Here is an interesting DIY piece of art that allows you to design your own mini-arcade cabinet that is fairly similar to that Pac GentleMan artpiece we covered a while back. There are a few different colors and I imagine that there will be different skins you can either get or make for the cabinet. These would certainly make a nice piece for any arcade or gameroom.
Yeah, yeah yeah, another home arcade cabinet. This one however pays homage to a particular game known as Computer Space. It’s not completely identical to the 1970’s classic, but there’s enough there to evoke memories of Nolan Bushnell’s arcade game. Namely the bright yellow cabinet and the lady in white!
[Thanks to Phil Ver0 on the forums, additional info via BemaniStyle and Ruliweb]
The creators of EZ2DJ are back with something new, and it’s already on location test. Known as DJ Max Technika, this is a dual screen touch based music game with three different game modes and more. At first
glance it may sound like Konami’s Jubeat but when taking a closer look it seems that the games share a number of differences. For one, DJ Max Technika is single touch but also from BemaniStyle: “The screen is split into two sections horizontally. The notes appear on one half of the screen and remain stationary, while a “timing bar” scrolls across the screen from the left side. When the bar passes a note, you tap the note itself. When the bar reaches the end of the screen, it reappears on the bottom half of the screen scrolling from the right side.” When you see how it works in the videos you can see that it’s very different from something like Jubeat.
Also from the screenshots and video from RuliWeb, the cabinet is quite attractive and the background graphics consist of animation from different anime shows that I’m not personally familiar with. The reports on the web indicate that it’s a fun game and it certainly looks like it in addition to being something a little different so we’ll have to see how it does once it’s released.
[Thanks to Jared Rea for passing this along]
Arc System Works’ wants their new arcade fighter BlazBlue to be a success and they mean it. So much so that
they are asking for players who want to play the game to send them information about a local arcade of theirs so Arc System can contact that arcade and see what can be done to get BlazBlue on that location. It sounds like a lot of work but it sure is a nice breath of fresh air when you consider that a few other companies with fighting games simply pass the fighter arcade scene off as dead so they will do nothing about it. From Jared Rea’s page, here is a quote from Arc System Works’ that is wanting to make this all happen:
I do feel some of you may not have an arcade near you, however, here’s where you guys step up and help the scene. If you have a arcade near you and you know they may not know about BlazeBlue, please let me know by sending me a PM, emailing me, send a bird out with a note, whatever it takes and I’ll personally call that arcade and I’ll work it out with them on getting a blazblue board or cabinet. This is our chance folks, to try to broaden this release beyond just the usual arcades. Granted, I can’t promise all arcades will take them, but if we don’t try, we’ll never know, right?
They are willing to do this for the US and even in South America, no word on if they’ll try it at the UK too but I think it’s great how they are trying to involve players in getting the game out there. If you have an arcade or other location friendly to coin-op games nearby where you would like to see BlazBlue, drop Aksys a line (support@aksysgames.com) with as much information about the place as possible (name, phone, e-mail, mailing address, etc.) so they can get in touch with them.
Thanks to IcePagoda for the tip!
Andamiro is testing out a new version of Pump It up in Vancouver Washington, called Pump It Up Jump!, a dancing game for kids, as you can see by the design and size of the game. Apparently they have replaced arrows with apples and palm prints and the difficulty is quite easy from the looks of it as well. One thing I am surprised about is that I haven’t heard of a test in Asia of this game where I would have expected to have seen this first. Check out the video below, posted by youtube user Kyrandian573
Not many details on this but what you’re seeing in the picture here is the new updated Battle Gear racing title. It looks like they took a page from the NASCAR Racing Deluxe that included the rollbars but took the design a step further. Perhaps we’ll find out more after the 24th.
While finding indie developers making arcade titles is a rare occurrence, I’m happy to see that the numbers are growing. We’ve covered Galloping Ghost Productions and their making of Dark Presence; there also was 
Galactic Front being worked on by a one man team. You can add another one man team to that list of indie arcade developers, Will Brierly who has designed an original arcade exclusive title called Get Outta My Face!
You are a blue cube who must survive 50 levels of mayhem while trying to find out why you are what you are and why while avoiding bad cubes who are trying to end your life for some reason. As the website states, you survive by “… running through levels, slamming through walls, hiding from enemies, and using your surroundings as shields. The game is easy to learn but extremely difficult to master. “
They continue:
“In a world where games are built by giant teams, Get Outta My Face truly has a fresh feeling. For the most part, the game was created by just one person who sat in his house for months building the game from scratch, writing the music, programming the AI, creating the artwork, and more. This makes for a strange, fun, addictive, interesting, and innovative game.”
We are going to try and find out more, including how you can get your hands on this game if you are interested. In the meantime, check out the video of the game in action below. It looks like there are a lot of physics involved and it’s always great to see something hit the arcades that is innovative and follows the eternal rule ‘easy to learn, difficult to master’, which is what made all those games of the early 80’s so great. Stay tuned for more!
It’s been a while since arcades got a lot of attention that they deserved in mainstream gaming magazines. I have tried to combat that a little through articles I have written for HardCore Gamer Magazine and for a while
(their most recent issue includes a review for Primeval Hunt that I wrote not long after ASI) they have been one of the very few voices willing to give arcades a fair shake (which reminds me, I need to get another article written up for them) but unfortunately they are now only publishing once every quarter so it’s not something you’ll run into that often.
Anyways, in several recent game magazines that have hit store shelves you might be surprised to find a bit of arcade coverage in them. I’m not kidding! It might not be exactly what you would expect - most of it just discusses Street Fighter IV while leaving out any mention of the fact that there are several companies producing brand new coin-op games, several of which are exclusive to arcades - but it is a start, almost like a nice drizzle after a long drought. We’ll have to see what happens here in a few weeks when manufacturers start showing off new content. IMO it would be wise for arcade makers to make a demo disc to send out to the media, with footage of the game in action or something to perk interests in the media but that’s just me.
Hit the post break below for the rundown
With this review the only new game I have left to review at my arcade is House of the Dead 4, which I haven’t done yet because it has been giving me problems (the right gun will reload every time you pull the trigger and the TV keeps turning itself off at random) which I will hopefully resolve soon.
Anyways here is Drift, which came out in 2007. I had to go with the kit as opposed to the dedicated version due to budget constraints but I have to say that it was easy to install and it has been worth it. There still are some little things I need to fix on the Crusin’ cabs I have, such as the left seat which constantly shifts back and forth with the slightest force applied to it. But it has been a solid game at my arcade with consistent earnings despite the minor things. Here’s the video below, like usual recorded in HD but downgraded to youtube quality.
The Super Arcade (pictured to the right, we’ve discussed it before) in California has claimed to be the first arcade in the US to get
their hands on Street Fighter IV and with that I’ve found a flurry of posts from around the internet talking about it (thanks to reader Adam Pfiefer for pointing this out). The Super Arcade got their hands on a Tekken 6 cabinet (which also doesn’t have an official release here - it still remains to be seen with SFIV but the clock is ticking as the console ports get closer) some time ago and reports that came out of it say that T6 has been a a record breaker there. So if you’re in the area you can drop by and see what all the fuss is about. Keep in mind, we know of a few other locations that will be carrying the game as well here soon in other corners of the US. Of course if other arcade games could generate the same amount of attention then we’d be set.
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