The Joy of Arcades

I'm starting to believe in the right to exist of arcades which, outside of Japan, seem to be dying out quietly. I never really understood why people would pay a dollar or so to play a game that just has a slightly bigger screen than the average TV set and, more importantly, is ridiculously hard to beat. But things seem to have changed a bit since the 80s: ok, the technical difference to household consoles has even decreased but the games seem to become easier and more aimed at a casual crowd, spending a dollar here and there instead of feeding one specific game with all their pocket money to see the end sequence at least once.
I recently ended up in an arcade with my ex-girlfriend to play a few rounds of airhockey. My friend has never played a game for more than 5 minutes but I convinced her to play the Outrun 2 racing cabinet against me and she was totally enthusiastic (in fact, she almost won against me... ;-)) because the game has nice visuals of California, one of her favorite places on earth, a great old-school soundtrack and, most importantly, is played with the whole body, i.e. a racing wheel, foot pedals etc. The games was pretty easy, too; we finished it (at least one of the branching routes) the first time which I think is an unusual but very good approach for arcades and fits more the profile of potential arcade visitors who are put off by the feeling of being tricked.
I think the main problem with arcades is often the atmosphere and, somehow related, the clientele... at least in Germany, arcades are really not very inviting and I guess they will never attain the same status they had in both Japan and the States in the 80s.
But I'm wondering whether the model would work in countries where playing a few rounds for little money might overall be more interesting than spending 50 bucks for a game you hardly play. There was a post on Contentsutra recently that companies like Intel plan to 'lease' computers, i.e. sell computing time rather than computers, in less industrialized countries, including India and some Latin American countries which I think is an exceedingly dumb idea because that's just not how people use computers (at least not for professional purposes...). However, with gaming it might be a useful concepts because a built-in 'time restriction' in playing games might not be a bad things. I could also imagine the community aspect of it being taken up more readily in India than, for instance, in Germany... ;-) Do you happen to know if arcades are popular in India? I guess film-themed DDR-style cabinets would even be more successful than comparable PC or console-based games... it would also allow for some pretty neat marketing campaigns with Rani Mukherjee on a dance mat just like Bill Gates playing the new XBOX360 against fans at BestBuy in Seattle on the launch day of the X360 :)
Warm and vernal regards from Bonn,

Stefan