For those that collect and repair classic upright arcade games, the dream is to have a huge, amazing, home arcade that can wow people when they walk in.  We'd love to have all the games we remember growing up.  For various reasons (space, or the lack of, usually being the main one) this isn't always an option.  This leaves the games shoved in the garage or a spare corner.  Like many others collectors, I like to live vicariously through the Luna City Arcade.

Peter Hirschberg has built, basically, the perfect home arcade.  With 60 plus games, a change machine, black light carpet, posters, and more, it has everything to capture the right feel of the old arcades.   Don't believe me?  Check out the photos (and try not to drool on your keyboard).

For those lucky enough to be living in Virginia, Peter occasionally has a Game Day where he opens his arcade up to the general public.  The next one is on August 23rd, and he's using this game day to help raise money for a good cause; the son of his close friends who is undergoing treatment for Hodgkin's Disease. 

In addition he'll also be screening Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade (which isn't available on DVD yet) and there will be a moon bounce for the kids.  If you're interested in attending, you can contact Peter through the e-mail address towards the bottom of this page.  Kudos to you Peter, for raising money for a good cause, and opening up your incredible arcade for all to enjoy.  If only I wasn't 2500+ miles away.

--Osver

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

One of my favorite things about this industry is its ability
to give everyone an opportunity to feel involved in the creation and promotion
of various titles. Ubisoft and IFC ran a competition for gamers/aspiring film
makers to design a short film using Assassin’s Creed as inspiration.  I thought this was not only a pretty cool idea,
but also yielded some amazing shorts. 

Top
Ware is jumping on the gamer design band-wagon with their X-Blades design
contest (See the June 20th post).   Earlier in the year they had a contest that
was focused around the heroine of the game, Ayumi, which I’m sure you will all
agree, turned out truly inspired pieces. 
This time they are upping the ante and giving you another shot at creating
some original Ayumi artwork.  Your
artwork must be turned in by August 31st, 2008 to be judged by a
jury of specialists.  The winner grabs
,000, with the second and third places receiving ,000 and ,000
respectively.  In addition, 20 game
packages are thrown in the mix as well.  Not
enough incentive for you?  The best
illustrations will also be published in an exclusive Game Artbook. 

Fire up the Photoshop, break out the easels,
or grab your sidewalk chalk because there are some great ideas out there…and
one of them is probably yours!

--Tytus

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

For those that collect and repair classic upright arcade games, the dream is to have a huge, amazing, home arcade that can wow people when they walk in.  We'd love to have all the games we remember growing up.  For various reasons (space, or the lack of, usually being the main one) this isn't always an option.  This leaves the games shoved in the garage or a spare corner.  Like many others collectors, I like to live vicariously through the Luna City Arcade.

Peter Hirschberg has built, basically, the perfect home arcade.  With 60 plus games, a change machine, black light carpet, posters, and more, it has everything to capture the right feel of the old arcades.   Don't believe me?  Check out the photos (and try not to drool on your keyboard).

For those lucky enough to be living in Virginia, Peter occasionally has a Game Day where he opens his arcade up to the general public.  The next one is on August 23rd, and he's using this game day to help raise money for a good cause; the son of his close friends who is undergoing treatment for Hodgkin's Disease. 

In addition he'll also be screening Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade (which isn't available on DVD yet) and there will be a moon bounce for the kids.  If you're interested in attending, you can contact Peter through the e-mail address towards the bottom of this page.  Kudos to you Peter, for raising money for a good cause, and opening up your incredible arcade for all to enjoy.  If only I wasn't 2500+ miles away.

--Osver

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

Sitting in the airport today got me thinking about
portable systems.  Following up on my earlier Wii post, here are two games
I'd like to see on the PlayStation Portable.  Actually with the PSP they're not
so much games as other items that could take advantage of the PSP's
features.

First up: Travel Guides

If you're a gamer on the go, odds are that you're
already carrying a PSP with you when you travel.  So why not release a series of
travel guides on PSP?  UMDs weigh less than a book, and take up less space in
your bags.  With a good menu system it could be organized in a user friendly
manner to find what you want in a quick glance: hotels, museums, subway maps, etc.

