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Cooper FX Arcades review: Plumbing the depths of lo-fi guitar effects
Cooper FX Arcades takes what could be a mere gimmick -- game cartridge-like swappable sound cards -- and uses them to plumb the depths of lo-fi guitar effects.
Mario Kart is drifting into a Japanese VR arcade
Few things in life are as uniquely stressful as pulling into first place in Mario Kart, only to hear a Blue Shell hurtling at you from behind. There's no escape -- all you can do is close your eyes and accept your inevitable defeat. That experience is going to get infinitely more dreadful for players who visit the VR Zone in Shinjuku, Japan: Bandai Namco has developed a version of Mario Kart for the HTC Vive, complete with the tiny pseudo-cars for players to plop down into.
Explore Japanese gaming culture in 360 degrees with MatPat
Matthew Patrick is best known as the guy on YouTube who uses math, science and rabid curiosity to build intense, unexpected narratives from the stray plot threads of movies and video games. As the Game Theorists' MatPat, he asks if Mario is secretly a sociopath and questions if Sega's blue hedgehog really is the fastest mascot in gaming -- and then backs up his allegations by covertly teaching viewers about actual psychology and the speed of sound. Now he's expanding his passion for making entertainment educational with a travel show called The Global Gamer. Oh, and he's doing it in 360-degree virtual reality -- and you can watch the launch exclusively right here on Engadget.
Pokken Tournament won't star Tekken fighters
Pokken Tournament, the Tekken-style fighting game starring Pokemon characters, will not feature Tekken fighters, Bandai Namco Director Katsuhiro Harada said on Twitter (translation by Eventhubs). "Nope, Tekken characters will not be making an appearance," Harada said. "As we're making a Pokemon fighting action battle game, I've already touched on this while on the livestream, but in this game there will not be a high/mid/low guard system mechanic. Instead, we're planning to include a new type of [mechanic]." Harada also noted that Pokken Tournament supports all kinds of Pokemon types, not only the humanoid fighters we've seen so far. In terms of adding Pokemon trainers, Harada said, "Worry not." Pokken Tournament is scheduled to launch in Japanese arcades in 2015 as a collaboration between Nintendo and Bandai Namco. [Image: Bandai Namco]
Tekken-style Pokemon fighter unveiled for arcades in 2015
Pokken Tournament combines the world of cutesy critter-catching series Pokemon with fast-paced 3D fighting in the vein of the Tekken series. Do not adjust your monitors, this is for real. As Famitsu confirms, the game represents a collaboration between Nintendo and Bandai Namco, and it's coming to arcades in Japan some time next year. The game was revealed today during a Niconico livestream by The Pokemon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara, Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada and Soulcalibur producer Masaaki Hoshino. Gematsu reports Pokken Tournament will be developed under the leadership of Harada and Hoshino. Details are limited, but a short announcement trailer showed Lucario and Machamp duking it out, before revealing the Pokken Tournament logo. To see the announcement trailer, pokken below the break.
Left 4 Dead: Survivors brings a new team to Japanese arcades
Taito unveiled the player characters for the Japanese arcade version of Left 4 Dead, and it's certainly a different type of crew to what's come before. The new heroes are (left to right) American bartender and ex-marine Jordan Blake, university student Yusuke Kudo, half-American, half-Japanese tour guide Sara Kirishima and high school student Hirose Haruka. The international mixture comes from the retained American setting, with the Japanese characters visiting the States on holiday - it's always a pain when you have to deal with a zombie outbreak on vacation. It's strikingly a younger cast compared to either Left 4 Dead game, and we wouldn't bat an eyelid if someone told us we were looking at Japan's version of Scooby Doo. Minus the dog, that is, which would be somewhat weird. Left 4 Dead: Survivors, as it's called, comes to test locations in Tokyo this weekend. To see how else it differs from the original, check out Taito's trailer and the much more involved user interface. [Image: Square Enix]
Ultra Street Fighter 4 arcade testing kicks off in two weeks
Ultra Street Fighter 4 is scheduled to hit arcades in the early part of 2014, but first the game needs to be tested. This is where Capcom hopes you come in. Starting on November 29, the company will be testing Ultra Street Fighter 4 at Super Arcade in Walnut, California. From December 6 through 8, players in Pennsylvania will find Ultra Street Fighter 4 at Big E Gaming in Essington. After those tests, it's strictly tournament appearances for the fighter: Ultra Street Fighter 4 hits the annual Capcom Cup tournament on December 14, then jumps the Pacific to appear at Singapore's Tough Cookie Gaming Café on December 20. Full location test details can be found on Capcom Unity. If you can't make it to any of these locations, the good news is that you probably won't miss much. Given the amount of anticipation for anything related to Capcom's most famous fighting franchise, it seems assured that as soon as the location tests start up, we'll see those fortunate enough to play the game flood the 'net with in-depth info on Ultra Street Fighter 4.
