Video Game Hype Thread

Huh, I didn’t know that. Interesting!

That casino is pretty sad in general, though.

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I have heard through podcasts and some articles that this is Konami’s stated plan. Pachinko and slot machines and by extension gacha phone games basically print money, especially in the domestic Japanese and Asian markets, and the management shakeup a few years ago embraced this as their new direction. Its what resulted in the expulsion of Kojima, the cancellation of Silent Hills, the severe scaling back of a lot of their toy lines and anime publishing.

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They haven’t killed Bemani. Where’s my Dance Rush at???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izn3g8EuIEA

If that’s true, and I have no reason to doubt you, I wish they would license out their properties to third party developers so someone could make games using their IPs.

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I would guess that manufacturing and developing for arcade cabinets is close enough to that of slot and pachinko machines that they aren’t killing it off as much as the console / PC development. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a modern pachinko machine but they mimic video games very closely.

I’ve watched videos from them on YouTube.

The real question is this. Casinos in the US are having a hard time as only old people gamble and play slots. Young people aren’t that interested.

Are young people in Asia all about Pachinko and are keeping it alive? Is there going to be a big market crash as gambling old people there die?

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They have done some of this, there were several Silent Hill games that were farmed out to western developers as far back as the PS2 days but most of them were kinda shit. However, again as a casual observer, I think that Konami like many large Japanese companies is very protective of their IP generally and are hesitant to license that sort of thing.

I went to pachinko parlors both times I went to Japan, about a decade apart. Both times the clientele seemed about the same both times. Mostly men in their forties to sixties or so, a few women about the same, and a much smaller but surprising number of college-ish aged men. The age and gender demographics didn’t seem to be all that much changed the second time I went, which anecdotally leads me to believe it seems to be a steady rate of people coming into it.

HOWEVER!

The big big BIG thing in East Asia right now is gacha phone games; basically games with loot box mechanics. They are RIDICULOUSLY popular and making lots of money, mostly from younger people who have smart phones that can play those games. In a decade or so I think we might see the traditional pachislot parlors dwindle but probably not disappear, because unlike the gacha games you can win actual money, but a lot of people who are aging into the demographic of pachoslots will be carrying on with the gambling behavior on phones.

I know the gacha games are big, but they aren’t machines.

Also, phone games with loot boxes are the biggest scams of all time. A casino where you put money in, and the only prize that ever comes out is a jpg. Imagine if you could run a craps game and the payout of every bet was $0! You’re better off in the pachinko parlor.

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For sure. Vegas is really trying to invest in shows, experiences, pot, and liquor. Gambling is a niche and an aesthetic at this point.

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You really are! I mean I won 5000 yen the second time I went and was able to treat a girl I liked to lunch. But anyway I was just comparing because I think that companies like Konami, that might have an inkling that both forms of gambling will continue to make money and so diversified their business to include both, and if I had to make a guess the machines might decline in the future but not outright crash.

There are young people who are into it, but not that many. The ones that are into it are usually into it. Go fairly regularly, know which pachinko parlor has new machines, know how the system works (which machines never pay out, like the Fist of the North Star ones, how to read the little graph), etc.

One such student of mine won ~¥500,000 one time and took the rest of the class out for yakiniku.

Why don’t Fist of the North Star machines pay out? WTF. That is some bullshit.

Because they’re hard as nails, like Kenshiro. It’s not that they don’t pay out, per say, it’s that they’re usually set to low odds, high reward, if I remember correctly.

I learned from a friend who was INTO it that at most parlors they set the machines based on popular anime to the low odds high reward settings. I went with him and there was one based on Black Lagoon and I was like, “Rad, Black Lagoon” and I played it and was losing bad when he explained that to me. He said “Forget that one, try this one.” and pointed out a bank of machines that had a theme of generic anime girls with large breasts in bikinis at the beach. “Seriously?” “Seriously.” and I sat down and with the help of this middle aged lady playing the same machine next to me I won back everything I lost and made the 5000 yen.

I had a similar experience. I started at a Fist of the North Star machine, had no luck, and then my friend moved me over to an Eva one and I won back everything I lost.

I think it depends on the kind of anime. Black Lagoon and Fist of the North Star are very actiony manly shows. Eva is still actiony, but less manly. I also saw a lot of people winning on PreCure machines. It seems like manly shows = manly odds and rewards.

There’s a PreCure pachinko machine? Not saying you’re wrong but I can’t find any pics with a quick google, and it seems pretty out there for a little kid’s anime to be on a gambling machine. Do you have any pics of it? I’d love to see it.

It might not have been PreCure, but some non-Madoka magical girl machine. Unless I recognize it, I assume PreCure.

Ah, I did a little bit of digging and there are a couple of magical girl shows that got pachinko machines, including Nanoha and something called Prism Nana which I have never heard of but was apparently and OVA by SHAFT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q33N833aPX4

I actually really like Serious Sam. It’s the kind of game you buy, play once, beat, and then never play again. Yet, it’s a ton of fun. It’s a lot like Dynasty Warriors, only an fps.