-"Games that even beginners can easily start playing have really been on the decline recently."

-"Tetris or PuyoPuyo."

-"I was super into Time Crisis for a while."

-"UFO Catchers."

-"Music games."

-"Medal games."

- "QMA with a friend."

-"Damn you otakki bastards who play QMA alone while taking notes! It's a game for couples!"

-"Fighting games or QMA."

-"Ones where you kill zombies."

- "Bonds of the Battlefield."

- (Absurdly detailed thesis about PuyoPuyo)

- "Whenever my friends and I go to the game center we basically stand around for a while and leave because there isn't anything a beginner can just start playing."

Oh! And taking a cue from my co-author Jean Snow, Arcade Mania makes a dandy stocking stuffer. Did you know that? I knew that. More info about the book right here.

ゲーセン行ったらいつも何のゲームしてる？ [Kanasoku via AltJapan]

Here are the Pix'N Love fellas checking out the book! Below, boozing it in celebration. Congrats, Pix'N Love! I'll definitely toss up some pics when I get my copy.

Working with Pix'N Love has been a pleasure — everyone on the Pix'N Love team is a class act.

Those interested in acquiring a copy of the French version, click here or check out more details in the embedded link.

Une journee avec Pix [Pix'N Love Editions]

When Space Invaders hit big in Japan in 1978, both men and women played the game; however, by the 1990s, male-dominated fighting games were in vogue. Girls didn't go to arcades — unless dragged there by their boyfriends.

But when girls went gaga over Print Club, teen started lining up in front of arcades to take low-res sticker pix of themselves with friends. Atlus revolutionized not only arcades, but the arcade demographic. And as of March 31, Atlus is officially no longer making sticker picture machines.

The company's purikura output in recent years has been waning, and Atlus was no longer a major purikura player. Machines continue to sport better cameras and software, and they carry price tags that are comparable to a mid-sized sedan.

Sure, purikura is still popular with teens (see pictured schoolgirls), but things like the wide-spread use of cameras embedded in cell phones and a shrinking arcade market has hurt business, and Atlus has decided to focus its resources elsewhere.

ゲームメーカー「アトラス」、利用者減少のため31日で「プリクラ」から撤退 [FNN]

French game book publisher Pix n'Love Editions will be bringing the book to wider audience. Pix n'Love is best known for its books on the PC Engine and the history of Nintendo (Pix n'Love's Florent Gorges has a monthly column in Japanese mag Nintendo Dream.)

Pix n'Love was planning to do an arcade book, but fell in love with Arcade Mania and wanted to bring it to the French speaking public. The book will be translated into French by one of the founders of Shmup.com, a great database about shooting games.

The French edition is slated for release this June. Can't wait.

The deluxe cabinet features a whip-like wand controller. Read game play impressions here and check out the game trailer here.

This is not the first Castlevania arcade game. Konami released Akumajo Dracula in Japanese arcades in 1988, two years after Castlevania first hit the Famicom Disk System. The game, which was an uneven remake of Castlevania, was localized for American arcades in fall 1988 as Haunted Castle. The title also received a Japanese PS2 port, which never got a retail release in the West.

名作アクション『悪魔城ドラキュラ』が体感アーケードゲームに！ [Famitsu]

A few weeks back, tech journo Victor Godinez from my hometown paper The Dallas Morning News did a profile on me — and I was finally sent the hard copy by my parents. I'm rather tickled to be in the DMN as it was the first newspaper I ever read.

The article is right next to Dear Abby, and there's my picture — a picture that my wife says makes me look like it should be on a Wanted Poster.

In the profile, I talk a bit about how I got to Japan, how I got this gig and about arcades and Arcade Mania. There are two versions of the interview: a shorty and a slightly longer Director's Cut version. Read either, both or neither. Whichever!

