Return of Timezone

Here's something that came to my attention recently: Former arcade giant Timezone are announcing a comeback with plans to expand into shopping centres.

I remember Timezone being a big deal when I was a kid in the early nineties. It was a place where they had these real awesome games that I couldn't find anywhere else, somewhere I visited many times and a place where i blew many a dollar. Indeed, i have many fond memories about meeting people there and experiencing so many wonderful games.
Of course, that all seems irrelevant now, as the era of the arcade has long since passed. Sure it managed to bounce back from a previous potential collapse (saved only with the advent of Streetfighter 2), but the rise of the home entertainment, technical advancements and saved games kinda ended it for people.

The Timezone I knew from my childhood started was part of my local movie theater. Compared to other places it wasn't seedy and was more welcoming to all kinds of people. Then suddenly it changed it's name to NRG and then to Intensity, it's current name.
I remember Timezone as being packed, wall to wall, with arcade cabinets and little room for anything else. By contrast, I walk into Intensity now and it seems barren. Sure there's DDR but at the same time, there's some aging cabinets that haven't moved in twenty years, very few games from the past decade, and there seems a lot more open spaces. I've heard that arcades are still managing to live a surprisingly healthy existence overseas but you wouldn't think that down here. Hell, I've been to Galactic Circus in Melbourne and that seems to be doing amazingly well, despite the arcade being long-surpassed by the appeal of home gaming.

But it would seem that the Arcade's time has come (yet) again: Gaming has been recognized as a social activity thus presenting an opportunity worth seizing upon. And so Timezone announced a comeback: As indicated by the link above, they've opened up five new stores last year to enough success that expansion has been announced.
I doubt this thing will come to the backwater that Tasmania, but if it results in a large gaming complex loaded with all kinds of Arcade gaming then hell yes!