Slackur's Obscure Gaming Theatre
Slackur's childhood dream Vs. The great zombie arcade
Posted on Nov 1st 2010 at 07:00:12 PM by (slackur)
Posted under Arcades, Sony, Metreon, San Francisco, epic fail

Like many fellow gamers, as a child I once had a dream.  My occasional exploits in various mall and theater arcades ballooned my tweeny-bopper imagination into what I could, would do as an adult flush with money, time, and ambition.  I had visions as to what an arcade should be, how it would look, what it would contain, and how it should be run.  By golly, once I got a real job, made some decent money, and convinced a bank that I was going to make a fortune off of this, I would build the ultimate arcade, have my dream job, unlimited play time, and live like I always wanted.  It was so simple.  So elegant.  I would succeed where others failed because I would take my sense of what kids want and bring it into the adult world where no-one understood what kids really want, and therefore what would be profitable.

I would also keep a refrigerator stocked with those little plastic barrel 'Hugs' drinks because I only got one or two at a time and I was always thirstier than that.

Like many of you, I grew older and the reality of that grand arcade dream just faded away.  Maybe we got wind of the actual costs of running a business.  Maybe we did the math and realized what little profit is seen from such an industry.  More than likely, consoles overtook our attention once the graphics on home systems deflated the wonder out of the darkened, noisy, expensive dreamlands.  More than likely, we just forgot and let the dream die a slow, silent whimper.

But a few never let that stop them.
[img width=338 height=600]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/Metreon/Metreon2.jpg[/img]

[img width=600 height=338]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/Metreon/MetreonSide.jpg[/img]

Enter the Metreon, a 350,000 square foot 'urban entertainment destination' built in 1999 by Sony.  Located in downtown San Francisco, the 85 million dollar project was to enforce Sony's hip image by offering gaming, food, exhibitions, shopping, music, and movies, as well as to showcase new technology.  It was to be Sony's public hub for everything from Playstation to Anime.

[img width=600 height=338]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/Metreon/MetreonInterior3.jpg[/img]

[img width=600 height=338]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/Metreon/MetreonInterior1.jpg[/img]

[img width=600 height=338]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/Metreon/MetreonInterior2.jpg[/img]

One floor was an arcade full of original games called Airtight Garage, based on the graphic novel by French comic artist and graphic designer Jean "Moebius" Giraud.   

It failed.
Here's how wikipedia puts it:

"The Airtight Garage's games proved unpopular, with the exception of HyperBowl, a 3D obstacle course bowling game featuring air-supported bowling balls used as trackballs, and they eventually were gradually replaced by other, better-known games, until the arcade was finally closed, then reopened as "Portal One," which preserved the decor, full bar, and Hyperbowl but was otherwise a more typical arcade. Sunday May 13, 2007 was Portal One arcade's last day of operation. The arcade was relaunched again as a Tilt."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metreon)

The fall of the Metreon itself, a shining example of the results of Sony's corporate mentality at the turn of the century, is better understood from this article:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi...006/02/24/BUGSVHDITS1.DTL

Enter...me.  I've been visiting here in San Fran for a week, towing along a 360 hidden in the laundry luggage and hoping to finally burn through FFXIII without toddler distractions.  Throw in an ancient TV in our hotel that only takes RF and with a screen so fuzzy text is all but illegible, and I'm out looking for something, anything video game related. An extensive search proved nothing but Gamestops as far as the taxi can see.  Then I learn of the Metreon due to my smart, talented, and still incredibly appealing wife.  I was unprepared for what awaited me.

[img width=600 height=338]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/Metreon/TiltFrontRight.jpg[/img]

[img width=600 height=338]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/Metreon/TiltFrontLeft.jpg[/img]

It...was MY arcade.  The design, the aesthetics, the games, everything was as I envisioned in my youth.  The mock-up props of techno-industrial equipment, the pop sci-fi neon and oversized circuitry designs, the fake cables and wiring, all of the stuff I lovingly surrounded myself with as a kid. 

[img width=600 height=338]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/Metreon/TiltProps1.jpg[/img]

[img width=600 height=338]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/Metreon/TiltPropBar.jpg[/img]

[img width=600 height=338]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/Metreon/TiltChronoProp2.jpg[/img]

[img width=600 height=338]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/Metreon/TiltPropChrono1.jpg[/img]

(Yes, if you looked closely, they misspelled 'Crhono.' ?!?)

Snack machines, energy drink machines, even a bar! 

[img width=600 height=338]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/Metreon/TiltPropBar2.jpg[/img]

[img width=600 height=338]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/Metreon/TiltPropBar.jpg[/img]

Virtual bowling against the wall, half a dozen Dance Dance machines and their variants, air hockey, a dozen different light gun games including House of the Dead 4 and Time Crisis: Razing Storm, all of the fighting greats including Marvel Vs Capcom 2, various Tekkens, various King of Fighters, even Super Street Fighter IV.  A four player setup for Daytona USA as well as a few other racers, Skee-ball, and a three screen Sega Strike Fighter DX.  The list just went on and on...