Dallas native chronicles Japan's vibrant arcade culture in book [GuideLive — Short Version]
Interview: Brian Ashcraft, "Arcade Mania: The Turbo-Charged World of Japan's Game Centers" [GuideLive — Longer Version]

Here's who it works: We ask a question, you answer it. Simple and no strings attached! This isn't some marketing survey or whatever. It's an emotional investment in you. Yes, we're interested in knowing you, Kotaku reader person.

You probably know fucktons about us — more than you even want to, we're sure. But, hey, we'd like to know about you. That way you won't be some faceless blob — and we might feel a tinge of guilt when we ban your ass. Or not, because really we're incapable of human emotion.

Earlier this week, I talked with Spencer at game site Siliconera about Arcade Mania. He asked me: Why do you think arcades failed in the USA? (You can read the full interview here.) Now, we ask you...

Question: Why do you think arcades failed in the USA?

You're looking at a mini replica Space Invaders table top arcade cabinet that's actually a piggy bank from Takara Tomy. The bank's LCD screen acts as the coin counter and lights up each time a hundred yen coin is entered. It holds 80 hundred yen coins, which is the equivalent of roughly US$89.

I love tabletop style arcade cabinets. Perfect for playing. Perfect for resting drinks on. Game developer Goichi Suda loves them, too. Learned that he has one in his office when interviewing him for Arcade Mania. One of this in your office — how cool is that?

Space Invaders Piggy Bank [JeanSnow.net]

According to the piece, "A growing number of arcade operators are banning men from areas around these machines—popularly known as purikura—to protect customers, such as high school students, from men trying to sneak camera shots, steal their belongings or even pick them up."

Male-female couples are okay, but not groups of guys or single dudes. Truth is, this has been going on for a while. A long while. A long, long, long while.

However! When I interviewed the folks who manage Shibuya landmark Purikura Mecca, Japan's most famous sticker picture arcade, for Arcade Mania, I was told that male customers would not be kicked out as long as they were "well-behaved." Because, hey, they have money, too. Ironic as Purikura Mecca was the first arcade not to allow male-only purikura customers.

'Purikura' booths take men out of the picture [Asahi]

Ashcraft is the night guy, so I generally roll into work right as he is hitting bed, and have finished up by the time he comes to work, so I hardly ever get to spend the amount of time talking with him as Crecente, Luke, and McWhertor generally do, so it's refreshing for me to see so much background info about the process of writing Arcade Mania!. From where the idea first originated to how he picked Player 9, the adorable little scamp addicted to Japanese collectible card arcade games. I didn't even know mini-Bash's real name. That's how little our time coincides.

Having read the book and now this lengthy interview, I now have a bit more insight into Ashcraft's passion for gaming than our divergent schedules ever allowed me. Nice to get to know him!

GameSetInterview: 'The Turbo-Charged Making Of Arcade Mania' [Game Set Watch]

Winners, please send an email to kotakucontestATgmailDOTcom to claim your copy of Arcade Mania. Be sure to include your address and let us know if you'd like your copy signed.

Arcade Mania is now available.

Hi, guys it’s me Luis again and since my FFVII diorama did not qualify for the contest I decided to make another one this time based on Street Fighter Alpha 2 which is an arcade game. I hope there are not entry limits. For this one I decided to recreate my favorite stage. This one was a pain, a lot of micro cutting. For a moment I thought my vacation was not going to be productive.

Oh, it was, Luis, it was. Likewise, Kotakuite Mint has been productive, sending along the diorama below.

Mint writes:

It's a scene from Marvel vs Capcom 2 with Shuma and Amingo, and the loudest backround I could find. I totally should have spent the time studying for my Anthropology final tomorrow, but yeah, I didn't. I figure I can take ANTHRO 102 anytime, but a diorama contest over at Kotaku just don't come as often as I'd like them to!

P.S: I'm happy to say that Shuma is made with 100 percent recycled index cards. Amingo not so much..!

This Rampage diorama comes from James from Hawaii.