Deck out each area with images or videos to show off the UMD's advantages over carrying a book.  Need to get to your hotel? 
Pull up the address and show it to the cab driver.  Curious if that art museum
is worth going to?  Watch a 2 minute video about it and you'll know.  Advanced features could possible be a memory card
packed in that contains bookmarks for related sites for use in the web
browser, or a foreign language phrasebook; possibly played aloud so you
don't have to butcher foreign pronunciation.

It could be sold by city, country, or region; Italy
on PSP, Tokyo on PSP, or New England on PSP for example.  Just make sure it's
paired up with a reputable company already producing books (Fodor's, Frommer's,
Lonely Planet, etc.) and you'd have instant access to their info, and name brand
recognition.

Odds that it will get made: I'll say 20%.  It's
probably too niche, and no one would take a chance on it.

Next up: Multi-path Movie Games

Think of it as a cross between the old arcade
Laser Disc games (like Dragon's Lair or Space Ace) where you "played" the movie and the Choose Your Own Adventure books that had multiple endings.

As you make your choices, and see the results, the
whole movie would take about 2-3 hours to watch; the perfect length for a flight.  Then you
have the built in replay aspect to see what the differences would be if you'd chosen the other path.  To see
the full footage available on the disc you'd have to play through it 4 or 5 times.

For example, if you gave me a Death Note movie/game that I could
interact with, I would easily play through it multiple times to see the
different outcomes.  It could be the PSP's answer to the playable stories on the
DS like Hotel Dusk.

Odds that it will get made: A meager 10%.  I'm
guessing the UMD movie market isn't ready to invest in something new- but I'm leaving the door open for someone... anyone... to give it a
shot.

Well, those are my two.  What would you like
to see come out on the PSP?

--Osver

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

Sitting in the airport today got me thinking about
portable systems.  Following up on my earlier Wii post, here are two games
I'd like to see on the PlayStation Portable.  Actually with the PSP they're not
so much games as other items that could take advantage of the PSP's
features.

First up: Travel Guides

If you're a gamer on the go, odds are that you're
already carrying a PSP with you when you travel.  So why not release a series of
travel guides on PSP?  UMDs weigh less than a book, and take up less space in
your bags.  With a good menu system it could be organized in a user friendly
manner to find what you want in a quick glance: hotels, museums, subway maps, etc.

Deck out each area with images or videos to show off the UMD's advantages over carrying a book.  Need to get to your hotel? 
Pull up the address and show it to the cab driver.  Curious if that art museum
is worth going to?  Watch a 2 minute video about it and you'll know.  Advanced features could possible be a memory card
packed in that contains bookmarks for related sites for use in the web
browser, or a foreign language phrasebook; possibly played aloud so you
don't have to butcher foreign pronunciation.

It could be sold by city, country, or region; Italy
on PSP, Tokyo on PSP, or New England on PSP for example.  Just make sure it's
paired up with a reputable company already producing books (Fodor's, Frommer's,
Lonely Planet, etc.) and you'd have instant access to their info, and name brand
recognition.

Odds that it will get made: I'll say 20%.  It's
probably too niche, and no one would take a chance on it.

Next up: Multi-path Movie Games

Think of it as a cross between the old arcade
Laser Disc games (like Dragon's Lair or Space Ace) where you "played" the movie and the Choose Your Own Adventure books that had multiple endings.

As you make your choices, and see the results, the
whole movie would take about 2-3 hours to watch; the perfect length for a flight.  Then you
have the built in replay aspect to see what the differences would be if you'd chosen the other path.  To see
the full footage available on the disc you'd have to play through it 4 or 5 times.

For example, if you gave me a Death Note movie/game that I could
interact with, I would easily play through it multiple times to see the
different outcomes.  It could be the PSP's answer to the playable stories on the
DS like Hotel Dusk.

Odds that it will get made: A meager 10%.  I'm
guessing the UMD movie market isn't ready to invest in something new- but I'm leaving the door open for someone... anyone... to give it a
shot.

Well, those are my two.  What would you like
to see come out on the PSP?

--Osver

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

Sitting in the airport today got me thinking about
portable systems.  Following up on my earlier Wii post, here are two games
I'd like to see on the PlayStation Portable.  Actually with the PSP they're not
so much games as other items that could take advantage of the PSP's
features.

