Updated Wednesday & Friday Evenings
Air Raid: Multi-Player Zone
Nick - writer - posted on Wednesday, 07/01/09 23:59:26 EDT
Hey folks, going to keep this short n' sweet, because I came down with bit of a cold so I don't really feel like going into a huge update.
2600 and I went to the Islandia Dave and Busters on Monday afternoon and in the corner where the shooting gallery used to be we saw this. It's a Galaxian3 machine, but with a new game based off the Air Raid series just called "Air Raid: Multi-Player Zone". This was the first time I have seen the game so it's very odd to see a conversion of an old laser disk machine. Just like other versions of Air Raid, the game isn't that good and just boils down to shooting wave after wave of enemies.
I shot this over to Bruno (AKA Darth Nuno) over at Dragon's Lair Fans because he owns a Galaxian3 theater and he's expanding his home in Belgium to accommodate it. If you haven't seen his site yet, I suggest you do. I think he should get hired by a home decorating TV show to do a Pimp My Home Arcade type of show, I'd watch that!
So that's going to be it for me, everybody have a great 4th of July! And for our friends north of the boarder, Happy Canada Day! We're planning on hitting up Canada again this summer for an international edition of Arcade Hunters! We'll let you know more when we find out what our plans our...then I need to go update my passport.
Michael Jackson 1958-2009
Nick - writer - posted on Friday, 06/26/09 1:33:54 EDT
Well, I guess I'd put my two cents in on the whole news of the day. I was mowing the lawn when I first saw that Farrah Fawcett passed away. Since I was born in 81' I don't really have fond memories of Charlie's Angles and TJ Hooker, but it's still sad to see her pass from cancer.
Now Michael Jackson on the other hand, I was a huge fan since I was a little kid. I even wrote a fan letter to him with my mom helping me in hopes of getting an autograph, but never did. My parents still have old home movies of my brother and I dancing at a family BBQ to some Michael Jackson tunes. I even try to bust out the Moonwalk, but it always looks like I'm trying not to trip over my own two feet walking backwards.
Of course there was the video games. I didn't have a Sega Genesis when it came out so I never owned a copy of Moonwalker but I used to play it over my neighbors house. Now of course there trying to price gouge the game on eBay now, so even if I still wanted a copy of the game, I won't bother paying more then 20 bucks for it. I do own a marquee of the arcade game, so I'm going to hold onto that.
Then we'll always talk about the music in Sonic 3. Was he really involved in the game or not? One of the very first videos I watched on Youtube was the Michael Jackson and Sonic The Hedgehog 3 link video and was shocked to see how well the music went with it. I had a feeling as a kid that Carnival Night Zone was Jam off of Dangerous. I loved how somebody went into the ROM of the game and even found an unused sound file that is pretty much the yelling of the word "JAM!" so it had to be from MJ. Then there was his appearance in one of my favorite games, Space Channel 5. Now that this happened I think I'm going to bust out my Space Channel 5 Special Edition on PS2 and get my Moonwalk on.
Somebody on a message board I visit talked about how they went to Best Buy when they re-released Thriller. He said when he walked into the store they just started to play the music video and almost everybody in the store stopped to watch it. All colors, ages and genders just stopped to watch. That was the power of Michael Jackson. He made you stop and take notice. If there was one performer that I would have loved to have seen live, it would have been him. I used to watch his old concert videos and was mesmerized by the huge crowds and all the work he put into the show.
Now that he's passed there's been a ton of people on the internet throwing around there well wishes and others who aren't so nice. I know how much stuff he went through in the 90's and how odd he acted and we'll never truly know if anything really happened. But seeing some of the things people are saying about him really make me sick. I don't care if you didn't like the guy for what he did in his personal life, but three kids are without their farther now and we all lost a great entertainer and he'll really be missed.
So long Michael, thank you for all the music and great memories.
Pixel Pill 3 and NAVA is this weekend!
Nick - writer - posted on Wednesday, 06/24/09 21:05:16 EDT
It took a while, but Pixel Pill 3 is now finally up for your enjoyment. In this episode we talked all about arcades, not much about games (well, a lot of Ninja Turtles) but about where we used to go and how they were when you'd hang out with real people shooting the breeze about the newest games.
Download it now on Substance TV!
Episode 4 is in the works and we should be working on number five next week. We were going to do it this weekend, but 2600 and I will be attending NAVA again in New Jersey. We haven't been there in a couple of months so it will be good to come back and meet up with Joe and everybody else at the Digital Press store. It's Saturday from Noon to Midnight so come on down and fun will be had by all.
