Tokyo-based Landon says this is the first time he's been this blown away by an arcade in Japan. "It's 18 years old and up, extremely dark and dirty, and basically looks like what an arcade would if it were in Silent Hill," Landon explains. Dubbed Anata no Warehouse (Your Warehouse), the arcade features eight story of dark, dank gaming.

"They also cater to gamers sooooo well for an eight story arcade," Landon adds. For example, the very spacious arcade not only provides good air conditioning, but also towels for the DDR players. Clean towels, hopefully!

Priced at ¥12,800 (US$140) for the PS2, the V3 SA version has a slightly curved front instead of a sharp edge like some other older fighting sticks. It's easier on the hands. The stick and the buttons are all up to Japanese arcade spec.

HORI - リアルアーケードPro.V3 SA [Official Site]

The book, which in recent years has trended strongly toward video game records (and, according to us apparently, is a "must-have") found that more American consumers recognized Pac-Man, beating Mario by 1 percent, 94 to 93.

I'd say Mario hasn't done so bad considering not only he has a humanoid form, but he also has changed repeatedly over the past 27 years, whereby Pac-Man has largely been the same yellow pie-shape (except for animated cartoons and other non- or semi-canonical appearances.)

Then again, I don't see Pac-Man putting out a hugely selling title this year, or being the public face of a major console-maker and games publisher. So, take Guinness's appraisal for what it is: The long memory of an entire nation, many of whom might not be gamers.

[via Go Nintendo]

For $2 Australian wouldbe fighter pilots can climb into this cabinet and play a bit of Ubisoft's Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WW II.

I had always thought that Ubisoft's 2006 World War II flight sim didn't extend its reach past the consoles it hit in 2006 and 2007, but apparently Global VR released this arcade version in 2008.

The cabinet includes surround sound, some pretty neat paint and lighting effects, a sharp rumble in the seat when you get shot and, unfortunately, occasional frame rate issues.

-"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]

But I have to admit that there's a moment of "Ah-ha!" when you finally figure out an Impressionist painting and I definitely felt it when I spotted the pink smudge that is Pauline. It was kind of like seeing the sailboat in the Sunday paper's Lazy Eye drawings.

Artist Brock Davis has a few other works of Arcade Impressionism up on his Flickr page, so be sure to check 'em out. He says there's more to come — dare I hope for a Zelda?

Thanks for the tip, deanbmmv!

ETA: The tipster has informed me that it's actually not Impressionism, it's Abstract — thus proving that I just don't get art sometimes. Anyway, the lazy statement still stands as does my assertion that Davis' work is awesome.

Tetris Giant, which features giant tetrominoes and giant joysticks, was just one of many brilliant innovations on hand at the IAAPA 2009 show in Las Vegas last week, a show expertly covered by arcade coverage experts Arcade Heroes. Trust us, you've never seen a Tetris like this before, because it's bigger than previous versions.

Also on hand at the show are highlights like the Excite Truck-like Hummer arcade game (also from Sega), the remade Daytona USA known generically as Sega Racing Classic and the brilliantly named Tank! Tank! Tank! That last one is apparently Namco's spiritual successor to competitive arcade classic Tokyo Wars.

For more coverage of the IAAPA show, which features even more deluxe arcade cabinets upon which to sit, hit up Arcade Heroes.

More IAAPA 2009 videos – Tetris Giant, Hummer, Twisted (+ NASCAR 2 news) & more [Arcade Heroes]

Mark Turmell, programmer on the original Smash TV and its spin-off Total Carnage, says on the RetroGaming with Racketboy podcast that Midway, before it "hit the fan," was already hard at work on a modern day revival of the game. While it sounds like work on the game—a 3D revival, but still a top-down shooter—was halted, Turmell says the project moved at least as far as the programming stage.