[img width=600 height=338]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/Metreon/TiltInside4.jpg[/img]

[img width=600 height=338]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/Metreon/TiltInside3.jpg[/img]

[img width=600 height=338]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/Metreon/TiltInside2.jpg[/img]

[img width=600 height=338]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/Metreon/TiltInside1.jpg[/img]

(Not shown, for reasons explained below, was the gigantic Terminator Hunter Killer-like statue in front of the arcade that also housed ticket counter machines.  Yeah, for real.)

I quickly realized two things: One, if given the space and funds, this is the arcade I truly would have built.  There was honestly not much I would have changed.  And two:

It would have failed miserably, as this one did.

The place was dead.  During a Friday evening, only a few people entered and left in the two hours I was there.  Out of those I only saw a few games played, including an arcade machine of Deal or No Deal.  I'm doing my best not to judge here people, but for crying out loud, that just seems to me the most worthless game to make into an arcade cab.  At least most game shows have trivia or something.  Compared to the lottery that is Deal or No Deal, there's more skill involved in a game of Peggle.

Hmmm...Peggle Arcade...there's an idea...

But I digress. 

My goal was to show in dozens of pictures the wondrous, lost glory of this place, this fallen dream of mine and doubtless others who visit this site.  Unfortunately, as soon as I started near the entrance, the lady behind the counter gave me frantic hand gestures and told me I wasn't allowed to take pictures.  She said it was in their training manual, and she seemed to genuinely try to be nice about it.  Tempting as it is to call her out as a Nazi dictator, I know she was only doing her job.  Still, as Metal Gear Solid music thumped out of my mind's ear, I did my best to sneak a few shots with my digital camera of Metal Gear Rex the dimly lit arcade before flooding the tanker to cover my tracks thanking the nice lady and leaving.  Hence the poor quality of the pics, and not at all because of the fact that I'm not very good with a camera.

And as I wandered the giant catacomb of cabinets, this enterprise that was no longer alive with energy and people, with giant speakers on the ceiling oddly silent and the various motorized colored lights staring vacantly, I knew I was touring the living dead of retail arcades.  Here was the experience in all its beauty, its gaudy, obnoxious, glorious beauty; and nobody cared.  It was dead, and just didn't know it.  Doubtlessly loosing money, or at best just scraping by, only a matter of time.  I felt a childhood dream wither in defeat. 

While traditional arcades have been on the decline for decades, and their waning mostly attributed to the rise of technologically superior home consoles and lack of public interest, two additional factors were present and obvious.

Here's one:

[img width=600 height=450]http://i797.photobucket.com/albums/yy259/slackur/Metreon/4Tokens.jpg[/img]

Yep, I know inflation accounts for this, and I've already written a post on gaming value.  But it cost $1.50 for me and my beloved to try out House of the Dead 4, and we lasted for less than half a minute.  Granted, there were older games with a little bit cheaper prices, but overall the experience felt expensive for a guy used to adding games to his collection for a buck apiece.

The other I couldn't capture well with my guerrilla-style camera work; several screens and monitors were damaged.  Usually bad or distorted color or separate ghosted outlines, lots of image burn-in, and dark screens.  The techie/gamer in me screamed "c'mon, guys!  This could easily be replaced!"  But reality hit me as quickly once I saw the price stickers on each cabinet.  It just wasn't fiscally worth spending another hundred dollars or more on a machine you were already trying to sell for a few hundred.  Or less.  It doesn't take much wrong with a screen to turn someone away from wanting to play.  And it doesn't take much damage to a cab only a few years old to make it unlikely to get the money back after repair.

My heart sank upon realizing that there were some awesome cabs here for easily affordable prices, but they might as well have the same ticket as a Ferrari for as much as it would cost to ship them over 2500 miles back to my home.

As a collector who owns more games than I'll ever be able to play, it may seem a silly thing to lament.  Yet like everything in life, the presentation is a large part of the experience.  Picking up the Wii ports of Gunblade NY and LA Machineguns Arcade Hits Pack is a solid reminder that some games just aren't, and never will be, the same at home.  Sure, arcade cabs will likely survive in some form, but my kids will probably never see an arcade like this when they get to be teenagers.  And given the fate of this one perhaps its just as well.  Although some things, once lost, can't be replaced.  And some dreams, from a fiscal perspective, are best never realized.

I never did stock my refrigerator full of 'Hugs'.


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Comments
 
Great article, this place reminds me so much of segaworld in the london trocadero it had a similar sort of look industrial look with a lot more neon (bit like a cross between spring yard zone and scrap brain zone), I went there in '97 and the place was doing pretty well and it wasn't too expensive.

It didn't last though sega pulled out in '99 and it went downhill from there. I was nearby in '07 and went in for a look around and it was the same thing as the Metreon - it was was pretty much deserted, broken and damaged cabs everywhere, loads of slot machines and bored staff wondering around aimlessly – the whole place just felt dead on its feet.
 
Cool article!  As a kid, the arcade that is about 20 minutes away used to have a ton of pinball machines and great arcade cabs, like MvC2.  However, it has become much more of a tourist attraction with silly little crane games.