Minecraft belongs in a museum, according to MoMA
New York's Museum of Modern Art has announced that it is adding six video games, including Minecraft, and a console to its famous collection of contemporary art. The Museum chose to honor fourteen games last year (including Pac-Man, SimCity 2000, EVE Online, and Portal) based on their traits of behavior, aesthetics, space, and time. This year, the museum is adding Atari classics Pong, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Tempest, and Yar's Revenge, as well as Mojang's modern hit, Minecraft. MoMA's also adding the Magnavox Odyssey to the collection, remembering it not only as the first commercial home video game console, but as "a masterpiece of engineering and industrial design." As part of the museum's collection, all of these games and the console will periodically show up in exhibits put together by MoMA's Architecture and Design department.
Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos explains what happened to Rock Band Japan
After announcing intentions to bring its Rock Band franchise to the Japanese market way back in the summer of 2008, Harmonix and co-developer Q Entertainment quietly walked away from the project. "Never say never," Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos said of the project in a group interview session this week at Tokyo Game Show, answering a question asked by Kotaku's Brian Ashcraft. "We were very much interested in bringing that experience in some form to the Japanese market," he explained. "There were a couple of significant challenges." Beyond the whole "manufacturing and shipping hundreds of thousands more plastic peripherals to an island country" ... thing, Rigopulos lamented issues with licensing Japanese music for the game, which he characterized as "very difficult in Japan, relative to other countries." He also pointed to a rather obvious concern: space limitations in Japanese households. "Even for people who have the space, Japanese families tend to not make a lot of noise in their homes. They generally have a quieter lifestyle at home 'cause they're living in closer quarters, and also Japanese families don't entertain in their homes as much." Given the original inspiration for Harmonix' franchises Guitar Hero and Rock Band was the arcade-born Guitar/Drum Freaks franchise, I wondered if Harmonix had looked at Japanese arcades as an option instead of a home console release. "That's something we considered," he admitted. "One of the challenges is that arcades are very, very noisy, and so if you're trying to make something that's really a musical experience and you've got 37 other arcade machines all turned up to full volume, it kind of impairs the musicality of the experience." Again, Rigopulos said Harmonix has yet to give up on the concept of Rock Band in Japan, but from the sound of things, it's not exactly at the top of his priority list. [Image credit: ShonenKnife.com]
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 crowns the King of Japanese Arcades on Sept. 14
Japan will receive the Tekken Tag Tournament 2 arcade cabinets on September 14, with an international launch loosely slated for late September at the earliest. Now that we've gotten the easy stuff out of the way, here's the hard part: actually finding an arcade you can play this in. If you don't live in Japan, are you willing to take one expensive vacation just to play an arcade game? Of course, Namco's thinking about you stay-at-home types. You have plenty to look forward to in Tekken Hybrid, which not only includes the CG movie and an HD remake of the first Tekken Tag Tournament, but also an early taste of the sequel.
Babycastles brings its indie arcade action to The Engadget Show (video)
The shuttering of New York's Chinatown Fair back in March marked the end of an era for the city -- a last vestige of a time when social gaming meant more than just logging on to Xbox Live. The arcade experience hasn't completely disappeared form the metropolitan map, however -- in recent years, a new crop of venues have remixed the concept of yesterday's arcades, places like Brooklyn's Barcade, a shrine to 80s gaming machines that does brisk business serving spirits to Williamsburg's 21 and up crowd. Launched in Ridgewood, Queens by game developers Kunal Gupta and Syed Salahuddin, Babycastles takes the re-invention a step further, offering up something between an arcade space and an art gallery.
