The isolated Wyoming thread

myst_trainer · 01-02-2009, 11:31 AM

Well first off let me say I know Wyoming isn't very Southwest but since Cheyenne being the most southern major city in the State (only 9 miles from the Colorado Border) and probably the only city with even the slightest music game activity in this day and age. Since it is the start of '09, I thought I should start a thread with any major announcements I can give since anymore I am probably the only dance gamer in the state that gets involved in the online community. Many of you probably know me best as Myst from DDREncore.com (I am the webmaster there). I often play at Time Out in Frontier Mall (Cheyenne, WY) on In The Groove 2 (until recently see below). Otherwise I spend most of my free time in Colorado.

So with that said here is the first real piece of news for this topic:

Cheyenne WY ITG 2 is offline:
In The Groove 2 is down with no estimate to recovery time. Sadly it is suspected that the game's hard drive is crashing entirely now (it's been running iffy already) causing the computer to the game itself to crash. We also fear if it is the hard drive, support to restore the machine may now be impossible in this day and age. I will keep everyone updated once I hear from the manager whom I have good relations with.

Other than that give a shout or ask questions about the local area and I will do my best to answer.

Sally Shears · 01-09-2009, 03:16 PM

openITG - Home

Problem solved. Maybe it won't even have the choppy 3rd mix frame rate anymore. If it won't install on what's there you should just gut it and put a computer in there. Shouldn't be too difficult.

myst_trainer · 01-11-2009, 03:40 PM

One problem with doing that and essentially turn the machine into a Stepmania Machine. The machine belongs to Namco, and I know the manager and the district manager well enough that they know that a Stepmania machine in a corporation like theirs is out of the question. Current status of the machine, the harddrive has been removed and sent to Namco Tech Dept for repairs, about one to two weeks repair time according to the manager. (Assuming it can be fixed.)

Sally Shears · 01-12-2009, 11:53 PM

All of the songs on the machine would just the ITG1 and 2 songs, and the company that made the game is dead. As long as you don't do any hacking beyond just putting OpenITG onto the machine there isn't even really anyone around who can give you trouble over it.

myst_trainer · 01-17-2009, 06:03 AM

I see your point Kilroy, Namco won't see it though (and they never will), because if you think about it, as a corporation they are too bound in rules and regulations to do such ludicrous things. If you think about it that is what makes some of the locally owned places (like Biggs in the Springs for example) to become prosperous again because they can go out on the edge. They can break (or bend in some's opinion) the rules. In fact did you know that namco arcades are provided a piece of [insert derogative comment here] vacuums to clean the floors with and an employee could get fired if they provided on of their own? This is one of many reasons why I feel the corporate arcade industry is dying (Tilt in Fort Collins and Longmont anyone?), because through laywers and money grubbing shareholders they can't make the right decisions anymore.

Oh yeah by the ways no new updates...

Sally Shears · 01-17-2009, 10:09 PM

I'll add that to the list of horror stories I've heard about Namco. I still don't think it tops the one about a guy getting fired for picking up a penny from the arcade floor though.

Namco's corporate status might have a bit to do with why they suck. By setting franchise-wide standards and running things from the top down they might be preventing individual stores from adapting to the market. Obviously they're not complete idiots, and try to gauge general market trends (which probably has something to do with why virtually the only things in Namco arcades are redemption games) but the result is what we see from them today.

It's lazy is what it is, and it's going to kill them quickly enough I imagine. It would almost be tragic if the few redeeming aspects of American arcades didn't seem to be destined to rot away even if the business did survive.

Speaking of all this, I got myself a copy of Arcade Mania today. It's pretty neat, you might consider checking it out.