Swimsuit model and space alien Yuko Ogura is no longer the face of SEGA. The current "image character" is TK, and Ogura's moved onto better things! Like being a "Live Face" mask model or being on TV sometimes and saying things. Look! Ogura now has a chain or Korean BBQ restaurants. I spotted one earlier today. Not sure if this is the kinda place I'd buy raw meat from to cook. And literally fifteen paces from the Ogura meat house?

Good to see the girl has moved on.

Eds Note: To bring everyone up to speed, Yuko Ogura was a two-time SEGA "image character" and even appeared in a SEGA produced kids' show. Ogura claimed to be from an apple-shaped star called Korin, but has since shyed away from that nutty claim realizing that people don't take seriously girls who say they're aliens. SEGA has since replaced Ogura with the more normal Satomi Ishihara.

Sega kiddy arcade game MUSHIKING: King of the Beetles has entered the record books! The Guinness World Records awarded it a certificate for:

The arcade game for which the most official tournaments have been held is SEGA's Mushiking: King of the Beetles, with 100.297 officially-sanctioned competitions held between May 2003 and November 2007.

No wonder those dudes are so happy! If you had threads like that, you'd be thrilled.
Sega Gets Record [GPara via Sega Nerds]

Thought it couldn't get worst than NSFW mahjong moony man? It can't. But this, this is pretty damn close. Here, a gentleman is standing and up and stretching in front of a mahjong game. Remember it's okay to enjoy yourself in Japanese game centers, just don't enjoy yourself in Japanese game centers.

Many thanks to Luke for his Pointing Fish skills! The unfished pic is in the link below and not as bad as you think — whatever that means! Still, it's both a little NSFW and a lotta unsettling.
Mahjong Game Undressing Number 2 [Hatimaki]

Enjoy that XBLA Ikaruga? The current top-rated numero uno player Kingoro58k totally hates it. While he seems to put up with the XBLA port enough to reclaim his spot from a Finnish gamer, Kingoro58k writes on his
Gamertag bio:

The XBLA version of Ikaruga is a horrible port.
This isn't Ikaruga, this is Ikaruga LOL.

As commenter Muu points out, the reason for this hatorade is that there are minor changes from the arcade/Dreamcast version. Among them, in a couple places, enemy placement is different and the direction of laser beams on the third stage's mini-boss has been changed. Kingoro58k has detailed the changes as well on his own blog. For those interested in reading up on these differences, forum SuperPlay! has the nitty-gritty. Good times.
Ikaruga LOL [Kingoro58k Thanks, Muu!]

Sexy mahjong games. Your more discriminating Japanese arcades typically have a couple cabinets that feature mahjong ladies in various states of undress. Thrilling stuff! Some people find these games a tad too thrilling, a tad too titillating, so do beware if you plan on hitting the risky jump. NSFW carpenter's smile ahead! You've been warned, so don't go complaining.

No, you cannot unsee this. We've already tried. All day.
Shangai Shame [Hatimaki]

Capcom's official Japanese Street Fighter IV site has new screenies of Lucha Libre wrestler and gourmet cook El Fuerte. Check them out in the gallery below. Delicious!

Street Fighter IV [Capcom]

The King of Fighters XII is pretty. Really pretty. But, it's 2D pretty, which is lost on a lot of the grainy screenies we've posted of the game. These screens from Japanese arcade mag Arcadia are only slightly better. But! They do show images of the French stage filled with fat ladies. KOFXII oozes everything that made SNK famous for its fighters in the first place. A return to form.

KOFXII Screens [eNe3 via PS3Forums via PS3 Fanboy]

Hooray! This April, The King of Fighters XII is getting its first official play test in Japan. As pointed out in Famitsu, it's traditional 3 vs. 3 team match-ups. Also, the screen's edge forms a hard barrier that players will have to balance. What's more, attacks can cancel each other and there's a Guard Attack system that lets players switch from offensive to defensive modes on the fly. SNK says that the game system had gotten too complex and they were aiming showing that would be more approachable and put emphasis on "reading the opponent's mind." Famitsu scans below — which do the 100 percent hand drawn game no justice whatsoever.