Visualized: Growing up in arcades
If you're anything like us -- and you are -- you can get quite nostalgic (and often downright teary-eyed) when contemplating your geek past. That's why we know you'll just love our latest favorite Flickr pool, Growing Up In Arcades: 1979-1989. We'd like to stay and chat, but there are well over a hundred pictures featuring stonewashed denim, cheesy mustaches, and coin-op console games that we are dying to check out. Feel like joining us? Hit the source link. [Photo credit: Daves Portfolio]
Chinatown Fair could relocate, currently renegotiating lease
Yesterday morning, Twitter was littered with folks trying to find out more information about the status of legendary New York City arcade Chinatown Fair. "#ChinatownFair" hashtags in-tow, rumor and speculation of the tweeters held that the arcade could be closing by the end of this week, with other reports stating March or later -- as it turns out, the arcade may not be closing at all. "I'm trying to see if I can relocate my business," owner Samuel Palmer told Joystiq last night. According to Palmer, negotiations are still ongoing with his landlord -- a situation brought on by a failure to renew Palmer's previous lease agreement. "Samuel Palmer -- I'm not too sure if he had the lease renewed. So the landlord has an interest in raising the rent, and I guess he doesn't wanna pay it," manager Valentino Ventura told us, adding, "There is a possibility -- a remote possibility -- that we may be moving elsewhere. But we'll see how that goes. We plan to stay here." Ventura further specified in a Facebook post that "[Chinatown Fair] may be relocating to Williamsburg, Brooklyn if disputes with the landlord are not settled" -- a notable move for an arcade that's been in operation on Mott Street in Lower Manhattan since at least the 1950s. But Ventura's not worried. He says that "the place makes plenty of money," and makes sure to point out, "We love our customers." For now, Palmer is in ongoing negotiations for the store to stay put. And, at least for now, it's not going anywhere. [Image credit: The New York Times]
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift 2 throws down in Japanese arcades this winter
Yo dawg, we made a sequel to your sequel so you could sequel while you sequeled -- ahem, sorry, we couldn't help ourselves. Andriasang reports that Aksys Games has announced the next entry in the BlazBlue series for Japanese arcades, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift 2. The new arcade game will debut at the Amusement Machine Show on September 9. The game will launch in Japanese arcades this winter and (so far) adds one new character, Valkenhayn R Hellsing. He was recently announced as the second DLC character for the home console versions of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift and has been priced at ¥800 (560 Microsoft Points) in Japan. We suspect his price tag here will be the same, especially since Makoto, the first announced DLC character for CS, is priced accordingly.
Help save (another) arcade with Stride's $25,000 competition
Last summer, Stride Gum -- which had previously promised Steve Wiebe $10,001 in quarters if he could set a new Donkey Kong hi-score record during E3 2009 -- started what it called "Save the Arcades." The campaign encouraged visitors to its website to rally behind one of three coin-op cathedrals, the winner receiving $25,000 to help it keep the arcade fire burning. Well, the competition is back, and three new arcades are vying to win the same amount: Arcade Infinity of Rowland Heights, CA; Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade of Portland, OR; and Rocky's Replay of Winter Park, FL. The competition works like this: Visitors to the Save the Arcades site can play a re-skinned version of Robotron called Cowbots 2010 and donate their scores to one of the three arcades. The arcade with the most points as of noon EDT on June 15, 2010 gets the prize money. The only catch: In order to donate points, visitors are asked to sign up for Stride.com, thus providing details like email addresses to the company. If you don't mind receiving spam mail about bubblegum, this seems like a pretty cool way to help keep America's arcade culture alive. [Thanks, Art!]
