18 January, 2008

SEGA is in Dubai!


I can't believe my eyes! SEGA will be coming to Dubai!
DUBAI, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Dubai's Emaar Properties EMAR.DU and Japan's Sega Corp have agreed to develop theme parks in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, Emaar said on Thursday.

They will first start to develop one in Dubai Mall next to Burg Dubai (that monstrous skyscraper). Is this a comeback for the long extinct Arcade?
I used to frequent Arcades back in the golden days of the Fighters Genre. Spent hundreds of Dinars in Sindbad (now closed) on Street Fighter 2 back in '92. Later on King of Fighters series and Tekken in Ardh al sighar. Met friends and created rivals. Arcades was very much like..um.. a Gahwa of competing Carrom & playing cards players, but for this generation. A more complex and tech savvy one.
Arcades are all but dead now. The Playsttation, Xbox & Wii are doing a great job of providing quality gaming and letting people interact cyberly. What would the Emarati SEGA theme park be like? Will it bring Arcades to its next Golden Age or will it be reduced to simple kiddie rides?
Time will tell, but for now, I am ecstatic.

3 comments:

david santos said...

Hi Redbelt

Excellent post!
Thank you.
have a good day

Ammaro said...

i heard about this a few days ago. ive always loved sega (considering i had a megadrive and was on the 'sonic' side of things rather than the nintendo and mario side).

should be really interesting. vidgame arcades dont seem to exist anymore, well, not here anyway.

king of fighters! damn... now that was a game

Redbelt said...

Hey David, thanks for dropping by. Be a regular.
Ammar, KOF has a die hard fanbase in Korea and Kuwait. Check out some of their moves on you tube. The skill of some of them really gives me a headache!