KOFXII Info [mmcafe via Arcade Renaissance]

Okay, yes, it's nothing but colored cardboard and it's US $12 dollars for the set, but still. It's a mini arcade for the PSP. We're not sure this is even necessary (it's not), but we admire the delightfully meaningless gumption.
Cardboard Mini Arcade [Perpetual Kid via ALBOTAS]

Right now, the arcade version of Tekken 6 is in loads of places, like NOT AMERICA and NOT AMERICA. Apparently, it's going to stay that way! While the game is most certainly coming to American consoles, it seems that it will not be coming to American arcades. Nothing has been officially announced, but Tekken site SD Tekken points out various reasons why the game won't be coming to American arcades, including the fact that Namco USA no longer has an arcade division and that the US arcade scene is pretty much, well, dead. Still, the cabinets are being imported. So far, Tekken 6 is playable at an arcade in Houston. Americans willing to mingle with Canadians will be happy to find the game in arcades north of the border.
Tekken 6 [SD Tekken via Arcade Renaissance]

Street Fighter IV doesn't have a street date yet, but we're pretty sure of two things: 1). It will be released in arcades before on consoles. 2). It will be released in Japanese arcades before in Western arcades. We could be wrong! We're just guessing! But, just in case, we're dead right and just in case you can't wait, there's this: A pre-order for the Japanese arcade cabinet. It'll set you back around ¥2,394,000 yen (US$23,307). Pre-orders start this March, and it's expected to go on sale this August.

Eds Note: Capcom got in touch with us, letting us know that this is actually 2 pairs of dedicated head-to-head style Japanese cabinets (a total of four cabinets). So, it's only US$5,750. Much cheaper!

Order Here [Tops-Game via Danny Choo]

When SNK showed off The King of Fighters XII at arcade show AOU in Japan and industry event GDC in San Francisco, the unanimous reply was: Nice cell shading. That, or it's "just" hi-res 2D. Thing is, that's totally incorrect. And for SNK, who's been working on the game for the past three years, frustrating! Today, I checked out the game's latest build at SNK's Osaka office and saw a few stages that haven't been revealed. Screens weren't available, but there was a French stage, complete with fat, rich women and an Egyptian one that had loyal subjects worshiping before the Pharaoh. Colorful stuff and classic SNK. The company set out to make the ultimate 2D fighter — unparalleled by anything else out there, attempting not only to raise the bar, but snap it in half. KOFXII producer Masaaki Kukino tells Kotaku:

The game is one hundred percent hand drawn. There is zero cell shading in The King of Fighters XII.

Hardcore. That means that an actual human hands lovingly drew and colored in everything in the game. Every single frame, every character and every background. Everything — down to the game's in-game title. SNK gave us the full rundown, so here's how it worked: The original character drawings were modeled into 3D. Those 3D models were then rendered back into 2D. That way the 2D characters could have a greater depth of motion. Since the 2D models were devoid of color and details, artists went through each character, background, image and painstakingly added colors and drew in details pixel-by-pixel on a tablet PC. In one day, one artist would be able to draw one frame and a half for whatever image he or she was working on.

"We knew it was going to be hard going in," says Kukino. "But we wanted to make the ultimate 2D fighting game." Up close, that meticulous attention to detail becomes apparent, and you're always noticing a flourish here or a nice touch there. Every inch of the screen has something interesting going on. "We wanted the look of the game to have more in common with manga or anime," Kukino adds. With KoFXII, it looks like SNK hasn't only created another stylized 2D fighter, but this time, a genuine work of art.

We've got a buncha new fighters coming out: SNK's The King of Fighters XII, Capcom's Street Fighter IV and Namco's Soul Calibur. We are totally! Whot does SNK think its biggest competitor is? Says Masaaki Kukino, King of Fighters XII producer:

Street Fighter IV... I saw it at the AOU 2008 show... I was impressed. It's very similar to King of Fighters in that we're trying to do something new with the franchise.

