Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Zeon Attack!!!

I thought we had a problem with video games here in the US. I just read THIS article that speaks to the much much worse problem in Japan. As video arcades are being boarded up by the hundreds here in the US, Japan's video arcades are thriving. In a country that is growing older quickly and will be increasingly relying on their diminishing youth to take over the workforce, video game arcades present a special and real threat to the future of the country. Instead of going out and working, Japanese youth are spending hours and hours, days and days in the video arcades playing games developed specifically for the Japanese or Asian markets. We barely even know about them here in the US. They require not only a few dollars a game pocket money to play each round but also require collecting playing cards that are used on special magnetic screens attached to the arcade machines. Assuring a secondary market beyond the video arcade itself. Almost requiring addiction to play them. One of the games, 'Mobile Space 0079' based on a comic book and animated TV show seems to be the game of addicts choice at the moment.

I'm afraid to even think what would happen if this type of thing caught on here. It's bad enough that our kids sit in front of the video game console for hours and hours each week. Taking things to the next level like the Japanese would really be bad for our next generation. You know, the kids that will be our leaders and teachers and heros when they grow up. If they ever do that is.

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