. Same with pinball maker Bally -- all three were part of Midway... that is, until Midway killed first their pinball division (Bally-Williams) and then their arcade games division (Midway and Williams, depending on the game).
As far as I know now they just use Midway for their console games... note how the last few Mortal Kombat games say 'Midway' on them... I'm assuming that they retired those other two names with the arcade/pinball divisions.
The only thing I don't know is when the parts merged and formed Midway-Bally-Williams...
Anyone think we'll ever the the F-Zero or Star Fox arcade games out here?
Maybe in a few of those high-end arcades or something... its also possible they could show up in more arcades, but I don't know how likely that is in this arcade game climate...