Says James:

I never appreciated my xacto knife more than when I was cutting the outlines of George and Lizzy out of the postcards I drew them on. I based my diorama on Rampage since it was one of my favorite arcade games as a kid and my sister and I would play it endlessly. I don't recall Lizzy ever having a Godzilla-like atomic breath attack (or looking so much like the offspring of Reptar and a kangaroo) but it was something I always wanted to see.

The buildings are game pieces from the CMG "Monsterpocalypse", a tabletop game that is essentially the equivalent of Rampage.

It was a tough choice choosing which game to make a diorama of since I played so many as a kid when arcades were all over the place... Pole Position II, The Simpsons, Tumblepop, X-Men... but I ended up back on Rampage each time. Ralph is probably locked in a cage somewhere... my sister and I never picked him. Sorry buddy.

Thanks James! And finally, we've got an entry from Kotakuite Chesu: Ban-Hammer-Bird-Shirt-Crecente. Just look at that background! Amazing stuff.

What's going on? For this contest, you can use anything you like to create your diorama: paper, toys, whatever. All we ask is that you made an arcade-themed diorama and include a Kotaku and Arcade Mania sign so that we know you made it and not your dog or something.

Take a picture and send it to kotakucontestATgmailDOTcom. There will be three winners, and all will win a copy (it's in English!) of Arcade Mania straight from Japan. Everyone else will get INTERNET FAME. Remember, the contest deadline is tonight at midnight PST. That's soonish so procrastinators have a wee-bit of time still left!

Arcade Mania is now available.

But, hey, Luis does not care. He's all about making a FFVII diorama, while we're all about showing it. Writes Luis:

I know FFVII it is not an arcade game, but I wanted to make this diorama so bad. In addition, who can forget this final battle anyway? Or my face when he summoned Nova on me, I thought it was going to be game over for me.

Can't be a finalist, but we applaud the "E" for "Effort" and the "L" for "Luis." What's going on? For this contest, you can use anything you like to create your diorama: paper, toys, whatever. All we ask is that you made an arcade-themed diorama and include a Kotaku and Arcade Mania sign so that we know you made it and not your dog or something.

Take a picture and send it to kotakucontestATgmailDOTcom. There will be three winners, and all will win a copy (it's in English!) of Arcade Mania straight from Japan. Everyone else will get INTERNET FAME. Remember, the contest deadline is this Friday.

Arcade Mania is now available.

I decided to go and recreate one of my most memorable experiences at the arcade as that's probably as "arcade themed" as I can get.

I'm a big fan of paper toys, so I decided to make some for the diorama contest... I tried to make it as ugly as possible 'cause, if memory serves me right, losing also meant getting beaten with an Ugly Stick. Remember what Blanka looked like when he lost? It's like someone slapped him really hard in the back of the head and his eyes fell out... over and over again.

Nice work, Alexander! Below is Paul's diorama. It's not based on his arcade memories, but that's okay. Paul had a party to go to.

Writes Paul:

Its a Parodius based diorama, although as you can see its not that accurate, there were no gundams in the real Parodius and the penguin isn't quite right but it gives a feel of Parodius I think. For some reason it seemed like a great idea before I made it but its really disappointing now its done, I think it needed more wackiness and bullets, walking bombs etc but i don't have time as I'm off to a party soon. Hopefully it will give someone a laugh.

We'll admit it: We chuckled. A bunch. What's going on? For this contest, you can use anything you like to create your diorama: paper, toys, whatever. All we ask is that you made an arcade-themed diorama and include a Kotaku and Arcade Mania sign so that we know you made it and not your dog or something.

Take a picture and send it to kotakucontestATgmailDOTcom. There will be three winners, and all will win a copy (it's in English!) of Arcade Mania straight from Japan. Everyone else will get INTERNET FAME just like Alexander and Paul. Remember, the contest deadline is this Friday.

