24th March 2005, 12:29 AM
Well the thing is, those sales WOULD have just shifted straight on over to the PS2 version if Link wasn't in the GCN version. I mean, assuming all those GCN owners had PS2s as well. I'm pretty sure they won't be losing that many sales with this move, at least not nearly as many as people seem to think.
And yes, arcades in the US are all but dead. They still exist, but for example, I can only think of two arcades, total, in all of Tulsa. There WAS like 4 :D, but two of them have already had to close down. Problem is, they only make just enough money to stay open, not enough to update their games, and so once the arcade is in a situation like the closed ones got in, where they are still stuck with Killer Instinct 2 and Marvel vs Street Fighter (not Capcom, the OLD game), well, who's going to come for that? They sell the old arcade cabinets on eBay and close up shop, or they just sell half the machines, replace them with a kid's activity center, and turn it into a super happy birthday fun zone.
And yes, arcades in the US are all but dead. They still exist, but for example, I can only think of two arcades, total, in all of Tulsa. There WAS like 4 :D, but two of them have already had to close down. Problem is, they only make just enough money to stay open, not enough to update their games, and so once the arcade is in a situation like the closed ones got in, where they are still stuck with Killer Instinct 2 and Marvel vs Street Fighter (not Capcom, the OLD game), well, who's going to come for that? They sell the old arcade cabinets on eBay and close up shop, or they just sell half the machines, replace them with a kid's activity center, and turn it into a super happy birthday fun zone.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)