GDC 2010: Street Fighter IV for the iPhone out now
Tonight at GDC 2010, I went out and stopped by the Capcom Fight Club party here in San Francisco, and while there, Capcom projected the actual App Store interface for sending their Street Fighter IV app to the App Store on various screens around the room. We actually got to see them press the button on the release live and in person, and sure enough, the game is in the App Store right now for $9.99. Before you go press buy, though, I'll also tell you that I got a chance to play the game, and while it is about as faithful a Street Fighter IV game as you can get on the iPhone, playing a fighting game without actual buttons is not really an ideal experience. While I was able to pull off a Hadoken and almost all of the other old moves after a few tries, the highest levels of competition in a fighting game require precision and subtlety, and this control scheme has neither of those. If you just want to play Street Fighter on an iPhone, sure -- be an early adopter, pick up the game, and enjoy a few rounds of Guile vs. Ryu. But if you're looking for the kind of in-depth fighting experience that Street Fighter IV on consoles and in the arcades offered, you probably won't find it here -- the controls are a little too inconsistent to really dig into the deep counter and powerup systems on display.
Stride Gum giving away $25,000 to help support struggling arcade
Let's face it: the arcade scene in America has seen better days. The availability of peripheral-based games on home consoles and the kinetic gameplay offered by the Wii have put many arcades out of business. Stride, in its continuing efforts to gain the respect of hardcore gamers, has begun an interesting new promotion called "Help Save the Arcades." The gum company will be awarding 100,000 quarters (or $25,000) to one of four struggling arcades: Arcade UFO in Texas, StarBase Arcade in California, Game Galaxy in Tennessee or Star Worlds Arcade in Illinois. Which one of these four takes the grand prize will be determined by you, the internet.Players will have to play a free Flash game, Zapataur, to take part in the promotion. After playing, players will be able to don points to one of the four arcades. The one with the most takes the cash -- and presumably, survives for just a little bit longer.
Cory Haynes named new president and COO of Sega Entertainment USA
There are a couple of confusing things to clear up right away. 1) No, Sega did not appoint Corey Haim as the new president and COO of Sega Entertainment USA. The company appointed Cory Haynes. 2) Sega Entertainment USA is the company's North American amusement division -- responsible for its entertainment ventures Gameworks and World Sports Grille -- not the division slowly grinding Sonic into the cold, cold ground. Mr. Haynes previously served as the VP of Amusement / Midway Operations for Dave & Busters and will work to "drive strategic growth opportunities in North America." According to Haynes, the amusement industry faces "unprecedented challenges" in the current economy, which he will battle with "experienced strategic planning and decisive maneuvering."If any of that means "free tokens," we are totally on-board.
Trademarks hint at possible Metal Gear for arcades
Konami has filed a pair of trademarks that hint towards possible Metal Gear arcade action in the future. The listings are Metal Gear and Tactical Online Action, and both are described as "arcade games, namely, amusement game machines, coin-operated video games, electronic game machines" in the filings. With Metal Gear Solid Touch recently arriving on iPhone, it looks like Konami is willing to put the franchise on more platforms than ever (except for, you know, that one).Let's just hope that this Metal Gear -- if it ever becomes more than a trademark -- gets a little more TLC than that silly Silent Hill arcade game. Source - Metal Gear trademarkSource - Tactical Online Action trademark [Via Kotaku]
Sony claims PlayStation Home will connect gamers like arcades did in the 80s
MTV Multiplayer blog contributor Stephen Totilo took a second look at Sony's Home -- a virtual world community for PlayStation 3 users. He had previously previewed the service at Kotaku and given it low marks. This time, though, he seemed a little more impressed. We're not really sure why he flipped, though. He wasn't very clear about it.Home features several instanced locations where PS3 users may converse and play minigames such as bowling. There are game specific rooms, like, say, for Warhawk, where users can get tips and such. It's a virtual world, not an MMORPG, but there's something interesting stuff in that preview. Obviously, it's most pertinent if you're a PS3 owner.During the demo, director Jack Buser suggested that the developers might eventually add non-human character models if the community demands it (but it's not part of the plan at the moment). Most of the preview is about how Home differs from its non-virtual-world competitor: Xbox Live. Buser said he hopes that Home will give users a place to meet other gamers in an environment that's more social than the games themselves. According to him, there hasn't been a good way to do that since the arcades of the 80s.
