Years ago, the arcade was the place to kick it. Fuck’s sake, we’d fill Blackbeards up so much that the quarters stacked on the glass would nearly edge onto the play area. The competition was ruthless and people’s anger level would rise very quickly when they were losing their quarters and have to get back in line to unseat the current champion. Never did we see any violence but things would definately get heated during competition (I entered a Tekken tournament and had a guy get up and start yelling in my face “That’s all you can do, huh? That’s all you know how to do, huh?!” as his wife came over and pulled him away. I loved it!) and people would talk mad shit. Ah, those were the days. And they are no longer. A game like Street Fighter 4, which releases next week on the 17th for the PS3 & Xbox 360, could have single handedly saved the arcade as we know it but rather than release it into the arcade circuit and spend money on cabinets, Capcom decided to go directly to the home console (at least here in the US). Sure, we could now play each other online from the comfort of ones couch but never again will we get the face to face contact of someone making an ass out of themselves, trying their hardest to prove that they’re better than you in front of a group of peers. And that kinda makes me sad inside. Oh well, just a social commentary on the current state of things and a bit of a revist to the past for me. But that being said, when are we all gonna get together for some shit talkin’ fun, huh? If you have some old arcade stories please share them here!