I have a ton of memories playing Tekken. Most of them include me being terrible at it, and wanting to play Mortal Kombat. There is no denying the fanbase here in the good old USofA. People really really like Tekken, and those people are in for a bit of bad news.
Though Tekken 6 is doing outstanding in Japan, New Zeleand, Canada and a bunch of other places, it doesn't look like it will be coming to American arcades. The lack of a Tekken 6 arcade here in the States is mainly due to Namco totally screwing over arcade owners last time around, and price.
Namco released Tekken 5 in December of 2004 to arcade owners for 6000 dollars a pop. Two months later the PS2 version of the game was released for 50 dollars. That's bad business Namco, bad business indeed. So for the launch of Tekken 6 the previously scorned American arcade owners have decided to pass for that, and the fact the cabinet costs a whopping 12,000 dollars. That's a lot of dollars, especially when the PS3 version of the game is going to come out in a few months.
While it is sad to see arcade owners getting screwed by price and not being able to have a new game in their shops, it is kind of representative of the current state of arcades. It's unfortunate but their time has passed. With the console version of Tekken 6 I can play against my friends who are scattered all over the world, not just the guy who sits in the arcade wearing a members only jacket and a Rush tee shirt.
My suggestion (and really the only option) is to wait. Wait until this fall for Tekken to come to the PS3. Don't throw Molotov cocktails at your arcade, don't slash the tires of the arcade owner, just have patience.
[via SDTekken]
Kyle Stallock
Updated June 4th, 2008
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I miss the good old days when the arcade was king. Now, I only participated in it's last few years, but it was glorious playing Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat II on a 100"+ projection screen.
Yeah, if I was an arcade owner, I'd tell Namco to shove it up their asses too. That's absolutely silly, especially as SFIV's going to be ~$2500
I'd buy a SF4 cabinet if I had the cash and just turn free play on, invite people over, and have a good time.
The problem is, I don't have nearly that much cash laying around :P
No one does. :) But yeah, imagine buying a $12,000 Tekken 6 cabinet. Yeah, not gon' happen
You know, I don't think there is an arcade in a 100 mile radius of where I live. There used to be one in every mall, and a few stand alone ones.
Unfortunately, it's no secret that the arcade industry in the US is dead as the dodo. Amazing how it survives in Japan, but people in the West just don't want to go to an arcade anymore unless it's a DDR machine. Sad.
Patience is important in Tekken. Especially when Devil Kazuya pwns me for the 17th time and I throw my controller through the wall.
They make a strong case, here.
Heh.