Last week was pretty much Ghostbusters week for me. EB/GameStop had a special for one day shipping so I snagged it up, but they wouldn't let me cancel my previous pre-order so I have two copies of the game. I'll have to go visit my friend Mike who's a manager at a GS by me, so hopefully it won't be too bad taking it back. If they give me store credit I might put it towards Beatles Rock Band because I loves me some Beatles.
I really enjoyed Ghostbusters. It totally made up for the second movie with the evil painting and the river of slime, but 2 had some good moments. I was kinda pissed off that they don't have a real Co-Op Story Mode even though the guy at New York Comic Con said it would. 2600 and I are thinking about picking up the Wii version and playing though the co-op in that one, I just hope it's not as bad with the framerate as others have said.
Well that's it for tonight, enjoy Pixel Pill 3!
Death Race
Nick - writer - posted on Wednesday, 06/10/09 1:16:31 EDT
Here's the final quick video from my camera. This time it's 1976's Death Race. Believe it or not this game caused a huge uproar when it was released. While you play as one of two Grim Reapers trying to put "gremlins" back to the grave, people all thought you were running down pedestrians. So think of it as Grand Theft Auto 76'. This machine was a labor of love from Gary and the folks over at Game Stencils and This Old Game helped bring the machine back to life. This Death Race is very odd because it's all in yellow and all other machines were black and white. This is the second Death Race game I've played, first being in Disney Quest in Orlando.
Another E3 came and went. It's funny to see how Microsoft and Sony want to be more like the Wii and the Wii's just being itself. I was kinda pissed with New Super Mario Bros. Wii that they didn't keep to the Mario 2 lineup. Two Toads? What about Wario and Waluigi? I would have also liked to see the game take advantage of Wii Speak and Online...but then again this is Nintendo we're talking about.
I'm really excited for The Beatles Rock Band, but not excited about the price, hopefully I can pick up a cheap guitar and get the game. Alan Wake looked pretty good and you can't forget about Modern Warfare 2 and ODST. The also showed off Sin and Punishment 2 on the Wii and it looks awesome, anything new from Treasure is fine by me.
I was disappointed this year with the lack of downloadable games. Last year there was a lot of talk about XNA and with Nintendo's new Wii Ware Arcade, you'd think that all three companies would have announced something new. I really wish Nintendo would bring out the arcade versions of Duck Hunt and Vs. Super Mario Brothers. But what I would really love to see them do is take a page from Namco and do a Championship Edition, like what they did with Pac-Man. Donkey Kong Championship Edition? Come on, Nintendo! Make it happen!
Well, we should be recording another episode of Pixel Pill on Friday night. Brian's been busy so the other two we have are still in the works but they should hopefully be out soon, so till next time, take care.
FunSpot XI Stern's Cliff Hanger
Nick - writer - posted on Friday, 06/05/09 22:20:44 EDT
Whew! Almost thought something was wrong there. Turns out C.I updated the site and forgot something so nobody was able to post an update, so this should have been up on Wednesday. Plus, I lost my password to Photobucket, but I have a new one and the pictures are up on it now, just click photos on your left and on Photobucket, find the sub folder, FunSpot XI.
Tonight's quick video is of Stern's Cliff Jumper laser disk arcade game. After Dragons Lair came out everybody wanted to get into the laser disk game business, so Stern took two Lupin III movies and overdubbed it and thus, Cliff Jumper was born. We have a better quality video of this in the works, so stay tuned for it.
Due to FunSpot's strict wireless network, we weren't able to upload ANY videos while we were there, Blip.tv and Youtube both got blocked, but we were able to do the one text update on Saturday at the Braggin' Dragon.
The tournament was indeed awesome, as it always was. Over 100 people entered the tournament and I smartly, didn't enter but watched a ton of folks play. I watched Triforce top MERCS and Forgotten Worlds. Turbo Pac-Man was also beaten for the first time as well as and there was new world records on STUN Runner, Super Pac-Man, Galexian, Toobin' and Elevator.
Big thanks and hello's go out to Todd Rodgers and Morningdove, Mark Alpiger, Brian Kuh, Lance, Triforce and Justin Wong and the rest of the Empire Arcadia Crew and of course all the folks at FunSpot that keep the place running great. The biggest thanks always go to Gary. He loves these games and we all love what he does for us by keeping all of the games in great working order and for giving us a great place to come and play the greatest arcade games from the past all in one place.
When I was talking to Gary, he mentioned he wanted to try and expand the third floor. There's a HUGE opening above the bowling ally, but it needs everything in order for it to even become a reality. Floors, carpet, electricity, heating/AC, lights, the works. If you'd like to help them in achieving their goal to expand the Classic Arcade Museum, please visit their site and give a donation. It will be great to have more games to share with everybody when they come to visit FunSpot and we'd like to do our best to help out.