Arcade Mania is now available.

Hi I am Kevin

here is Mrs Pacman making money the right way... i will probably lose but i thought it was funny

Thanks Kevin. Ever wonder what Ms. Pac-Man looks like when she takes off her ribbon?

What's going on: For this contest, you can use anything you like to create your diorama: paper, toys, whatever. All we ask is that you made an arcade-themed diorama and include a Kotaku and Arcade Mania sign so that we know you made it and not your dog or something.

Take a picture and send it to kotakucontestATgmailDOTcom. There will be three winners, and all will win a copy (it's in English!) of Arcade Mania straight from Japan. Everyone else will get INTERNET FAME just like Kevin. Or Megan. Or Mike. Or DarthMetalHope.

Hit the jump for their entries.

Megan writes:

My diorama is based on how Kotaku usually kills other sites...I present to you, "KOTAKU BANDWIDTH DESTROYER!!!"

Let's see...I don't think much of it needs explaining. The paper chains are supposed to be "links," and hitting the links=bandwidth destroyed. Get it? XD
And the high score, is of course, over 9000. Why it's only over by one I'm not quite sure.

Mike writes:

FAQ:

Q. What is that thing?

A. It is a handcrafted diorama of the arcade phenomenon "Space Harrier".

Q. What is a "Space Harrier"

A. A guy who rides a vacuum around and shoots Egg Foo Young.

Q. IS THAT PHOTOSHOPPED?

A. No it was created by hand and the image was captured with a "camera".

Q. Is that an American Gladiator?

A. no

Q. Is it for sale?

A. yes.

Q Can I afford it?

A. no.

DarthMetalHope writes:

First off I want everyone to know that drawing pixel art is hell. As much fun as it was making little Galaga ships and what not, nothing will wear your patience thin then drawing and cutting out all these little guys. I was hoping to have more going on in it, but Galaga = simplicity to me and I thought this shows it nicely.

The Galaga ship and alien ship thingy shooting the beam down are both in the very front being supported and propped up by hidden little pieces of carboard. Then the 5 alien ships hovering above are actually all stranded together in the middle of the diorama and held up by black string that i fed through the top of the box to keep them up. So there is actually alot of depth in this, sadly using a crappy camera doesnt really help show it. Then i just threw the Stage number and Life number on the side and voila!

Arcade Mania is now available.

Here's what's going on: For this contest, you can use anything you like to create your diorama: paper, toys, whatever. All we ask is that you made an arcade-themed diorama and include a Kotaku and Arcade Mania sign so that we know you made it and not your dog or something.

Take a picture and send it to kotakucontestATgmailDOTcom. There will be three winners, and all will win a copy (it's in English!) of Arcade Mania straight from Japan. Everyone else will get INTERNET FAME just like Zero.

Hit the jump for Zero's lengthly email describing everything in this picture. Mike, don't take offense to the McWhertor garbage!

I have far, far, far too much free time on my hand-hands.

Just to let you know, I didn't use Photoshop to create the diorama in any way, but I only edited the photo to white-out anything that's not part of the diorama. I didn't touch up the colour levels/brightness, but I probably should. I can send the original if you'd like.

Probably could've been better; The paper dolls look really really terrible, and it was my first time making something like that. I couldn't leave them out, either. It's also been ages since I made something that finely, and I made it using 8 year old crafting supplies from school, so I had to change things around.

The diorama includes all of the editor's names in some way, so think of it as some weird bizarro alternate universe, where everyone except Crecente has the same face.

