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November 22, 2008 3:05:36 CST

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Japan's Arcades Fall Before Mighty Wii

Posted May 19, 08 4:00 PM CDT in World,  Technology 

(Newser) – Japan’s arcades are in trouble, Reuters reports. For years, they’ve been immune to the ravages plaguing arcades elsewhere, but the $6.9 billion industry has met its match in the Nintendo Wii. A new generation of game consoles, coupled with an explosion of high-end TVs, has made the arcade experience easy to recreate at home—leading to big store closings at major chains.

“Arcades are expensive, noisy and filled with cigarette smoke,” said one 15-year-old. “Besides, I can stay home and play NBA Live on PlayStation 3.” New video-game systems always bring a slowdown, but some worry this one could be permanent. “We need to innovate,” said one executive. “We need to develop games that can’t be played at home.”

Source Reuters

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A visitor enjoys the 'Initial D arcade stage 4 limited' driving game during its press preview at the Sega amusement park, Tokyo Joypolis in central Tokyo, 26 July 2007.   (AFP/Getty Images)
An arcade game shop employee demonstrates game 'Sweets on Sweets' at a show case at the arcade game center 'One on One' in Osaka on May 11, 2008.   (AFP/Getty Images)
This photo from Nintendo shows the Wii console. Nintendo sold 350,000 Wii consoles during the first week of the holiday shopping season.   (AP Photo/Nintendo)
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