TOKYO -- Don't want to bother with coins when you're playing a few rounds of Virtua Fighter 5 R at an arcade in Japan? How does paying with your mobile phone sound?
I stopped by the Sega GIGO game center in Ikebukuro earlier today -- I guess you could call it my local arcade -- and noticed that all of the Virtua Fighter 5 R cabinets were now equipped with contactless Edy payment terminals.
Edy is a system used in Japan for payments done through prepaid smart cards -- in fact it's the same technology used by Japan Railways for their Suica cards. The system is also supported by all three of
Japan's mobile providers, with the technology included in select handsets.
You tend to see the Edy symbol in most convenience stores, and a few stores as well -- the Yodobashi Camera chain in particular -- but this was the first time I noticed it being used on cabinets in game centers.
It looks like they can install the terminals on most cabinets, not just the beautiful Lindbergh ones that house VF5R.
When I sat down to play a few rounds of Cave's side-scrolling shooter Deathsmiles -- played on Sega's older Blast City cabinets -- it was equipped as well. Note that you can still pay using 100 yen coins.
Photos: Jean Snow/Wired.com
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