Right on. Anyone who likes fighters should be very, very happy right now. Tickled pink, even!
KoFXII Interview [1UP]

For those who didn't attend AOU 2008 today in Chiba, here's a smorgasbord of pics taken by Jean Snow and Witzbold. Stand out stuff like eagerly awaited SFIV, Square Enix's card game Lord of Vermilion, Cave's shooter DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu and Konami's new music game Jubeat — among others. Man, new DoDonPachi, new Street Fighter, new Konami music game, new The King of Fighters. Who was saying Japanese arcades were dying?

Street Fighter IV is playable. Today, the wait at the AOU arcade show hit 90 minutes to play the game hit 90 minutes. Keep in mind: This is on the business day. So, what's it like? Kotaku buddy Jean Snow was at AOU today and checked it out — even winning a perfect battle. Briefly, Jean tells us:

Controls were what you would expect from the game, nice and tight. But the graphics, oh man, they look soooooo nice! The backgrounds are incredibly detailed. If you look at them, you noticed all sorts of nice things. Like some letters were falling off a sign after a big attack. The entire game is an absolutely stunning package. You play on a widescreen high-res screen, and all the characters were beautifully rendered. Even the chest hair on the wrestler guy Zangief looked nice! It's one of the most beautiful, complete fighters I've seen. Ever.

Look for more in-depth impressions when we get hands on with the game at GDC.

[Thanks, Jean!]

Here we go! This appears to be the first pictures from the Japanese arcade AOU 2008 show floor. A lot of the pre-opening pics seem taken by Blurry McBlur. There are snaps of exhibits for Arcana Heart 2, DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu and Square Enix's Lord of Vermilion. More to come.

AOU Pics [AM-Net via Arcade Renaissance]

Saucy! That's not just any old maid outfit. It's a UFO Catcher prize from SEGA! The prize is a maid costume that Mikuru Asahina from anime Haruhi Suzumiya that Mikuru wears while making and serving tea at her school club. The costume is actually slightly different from the one Mikuru wears, and it looks shameful — like you'd find in an adult novelty shop. The prize doesn't include the salmon colored undershirt, the wig or the faceless mannequin. No mannequin, can you believe it?! The nerve!
SEGA Adult Goods [Hobby Blog]

Well, in Japan at least. Street Fighter IV is indeed getting a proper arcade version. Japanese magazine Famitsu was able to confirm that with Capcom. The game will hit Japanese arcades sometime this year. Kinda sad that we live in an age that we must worry whether or not arcade-style games will actually appear in arcades — even in Japan! Now, which arcade hardware the game will appear on isn't yet known, but as game site arcade Renaissance points out, Capcom is currently using the System 256 hardware for Sengoku Basara X. Another thing that isn't yet known: What home platform (or platforms) the game will be appearing on. Looking at Capcom's recent M.O., we're expecting Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
SF4 Confirmed [IGN via Arcade Renaissance]

Japanese game centers are always a good time. But this, this is just shameful. Called "During Working Hours at the Game Center Hard Lez," this adult picture features three women doing everything but playing video games in a Shibuya game center apparently in front of customers and everything. It stars Sakura Sakurada, Arisa Chiba and Miyu Naruse. Totally embarrassing.

Click over for the NSFW box art. School of pink Pointing Fish abound!

Game Center Dirty Movie [NSFW via Hobby Blog]

Fresh off covering E3 for us, former Gizmodo editor Joel Johnson has settled in over at Boing Boing, where he's covering gadgets like this HDTV pinball machine. It's an art installation on display at Barcelona's Palau de la Virreina that riffs on the conflict between kids and parents over leisure activities — what's more, it proves that more pinball machines should use giant HDTVs. Here's info about the game:

The "real world" level represents kids' media usage and their parents' attitudes towards it. Left hand (parents' wishes) sends the ball (the kid) to school, books, church and museum. Right hand (the kid's wishes) sends the kid to TV, peers, videogames and the Internet-connected computer at the top left.

