Expo Delivers No-Strings-Attached Arcade Action

Graeme Virtue

New member
May 23, 2008
31
0
0
Expo Delivers No-Strings-Attached Arcade Action

This past weekend, hundreds of coin-op fans descended on the leafy English town of Northampton to gorge themselves on over 200 arcade titles, from bullet hell shmup classics to bleeding-edge beat-em-ups, at the inaugural Insert Coin gaming expo. Could this sort of celebratory, public event help reenergize the ailing UK arcade scene?

Entirely independent and with no corporate sponsorship, Insert Coin 09 genuinely felt like a grassroots effort. The emphasis was firmly on the fans, who thronged good-naturedly around the dozens of Egret 2 cabinets. (The serious tournament players chugged energy drinks; the casual hobbyists seemed to favor frothy beer.)

A cosplay event co-ordinated by UK gaming forum Ready Up meant there were some familiar faces in the crowd - including some creepy Silent Hill nurses, Inphyy from Ninety-Nine Nights and a convincing Solid Snake who kept sneaking outside for a cigarette.

It's continuously reported that the arcade gaming sector is in terminal decline worldwide, but the mood over the two days of Insert Coin was celebratory and refreshingly sociable. A tall, friendly Dutchman cheerfully hammered me at Street Fighter III: Third Strike. The DJs honored my request to hear some rousing themes from Soulcalibur. And I watched a Stormtrooper in full armor struggle to negotiate a Japanese dog-walking simulator.

Co-organizer Alan O'Grady suggested that Insert Coin had identified a gap in the UK gaming market. "At 8:30 am on the first day, there was already a line 'round the venue," he said. "I think that shows there's an appetite for this kind of event. Everyone's been really supportive and seems to have had a great time. We want to do the same again next year, but four times bigger. We're already looking around for possible venues."

You heard it here first: Insert Coin to continue.

Did any of you get a chance to attend?



Permalink
 

HardRockSamurai

New member
May 28, 2008
3,122
0
0
I'm afraid I didn't get a chance to go; I live in the US, where arcade gaming is as dead as the dodo.

I would really have loved to attend though; ever since I saw Silent Hill Arcade in Taiwan, I've been dying to have another go at it. All I can find where I live is Guitar Hero, DDR, and more bloody Guitar Hero!
 

Croaker42

New member
Feb 5, 2009
818
0
0
I miss the days of arcade wonder. Where Teken demigods and House of the dead gun slingers ruled the land. I will never sing a lament for the coin after coin injected into the likes of area 51 and gunblade. I honor the memeory of the beatings given and beating recieved at the hands of Jin, Heihachi and Hwoarang.

Lets go to the arcade.
 

hansari

New member
May 31, 2009
1,256
0
0
Croaker42 said:
I will never sing a lament for the coin after coin injected into the likes of area 51 and gunblade...
Sadly though, those are the the games modern arcades are littered with now. Sure, they still have some classics, but for every 'House of the Dead', they have a dozen cheesy games...
 

Simalacrum

Resident Juggler
Apr 17, 2008
5,204
0
0
oh wow, thats pretty cool! I'm currently in japan so I can't go but I would have liked to... there are a lot of arcade stores here actually as I said in my thread :p

arcade is not dead just yet!
 

randommaster

New member
Sep 10, 2008
1,802
0
0
Arcades aren't dead, it's just that a lot of places don't take care of them and don't change the cabnets. Also, most places that I see nowadays charge you at least fifty cents to play, if not a dollar or more, which means you don't get to play as much.

Cool to see that this was a hit, though, it might get people to pay more attention to the arcades.