Rogmeister
10-06-2005, 04:01 PM
I found this group of stories today and thought I'd share them. You may have read one or two before. The first story interests me...I'd be more interested if this arcade were local...
_SINISTAR LIVES! In 1984, a year before the Nintendo Entertainment System arrived in American homes, the arcade was the place to be. That was where you'd find people pounding on "Defender" and "Centipede" machines. And that's the ambiance Devin and Jason Durham are trying to revive in their Springfield, Mo., arcade, called 1984. For a $5 door charge, you can play as many games as you like; the only rule is "Play until we kick you out." The Durham brothers have collected and restored more than two dozen arcade cabinets, including such classics as "Ms. Pac-Man," "Asteroids" and "Space Invaders." But the real draw for old-school gamers may be the restored versions of long-forgotten gems like "Sinistar," "Elevator Action" and "Xybots." "Guys my age think they are in a time warp," Jason Durham, 31, told The Associated Press. "And the younger people, high schoolers, college kids, are all in this retro phase and love it."
_DISCONTENTED: What does the battle over the next generation of DVD mean for gamers? The companies behind the Xbox and the PlayStation are already taking sides. On one side is Blu-ray, backed by Sony, Apple and Dell. Sony announced a while back that the PlayStation 3 will use Blu-ray technology when it premieres next year. On the other side is HD DVD, backed by Microsoft, Intel and Toshiba. Microsoft's recent declaration of support for HD DVD has raised questions about whether it will be part of the Xbox 360, as Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has suggested, but that would delay the 360's debut past its Nov. 22 launch date. One likely scenario has initial Xbox 360s equipped with classic DVD drives, while machines produced in 2006 and beyond will use HD DVD. Meanwhile, Toshiba, which was expected to deliver the first HD DVD player to the United States this year, has moved that launch to early next year — closer to the spring 2006 launch of the PS3.
_IMMORTAL BELOVED: Some of those legends are among the 2005 candidates for the Walk of Game, the monument to videogame excellence found in Sony's Metreon complex in San Francisco. Four games or characters will be immortalized this year, from a list of nominees that ranges from "Pong" to "Tetris" to "Half-Life." The new batch of human nominees, from which two will be selected, consists of John Carmack ("Doom"), Peter Molyneux ("Black & White"), Sid Meier ("Civilization"), Toru Iwatani ("Pac-Man") and Will Wright ("The Sims"). You can vote at http://www.walkofgame.com/.
_GANGS OF NEW YORK: What's the easiest way to get publicity for a video game? Annoy a New York politician. So far this year, officials in the Big Apple have protested three games before they've even been released: "25 to Life," "Marc Ecko's Getting Up" and now "True Crime: New York City." Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly urged a boycott of "True Crime," which publisher Activision describes as the story of "a former criminal turned cop, using and abusing (his) authority." "It's an outrage," Kelly told the Daily News. "I think it disrespects all police officers and it's done in extremely poor taste as well." Retired NYPD Detective Bill Clark, who was a producer on "NYPD Blue" and helped create "True Crime: NYC," responded, "It's a game, not a training video."
_ALBA CORE: Jessica Alba has had a couple of hit movies and a ton of magazine covers this year, but she really wants to ... design a video game. "It's basically based off a new thing that kids are doing, an X-Games sport that hasn't really become mainstream yet," the "Into the Blue" star told MTV.com. Alba described the game as "still in prototype mode," and said it will promote racial tolerance, nonviolence and geographical awareness. So we're guessing "True Crime: Sin City" is out.
_SINISTAR LIVES! In 1984, a year before the Nintendo Entertainment System arrived in American homes, the arcade was the place to be. That was where you'd find people pounding on "Defender" and "Centipede" machines. And that's the ambiance Devin and Jason Durham are trying to revive in their Springfield, Mo., arcade, called 1984. For a $5 door charge, you can play as many games as you like; the only rule is "Play until we kick you out." The Durham brothers have collected and restored more than two dozen arcade cabinets, including such classics as "Ms. Pac-Man," "Asteroids" and "Space Invaders." But the real draw for old-school gamers may be the restored versions of long-forgotten gems like "Sinistar," "Elevator Action" and "Xybots." "Guys my age think they are in a time warp," Jason Durham, 31, told The Associated Press. "And the younger people, high schoolers, college kids, are all in this retro phase and love it."
_DISCONTENTED: What does the battle over the next generation of DVD mean for gamers? The companies behind the Xbox and the PlayStation are already taking sides. On one side is Blu-ray, backed by Sony, Apple and Dell. Sony announced a while back that the PlayStation 3 will use Blu-ray technology when it premieres next year. On the other side is HD DVD, backed by Microsoft, Intel and Toshiba. Microsoft's recent declaration of support for HD DVD has raised questions about whether it will be part of the Xbox 360, as Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has suggested, but that would delay the 360's debut past its Nov. 22 launch date. One likely scenario has initial Xbox 360s equipped with classic DVD drives, while machines produced in 2006 and beyond will use HD DVD. Meanwhile, Toshiba, which was expected to deliver the first HD DVD player to the United States this year, has moved that launch to early next year — closer to the spring 2006 launch of the PS3.
_IMMORTAL BELOVED: Some of those legends are among the 2005 candidates for the Walk of Game, the monument to videogame excellence found in Sony's Metreon complex in San Francisco. Four games or characters will be immortalized this year, from a list of nominees that ranges from "Pong" to "Tetris" to "Half-Life." The new batch of human nominees, from which two will be selected, consists of John Carmack ("Doom"), Peter Molyneux ("Black & White"), Sid Meier ("Civilization"), Toru Iwatani ("Pac-Man") and Will Wright ("The Sims"). You can vote at http://www.walkofgame.com/.
_GANGS OF NEW YORK: What's the easiest way to get publicity for a video game? Annoy a New York politician. So far this year, officials in the Big Apple have protested three games before they've even been released: "25 to Life," "Marc Ecko's Getting Up" and now "True Crime: New York City." Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly urged a boycott of "True Crime," which publisher Activision describes as the story of "a former criminal turned cop, using and abusing (his) authority." "It's an outrage," Kelly told the Daily News. "I think it disrespects all police officers and it's done in extremely poor taste as well." Retired NYPD Detective Bill Clark, who was a producer on "NYPD Blue" and helped create "True Crime: NYC," responded, "It's a game, not a training video."
_ALBA CORE: Jessica Alba has had a couple of hit movies and a ton of magazine covers this year, but she really wants to ... design a video game. "It's basically based off a new thing that kids are doing, an X-Games sport that hasn't really become mainstream yet," the "Into the Blue" star told MTV.com. Alba described the game as "still in prototype mode," and said it will promote racial tolerance, nonviolence and geographical awareness. So we're guessing "True Crime: Sin City" is out.