Save the Arcades
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Posted on August 12th, 2009 by
Normally I don’t post press releases here, but as a fan of classic arcades, this one caught my interest. Looks as if Stride Gum is going to help raise money to help keep a video arcade in business. Also reminds me that I really want to visit that Arcade UFO in Austin, TX. I lived in Austin when I was in college. It’s probably a good thing that arcade wasn’t around when I was in college, or I might not have gotten any studying done! Anyway, here’s the press release:
Today we’re going to take a stroll down Memory Lane. Actually, see that manhole cover right there? We’re going to take a stroll in the sewers underneath Memory Lane. In honor of the release of the new Xbox Live game: Turtles in Time Re-shelled, I thought I’d share my 80’s childhood memories of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles phenomenon.
Yup, that’s the name of the game. With such an unusual and long name, you’d expect the gameplay to be equally strange. And Badman definitely delivers on that front! Only available to download on the PSP Store, in this game you get to be the bad guy. Dig out dungeon mazes and fill them with monsters to kill waves of heroic adventurers.
Strikers 1945 Plus is a simple 2-D vertically scrolling arcade shooter from the mid-90’s. Downloadable only through the PSP store, players choose a plane and shoot down anything that moves while avoiding sprays of bullets. Collect power ups to increase your firepower as you mow down the enemies for a high score.
When people think of online computer gaming, fantasy quests and war-torn shooter sprees more than likely come to mind first, not a casual round of golf. Maybe that’s why Pangya, a cartoony, arcadey online golf game, has been so popular all over the world because it is so different. Pangya Season 4 has just been released in the US, so if you and your family haven’t tried Pangya before, now might be a good time.
Academy Award-winning clay animated duo, Wallace and Gromit, are starring in a series of episodic point and click adventures from TellTale Games, makers of the Sam & Max and Tales of Monkey Island titles. The fourth and final 3-6 hour long episode, The Bogey Man!, can be downloaded on your PC (visit TellTale’s Web site), and it’ll also be available on Xbox Live later on.
One of game maker SNK’s most popular and long-running series is The King of Fighters. This year, King of Fighters celebrates its 15th anniversary. So what better way to celebrate than with a new game? But does KOF XII live up to the legacy? Read on to find out.
Back in the early days of video gaming, simple blocks were used to depict the visuals. The basic nature of these games made them easy to get into. Nowadays, games that still use these blocky graphics on purpose are considered artistic. With Bit.Trip Core out now for WiiWare, the purposely pixellated visuals make the game both easy to figure out AND artistic.
When Nintendo launched the Wii in 2006, the pack-in game Wii Sports proved very successful. To this day, it’s still the best showcase of what the Wii’s strengths are (which is both good and bad in a way). Many game companies have tried to imitate the success of Wii Sports with their own collections of motion controlled simulated athletic challenges, to varying degrees of success and failure (but mostly failure). But can Nintendo top themselves with their upcoming MotionPlus game, Wii Sports Resort? Well the answer is a resounding YES! And the best way to find out why is to take a look at the games you can play on Wii Sports’ resort island!
Anyone my age remember the seat belt public safety ads in the 80’s that had the two talking Crash Test Dummies? And like the rampant commercialism that went on back then, those Crash Test Dummies went on to have their own toy line, cartoon, and even a video game! Even though he’s not related to those guys, there’s a new Dummy on the block and he’s crashing on the Wii.