Nice to see a tricked out pinball machine. Nice to see Joel back in the gadget saddle.
Homebrew HDTV Pinball [BB Gadgets]

Game blog GameOfTheBlog is right. Yesterday when we posted the FOUR THOUSAND DOLLAR arcade PC rig, we totally missed the big picture. That many dollar signs can do that to ya! That same company is also offering up translucent polymer arcade cabinet that can be gold, platinum or chrome plated *and* has that FOUR THOUSAND DOLLAR arcade PC rig already in it. Called the Official Game Haven Crystalcade, here's a quick rundown of how tricked out it is:

• Features a 350 watt Dolby THX surround system with 8" subwoofer

• Optional add-on controllers include Steering Wheel/Foot Pedal, Game Bridge for Xbox/PS2/Cable TV compatibility, DDR Pro Game Pad, Launch Pad Golf Simulator and WIreless Karaoke Magic System with 2,000 songs

• Jukebox software

• Compatible with Windows XP

• 21" flat screen monitor

It comes packaged with old games like Galaga, Rampage, NARC, Dragon's Lair, a buncha old 2600 games and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005. Non-sequitur! This seems designed for people who really, really hate gaming.
Crystalcade [GameOfTheBlog via IC]

Crane games are old. In Japan, where they dish the future out like candy, crane games are controlled by robots. Well, this one is at least. The concept is currently being tested, but differs from traditional crane games in that it's timed. So, instead of being given X number of moves to use the crane to snag loot, players must use the robot in a race-against-the-clock to bag their prize. Delightfully nerdy and TOTALLY AWESOME!
Robot Crane Game [Gizmodo]

The game? Donkey Kong. The location? The Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers in Orlando, Florida. Arcade champ Billy Mitchell has reclaimed the top DK score with a record breaking 1,050,200 points. This comes weeks before documentary The King of Kong gets released. The doc follows Steve Wiebe who claims the Kong high score.

There have been questions about the authenticity of the high scores and whether or not "doctored" arcade boards were used. Both claim that they haven't cheated. For example, Wiebe shot his high score with a handheld camera in his garage. He filmed himself installing the genuine arcade board, reaching his high score and then taking out the same arcade board. For his latest record, Billy Mitchell had his board verified by Nintendo of America and didn't take it out of its Nintendo of America packaging until the Brokers convention. As he placed it in the cabinet, Mitchell had a security guard, a notary public and a GameStop manager on hand. This was also filmed!

After Mitchell beat this high score, he let the clock run out. Mitchell still had one Mario life left. He says:

"I'm not Steve Spurrier," Mitchell said of the legendarily aggressive football coach. "I'm Billy Mitchell. I don't need to run up the score. I just want to put one in the win column. I want to make it competitive. I didn't want to make it too tough."

Your move, Wiebe.
Mitchell Back on Top [MTV]

Forget stuffed animals, here's an crane game in New Jersey with a coveted iPhone as a prize. The AT&T phone plan is sold separately. Sure hope they've reinforced the plexiglass! How many quarters does $600 get you? 'Cause if you play the odds, this might be a good deal.
iPhone Crane Game [Arcade Heroes]

The SEGA "image character" daisy-chain goes something like this: MEGUMI, Yuko Ogura (twice) and now Satomi Ishihara. Ishihara is best know for her work in Pocky commercials. Well, that's how I know her. She'll be appearing in TV spots, on the SEGA website and on posters and banners. About her predecessors: bikini model and actress MEGUMI is sassy and opinionated, while fellow model and weirdo Yuko Ogura is annoying, claiming to be from outer-space. Ishihara is cute but seems, well, kind of bland. Same goes for SEGA's new arcade slogan: "Welcome to SEGA... With Smile." Wonder how long it took the marketing wizards to come up with that one.
Ishihara Welcomes You [Game Watch]

by Brian Ashcraft

"No, not the Shin Shinbashi Building," I tell the middle-aged woman sitting behind the ticket counter. "The New Shinbashi Building. 'New' as in the English word 'new' not the Japanese 'new.'"

Tokyo's Shinbashi has two New Shinbashi Buildings — Both on opposite sides of the station. One of them uses the character "shin" (新) which translates as "new." The other uses the English word "NEW" in all caps. What's more, "Shinbashi" means "New Bridge." Confused? You should see the woman behind the counter.

The middle-aged woman behind the counter pauses, then turns to another middle-aged woman behind the counter. An Abbott and Costello routine ensues until I make it perfectly clear: The New Shinbashi Building, not the Shin Shinbashi Building.