First up: Travel Guides

If you're a gamer on the go, odds are that you're
already carrying a PSP with you when you travel.  So why not release a series of
travel guides on PSP?  UMDs weigh less than a book, and take up less space in
your bags.  With a good menu system it could be organized in a user friendly
manner to find what you want in a quick glance: hotels, museums, subway maps, etc.

Deck out each area with images or videos to show off the UMD's advantages over carrying a book.  Need to get to your hotel? 
Pull up the address and show it to the cab driver.  Curious if that art museum
is worth going to?  Watch a 2 minute video about it and you'll know.  Advanced features could possible be a memory card
packed in that contains bookmarks for related sites for use in the web
browser, or a foreign language phrasebook; possibly played aloud so you
don't have to butcher foreign pronunciation.

It could be sold by city, country, or region; Italy
on PSP, Tokyo on PSP, or New England on PSP for example.  Just make sure it's
paired up with a reputable company already producing books (Fodor's, Frommer's,
Lonely Planet, etc.) and you'd have instant access to their info, and name brand
recognition.

Odds that it will get made: I'll say 20%.  It's
probably too niche, and no one would take a chance on it.

Next up: Multi-path Movie Games

Think of it as a cross between the old arcade
Laser Disc games (like Dragon's Lair or Space Ace) where you "played" the movie and the Choose Your Own Adventure books that had multiple endings.

As you make your choices, and see the results, the
whole movie would take about 2-3 hours to watch; the perfect length for a flight.  Then you
have the built in replay aspect to see what the differences would be if you'd chosen the other path.  To see
the full footage available on the disc you'd have to play through it 4 or 5 times.

For example, if you gave me a Death Note movie/game that I could
interact with, I would easily play through it multiple times to see the
different outcomes.  It could be the PSP's answer to the playable stories on the
DS like Hotel Dusk.

Odds that it will get made: A meager 10%.  I'm
guessing the UMD movie market isn't ready to invest in something new- but I'm leaving the door open for someone... anyone... to give it a
shot.

Well, those are my two.  What would you like
to see come out on the PSP?

--Osver

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>

There are a lot of games put out every year, but there could be more. What games would you like to see made? What niche needs to be filled? Over the next few weeks I'll put up posts about what games I’d like to see on the current platforms. Today, we'll begin with two games I'd like to see on the Wii... and what I think the odds are that they would actually ever be made

First off, I’d like to see Wii Horseshoes.

I repeat: Wii Horseshoes. With motion controls, and all the mini games in regular titles and party game compilations, how has this not come out yet? It’s a perfect title to take advantage of the Wii’s controller, and you could easily include variations like washers. Let me match up with random people around the world and play horseshoes online (no friend codes please), or with 4 people in my living room.

It's a simple, classic, game and now that WiiWare is an option for publishers, it doesn't have to be packed in with 6, 8 or 15 other events. Focus on good controls, add a few backgrounds (grass, sand, etc.), and maybe one crazy variation (Horseshoe Golf instead of Frisbee Golf anyone?). Put it out for 1000 points and I would download it right now.

Probability that it will get made: High (I'm optimistic)... will it help if I say please?

Next up, Wii Drink (or Wii Sobriety)

Look, all these collections of Wii games are referred to as "party" games. And what do most adults 21 and older do when at a party? They drink.

If someone put out a game, maybe a board game, where people played various party games (such as Wii Horseshoes), and it occasionally made them take Field Sobriety Tests, it would be pretty entertaining. Think of it as an adult version of Mario Party.

Make your Mii touch his nose, walk a straight line, that kind of stuff. Tie it in with the Balance Board and make people balance on one leg, see how much their center of balance shifts as they sway trying to stand still. This would sell. It would be a hit. I'm convinced of it. My friends would camp out in my living room just to play it.

Probability that it will get made: Zero. There's no way Nintendo would release, or license a game that can be viewed as promoting drinking, no matter how great it would be. Now let's have a moment of silence for the game that will never be... thank you.

Well, those are my two fantasy games. I used to want Skee-ball, but Carnival Games and Game Party solved that. What games do you wish would come out for the Wii?

--Osver

Read reviews and shop for great bargains at the Gaming Corner. >>>