Where the humble arcade has long since died a death in the UK and the US besides on a handful of seaside broad walks and the like thanks to the rising popularity and lowering costs of gaming at home, they continue to flourish in the East. The majority of arcade games that are still produced are solely for the Japanese market, where the new Street Fighter cabinet will rub shoulders with the rows and rows of Pachinko machines. The other location where arcades seemingly go from strength to strength is, yes, China. They're basically non-existent outside of the East, but arcades aren't just still around in the People's Republic they're a thriving industry. That's partially down to the ban on consoles in the country, meaning if you wanna play action or fighting titles, you've not much choice but to head to an amusement arcade. Thankfully they're pretty widespread across the country, to the degree that developers struggle to keep up with demand. That's probably why there are so many unlicensed arcade ports of popular PC or mobile games such as Angry Birds or Plants Vs Zombies. Both of which translate to an arcade about as well as you'd thing.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
