I too am in agreement that there is basically nothing that the Arcades can bring us that the consoles can't. Sometimes people need to get off their high horse (and I'll stick to that theme for a while) and realize this.
When arcades were at their peak, there were a great difference between what was available at the arcades and what was available on the NES, SNES/Genesis, and even what was available on the 32 bit systems. There was always a drop in graphics, color, framerate. There were always shortcuts taken (ie.. when you punched someone to the next floor in MK3, see the difference between arcade and the consoles). At that point, there was a need for the arcades.
Once we were able to get very close approximation of the arcade in the 32 bit days, and were able to get nearly perfect port and in the case of Soul Calibur, a better than the arcade port for the 128 bit systems. It was over for the arcades. Now, with internet, and the ability to play a pretty damn good match, if your connection is great with your opponent, then the last hope for the arcades just went the way of the dinosaur.
People talk about spending 40-60 bucks per weekend on the arcade. Problem is, that is basically a new game every week. YOU might be able to afford it, or better yet, be willing to afford it, but no way I'm gonna be spending the price of a new game every week, to play a game that I already own, and I can play any time I want for free. People talk about people with business suits playing, whether that is true or not, is irrelevant to the US market. This just doesn't occur here. Your best hope is if a father brings his son to Dave and Busters or something like that for his birthday, and decide to play with him for a brief period of time while still his suit. Otherwise, totally wrong demographics here.
Again, with 40, 50 inch 1080P TVs, Widescreen at that, Consoles that cost (at one point 600 bucks, or 500 bucks, now 400 or 300 bucks, plus the cost of internet connection, the 60 bucks for a game. You better believe that A. My setup can rival an arcade setup, and B. You better believe I'm not gonna be spending 60 bucks every weekend to do what I can do at home. The only advantage now arcade holds is the ability to play random people (even assuming your local place has an arcade and has a fighting game scene) with lag free offline play. But back when I was in college, we easily did the "bring the console to the lounge, and get everyone on the floor, or the next floor, or the next building around and have a little tournament thing".
So people bring up Japan. This is probably the sign of why there is a big disconnect between fighting game fanatics and everyday people. Are you kidding me??? For a working person like me, I'm gonna take a week or 2 off, fly 18, 19, 20 hours or whatever it is to Japan, pay the 8, 9, 1000+ dollar flight, and find a hotel for a week or two(to really enjoy the time) just so i can play a video game at the arcades??? My 2 week vacation per year will be much better served in the carribean, or the Southeast US coast, or Europe, or even relaxing at home. And assuming you had a good time in Japan, you would probably would want to go more than once per year, so imagine taking more than one trip, just to play a video game. A lot of us LOVE fighting games, A LOT of us LOVE games period, some of us like Myself, grew up with them since the NES days, some of us were part of the local scene during the Street Fighter 2, alpha, capcom vs. heyday of fighting games but most, 99% or more of us will definitely NOT be going to Japan just to play a game. IF what I said can't "click" in then there is definitely a HIGH HORSE. I'm also a part of many communities, including non fighting games like Team Fortress 2, and in May, We setup a LAN party in Windsor Canada (it could have been anywhere but we wanted more centrally so it wasn't a long travel for most people) and everyone had fun. Your computer is basically a console, and something similar could easily be done with the consoles. But this is the type of thing that would be the MOST that most people would be willing to do just for a game. Anything beyond and your virtually eliminating a near 100% of the people that plays the game.
Another example of High Horse, beyond the 60 bucks per weekend, and travel to Japan chants i see. Fighting games are already more of a hardcore thing, but in this website, people write things with the 123456789 notation. The game doesn't use such notation, the directions like the ones use on Virtua Fighter.com is much better and easier, so Why make it harder on yourself. It is like a no brainer that isn't being taken. Your job is to expand the community, not to make it exclusive. Get off your high horse and make the switch. Same goes for easily being able to go and check a characters movelist. Again, a la Virtuafighter or Tekkenzaibatsu.com. A lot Soulcalibur (or now caliburforum.com for Soul calibur 2 arcade). I understand the problems you guys had with that website and the need to form this new website. Well, now that you did, get these things in order.