I wonder if they "upgraded" the money slot to take 5 dollar bills.

@La Sepultura:
It comes with a credit card slot now.

I'm pretty sure this will be damn near impossible to find in the U.S. once it hits...

are quarters even viable forms of payment at arcades now?

jeez, and to think as a kid i laughed at the whole notion of a "nickle arcade"

I'm pretty sure this will be damn near impossible to find in the U.S. once it hits...

Well, this cabinet, yeah. The US doesn't have sit-down cabinets that also happen to be set up for head to head play. This is a purely Japanese phenomenon and always has been.

Regular standalone cabinets won't be very hard to find, though... assuming you can find an arcade at all.

I know it's ridiculously expensive, but...

I'M IN LOVE WITH THAT CABINET~~ >_>

@crazyspoonhead: Actually, that's incredibly cheap for a four player cabinet with an extra viewing screen. Back in the day, when I managed an arcade, we had a game that cost us $15,000. A single player game. Not Tekken of course, but still this isn't that bad for HD and all of those screens.

@crecente: Not to mention Tekken is the number 1 3D fighting game in Japan. It brings in the most money of any arcade game in Japan and has for a long time with Tekken 5 DR, so 6 is some sure fire money

I drool on the idea alone of getting my hands on this!!!

Wow would it be any good for your health to be so close to the tv like that, I mean, youd get a headache sooner or later because your not looking at the screen, thats basicly all you can see

Does anyone else want to make a MAME machine out of this or is it just me?

Only 720p? This is PS3 what happened to 1080p the only true HD?

Arcade owners buy PS3 and Tekken 6 game...insert into Tekken 5 cabinet...= Tekken 6....without spending $36k.

@mikeluisortega:
Damn! I was gonna make a 1080p joke...

@ITR:
That cost covers the entire thing (4-player, and viewing monitor). If you consider only the four playable units, that's $9,000 each.

Not a big Tekken fan, but that sure is a sweet-looking arcade cabinet. I know how BloggyMcBlogBlog feels about it. Especially since now MAME is gonna support CPS3 soon (Well, maybe), so that means HD JoJo. :P

Wait... Is there a difference between "Bandai Namco" and "Namco Bandai?" I thought it was always written as "Namco Bandai" (as all trademarks I've seen say "NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc.") but the logo always give Bandai top billing.

@badasscat: Well I meant the fact that whatever arcades are left (I know of only one) probably cant afford this thing. And the one I go to would have to renovate a lot just to fit this in there. Sigh...Manhattan. ;~;

Considering Bandai was the company that bought out Namco, seems like they should always get top billing.

@BPMΩ: Same company, they just like to switch the order around for FUNS SAKE now and then.

32,000?? OMG, I remember when games use to run about $3,000 to $4,000.

I hate to say it but Tekken can't hold a candle to Virtua Fighter or Dead or Alive. The 3D movement on Tekken has always been lame. I wonder if they have made any improvements in this new version...

I, I want!! Damnit, why does the US arcade scene have to such so bad. Fuck Americans!

Also, $32,000 is much more than I anticipated. I'd like to know how much VF5 initially cost.

@pupaboy:

"Dead or Alive"

That's amusing. DoA really doesn't qualify to be spoken of in the presence of VF.

I imagine you'll be talking about how Go has nothing on Tic-Tac-Toe for your next trick?

@badasscat:

In Australia, there are lots of head-to-head cabinets in arcades, especially around Brisbane. I can't really vouch for the rest of the country, but I'm sure that it can't be too different elsewhere. I'm sure Plunkett can tell us about Sydney.

@Do Kesubei:

Nice. Real nice.

Yeow! A DOA hater. As much like VF I can only play it so much. What? You don't like reversals and bounching boobs??

Yay, U.S. arcades are soooo NOT gonna buy that.

Well, it looks like Namco is going to break the 40 character barrier, so is a tag mode too much to ask for?

@pupaboy:

Tekken is the most popular fighting game. Explain that.
I guess most people are dumbasses playing the worst possible game of the three.

@Raszor: It's honestly not damaging or distracting in the least. I use a 37 inch LCD that pulls double duty as my computer monitor, so that means that I'm sitting like 2-3 feet away from it. There are no headaches, and I actually spent a while looking up eye strain issues. The short of it is, you can stress your eyes (much like you can with a computer monitor), but lasting damage is not a problem.

Oh, and yes it is really easy to get "lost" in the screen.

Better have a tag mode.

@crecente: you did? that's awesome.

@mikeluisortega: dont say that! my TV's 720p, its not fake HD...IS IT?!

@pupaboy: DOA = lame, VF is good but im not a fan. to each their own, i guess.

also, is this coming to PS3 this year?

No thank you Mr McWhertor... I really am excited about this game, I'm thinking about getting a T6 PCB eventually lol... but if it's coming out on PS3 sooner than later, then I'll pass. There's always T5DR online to hold me over :)

@Laser_iCE: Regarding the arcade scene in the rest of Australia, Canberra's is almost non-existant.
I only know of two arcades still operating and they are both piss poor. 10+ year old games that are in desperate need of a service @ $2 a credit? no thanks.
Though this is Canberra, the little country town that happens to be the capital :)

More on topic - the setup looks sweet as, but Tekken is definitely a second class fighter compared to VF

Only Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey will buy this. But Oprah won't play it. She'll just whine about the missing motion-controls.

Damn, with all this focus on deluxe arcade machines in Japan, it's a pretty good bet that any arcades still clinging to life now are going to die in a few years when the major Japanese imports cost more than the arcade will ever recoup on them.

Tekken is the most popular franchise because of characters and availability...

Its the only 2 reasons why VF still hasn't fatalitied Tekken yet

If DOA was as regularly available to play as tekken in the arcades, we'd have world war 3

Now if only DOA returned to its arcade scene... T_T (no, not cause i want to start a war)

how does this work? an arcade owner actually lays down 36k for a single game? How long would it take to make profit off that?! Do they sell it back to Namco or what when it's all done?

ninja_farmer - I had the same thought.
Do arcades buy these things, or just lease them?
Seems to me if they lease them over 2-3 years, like a car, they just need to pull in a a couple hundred a month to break even.

Um.. they couldn't have 2 players to one screen? C'mon! Some things you don't actually need 2 screens for 2 players... fighting games being one of these things.

Nothing short of availability will stop me from playing this game.

At least they were kind enough to add wheels to the machine.

considering japanese arcades charge 100 yen to play anything, these cabinets could definitely profit. Add on paying 500 yen or whatever for your character card and all that other business, and there's money to be made

They have sit-down multiplayer cabinets like this at Dave & Buster's. Am I the only one who has been there? Everyone's talking about nothing like this being in America but surely.

@egyptiansushi: Dave and Busters is awesome I could definitely see something like this being there.

Look for this to be found at your local arcade...never.

As far as Dave and Buster's, the closest one to here requires a 2 hour car trip. There was only one in the state, last I checked. Not really a great business decision.