Arcade Infinity Closing Its Doors: The End of an Era

I've probably been to Arcade Infinity five times in my entire life. Once was with my girlfriend, the next was with a close friend of mine and her friend, then I went there with an idea for a feature story, then I was with a group of friends who were all into the culture of the fighting game scene, and lastly I went by myself just to take in the sights and sounds.

AI is a good 45 minute drive away from my home. This is the main reason I don't go too often. But come this January 15, I will go for my sixth and final time. AI has had it's fair share of skilled players, celebrities, and crowds walk through its doors, but after the 15th those doors will close forever. A long history of rent hikes and waning business has finally driven AI's health bar down to zero and it was down to its last round.

Nearly every game in AI has someone playing on it at some time and often two people are on it because of AI's reputation as a fighting game community. AI was one of the first places in the US to get Street Fighter IV as well as Blazblue: Calamity Trigger and King of Fighters XII and games like these brought in all manner of people to test their skills against others. From students, to businessmen, to musicians, all varying in degrees of how involved they were with the game from the fair weather fan to the hardcore player to the competitor bound for EVO. To me, there was no other place like AI, and it was a miracle such a place existed. Like a zombie it continued to shuffle around where all its brethren had long decayed.

Many gamers from before 2000 may remember a time when arcades were a widespread fad. I remember when I would look forward to driving to Redondo Beach for a day of fun at the beach and to visit the Redondo Fun Center and try my hand at The Simpsons arcade game. But nowadays arcades are a relic of the past. Is history just catching up with AI? Arcades are certainly an expensive venture to run and consoles make things easier.

Of course people are bitter about it. To them, arcades are something more than passion to them. Perhaps a lifeblood. One particularly vocal person from iPlaywinner caught my eye. Not only is he bitter that such an acclaimed arcade is dying, he blames so called SoCal scrubs for the lack of support for arcades in the area.

"A whole generation of scrubs that wont leave their god damn living room let AI die. Everyone claims they love the arcade culture and what not but their full of shit. SoCal has so many fighting game players and are you telling me you couldn't go down to your local AMAZING Japanese style arcade once a fuckin week so it could stay around."

If AI is closing, it could mean other long running arcades are in danger. Or maybe the general profile for a Southern Californian gamer really is lazy when it comes to supporting something so special.

Whatever it means, one thing is for certain: it was an amazing run. Whenever someone would talk about the death of arcades, I'd always think about Arcade Infinity personally. Regardless of the support it received, the service it gave, and the acclaim it earned, Arcade Infinity will always be one of my fondest memories.

Regardless of whether or not arcades are still relevant in an age of online gaming and instant connection, the arcade is like a grandfather to consoles much like the much beloved Atari 2600 or the NES. Is it really the fault of the local community for letting such an iconic place disappear? After all, no matter how good business could be, news has mentioned that the rent for the area has increased and there's been a history of problems with the city.

I personally think a reaction like the one from above is just the voice of a particularly bitter purist. One who blames the new and refuses change. Blaming Street Fighter IV on the console seems a bit much. After all, Street Fighter Iv coming to the console was singlehandedly responsible for breeding new interest in the long stagnant fighting game genre. The argument seems a bit shortsighted in taking into account how important progress to the video game industry really is.

How do you feel about this news? And where do you stand on this issue of supporting a long extinct breed of gaming?

This was cross-posted onto Bitmob.