Remember back in the day when you were scrounging for quarters?  When you weighed the benefit of dropping a whole five spot into the coin changer to get a few extra one?  Joust, Tron, centipede, Donkey Kong.  Well there's a modern reflection of that going on in China (and I assume elswhere) - Internet Cafes.

ICafés are full of the same sort of kid, maybe a bit older (say 19-22 instead of 12-16), but they are all in here to play games and more. 

It's a geeky social thing.

This is interesting in a couple of ways. 

1. Many of those same geeks that went to the video game parlors back in the day are now technology professionals.  Will that be the same thing here in China?
2. What does it imply for the next wave of video-game-arcade / iCafe.  What will the next generation of social-computer-geek-play-hangout place look like?

...although it's a bit smokey for my tastes because they all smoke like chimneys.