The Metreon is selling out (all of its arcade cabinets)

When the Metreon first opened in downtown San Francisco back in 1999 I was pretty skeptical. I remember Sony marketing the space as a some all singing, all dancing playground from the future, which ended up being just as futuristic as Dippin' Dots are to being the ice cream of the future. An IMAX theater, a Sony Playstation store, and virtual bowling for $2.00 weren't big enough attractions to convince me that it was worth my time, and gradually over the past decade the Metreon has become an awkard and failed attraction, currently being transformed into a "restaurant-centric" mall before it becomes overrun with cheap sunglasses kiosks and frozen yogurt stands.

Recently I've been browsing around the Metreon since my buddy Steven and I have made a habit to going to the movies at least once a week. Before the show starts, we'll spend a few tokens between the two rooms on the second floor. The first room is the claw-machine room (shown above) which harbors at least 20 (if not more) claw-machines and is always empty. The second room is the videogame arcade (featuring the aforementioned virtual bowling), a dim-lit mix of old arcade cabinets and steam-punk-esque decorations. But now both rooms as of a few weeks ago are entirely on sale.

Claw machine with plush South Park characters? It's yours for a grand. Sega Rally for two players? Under a thousand. Treasure Island Gifts? Well, that one isn't too fun but it's only $195. I mean I have to admit, the idea of having my very own House of the Dead 4 in my basement for $3,495 sounds pretty tremendous (if I had any money after that PS3 Slim, *sigh*), but it's a pretty sad sight that the Metreon is shaking off it's old gamer skin to make room for a Just Desserts. At least Point Break Live! will be showing there later this month.

Comments

[kimmi8]

Ugh, an awkward sign of the times.

[Shamous]

I think its bout time we bought the wine cellar pinball machine a friend.

[.tiff]

Exactly what I was thinking, 'cept, we need to clear out our old school books first...

[Shamous]

F dat. I'm holdin on to that copy of catcher in the rye, even if I thought that book was kinda lame. Holden's a bitch.

[Tim]

so I know this comment is totally out of date, but noting that Tilt is still open at the Metreon, I think I can shed some light on the situation. I used to work at (a different) Tilt, and every year, starting a couple of months before the holidays, this is what they do. They put everything in the store up for sale (obviously the newer stuff is more expensive), and just see what moves. I worked in a "graveyard arcade" where they sent the old machines to day (4 Carnevil machines, anyone? No? How about Mortal Kombat 2?), so a lot of ours were cheap--just a few hundred dollars.