Lie Huo arcade in Shanghai has reopened. It's still awesome and it's still 5 pence a go (5 pence!!) - but has downsized slightly. Where the back wall once was has been brought forward, eliminating about two rows of cabs. It's a survival strategy where they've divided part of the space to rent.
It's still managing about as much as before in terms of game variety. Shmup wise 3 notable games are missing: Ketsui, Ikaruga and Espgaluda II from the lineup. I'm told these aren't gone, just being kept in the back for rotation purposes, but it's the overall shrinkage has cut the lineup down a bit. Still rocking Futari BL, DOJ BL/WL, SDOJ, Deathsmiles MBL, DFK 1.5, Strikers & Strikers III etc.
However I'm told Lie Huo's future is still hanging in the balance. This is terrible news. It's truly a wonderful arcade, and I'm heading down tonight for a busy Saturday to meet some people and get punished on SDOJ. If you're visiting Shanghai at any point, make this your first port of call before it's too late.
CafeId Seoul
I just heard that this has closed down - in 2015 no less! A sad thing for me to hear, I have some good memories there (and the T-Shirt I got as a gift: I'll never wear it!). If you don't know, this was the home of a Korean fighting game team who surprised everyone at EVO in 2011 with a newcomer victory. More info about them here.
Apparently the place had some financial difficulties after IGT2015 (IGT being a tournament hosted annually by CafeId) and the prize money wasn't paid. Considering how owner Kensouzzang seemed to throw all his own money at tying to keep the spirit alive, I'm not surprised something like this happened. Word is the place is officially gone and the FB page isn't being updated anymore.
If you can read Korean you may be able to glean more here:
http://old.battlepage.com/index.php?men ... &no=201859
and here:
https://kofkoucha.wordpress.com/2015/09 ... %E6%AC%BA/
So if you haven't been here, strike it off your list. Seoul is now mostly useless for gamer hangouts.