The New Shinbashi Building, not the Shin Shinbashi Building, is a stop over. I'm writing a feature on Japanese arcades — I've already visited famous game centers like the dirt cheap, ¥50 per-play Shibuya Kaikan and Akihabara's shooter heaven Taito Hey! This, this is a diversion.

A row of taxis lines up across from the New Shinbashi Building, not the Shin Shinbashi Building. An old lady is laying in the street, and I can hear the rhythmic siren of an ambulance. Businessmen in ill-fitting suits move in transit from work to bars, and a gaggle of young girls wearing thigh-highs and mini-skirts cluster near the doorway, putting on eye liner and talking on cell phones.

The whiff of wet cigarettes and the roar of spinning metal balls and stale techno hits me as I enter the New Shinbashi Building. To my left, there is a large pachinko parlor. Signs in front advertise new pachi-slot machines. Shoe-horned in is an ad for a movie theater showing porno flicks. All of the other shops appear to be either sporting goods retailers or cosmetic counters. Nothing that I'm looking for. I'm looking for game centers, for arcades.

Somewhere between the aluminum baseball bats and the cherry lip-gloss, I see it: A drawing of a Sprinter Trueno or a Skyline — I can't tell. It's an ad for Initial D, a racing game based on a manga of the same name. An illuminated sign reads "World Game," and the Initial D is a front of sorts. The back is packed with mahjong arcade cabinets. Businessmen circle silently, smoking. Nearby, there's "Pit in Game," another arcade. Likewise, nothing remarkable and mostly mahjong. Neither game center is being staffed.

It's looking to be a bust. Two arcades on the first floor, that's it. There are four stories, so maybe, just maybe there are more. Four or "shi" in Japanese, the number itself is unlucky. The word "shinu" (to die) begins with "shi." I double back around, and that's when I find it: The escalator leading to the basement. I descend.

The basement is packed with restaurants. Salarymen with loosened neckties and red faces smoke more cigarettes and laugh. A short order cook grills egg-plant, and fat waitresses stand out front, hoping to catch passer-bys with offers of all-you-can-drink.

"No, thanks," I tell the umpteenth fat waitress. Up ahead, there's a poster. Says King of Fighters. There's an arcade called "Game Shigeru." Two banners for Konami's Mahjong Kakutou Club are out front. I don't go in.

"Doc Well" is split into two parts. Or three parts. The one game center spans several store fronts, but it's all "Doc Well." And it's all filled with mahjong machines. Staffers are no where to be seen, and it all appears to be autonomous. There are a few Virtua Fighter 5 cabinets, old cabinets. Catty corner to the "Doc Well" row is "Diana." Two women in bland business suits play darts. There's Gundam, too. And mahjong.

Mahjong in Japan is primarily a male pursuit. Pro female players in Japan are a rarity, and woman in mahjong parlors are doing one thing: Serving drinks.

Up ahead, "Game Wonda." There's a chance game out front with prizes like Cuff-in-the-Dark and Jungle Undies. Below the toy prizes, gray bags contain adult videos. Step inside, there are mahjong cabinets.

I stick my head in "Gameland." There's a UFO catcher. A crane hand tries to pick up hard-core adult videos. They're not in gray bags, but out for all to see.

Besides the New Shinbashi mahjong arcade game standard, there is a poker-type game with foreign women. An old man sits down in flannel, stuffs a coin in and begins playing. His fingernails are dirty, and I write down the game's title: Cherry. Bonus. IV.

Another Konami banner tells me that "Wing" has mahjong — Along with Virtua Fighter and Tekken. The game cabinets are deserted, and salarymen sit hunched over, lighting cigarettes, putting them out, lighting them again. They don't notice me.

There's a "Wing 2," another arcade, which I peak in.

Take out my note pad. Two floors, nine arcades. And all of them have mahjong games. I toggle through the pictures on my digi-cam. Just to make sure. Somewhere, I can hear salarymen laughing. An attractive woman blows by me with a middle-aged man in tow. The greasy smell of yakitori and the stench of flat beer is sickening.

Second floor. There are numbers on the wall. Crazy numbers, all out of order and mixed up. Red velvet seats and Super Mario. The arcade's name is "221." In the back, two salarymen play mahjong games.

