Namco Arcade for iOS revives pay-per-play model

Namco Bandai remembers the good ol’ days when games would continuously charge us to play. That’s why it’s bringing back old-school payments for its newly-released Namco Arcade app for iOS devices.

January 26, 2012 2:00 PM5

Do you remember going to the arcade as a kid? Everyone can agree that the best part of the coin-op experience was putting more coins in the machine. These quarter-munching machines would offer impossibly difficult challenges that drained us of our precious allowance money. What a blast!

Thankfully, Namco Bandai remembers the good ol’ days when games would continuously charge us to play. That’s why it’s bringing back old-school payments for its newly-released Namco Arcade app for iOS devices.

Available now as a free download for iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad, Namco Arcade includes a number of classic arcade titles, including Xevious and The Tower of Druaga, with more titles coming. Every day, you’ll be able to play one free game, but if you want to play more, you’ll have to insert a Play Coin.

Play Coins are 99 cents for a pack of ten, meaning each play will cost you a dime. That’s technically a lot cheaper than going to the arcade… but ultimately a lot more costly than just buying the game outright.

(via Siliconera)