At GW - Other than that one bad apple, pretty friendly staff
At Acme - Assholes that will interrupt you in the middle of your game to ask you if you're old enough, and will chew you out if you're there past curfew.  I've always hauled ass before curfew, but from what I've heard, you absolutely do not want to break curfew.
At Acme - 21+ curfew.
At Acme - It's the ghetto, and there are gangsters everywhere, and I just don't like the idea that people might associate me with them.
At Acme - Just a lower level of maturity and intelligence in general compared to GW (i.e. people making fun of you, trying to interrupt you, asking you how to play while you're playing, etc.)

Thats pretty sweet about the upgrades!  I figured the machines from IZ would be all cobbled up.  I remember when I got my beatmania cab from that Edmonds arcade.  Inside it was filled with random candy bits and redemption toys.  Heh.

Hows the monitor on the Pop'n cab BTW?

I'll probably make a trip to acme sometime soon, maybe during PAX.

tada's acme experiences relative to GW actually go completely against what I've experienced (staff competence/rudeness, overall intelligence/maturity of patrons)... maybe they just don't like him.  I mean, especially the curfew thing.  When I've been asked, they wait for a break in play, and a lot of times Amber, Davyn and I have stayed until past midnight without a word said.

the staff ESPECIALLY.  I like most of the workers at acme, and they like me.  not that that prevents gangster wannabe's from flooding the floor (which GW doesn't have by virtue of location)...

just to finish off my thought, IF GW and ACME had all the same games at the same price, I'd choose acme because of playing environment (mostly noise level and random interruptions in this case).  I may reconsider with pop'n though.  That machine is really loud and I just might shift over to GW to play SN and that popn during nighttime happy hours (the summer special thing), since the DDR SN is well sheltered from noise at GW anyway.

Hi-Hat is borked again, not that it really matters because of the newer machines

@James: My Acme experience has been in the middle.  The general staff is really nice and Rob (Op. Manager) still says hi every time I'm there at some point and at least one of the waiters knows what to order without even asking when a group of us go to get some nachos, but the security staff are terrible and interrupt mid-song, get mad when you don't step off the machine to talk to them, and throw you out mid-set, if not mid-song.  They've gotten better about letting you finish a song or set lately, but they still prefer asking your age while on the machine.  If I'm not playing a game and they ask, my response always "oh, it's midnight already" followed by walking out while checking the time on my phone; despite being about as convenient as possible to them, they still approach my angrily every time I'm there.  Plus the security guys tend to come after Bemani players first, they walk past the crowd in the front of the arcade and ask people mid-song to leave rather than dealing with the - obviously underage - wannabe-gangsta's in the front of the arcade who may or may not have been causing problems earlier in the night.  Crappy security staff isn't enough to ruin the experience for me, but acme staff are far from perfect.

And actually, my previous issues with GW staff were far worse than anything Acme staff have ever done.  It was to the point that I didn't really want to go to GW when the new Bemani came in until I found out that the prices (after discounts) would actually be reasonable that I decided to go see if it'd be worthwhile.  They still need competent techs, too.

Wait, you guys are talking about securtity issues at Acme compared to downtown Seattle Gameworks?

Now, granted, I haven't stepped foot in GW's since 2002, but this is downtown Seattle we're talking about here. When I would take the bus home at 11pm [from GW, err, Pine], I felt significantly more threatened walking around downtown than I ever did walking to my car under the watch of the Police in Tukwila.

I always hated getting kicked out when I was younger. Then again, with the machine hacks, I'm sure some of you still like to play 5-minute songs, right? And if it is their responsibility to kick you out, and you know it's going to happen, then maybe you should check your watch before you jump up on stage? Just because it's 11:58 doesn't mean you can start a new set.

Try this next time, leave at 11:50, and thank the management on the way out. Just a quick, "Thanks! See you next weekend!" to make sure they see you leaving before they have to kick you out. I bet it goes a long way to have them see you make the effort as well.

i never had a problem at acme or gameworks *shrug*

i am pretty hungry though.

A big thing I hate about going to Gameworks is having to pay parking everytime.   It wouldn't be so bad if I could take a bus up there or something.

its not that bad, its usually only like 5 or 6 bucks when i pay. or you can park on the street for free but that's kinda hard to find a spot nearby there on friday/saturday nights.

james> if you're not afraid of street parking, do that near a convenient busline.  it's a little time consuming but it might be worth it for you.

I've found a place where I park after 6pm on the street. It's about 5~6 blocks away, but not much of a walk imo.

just to add to jonathan's post, street parking anywhere in the city is free after 6pm or on weekends, you just have to find a spot.

there's a lot of space along 3rd street pretty much all up and down it.

Hmm... thanks.  I didn't know that about the parking.  I'll probably look around a bit more when I go up next.

So did anyone see the news about Emuse in the US?  They have it up and running at the SN2 location test!  Heres hoping ACME can get it once SN2 comes out!

Theres only been one thing posted about it so far... you can unlock noteskins, x.5 speed, and a song by DJ Fracus.  Fracus is a hhc dj from the same label as Darwin and The Acolyte (UM series), so it looks like we'll be seeing some sweet unlockable content in the game.

I think Bill will get e-amuse. After all, he is the coolest arcade op in Washington.

Um, it's not like the security just starts going on patrol at midnight.  First of all, there's the additional 18+ curfew, at 10:00 IIRC, which they also check for if there's any shadow of a doubt you're not 18+.  Am I supposed to just not play anything between 9:50 and 10:10 if I don't want to be interrupted?  Not only that, but they are extremely impolite, and this is coming from someone who usually doesn't care about politeness.

And why the hell would I ever want to thank such asshats?  They'd probably think it was sarcastic.

As for what Tony said about them targeting Bemani players, I have to agree.  This discrimination really leaves a bad taste in my mouth about Acme.  At GW, the staff don't treat Bemani-players like second-rate customers.

On top of that, I feel much safer in the streets of Seattle than I did at Acme, with all the gangsters around that area.  At one time, Pants almost got murdered.

I'd love to support Bill, but the atmosphere/staff of Acme just make it too much of a chore.  I think GW will be my watering hole for (what are hopefully) my last 2 years in WA.  Plus I'm sarcastically banned anyway.

so... i went to acme about 10 minutes ago and apparently they do not open until 3pm on mondays T_T

anybody know if the new stuff it set up yet?

i went yesterday during my lunch break.  only thing new i saw was police 911 2 and some ocean game.

Oh, please not Ocean Hunter. :-(

yeah its ocean hunter

Update:  DM10 and GF are about ready.  Pop N is still waiting for the new hardware system that is supoosed to land in the next few days.  Hoping for installation of all by this Friday.

Not only these points are completely irrelevant, the last one is just plain trolling.  I'm not going to say much more because 1) There's no way I'll convince you of anything and 2) It's not worth my time.

Continue with civility please.

That's one of the least serious looking serious business macros I've ever seen.

Hmmm, well I guess my housemate and I will swing by Tukwila tomorrow and see if Acme has GF11/DM10; if it doesnt we shall catch it at Narrows.  Let us know when you can, Bill!

bill, the drummania's hi-hat intermittently doesn't work...but i guess it doesn't matter since it'll be replaced by the newer version...