An easy challenge - beat me at Gyruss. I play the arcade version here and I show you how far I got. :P

A great example of a 'Tube Shooter' ala Tempest
The maker of this game moved on to create great games like Time Pilot, Street Fighter and 1942
Highscore to beat (easily): 72450

Diagnosis: Gyruss Infection
Remedy: Keep on playing it.

Telling you all just a little tidbit about the Galaxy Force II game, showing some gameplay.

Title soundtrack by ZombieAndy1979
http://www.youtube.com/user/ZombieAndy1979

A little video on the Capcom shmup 19xx from the golden era of Shmups. Mind you this was totally unscripted.... it should have been a little scripted as the narration is well.... kinda rough :P

Title soundtrack by ZombieAndy1979:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ZombieAndy1979

This video has been making the rounds lately. Rather simple premise--show a bunch of deaths in arcade classics interspersed with oddly appropriate clips from vintage TV shows and commercials.

Neave Pacman button For the next episode of the podcast, I would like to get some feedback from our members. My question is - Which three arcade games would you put in your own arcade? Let's stick to just video-based games for this one. Pick three. If you have to go higher, limit it to five. Send me an e-mail with your picks. Don't post them here! I'll compile a list of them and try to talk briefly about each one in the next episode.

A few days ago I posted about the music that you remember from back in arcades "Golden Age" and I got to talking about it with a friend. He immediately started jotting down a list of music that he remembers blaring out in the arcades back in the day. I was interested to see what he was going to come up with because the few songs he mentioned (which were great songs) I didn't have on my list.. and that's basically why I did the post in the first place.. to create the ultimate arcade era play list.

While he was recalling songs to add to his top 10 list he said, "Hey, remember the video to Tom Petty's: You Got Lucky?". It had been so long ago that I'd forgotten about it.. but now, thanks to the wonders of YouTube, we can all view Tom Petty's vision of a post-apocalyptic world that has discarded the technologies of yesteryear.

It's a great song and a great video, dating all the way back to 1982 (28 years ago on Oct 22nd). It's just a shame that Tom took some vengeance out on a Stern Electronic's Astro Invader cabinet which, at the time, was a mere two years old.

My, how time flies..

Embedding is disabled on the video, so just watch the video on YouTube.

-Gandalf42

Back in the late 70's and early to mid 80's, arcades were the place to be. It was a time when there was a noticeable difference between what could be played in public and what you were playing at home. Once consoles and computers started to match the power and complexity of their arcade counterparts, there just wasn't a reason to pry your butt off the couch to get your video game fix.

It's sad really.. because there was a magic to the classic arcades.. a social dynamic that has been lost. Sure, some arcades still exist but they aren't the same- most are just a mess of dancing games, guitar games and redemption machines. And you might say that online multiplayer games with TeamSpeak adequately fill the void left by the arcades.. but I would argue against that. The spectators, high scores, trash talking, lining your quarters up on the marquee, the soda stained floors, the deafening din of the machines, and the music.. oh, the music. It was the soundtrack for your life.

What was the soundtrack for your "arcade" life?

Here's a fun Breakout Flash game that uses individual pixels as "bullets." Simply knock a few loose, and they become extra balls for your paddle. Pretty soon the screen fills up with wonderful colors. Nice take on the classic arcade hit. Via Boing Boing.

We write about videogames and we all have some opinion on just about any game out there. But how do we play them? Are we any good? Or do we stink? Well playing the games is where it is all about isn't it! Here's how I play.