In the breezeway, men stuffed into white nurse outfits like sausages and young boney women also wearing white nurse outfits mill about. One of the boney women stops and stares, then continues down the hall.

A barbershop is wedged between massage parlors and chiropractors offices. Male nurses sit in the doorways, and massage tables are visible under curtains. This isn't sex for sale.

Another nurse, young and pretty, stands near "Jambo." She takes a deep drag and blows out a grey cloud. Behind her, I can make out a horse racing game. In front of me, mahjong.

I pass the "Game in Rido Park Part I." Mahjong. No staffers. I search for "Game in Rido Park Part II," but don't find it.

High heels click by. A worn woman in a skimpy skirt and unfashionable shoes shuffles down the hallway. Somewhere on the second floor, an ad for an adult movie.

The closest thing to an real arcade is the "Royal Shinbashi." It's got Cave's new shooter, Muchi Muchi Pork, the new Time Crisis game, Elevator Action and Densha De Go. This is the thirteenth arcade in the New Shinbashi Building (not the Shin Shinbashi Building). I scan the game center and can't find any mahjo—

The thirteenth arcade also has mahjong. They all have mahjong games. Every single one, and not a single staffer in sight.

Doubling back to the escalator, I pass D-Cup Fashion Health. A sign welcomes customers in, and the 30 minute course rate is broken down by time. It's now evening, so it costs a bit more to have a woman dress up and finish you off. Mornings, they're cheap.

The third floor is deserted. Most of the shops and stores are shuttered shut. Yet, I can swear I hear jazz. There's the odd adult bookstore and the occasional dentist office.

My shoes squeak and squeak on the linoleum until they are drowned out by John Coltrane. The music wafts from a shop — A video game store.

The store's nothing special. But why is it on the third floor of this building? Who shops here? There's a guy behind the counter. Wearing a Yankees cap and spectacles, he clicks though a laptop.

"Excuse me," I say.
He looks up, then slowly: "Yes?"
"I have a question. Do you mind?"
Shuts the laptop.
"Sure, go ahead."
"Don't you think that it's odd they are so many arcades in this building? And that they all have mahjong games?"
He opens the laptop and replies:
"No."
Continues clicking as I linger for a moment and leave.

The fourth floor is silent, save for the high pitched hum of the fluorescent lights. No jazz and no squeaking shoes. Most stores are shuttered and a staircase leads into inky blackness. The sky outside is dull blue as the city four stories below settles in for a long night.

There's a single door open. A woman in a plain office lady-type uniform obscures the view, and I move forward. She serves drinks to four men sit at a table. She leaves, and that's when I see: They're playing mahjong. Real mahjong for real money.

A trio of salarymen appear and pass by, talking loudly and entering that mahjong parlor. Perhaps they were warming up downstairs in an arcade. Perhaps not.

I go back down to the ground floor, to the make-up counters and the pachinko parlor. Pass one of the first floor's game centers, I forget which. A sweaty man in a tacky orange shirt that screams "arcade staff." He's restocking a U.F.O. catcher with stuffed animals. I interrupt.

"I was wondering, why are there so many game centers?"
"What do you mean?" He looks surprised.
"There's something like thirteen arcades in this building. That's a lot. Too many, even. Do you know why?"
"It's always been that way."
"Are they all owned by the same company?" I counter.
"No, they're all separate."
"Why all the mahjong arcade games?"
"Because it's popular."

As I head out of the New Shinbashi Building, not the Shin Shinbashi Building, I think, he's right. It is.

