So in college I had this parking scam going. You see to park on the school’s lot you needed 2 tokens, and 14 tokens cost you 20 bucks. So essentially every seven days you had to pay $20 to park at school. This was a lot for a kid like me (I needed that money for booze, cigarettes and video games).

One day at this driving range/arcade I noticed the tokens were the same exact size as the parking tokens, only they cost 4 for a dollar. Huzzah! Now parking cost me 3 bucks every week instead of $20.

Of course I suppose they eventually caught on that a ton of tokens were coming in with a golfer on them instead of the school’s logo, a few semesters later you had to hand the tokens to a person and not just feed them into a machine. Foiled! Oh well, it was real nice while it lasted.

Only downside was looking like an idiot walking into the arcade and walking out with a semesters worth of tokens in my pockets.

Why do I bring this up? Because there’s a story over at the Consumerist explaining how you can save money on arcade tokens by bidding on them on eBay, and it made me think of it. God I wish there were still decent arcades around, and not Dave and Buster’s.

It seems the only way companies can promote an announcement is by way of a countdown timer. Capcom seems to have adopted this unfortunate trend, but has alleviated this writer’s hatred for ticking minutes by announcing the next true sequel in the Street Fighter series; aptly titled Street Fighter IV.

Nearly ten years since its last official sequel, Street Fighter III: The New Generation, debuted in the arcade the series steps away from spin-offs, remakes and upgrades to and brings its flagship brawler back into the limelight.

While the teaser video portrays best friends/arch rivals Ryu and Ken dueling it out using signature moves in a deeply stylized world, Capcom has yet to release any details on the game.

While Capcom saw marginal success from its 3D Street Fighter spin-off, Street Fight EX, the series has been at its best staying close to its 2D roots.

If the art in this teaser is any indication of the direction of the series, it appears the Street Fighter franchise has returned to claim its fighting crown.

The beautiful teaser trailer for the upcoming arcade release after the jump.

Continue Reading »

Only in the 80’s. With a pew-pew sound effect and some neon green light, watch as Mr. Arcade shrinks down your favorite arcade games for home use!

Full disclosure, I still own a Ms. Pac-Man one (and it’s in great shape). They’re campy looking, but I still dig the arcade cabinet styling of them, complete with side art.

I know Mr. Rogers is somewhat of a children’s television staple, but the guy sounds like a pedophile when he talks.

Far cry from the “games are killing our children” you’d probably see nowadays. As weird as this clip seems when you’re watching it, I kind of appreciate the way they treat the game… It’s shot as kind of an introduction to people not familiar with them. And not in any slanted or biased way.

Now you can own a piece of Video Game history thanks to eBay. On the auction block is an original Atari Pong arcade machine circa 1973. The opening bid was 1.20. The price Pong would cost (25 cents) adjusted for inflation, Nice touch. It looks to be in sweet condition also. You can put this next to your HD gaming rig to remind you just how far we have come.

[Crave Blog]

The Museum Of Moving Image in New York City is hosting an exhibition called “Digital Play: Reloaded“. It’s an exploration of the constantly evolving technology and influence video games have on art and social concerns.

They have a number of games on display, forming a relatively impressive list:

• Burnout Revenge, 2005, Criterion Games, Electronic Arts
• Death Race, 1976, Exidy
• Donkey Kong, 1981, Nintendo
• Donkey Konga 2: Hit Song Parade, 2005, Nintendo
• Eye Toy: Play, 2003, Sony Computer Entertainment
  with Play 2, 2003, Sony Computer Entertainment Studios, London
• FLOW: Urban Dance Uprising, 2005, Ubisoft
• GameTap, 2005, Turner Broadcast
• Karate Champ, 1985, Data East
• NBA Jam, 1993, Midway
• NBA Street V3, 2005, EA Sports Big
• Mortal Kombat, 1992, Midway
• PaRappa The Rapper, 1997, Na-Na On-Sha
• REZ, 2002, United Games Artists
• Star Wars, 1983, Atari
• Star Wars: Battle Front II, 2005, LucasArts
• Tron,1982, Bally/Midway
• The Warriors, 2005, Rockstar Games
• We Love Katamari, 2005, Namco

I tried calling the museum to find out how long the exhibit is running, but the woman I reach hung up on me before I had a chance to ask. Ah, New York.

However, it’s a real plus to see one of the more well-respected film centers in New York do such an elaborate exhibit on video games, recognizing their importance to driving technology and art as a whole.

Descriptions from the site after the jump. Continue Reading »

I never knew this kind of stuff was possible. Bonus: The kid doesn’t seem like he’s a total dweeb.

Increible coreografía en DDR - ZappInternet

Thanks to Grim for pointing out my error.