He expects that Smash TV "will rise again" at Midway's new home Warner Bros. given the media conglomerate's snapping up of the classic IP and, presumably, the popularity of twin-stick shooters on digital platforms like XBLA and PSN. We're expecting big money, big prizes and to love it.

RetroGaming with Racketboy Podcast Episode #2 [Racketboy]

So is Terry Bogard — but back to Mai. In this arcade title, she'll be flying over freeways, throwing fans and appearing in countless merchandise. Have you ever tried to count Mai merchandise? You can't. It's impossible. I tried.

『KOF SKY STAGE』にテリー＆舞が参戦！ [Kotaku Japan]

Yes, there's a little gameplay mixed in to the newly released trailer for BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, but if you consider yourself a fan of the new fighting series, you've likely seen some gameplay footage from various arcade location tests. But if you like seizure inducing flair, this is the animation heavy intro you've been waiting for.

Thanks to notMordecai for the tip!

Back when games like Street Fighter II filled arcades, an upgrade to a new version of the famous fighter often meant switching out dedicated boards, a sometimes complicated proposition.

But Street Fighter IV runs on an actual PC computer tucked away inside those cabinets located in arcades. Capcom's Seth Killian said that if Super Street Fighter IV was released to arcades, an arcade machine could be updated by simply installing new software and changing the cabinet's art work.

Confused? I know, the TAD Corporation's arcade work may not be on your list of classic games in need of an HD overhaul, but I vaguely remember Toki being a challenging bit of fun. And I certainly appreciate Gogolth Studio's mission "to keep 2D gaming alive within this 3D world," even if that game is Toki. My only concern? We may be running out of retro!!

More information on the Toki HD revamp and side-by-side comparison shots of the game are available at the official Golgoth site.

Five years ago, Sobe, now 36, was the three-time defending national champion in Golden Tee - the bar and bowling-alley golf simulator that's one of the last arcade cabinets in America people are willing to drive somewhere to play. He parlayed his notoriety into a stable gig as a consultant and goodwill ambassador for the game's maker, Incredible Technologies, giving up his eligibility in the lucrative tournaments they sponsored.

And just two months ago, Sobe shook hands with his colleagues at IT and said goodbye, to return, more or less, to where his career began - as the owner of the restaurant in Mount Airy, N.C. where he first played the game.

"It is neat to be back here playing Golden Tee with someone again. When I left here, I never thought I'd be back - and I never assumed I'd be back at Backstreet Pavilion again," Sobe said, of the restaurant his parents owned for a time, and where he first learned the nuances of Golden Tee's notorious trackball, and how to make it pay off for him.

Sobe's parents owned the business in its first incarnation during the late 1990s, when its name and Mount Airy - which is literally the Mayberry of Andy Griffith lore - dominated nationwide Golden Tee leaderboards alongside establishments from Houston and the Chicago suburbs.

At one time, 10 Backstreet golfers made the national Golden Tee finals in Las Vegas, out of a field of 64. From his first tournament in 1997 through his third national title, Sobe won somewhere around $150,000 - not a living by itself, but a very nice supplement to his income.

"We had 10 really good, world-class players around that time," Sobe said. "Some have moved on, some are still around here. Some of the guys have come back around, we're going to give it another shot and see if we can do well again in the tournaments."

But over his five years with Incredible Technologies, Sobe had been somewhat out of practice. He still played the game nearly every day, but by now it was a job, and not something that he sought out in his spare time. Officially a products and services rep for IT, Sobe's job involved flying to Golden Tee locations, playing against local competitors, giving virtual golf lessons, playtesting new course designs, the works. He was even giving in-game golf advice with the press of a HELP button. He just wasn't playing in the types of events where he'd made his name, and he missed that.

"In the world of Golden Tee, the live events are really where it's at," Sobe said. "A lot of players can play well by themselves at their machine, but when you get to a live tournament, nerves become a factor, and the pressure's on."

