Filed under: Arcade

Sega continues arcade legacy with Ring Edge powered Border Break

by Randy Nelson { 8 months ago }

As expected, Sega has unveiled its latest arcade hardware, Ring Edge, and along with it, the mech-based shoot-and-slash-'em-up Border Break. Having brought the world Virtual On, the company is no stranger to mech titles in the arcade space. Its latest is -- unlike the aforementioned head-to-head title -- a linear action game akin to Armored Core.

Insert Credit reports location tests of the game will take place in Japanese arcades beginning February 23. We wouldn't count on a Stateside release, but we're willing to bet thousands of Sega fans just cracked a smile. They'll only grow wider after watching the gameplay footage after the break.

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PSA: PAX 2009 now accepting your registration

by Kevin Kelly { 8 months ago }

Where can you discover the wonders of puppetry, rap with game developers, ogle cosplayers, and hang with the Luddites in a three-story annex of board games -- all while getting quality time with upcoming games? If you answered, "PAX," we salute you. If you said: Poughkeepsie, New York, we'll give you a second guess.

The Penny Arcade Expo is one of our favorite gaming events, hands down. The East Coast version of PAX won't launch until 2010, so you've got one more opportunity to make the pilgrimage to the original Seattle location. Lucky for you, registration opened today! You can pick up a three-day badge for just $50, and pre-registrants are also eligible to participate in the Omegathon gaming competition. The grand prize: all-expenses-paid trip to the Tokyo Game Show and, uh, other prizes. Plus, we'll be there!

Joystiq at the Street Fighter IV Launch Party

by Kevin Kelly { 8 months ago }

By now you're probably tired of reading about slick Hollywood-based video game launch parties attended by C-list celebrities and wannabes who probably game about as much as your grandma. Capcom finally got it right by opening up the Street Fighter IV party to the public. The only problem was that so many people showed up for the event that the fire marshal ended up restricting access, and a lot of people went home without getting their game on.

For those of you who didn't make it to the Geffen Museum Street Fighter Takeover in downtown Los Angeles, we offer up the gallery below from the event. There were tons of console stations where you could play the game, imported versions of the SFIV Japanese arcade game, a Street Fighter Club rumble pit, a "museum" full of Street Fighter products from over the years, Street Fighter arcade cabinets painted by different artists, plenty of people in costumes, and of course, game producer Ono-san.

Gallery: Street Fighter IV Launch Party

Joystiq visits: The Pinball Hall of Fame

by Kevin Kelly { 9 months ago }

click for entire pinball-licious gallery!

Vegas isn't just a mecca for gambling, strip clubs and CES -- it's also the home of the Pinball Hall of Fame, situated a couple of miles off the strip. Although once you walk through these hallowed halls of gaming past, it's hard to figure out why a place like this isn't showcased in the middle of Mandalay Bay or in a sparkletronic gaming rotunda inside the Bellagio.

That's because Tim Arnold and the Las Vegas Pinball Collectors Club have made this a non-profit labor of love. They aren't interested in razzle-dazzle showmanship or a high-priced entry fee -- which is why you can enter for free anytime they're open and play one of their 141 pinball machines for a couple of quarters.

Joystiq took some time off during this year's CES to visit to the place, and we only left because they wouldn't let us stay overnight. The sheer amount of pinball games they have on display is staggering, including some extremely rare games like The Pinball Circus and Gottleib's two-player, head-to-head Challenger pinball machine.

Check out the highlights of our visit after the break, and make it a point to stop by the place if you're ever in Sin City. It's the most fun you can have without blowing your entire bankroll.

Gallery: Pinball Hall of Fame

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Sega trademarks arcade hardware 'Ringedge' and 'Ringwide'

by Griffin McElroy { 9 months ago }

Sega recently filed a series of trademarks that's had doe-eyed arcade nostalgists foaming at the mouth -- the once prolific arcade publisher recently trademarked three related items in the U.S. and Europe: "Ringedge", "Ringwide" and a logo which contains -- you guessed it -- rings. Whatever these items may be, their trademarks designate them for use with arcade game boards, video game software, stand alone video game machines, and arcade game machines with built-in screens.

