Arcades have dominated the gaming world for many years, propelled to fame by classics such as Pac Man. They defended themselves during fierce rivalry from consoles like the Game Boy and the Super Nintendo to earn a place amongst the elites of gaming today - but now our humble arcade faces a fresher, younger, better looking rival - the Internet! What I'm on a quest to find out is with the introduction of free arcades online, is there any custom remaining for the traditional arcade?

So why did we ever go to the local arcade? Well, for most of us it was a heaven away from home and, more importantly, from school. Undoubtedly the many hours spend bashing a button and trying to keep that damn pinball from dropping were not wasted, but I cant help wondering if we were all 10 years younger - would we have had more fun with a computer mouse in the left hand a Pepsi in the right? As always, it’s a personal choice but children of the time were content with what they were given - they didn’t push for new, more exciting games as nobody could have anticipated the velocity with which the gaming industry grew (and is still growing today). It occurs to me that the Internet has everything an arcade has and more.

The Internet has a vast array of games of all types of genres as well as the your old arcade favourites. Free flash games mean you don’t have to part with your hard earned money or even leave your bed on a Monday morning. In a society where we can get all things from fast food to fast girls delivered to our door-step, surely the Internet is the next logical progression for gaming. Gone are the days of standing in front of a machine with a far-from-orderly queue bustling behind you secretly urging you to lose so they can "have a go".

So what it all comes down to is preference - the thrill of the arcade versus the ease, comfort and playability of your home. It is surely time that the gaming world - like all other industries, accepts its fate and moves onto the world wide web. Sites such as skullarcade.com offer wide choices of games on a scale unforeseeable during the peak of the arcade era - an era which may be reaching its demise sooner rather than later.