A fair bit's blurry or can't be seen, but I tried my best.. Here's a quick summary of what's hard to see, or can't be seen, if you wanted to know:

The camera didn't catch it, but the screen for "Crecente Clone Wars" is supposed to say "255 secs" remaining.
The side of the cabinet says "Can you beat them all?!" and has 24 faces.
The screen for "Adam tha Baren" displays "Houghton Games Presents..."
The side of the cabinet says "127 Treasures to find!"
The obvious pieces of litter is "McWhertor's".
Bash's image is from the Arcade Mania website, and I wrote "(c) Kotaku Korp." This and the Kotaku banner were supposed to be related (as an ad) but I couldn't make it obvious.
"Jean Snow" is a WoB expansion pack, image also from the Arcade Mania website.
The sign on the counter advertises Game Time Cards for WoB. I write with a soft pencil, and I write softly as it is, so it's hard to see. I don't have any fine pens.
The man at the counter has the name-tag "Fahey". He's supposed to be resting his head on his hand, but he doesn't have any. It was pretty difficult as it already was.
The basketball game is named "Plunk'ett!"
"Good Driving!", is being played by a guy with the name tag "Owen", from "Greene Delivery Co."
It wasn't caught on camera, but the screen just shows an empty desert road. Yes, it's "Desert Bus 2." And $10. Looks ridiculous.
The faces on the two paper dolls are henohenomoheji. Also done on pencil.

Arcade Mania is now available.

It is meant to be from Duck Hunt. That red thing is supposed to be a crosshair and well...ah...I need to go to bed.

Brilliant! Here's what's going on: For this contest, you can use anything you like to create your diorama: paper, toys, whatever. All we ask is that you made an arcade-themed diorama and include a Kotaku and Arcade Mania sign so that we know you made it and not your dog or something.

Take a picture and send it to kotakucontestATgmailDOTcom. There will be three winners, and all will win a copy (it's in English!) of Arcade Mania straight from Japan. Everyone else will get INTERNET FAME.

Arcade Mania is now available.

For this contest, you can use anything you like to create your diorama: paper, toys, whatever. All we ask is that you made an arcade-themed diorama and include a Kotaku and Arcade Mania sign so that we know you made it and not your dog or something.

Take a picture and send it to kotakucontestATgmailDOTcom. There will be three winners, and all will win a copy of Arcade Mania straight from Japan. Everyone else will get INTERNET FAME. Reader Ed gets his own bag of INTERNET FAME with this Pong entry. He writes:

I hope it's OK I sent Pong. It's not a Japanese arcade game.

Totally okay, Ed! It is an arcade game, and that's all that matters. Hit the jump for another pic that shows moveable paddles.

Neato!

Arcade Mania is now available.

For this contest, you can use anything you like to create your diorama: paper, toys, whatever. All we ask is that you made an arcade-themed diorama and include a Kotaku and Arcade Mania sign so that we know you made it and not your dog or something.

Take a picture and send it to kotakucontestATgmailDOTcom. We'll try to get as many finalists posted as possible — but we won't be able to post every entry. There will be three winners, and all will win a copy of Arcade Mania straight from Japan. Everyone else will get INTERNET FAME. And, you know, INTERNET FAME is priceless. So if you've got extra time this weekend, get to it!

Contest ends December 19. Life goes on.

Those not interested in the contest, Arcade Mania is currently now available.

Like arcade game players getting chipped — as in getting some sort of motion controlled implant. While interviewing Suzuki for Arcade Mania, he told us about his interest in new ways of interacting with games:

In Medicine, you have artificial heart devices, or people that have some sort of chips in their bodies, to be able to keep track of vital signs. So, it doesn't have to be a scary thing, but you could put a sensor here (points to his arm). You know, a bit like in The Matrix.

It's not really something only in the future, some people already have them, chips in their bodies. If for some that would be a bit too scary, then you could also do something more simple, like using wristbands or a pendant. So using devices like these for sensing would be good I think. I think that for arcades games I want something that's a bit futuristic.

In Arcade Mania, he also talks about things like the possibility of using cell phones to control arcade games and what "realism" means in arcade cabinet design. In an industry where so many of the pioneering game creators have moved on or have become complacent, Suzuki still seems fresh with innovative ideas for Japanese arcades.

[Pic]