Sometimes there are things you don't have to play, that you don't even want to play, yet they still reek of awesomeness. Take Sega's Bingo Party Pirates, for example. It's a arcade bingo type game in which players try to win medals, but forget about that for a moment and repeat after me: Bingo. Party. Pirates. Can you see how the machine has little boat sails? Purple sails. Let's all hope Sega realizes its potential greatest and makes a franchise of this. Brian Ashcraft

Bingo Party Pirates [Sega via Famitsu]

Received at a Tokyo SEGA HI-TECHLAND arcade, this free wetnap reminds customers that, yes, the 23rd day of every month is Sega Day. So don't forget: We're less than a week and a half away! Brian Ashcraft

Free wet tissues [UK Resistance]

Arcade gaming dead? Not quite. Sega has rolled out House of the Dead 4 Special for Japan and Europe. Players can either have a go as House of the Dead 2's James Taylor or new character Kate Green. Outfitted with two 100 inch XGA projector screens, the game runs on Sega's Lindbergh CG arcade board, and the cabinet puts players in a twirling, vibrating seat-belted seat. Think: Giant rumble pack! So when zombie attack, burst of air are blown on players faces, and things shake. Good to see some people still give a flip about the arcade experience. Brian Ashcraft

House of the Dead 4 Special [Sega via Siliconera]

In an interview with Games Radar Christian Nutt, Sega's AM2 talk Virtua Figher 5 and how they "begged" to make an Xbox 360 incarnation. Their rational? Make money Get the game to the widest audience possible. The developers even hope that the Xbox 360 one will outsell its PS2 prequel! The devs also say it took AM2 the same amount of time to create the PS3 version that it did the Xbox 360 one, and both versions were "equally challenging." One of the devs, though, added that developing for the Xbox 360 version was easier, and that Microsoft was very supportive and helpful during the process. Brian Ashcraft

Virtua Fighter Feature [Games Radar]

Spanish hipster bar Marrs Bar recently wrapped up a super cool "We Hate Glue" contest — So cool that we wish they would've told us about it! Folks were asked to design paper arcade cabinets. The winner gets €250. Easy, enough? The cool bit is the imaginative way contestants covered the cabinets. Check out some of the super cool entries above and below. For interested crafty types, there's a peppy video on how to make these cabinets after the jump. Brian Ashcraft

Marrs Bar [Official Site]

Wow, an animated interactive game you can actually play! While 1980's saw a couple of interactive titles, namely Dragon's Lair and Space Age, the genre proved to be visually stunning but frustrating play-wise.

Fast-forward to the 21st century. A couple ex-Disney animators help create The Act. The game's been in development for something like six years and has been play testing in the New England area. Instead of using the clunky joystick Dragon's Lair employed, The Act uses a knob. For example, when trying to charm a women into going on a date, the player must use the knob to control the amount of charm they emit. Turn too much, and you'll come off as over eager. Turn too little, and you'll come off as not interested.

Screw animated interactive titles, I'm so glad to see someone making a knob-based arcade game! Brian Ashcraft

The Act [Arcade Heaven]

Forget cards, cool kids play with pucks. Toy maker Takara Tomy unveiled the next generation of collectable kiddy arcade fighters with Pokémon BATTRIO. Instead of arcane cards, this game features small Poké-pucks! While typical card fighters just involve swiping, BATTRIO has players arrange their pucks on a mat, which then corresponds to the in-game formation. Positioning is everything! One play costs kids ¥100 (US $0.83) and includes a single puck. Takara Tomy boss says that with the popularity of card games last year and with Pokémon being a DS smash hit and has his fingers crossed that this cabinet is popular with children when it's rolled out this summer. That's business speak for saying he hopes Pokémon BATTRIO makes Takara Tomy shit loads of money. Brian Ashcraft

Next Gen Card Game [Nintendo Inside]

Over the weekend, an arcade in Fukuoka, Japan was held up at knife-point by three men using white towels to cover their faces. The game center employees were forced to open the safe and change machines and were then locked in a storeroom. No one was hurt, and police are investigating. Three million yen plus (US $25,000) was stolen. No word whether if that was in 100 yen coins. Brian Ashcraft

Arcade Heist [ATE Online via Arcade Heaven]

Sony and Bandai Namco have teamed up to bring smoke-filled Japanese game centers Tekken 6. Hitting later this year, it will be the first arcade game to use the PS3's cell technology. Previously, the company used PlayStation 2 tech to develop arcade versions of its games, but has actually sold this tech to other companies. Bandai Namco hasn't yet decided what it will do with its PS3 arcade technology. Probably make a buncha Tekken games, that's what. Brian Ashcraft

Tekken 6 To Use PS3 Cell [Mainichi via Flame War Advance]