Normally, we'd make some snotty remark about the decline of arcades in those two territories, but we just can't seem to bring ourselves to do it. This is Sega we're talking about -- the folks who blessed your local quarter-devouring establishment with House of the Dead and The Ocean Hunter. If anyone can restore the Western arcade industry to its former glory, it's those guys.

Are you ready for a spiritual successor to ... Hydro Thunder? [update]

by Jason Dobson { 9 months ago }

Wait, a new arcade game! Water you thinking? Raw Thrills continues to scrape barnacles off the drowning arcade scene; Arcade Heroes reports that the coin-op company is currently working on H2Overdrive, a spiritual successor to Hydro Thunder. Expected to make a splash next week during London's ATEI expo, the game is reportedly being developed by the same team responsible for Midway's speed boat racer, which was first released in arcades in 1999 before boosting to the Dreamcast, PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and PC.

Details remain light, though given fancy screens like the one above we wonder if this could be the game that finally sends us power sliding back to the local arcade. Yea, probably not.

Update: Looks like this isn't so a rumor as it is a sure thing. 1UP has posted up a preview of H2Overdrive, complete with a video you can watch of the upcoming racer in action without losing any quarters.

[Via VideoGamer]

Oh, the '80s: Alec Baldwin's hard nights ended with ... Galaga

by Jason Dobson { 9 months ago }

Before he was a thorn in Tina Fey's side as the Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming at GE, Alec Baldwin was something of a sot, spending much of the '80s in a haze of "sex, drugs, booze." And when it came to sobering up, it wasn't coffee that was his drug of choice. It was Galaga, though we imagine blurred vision kept him from ever putting in his initials.

Baldwin writes in the book "Moments of Clarity" that evenings of debauchery would often end in a warehouse with him playing the arcade classic into the morning. "This was the only way I could go 'beta' and go into that state I needed to be, where I could calm down and take my mind off everything," recalled the actor, who confessed that God got him sober. And while the 30 Rock star oddly describes the deity as a "65-year-old retired postal worker named Lenny," we still like to think that the Galagans played their part.

See how classic arcade games, like Galaga, have been updated for the modern audience:

Mad Catz reveals Street Fighter IV controllers, accessories

by Jason Dobson { 10 months ago }

click for high-res product gallery

With a little more than a month left before Street Fighter IV hurricane kicks its way to retail, the peripheral mystics at Mad Catz have announced a bevy of SFIV-themed accessories. Now, even if you don't know your sonic boom from your yoga flame you'll at least look like you do.

Set for release alongside the anticipated fighter's February debut, the lineup includes an official Street Fighter IV controller and arcade stick for the Xbox 360 and PS3, each adorned with the game's unique art style. Additionally, those pining for a more authentic arcade experience can pick up the stick's 'Tournament Edition,' which will feature "arcade quality" components and a design overseen by SFIV producer Yoshinori Ono. Not enough? A wall scroll, console stickies and faceplates are also on the way, though we expect true fans to dye their skin green or comb their blond hair to preposterous heights before they stand a chance to defeat Sheng Long.

Gallery: Mad Catz Street Fighter IV controllers

Army using arcades to find new recruits

by Jason Dobson { 10 months ago }

Army Recruiter: "Listen, I see you've been having a lot of fun gunning for bad guys on this here arcade game. But tell you what, how would you like to get shot at for real!"

Wide-eyed youth: "Boy, mister, would I!"

Conversations similar to the above are likely unfolding at Philadelphia's Franklin Mills Mall, where the Army has setup 'The Army Experience Center,' a $13 million arcade designed to earn the favor of local gamers and persuade them to trade in their quarters for military-issue green. The arcade, a 14,500 square foot vortex of patriotism, is home to three full-scale military vehicle simulators and a host of games -- most of them of the shooty variety.

Entertaining, yes, though the center is also designed to educate visitors about job opportunities in the Army, with recruiters on hand to weave nationalist prose to anyone inclined to listen. Of course, like America's Army before it, the ultimate goal is to get youngsters (though nobody under 17) to sign their name on the dotted line and report for duty.