So when his father called earlier this year to say the old Backstreet Pavilion building, which had different tenants since the family shuttered the business in 2002, was now vacant again, Sobe saw it as an opportunity to reconnect with his roots, in more ways than one.

"One day, Dad called me in Chicago and said ‘the Backstreet Building is vacant again.' We got into a discussion and he asked, ‘Do you want to do this all over again?'" Sobe said. "It was a good opportunity for me, looking into the future, and to have something for myself. And I can play Golden Tee again. I missed it. I missed playing at a high competitive level.

"For the last five years, I still played it, it was my job after all," Sobe said. "But I'd be lying to you if I said I'd be going out and playing Golden Tee when i didn't have to. In some regards I didn't want to play Golden Tee. I wasn't at the top of my game, and I wasn't putting in the work I needed to be there."

Golden Tee is a different game now - of course, it's a different game every time it's played, notorious for changing pin placements, tee box locations and environmental effects when IT updates all machines in the network at midnight. But opportunities to win real money in its online mode are more plentiful - including nine-hole scrambles and daily tournament events. The games's 2010 model can be attached to any size monitor, now, rather than fixed to an arcade cabinet. When Backstreet's new machine arrives, Sobe will hook it to a 42-inch panel so that everyone can see the action.

"You can make a lot more money now in Golden Tee than you could five years ago," Sobe said. The purse payouts may be smaller but there are more paying events than ever. "If you can shoot even par, you can play for money, playing against people at your own skill level."

For Sobe, taking over the mantle of a family business brings him full circle in another way. His father, Larry, serviced amusement machines for some 30 years, Sobe said, often taking him on overnight jobs. "I've been around gaming all my life," he said. "I can remember times when Dad would have to go cover pool tables at a bowling alley, and he'd bring me along. He'd say, ‘Bring a pillow, you're going to be sleeping on a pool table." No way, Steven would say, and he'd play Donkey Kong or Galaga all night on free credits, at no time then or later ever thinking he'd be standing at an arcade cabinet for a living.

"By no means did I ever think I'd get to where I did with Golden Tee, nor did I really try, it just kind of happened," Sobe said. "Everything lined up and went that way for me, and I'm very thankful for the opportunity. I got to do great things and meet interesting people, and do a lot of interesting things.

"But now I'm seeing if we can get us back on the map, and seeing if I still have it," Sobe said. "A lot of these guys around here, they still want to beat me. I'm anxious to get back at it."

Stick Jockey is Kotaku's column on sports video games. It appears Saturdays at 10 a.m. U.S. Mountain time.

On the Super Street Fighter IV Blog, Assistant Producer Natsuki Shiozawa writes, "It's not that an arcade version of Super Street Fighter IV isn't possible. That's one thing I really want to get out there, that we never said to give up on an arcade version."

Shiozawa then tries to appeal to those who want to play it in arcades and at home by talking about how much fun the finished product will be. According to her, the game is maxing out the PS3 and Xbox 360 hardware.

SUPER STREET FIGHTER IV｜スーパーストリートファイターIV オフィシャルブログ [NAKKY Blog]

There's a swell movie poster for this at the link, too. Go check it out.

Dig Dug Trailer [GamerVision, thanks Rachel Marie!]

Of course, when some people in Japan get totally pissed off, they might flip over the tea table, too.

At Nintendo, the term is figuratively used to describe how Shigeru Miyamoto works. Around the office, he doesn't flip over tea tables per se, but he is known to scrap or ditch projects that aren't up to his own high standards. In a sense, he upends the tea table.

Japanese arcade game Cho Chabudai Gaeshi is a score attack game that lets players pound a soft table for combos and then upend it for the finishing move. Settings include a host club, a wedding party, an office and a Japanese style living room. So for example, in the living room stage, players bang on the table as their family complains more and more and finally flips over the table.

{Video via Gigazine.

Check 'em out.

AMショーで見かけたゲーム・プライズたち［第47回AMショー］