There used to be a pretty awesome arcade a little further away from there with many classic cabs such as 720, Star Wars, Paperboy, etc.  They also had a bunch of pinball machines.  But, they didn't keep up on the repairs, and many of the cabs and pinballs are broken down.  This makes me sad.
 
The few successful arcades around here are either attached to another venue (like Lazer Tag, or the local entertainment 'plex), or really small operations that run a handful of machines that are for sale, or charge a 'cover' for all you can play.

It's really a sad end to what was a social and party center of my own youth.
 
A bit depressing, but still good.  I am impressed, however, with your (or "your") grand vision for an arcade.  Like you I also had a dream, but it was more akin to the places of that bygone age: sweaty and carpeted.  Think Flynn's but with the scale of a Japanese arcade.  The employees would be underpaid but possessed of a "leet" status symbol that made them stand out (like a viking or a Roman centurion helmet).  Games would be grouped together by time period as well as controller-type (Victory Road would be near Gondomania) and would also have a good collection of pinball.  Sadly I watched that dream crumble over a period of fifteen years, as first the 7-11s' (the midwestern arcade) dropped the games, then the smaller arcades, then the mall arcades (I miss you, Mainstreet!), then finally the dedicated outlets (Red Baron, Little Caeser's Pizzeria, and Baskettron).

This is just so depressing.
 
It is sad what arcades have become in the last decade or so.  Really the only arcades around here is a tiny one in the mall that doesn't really have anything good, and the two at a nearby amusement park.  The amusement park arcades have a good selection but it seems the last two times I was there, the classic machines have been out of order which isnt a good sign.

This article also reminded me of Disney Quest in Orlando Florida.  Its a five story building that shows off arcade machines and 3d stuff.  You pay a flat rate (I think around $40) to get in and all the arcade machines and the few "rides" are all free. 

From what I remember, the 3rd floor is all fighting and racing games.  They have all the popular fighters (MvC, soul caliber, Street Fighter, Tekken) all set up for two-four players depending on how many the games allowed.  Same with the racing games, some of the games were set up to support up to 12 players.  One wall had 12 racing cockpits all lined up across the wall connect to each other.  Another interesting one, was Star Wars Pod Racer.  The machines were designed so that you sit in a mock pod racer and the games where connected for 4 players.

I believe the 4th floor was set up for air hockey tables, DDR, and Guitar Hero machines with some other non-arcade machine stuff.

Then the top floor was almost exclusively classic arcade machines.  Donkey Kong, Pacman, Gaunlet, Mario Bros, Asteroids, etc.  I remember spending hours in here.

So if your ever in that area of Florida you should check it out.  $40 isn't alot if you plan on playing alot of games.  It also nice that they are all on free play, and I have never seen a machine in poor condition or out of order, they really take care of everything.  The only downside is you may have to wait in order to play, since the place it usually busy.
 
I've never lived in a large city with a killer arcade so the only ones I went to as a kid were small and cramped. After getting a car and a job I've visited several larger arcades and they aer much like you described. Empty and over priced.

We did get lucky one time and my wife got sprayed with sewage from a broken pipe while playing mini-golf and the managment felt bad and let us play the rest of the night for free (arcade included!). With no lines and a free pass we had a great time (even played the dreaded Deal or No Deal machine....)
 
@Crabmaster2000:

I'm not sure if I would describe being sprayed with raw sewage as lucky.
 
Great article!
Its sad to see how far (and fast) the arcade industry has fallen in the US.
To second what Misto said, Disney Quest is still alive and well down here in Orlando (I live about 30 mins away). 5 stories of near endless gaming and Virtual Reality, ranging from the originals like Star Wars Arcade and Gaunlet to massive areas like a design your own roller coaster "ride" and a Nerf armed bumper car thing. All mixed with the typical Disney immaculate up keep. Ive gone quite a few times and have yet to see a broken game.
BTW thanks for visiting Orlando we need the money lol
 
@cant-grow-up:
You're probably 2 minutes from me, as that's exactly how far it is from me! Smiley

I haven't been in a couple years, but they typically fix their machines within 2 weeks and try to stay on the cutting edge of gaming. They brought in new DDR machines less than a month after they were released, and I believe they also have Guitar Hero and Rock Band arcade machines now (haven't been to verify). I remember spending a day just playing Gauntlet: Dark Legacy there with a couple friends.

I also greatly enjoyed the classic arcade area. Everything from the late 70s and 80s Smiley
I wouldn't be surprised if they started decking it out in everything Tron, since it's run by Disney.
 
@Seno:

Lucky for me! I didnt get sprayed and all I had to do was stand next to someone who smelled bad Smiley
 
@Shadow Kisuragi:Seriously?!  Not trying to be nosey but im in far east orlando (wedgefield). Are you the same area, meaning east orange or.....?
 
Great article. Arcades really seem like a thing of the past. People just want to sit at home to play games.

I think the only place where arcades can still be somewhat succesful is Japan.

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