Arcade, where have you gone?

The classic arcade seems to be a nearly extinct species. While there are some arcade games that seem true to the classic games (Crusin', for example.), it seems as though all is lost. Arcade games were known for innovative (at the time) controls, such as the rolling ball in Crystal Kingdom or the light gun from just about every arcade game. There are still some arcade games that are becoming innovative, such as motion simulators for aviation games. However, arcades have been in decline since the Video Game Crash of 1984, and more recently due to the popularization of home consoles. Many companies that got their start-up in arcade found the popularization of video game consoles as a source for ports of their arcade games for consoles like the Commodore 64, Atari 2600, ColecoVision, etc. Microsoft has loved the old arcade for quite a while. In fact, during the mid-'90s, Microsoft released 5 games for the PC via floppy disc from Namco. More recently, Microsoft released Game Room for Games for Windows and Xbox 360 that (so far) has games from Konami, Atari, and games on the 2600 and Commodore 64. However, there are some characteristics that these can't really bring back, such as the massive joystick and indented plastic buttons, as well as blowing off all of your quarters trying to beat some kid's high score. However, there are some nice features that are added to these arcade games from services like Game Room and Gametap, such as pausing the game where it is, rewinding to undo a screw-up, etc. Even though there are online leader boards and local multiplayer, it isn't as fun as having a whole bunch of people you haven't met before meet eachother at an arcade and compete head-to-head while popping quarters like there is no tomorrow while eating a bunch of pizza in order to obtain tickets to buy the fabled plastic, $0.05 toys. While there are a bunch of positives about newer services, those services can never replace what has been.