In case you were wondering what players would think of the new DDR X in Europe, then the recent appearance of the title at the Japan Expo 2009 in Paris France should answer that question. The game has undergone extensive testing in Europe and according to the press release (which you can read after the post break) the game is shipping to locations across Europe in the following weeks via Electrocoin. More info can be found in the press release below
Remember all of those awesome arcade games Michael Jackson owned that were in excellent condition and a few months back were going to be put up on the auction block? Now you can see the area where they are currently residing, via a cool virtual tour program that you can use with your browser. you can find everything that was in the auction pamhplets along with a few other interesting items if you feel like exploring. Based upon the kinds and number of games and their condition alone I would venture to say that this is one of the coolest game rooms out there although I would prefer the lighting to be slightly different so as to not interfere with the games.
There are some treats for Star Wars and comic fans there too – click here to access the tour.
[Via Kotaku] [Discuss on the Forums]
There are a lot of cool things you can do with arcade cabinet mods but I have to admit that the idea of hacking apart a Nintendo DS so that an arcade cabinet could become a larger extenstion of said DS is one thing that never crossed my mind. This particular user not only modified the cabinet to play the DS but it can also play PSP titles so you get the best of both handheld gaming worlds in one cabinet. Too bad it doesn’t play Atari Lynx titles, which is one handheld I have a ton of games for. You can see how the setup works on the video below.
Defender is a well-known arcade classic and if you have ever wondered about some of the details involved in how the game came about, one site has interviewed Eugene Jarvis to get the rundown on what it took to get the game together. Before reading this I hadn’t realized that the game was supposed to be a mash-up of both Space Invaders and Asteroids, but obviously the game came out into it’s own with certain factors like the horizontal scrolling and the need to defend friendly beings. I hate to admit that I have never played the arcade version on the real thing – I grew up playing Defender on the Atari 2600 and later on the Atari Jaguar with Defender 2000 which includes the original arcade version on it which is where I played the original for the first time.
For more on Defender and how it came to be, click on the link below.
[The Making of Defender - Nowgamer.com] [Discuss on the Forums]
Another week another podcast, I did this one solo and in addition to discussing the news we saw this week on AH, I also discuss the Midway purchase by Warner and the release of Demon Bride. There’s more than that of course so click on the link below to download it.
Volume issues should be solved this time, but please let me know in case you hear any issues. I wasn’t at the arcade this time, I was visiting my parents and did it on my brother’s PC so no ambient arcade noise this time around, but I’ll be there for the next one.
I never get tired of spreading word of websites like Aurcade.com or ArcadeFly.com, where people can find an arcade near them. I bring it up often simply because too many people don’t know where to look for local arcades. But what if you are looking for an amusment park? Chances are people do know about local amusement parks since those tend to be quite large and advertise often in the states where they are located (or sometimes outside of the states where they are) but if you are taking a trip to an area where you might not be familiar with the surroundings and you want to see if they have an amusement park nearby, there is a new website that has been created to track such places – and not just in the US but all over the world.
Known as ParkR! (the k is supposed to be backwards in the name), the site uses Google maps to register and track amusement parks everywhere. Just zoom in to the area where you want to find a park, and if one has been registered it will have a symbol there that you can click on to get more information. The site is still in beta so I imagine that eventually it will have more features and include reviews of the parks as well. In the meantime, check it out by clicking on the link below.
Some interesting news related to the Tekken franchise – the guy in charge of Tekken stated in a recent interview that “unlockables are outdated”, primarily due to the nature of online play. Unlockable content was added into arcade fighters as a way to keep players coming back for more and the idea even made sense where console games were concerned but apparently Mr. Harada feels that the time for such content has passed and as such, the home version of Tekken 6 will have all playable characters available from the get-go. I wonder if the same idea will be used in future Tekken arcade releases or not, I have to imagine that unlockable content is still completely valid in arcades but what do you think about it?
[Via VirginMedia] [Discuss on the Forums]
When someone famous dies, you can expect to see sites like eBay flooded with memorabilia that carries the deceased person’s name/image/autograph etc. on it. And naturally, 
some people hope to milk their item for all it’s worth. Such is the case with the arcade title, Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker, where there are a couple of cabinets now for sale up on eBay.
One seller at first thought that they could fetch $13,000-$16,000 for their Moonwalker but they sort of came to their senses and lowered the price to $2450 (which is still too high for a game that was selling for just a few hundred dollars before MJ’s death). Another seller has theirs up for a mere $6500 in the hopes that a well-to-do MJ fan will ignore a couple of other entries that are selling the game for just a few hundred dollars. I think the only way you will get a price that high is if you can prove that Michael’s DNA comes with the machine but somehow I doubt that is possible.
Hydro Thunder fans, the day you have been waiting for has finally arrived as Raw Thrills’/Specular Interactive’s new take on Hydro Thunder, H2Overdrive is arriving at distributors around the country and then they are going onto various locations around the US. The game was shipped last Friday and I know that a few distributors already have the game on their showroom floors although from what I have heard, those are not sticking around for very long. With this news, you should be able to find the game at certain locations by this weekend – if you don’t find it, ask them about it.
For previous H2Overdrive coverage, click here. Keep in mind, there are no plans for this to come to game consoles at present time so this is an arcade exclusive title.
Taito’s modern update to Elevator Action now has an official trailer and it looks pretty exciting. In our previous coverage of the game, we saw that it is not like the original game in the sense that this is a light-gun title but Taito is trying out some interesting ideas with this one, particularly with the elevator doors which open and close in front of the screen. With this trailer we see that there are several kinds of mutants in addition to human enemies you will have to fight off and while the resolution of the trailer itself isn’t very high, the game is looking pretty slick so far. My fingers are still crossed for seeing this in the States but it looks like it has a good chance to making it to Europe in addition to Japan.
Click here for the trailer (uses Shockwave Flash)
[Via Am.Net] [Discuss on the Forums]
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