London Casino Crew meets (RIP the Arcade)

[Icarus]

Will any of you fine gentlemen be attending the Wasshoi in Europe 2013 event held in France that Prometheus posted about in Shmups Chat?
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=44980
I'm going to try and make it down there to meet Clover-TAC, NAK and T3-Kamui, and check out the event itself, and would be interested to know if anyone else is going. I'd be happy to split the cost of a twin room with someone if anyone is serious about going there but needs accommodation, as I have a nice little hotel directly opposite the train station lined up. http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldetail ... nnes/28876

[DEL]

Yes Icarus, I'll most likely be there.
Where have you been? Its been a long while....

[Icarus]

Yes Icarus, I'll most likely be there.
Where have you been? Its been a long while....

Awesome, I'll see you there.
And yes, it has been a while. I took time out to concentrate on other things. I'm still in "time out mode" right now, but this event is too good an opportunity to miss.

[DEL]

Understood. No problem .
Plasmo and I will most likely travel down in my car and see you there. We'll talk about staying at the Ritz Carlton soon...

[Rupert H]

I other news, Casino has officially closed its doors to arcade gamers. They have a sign up stating "Closed for refurbishment -- Under new management."

http://www.facebook.com/TheHeartOfGaming... Over to you.

[MX7]

Goodnight, sweet prince.

I hope this Loading bar opens sharpish...

[dan76]

Nah, don't worry, it's those eight candy cabs they ordered - along with a prototype Deathsmiles 3 board.

[Icarus]

End of a (very long) era. Where are we going to hold London Meets now? ;_;

[DEL]

Icarus wrote;

End of a (very long) era. Where are we going to hold London Meets now? ;_;

At Starkey's arcade in North Acton.
As long as he manages to keep it alive, that would be fine. Its not too far out from Central London. In fact, only one stop away from my place in West Acton.

[O. Van Bruce]

Wait... are you saying the Casino Arcade closed? It was one of my top spots to go when I get some money for vacations

[DEL]

Yes O. Van Bruce, its gone.

-----------------------------
On a midly off topic note, masamune/Inti told me that the Neo Empire forum is down and out when I was in Goodge a few weeks ago. He wasn't kidding ! Its like there's no trace of the Neo Empire forum left on the internet.

[hzt]

went past today

[trap15]

The end of an era

[Skykid]

London just became so much emptier.

[Astraea FGA Mk. I]

I never ended up making it to the casino and now it is gone. It would still be cool to hang out with you guys, I'll try to come by when you arrange something in the future.

[emphatic]

I'm really glad I actually went there, but mostly for the cool peeps inside, even though I think I have a soft spot for sitdown woodies.

[jonny5]

That's kind of funny. We used to have an arcade about a block from our church of scientology, mind you ours is a huge multi-storey building.

Sorry you guys lost your arcade. Any idea what the plans are? Are they just going to re-open and resume business as normal, or are they changing formats?

[dan76]

We are hoping that the Loading Cafe will fill the gap - if it ever opens. I think a pub with a cab in it would be great. I'm up for going in on a cab btw.

Edit: just had a look in there today. It's completely gutted. The only way you would know it's the Casino of old is that the neon sign pointing downstairs is still there.

It really has gone. Fuck.

[DEL]

jonny5 wrote;

Any idea what the plans are? Are they just going to re-open and resume business as normal, or are they changing formats?

I was there a few weeks ago and the staff told me that they will have the option to work there again when it reopens as an AGORA slot machine arcade.

[Skykid]

jonny5 wrote;

Any idea what the plans are? Are they just going to re-open and resume business as normal, or are they changing formats?

I was there a few weeks ago and the staff told me that they will have the option to work there again when it reopens as an AGORA slot machine arcade.

Terrible.

[Rupert H]

Don't despair! I spent a good eight or so hours at the Heart of Gaming yesterday and I have to say that Mark (Fire Bug) has done an incredible job. They had three Naomi cabs running Ikaruga, Shikigami no Shiro II and Giga Wing 2, but he can put any and ALL of the Naomi catalogue on them by request. I cant believe we could've been playing Border Down and Psyvariar 2 if we'd have known.

Anyway, the shmup cabs were busy all day long with plenty of new faces and Mark personally reiterated his commitment to making shmups an integral part of the arcade, so we won't have any problem installing our own boards.

We need to make this a monthly pilgrimage. Good times ahead!

[Illyrian]

Okay I agree on that, definitely up for a trip there regularly, need to show support to this place!

[DEL]

Rupert H wrote;

Don't despair! I spend a good eight or so hours at the Heart of Gaming yesterday and I have to say that Mark (Fire Bug) has done an incredible job. They had three Naomi cabs running Ikaruga, Shikigami no Shiro II and Giga Wing 2, but he can put any and ALL of the Naomi catalogue on them by request. I cant believe we could've been playing Border Down and Psyvariar 2 if we'd have known.

Anyway, the shmup cabs were busy all day long with plenty of new faces and Mark personally reiterated his commitment to making shmups an integral part of the arcade, so we won't have any problem installing our own boards.

We need to make this a monthly pilgrimage. Good times ahead!

Wow! Yes, support his arcade and it will continue.
Casino was a case of the Public not supporting the arcade, and its no surprise that lack of coins going in ends up in arcade closure.

[spadgy]

Hi guys - I'm back. Sorry for the absence. I had GDC in San Francisco followed by a deadline week straight off it, and some other crap to deal with.

So now I've caught up I've seen the closed Casino in the flesh. What a tragic site.

But we have hope with Loading Cafe, and like Rupert H, CHI and plenty of others, I went to Heart of Gaming (Mk.II) over the weekend. And it was really damn amazing.

Between HoG and Loading, we have hope for places to meet and play games. And we can squeeze in a few pub trips and meets at houses, I reckon. I feel bad for my thread absence, but am keen to keep this thread alive while we re-work how we do things.

And HoG was a joy – still not completely set-up to its fullest extent – but packed with candy style cabs and full of people. As Rupert H says, the shmups area was always busy and full, and it seems like they are open to having boards swap and change (I've already lent them my DDP board, and CHI has loaned them seven PCBs - most of them shmups. The place could do with a touch more done to the decor, but as a place for meets and such, it's great. And I'm really captured by Gigawing 2, which we all got into at HoG.

How HoG's opening hours will work, we shall see, but it looks like a huge opportunity for us lot. I'm going to support it as much as I can.

Anyway, if somebody wants to meet at a pub any weeknight, let me know!

And all stay talking and checking in here to work out how HoG and Loading can work for us. See you soon!

(And I guess I should do something with the OP!)

[Illyrian]

Well that settles is then, I will be there this saturday (HoG) during the day, from early afternoon roughly.

[MX7]

I think I should be free on Saturday if we're turning this into 'a thing'. If it's even open then? I know the place has esoteric opening times, as I found out to my chagrin when I trekked down to the Potter's Bar site a few years back...

Shame I couldn't make it last weekend, looked like a lot of fun!

[dan76]

I should be able to make saturday as well. I'm guessing they've got 360's hooked up. Would it be worth bringing some games along?

[hzt]

I'm fairly convinced I have to do something on Saturday but I can't recall what it is. So basically MAYBE.

JDE is in Manchester.

[MX7]

Booo, I haven't seen JDE in months

EDIT - Or anyone from the arcade in fact! Sad days :(

[Illyrian]

I for one will just be happy if they actually have proper air conditioning and a customer bathroom

Seems to be around Park Royal roughly, will need to check properly tonight. Will aim to be there by roughly 1pm or thereabouts