TGA is redefining what it means to be a 'great' arcade. I don't care what anyone says - someday TGA will have books written about it. Maybe it'll even appear in encyclopedias. For as long as I have seen it and 'known' the crowd, it has always stood for not just innovation but aspiration - TGA is never a solid form, but rather, it lives, breathes, and changes for the better.
My one visit there made me think back to when I first started 'serious' gaming back around 1999. It places a world of wonder in front of you and says, "Go ahead, play." I wish I lived closer. I wish I lived down the street. I wish I could afford to blow $50 to get there every weekend to play. Nowhere else on the planet has the same vibe. I'll play at the nearest arcade for hours, but it just isn't the same.
TGA is something epic, something people talk about but never bring to fruitition. It's inspirational, really - it has succeeded despite failed experiments of the same suit (I know others have attempted TGA calibur arcades before...), and it continues to move forward.
I hope that someday soon I will have something to contribute to the arcade. Because, in an odd way, my aspirations as a writer run alongside the path of TGA. I mean, not everyone can succeed, hell, most are going to fail at their own expense. But to go on despite that and succeed really says something...
/rant rant rant.
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