Pengo returning to arcades, supports up to 8 players

‘Tis the season of classic arcade remakes or sequels, or at least it seems that way. We have the excitement of a new four-player Pac-Man game, a new Darius and now we have another classic returning to arcades with Pengo. I never have played the arcade version of the original Pengo but I remember playing a port on the Atari 8-bit computer as a kid. Pengo may not carry with it strong name recognition like some other Sega games but perhaps that will change with the new version. The original had you pushing ice blocks around, trying to squish the Sno-Bees, who are chasing you. From the pictures it looks like the new Pengo will stick to the same basic formula but support for up to eight players. Judging from the picture above it doesn’t look like they are going to push the graphics envelope at all, relying upon the multiplayer aspect to carry it through. We have been talking a little bit lately about four player co-op so this certainly ups the ante – eight-players-on-one-cabinet games in the arcade sector aren’t new but they haven’t been done in quite a while as far as I know and with the right game, they can not only be a lot of fun, they can hold great earning potential as well. Will that work out with classic graphics though?

Sega will find that out as the game is testing at Club Sega Akihabara right now.

Exit question: In your opinion, what other classic games would work using a multiplayer update?

Via: AM. Net.jp Source: “Today’s dinner (with fish) blog”

Videos from California Extreme 2010

I usually post videos from CAX every year and now that a week has passed since the event, there are a few to enjoy on Youtube.

Panel discussion with ex-Atari alumni at California Extreme 09

One thing I don’t think that I will ever tire of is getting into the history of the game industry, particularly that involving the arcade side of things. On one side I think it’s fascinating and on the other there are always some helpful ideas you can learn from what people have tried in the past. Obviously as times change not everything that worked “back in the good ol’ days” will work anymore but there are some things in human tastes that never change.

To get on with with the point, here is video of a panel discussion with several ex-employees of Atari back when it was a giant in the arcade industry, including Al Alcorn, Mike Hally, Owen Rubin, Steve Bristow and Steve Ritchie. Each one of these guys made contributions to gaming that were important not just for arcades but for gaming as a whole. Some of the talk is serious, some is light-hearted, they cover a number of the classic games they worked on and even quite a bit of discussion on Atari pinball machines.  You’ll just have to check them all out below

Gravitar testing, pinball talk

Vector monitors/game talk(speaking of that, my Asteroids Deluxe monitor recently went kaput), exergaming, cabinet make-up,

Failed prototype talk, cabinet designs, Namco licensing,

Copy protection, best selling game, worst business decision, Video Music, Picking innovations, The Last Starfighter

The Last Starfighter cont., Tank 8, the future of arcades, “hot tub stories”

What are the top 10 most collected arcade games?

Ever wonder what the top 10 most collected arcade titles are? Thanks to VAPS (the Video Arcade Preservation Society), one site took a look at what the most collected titles where and compiled the list. I can’t say that anything on there is surprising, as when it comes to collecting the classics, all ten of these games show up quite frequently in both discussions about said games and in most game rooms you see/visit. Personally I don’t have any of them, although I do get close – I have Pac-Man on Namco Classics Collection Vol. 1 and I have Asteroids Deluxe, so at least I’m close in a couple of instances. Here is the list:

1. Ms. Pac-Man
2. Tempest
3. Pac-Man
4. Galaga
5. Donkey Kong
6. Centipede
7. Asteroids
8. Joust
9. Defender
10. Robotron 2084

[Via Retrothing] [Discuss on the Forums]

The making of Defender

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]

New arcade museum exhibit to open on May 30th in New York (updated)

(thanks to Susan Trien for the corrections)

While the idea of a museum exhibit dedicated to arcade history isn’t exactly new, it’s always cool to see one setup. On May 30th, a new exhibit dedicated to arcade history will open up at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York called Videotopia, and it will be open until November 1st this year. The exhibit is an international traveling show from The Electronics Conservancy. It will function a lot like a standard arcade – you can purchase tokens for 25¢ to be able to play the games, of which they will have 100+ to choose from. On top of that the museum will have kiosks and interactive displays to teach visitors about the history of video games. To get in there is the admission fee for the museum and they will sell Gamers Admission Passes that will allow for unlimited admission to the exhibit through it’s duration.

One interesting feature they will have is that people can win tokens by answering game history trivia questions at “Power Up” stations located throughout the complex. The exhibit will feature more than just classic games (which arcade museums generally tend to focus on) as it will have games all the way up to modern times. They also separate games by manufacturer, year made and hardware used. They naturally have Computer Space and Pong and they even have some rarities such as Sega’s Time Traveler (which you can see in the lower right area of the picture above).

[Via Gamasutra] [Strong National Museum of Play] [Discuss on the Forums]

Funland arcade in Toronto, Ontario closing in a few days!

Here at Arcade Heroes we like to focus on the positive of the arcade scene but I feel this needs to be announced. Funland arcade in Toronto, Ontario (Canada) will be closing sometime next week so if you want to play something there, take pictures or relive fond memories of the place, better hurry because it will be gone soon. The arcade is located on Yonge Street. To my knowledge this arcade has been in business since at least the 1980’s so it will be very sad to see it go. Last I heard a very rare, F-Zero Super Deluxe cabinet with motion resides in this arcade. I cannot confirm if its still there but if you want a shot at playing one of these in the full deluxe motion cabinet and live near Toronto, you better hurry. I have wanted to visit this arcade but I was never able to get there.

Funland arcade on the verge of closing

New arcade coming to Austin, TX – “Arcade UFO”

It seems that I’m not the only ‘crazy’ person who is opening up an arcade out there – a new arcade is in the works in Austin Texas that is also looking to provide an authentically hardcore arcade gaming experience to players and it is called “ArcadeUFO”. The new business is being put together by former employees of the defunct Einstien’s Arcade which shut down earlier this year as the owner decided to move on.

It’s always great to see solid arcade fans setting up an arcade of their own and looking at their game selection, they definently have a good roster of games to choose from, including Tekken 6, Arcana Heart 2, Initial D4, Time Crisis 4, DoDonPachi, Metal Slug 6, Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac-Man & more. They are still working on the space and it should be open soon so if you live in the area, check out their website for more.

[ArcadeUFO website] [Discuss on the Forum]

New arcade coming to Austin, TX – "Arcade UFO"

It seems that I’m not the only ‘crazy’ person who is opening up an arcade out there – a new arcade is in the works in Austin Texas that is also looking to provide an authentically hardcore arcade gaming experience to players and it is called “ArcadeUFO”. The new business is being put together by former employees of the defunct Einstien’s Arcade which shut down earlier this year as the owner decided to move on.

It’s always great to see solid arcade fans setting up an arcade of their own and looking at their game selection, they definently have a good roster of games to choose from, including Tekken 6, Arcana Heart 2, Initial D4, Time Crisis 4, DoDonPachi, Metal Slug 6, Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac-Man & more. They are still working on the space and it should be open soon so if you live in the area, check out their website for more.

[ArcadeUFO website] [Discuss on the Forum]