It's something that has not been panning out exactly as Uncle Sam might hope, with only 35 visitors enlisting since the facility opened in August, a figure the New York Times reports is "slightly below" the rate of the five traditional recruitment centers the arcade replaced. This might -- might -- have something to do with real bullets stinging a smidge more than fake ones. Just a thought.

Arcade documentary Chasing Ghosts now showing on Showtime

by Kevin Kelly { 10 months ago }

We wrote about the fantabulous arcade documentary Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade when it premiered at Sundance in 2007, and we featured interviews with director Lincoln Ruchti and producer Mark Verrachia. It's been a long road for the film -- which was playing in Park City against The King of Kong at Slamdance -- but now you can finally see it.

Chasing Ghosts is on Showtime this month -- in HD, no less -- and has three more showings through the end of December. Set your DVRs for "capture" and have yourself a little screening party. It's well worth seeing and features everyone's favorite/most hated gamer, Billy Mitchell. With any luck, we'll see this on Netflix or DVD soon, because playing this on your Xbox 360 or PS3 will surely make the space-time continuum fold in on itself.

Guitar Hero Arcade based on Guitar Hero 3

by Justin McElroy { 11 months ago }

We don't know exactly why we're so excited about an arcade version of Guitar Hero coming from Activision, Raw Thrills and Konami. Frankly, most of us don't even live near an arcade that'll pony up for the thing, but, like Cratchit kids with our noses pressed against the toy store window, we just can't look away.

MTV nabbed some details about the machine from Raw Thrills, including the game's reliance on the Guitar Hero 3 engine. There's also some information about Konami's involvement in the deal, still, in our opinion, the oddest pairing since Bing Crosby and David Bowie.

OutRun Online Arcade rated by OFLC

by Alexander Sliwinski { 11 months ago }

Sega has declined to comment on a new OutRun game rated by Australia's OFLC, reports Eurogamer. OutRun Online Arcade is allegedly a multiplatform game with -- presumably -- online capabilities.

That's all we've got. We now await Sega's "official" word on the project and look forward to seeing a blond girl fly out of a crashing car. Oh, come on, that's what you really remember about the OutRun series.

Spy nabs pic of rumored Guitar Hero arcade cabinet

by Justin McElroy { 11 months ago }

According to several rumors, an arcade version of Guitar Hero is due to be unveiled tomorrow. These claims seem to be strengthened by some spy pics, depicting an arcade cabinet at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions event in Orlando. The pics and a few details surfaced on BemaniStyle.com.

Reportedly, the game is being developed by Raw Thrills, licensed from Activision and, if you can believe it, published by Konami. Aside from listing some of the physical features of the game, the source said that the cabinets will be enabled with online tournament functionality of some sort.

Details are scant at the moment, but we can't wait to hear more.

Street Fighter IV not coming to U.S. arcades

by Griffin McElroy { 11 months ago }

Aside from a few thriving specialty outlets in America's larger cities, we think its safe to say that the U.S. arcade industry is on its deathbed. To make matters worse, it seems that one title that could have ostensibly served as short-term life support for the dwindling arcade scene, Street Fighter IV, will not be coming to U.S. arcades, according to Chris Kramer, senior director of communications and community for Capcom.

Japanese arcades have enjoyed the company of the wildly popular brawler since July, and a few law-disregarding American arcades have imported SFIV cabinets with tremendous positive response. However, as Kramer explained, SFIV (or any other game) won't be enough to resuscitate "an industry that died off seven or eight years ago." Sorry, quarter jockeys, it looks like you'll have to get your fix on one of America's illicit imports -- for as long as they're around, anyways.

A look inside Gears of War 2's arcade

by Kevin Kelly { 12 months ago }

Players who have wandered around spilling blood on the Day One mutliplayer map in Gears of War 2 might have noticed the retro "Playland" arcade in one of the corners, but have any of them checked out the amount of detail that's in there? It's pretty impressive. There are a lot of throwback games referencing 1980s - 1990s coin-op fare, a Thrashball machine and even "Swee Ball," which looks like Sera's version of Skee Ball.

Check out the gallery below and read on for more.

Gallery: Gears of War 2: Playland Arcade