A press release from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Customs and Border Protection indicates that the machines were valued at $138,000 and capable of being sold for $672,000.

And these games, which were discovered in a shipping container that arrived in Los Angeles from China, played the classics:

The machines contained several copyrighted video games, which are registered with the U.S. Copyright Office and recorded with CBP. The video games found on the coin-operated machines were Frogger, Scramble, Time Pilot, Ms. Pac-Man, Super Pac-Man, Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong 3 and Donkey Kong. CBP seized the items when the importer was unable to provide authorization from the owners.

The machines were seized on October 23.

[PIC]

"So, unfortunately, I'm sorry to say to arcade fans out there: there won't be an arcade version of this," Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono told website GamesReactor. I think a lot of people were kind of requesting an arcade update. I know that, in some parts of the world, it doesn't really matter if there's an arcade version or not," he told GamesReactor.

"But certainly in Japan and the rest of Asia and some parts of the Oceania, there's still a lot of people playing in arcades. So, I'm sorry to disappoint them but this time its going to be Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 only affair."

That's a shame. A damn shame.

Ono Interview [GamesReactor via http://www.examiner.com/x-6894-SF-Console-Game-Examiner~y2009m9d29-No-arcade-version-for-Super-Street-Fighter-IV">Examiner via Gamer Center]

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger will be getting an expansion of sorts in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, featuring at least one new character. That new addition would be Tsubaki Yayoi, a previously unplayable character featured in the original BlazBlue. According to details from Famitsu, we'll also get new stages and a refined HUD.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift will reportedly make an appearance at Japanese arcades soon, with Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 ports expected later. Thanks to Gantz for the heads up!

And Pac-Man, and Galaga, and Donkey Kong. The bleeps and bloops of decades-old arcade games are the only things keeping them from the bottle and some serious therapy.

These hand-made arcade cabinets cost around $25, and can be made to order. Me, I'll be requesting an NBA Jam cabinet, so SNake Eyes and Storm Shadow can finally just go at it.

[Big JW @ Flickr, via Technabob]

The rides - with names like Spin Gear, Sonic Hopper, Halfpipe Canyon, Storm-G and Initial D4 Limited - are all just standard fun park fare, only with Sega characters stuck over them. They're split over five "zones", labelled Speed, Adventure, Sports, Cyberpop and Redemption.

There are also 150 arcade machines scattered around the place, along with plenty of places to spend your hard-earned dirham on Sega merch.

Welcome to the 1990's, Dubai. Expect this place to die as spectacular a death as any other Sega "fun park" built outside Japan during the Clinton/Seinfeld era.

SEGA Republic Opens in Dubai [Sega]

It's not some crazy mod; the Arkeg is a commercial product built to (presumably) a commercial quality, with temperature-control for the keg, external sound controls, a brushed aluminium finish, slide-out keyboard and even a trackball. A trackball!

It comes with 69 games pre-loaded on the system, and these are properly included, with legal rights and everything. Plus, it's PC-based, so if you want to upload more games, you can.

The 69 games are:

1942
1943
720°
A.P.B.
Arch Rivals
Asteroids
Asteroids Deluxe
Battlezone
Black Widow
Blaster
Bubbles
Centipede
Championship Sprint
Commando
Crystal Castles
Cyberball 2072
Defender
Defender II
Gauntlet
Gauntlet II
Gravitar
Gunsmoke
Hard Drivin'
Joust
Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest
Klax
Kozmik Krooz'r
Liberator
Lunar Lander
Major Havoc
Marble Madness
Millipede
Missile Command
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat 3
Mortal Kombat II
NARC
Paperboy
Pit-Fighter
Pong
Primal Rage
Rampage
Rampage World Tour
Rampart
Red Baron
RoadBlasters
Robotron: 2084
Satan's Hollow
Sinistar
Smash T.V.
Space Duel
Splat!
Spy Hunter
Spy Hunter II
Street Fighter
Super Breakout
Super Sprint
Super Street Fighter II CE
Tapper
Tempest
Timber
Toobin'
Total Carnage
Vindicators
Wacko
Warlords!
Wizard of Wor
Xenophobe
Xybots

So, yeah, these guys are not kidding around. With their games selection or the price, with an Arkeg setting you back a cool, temperature-regulated $4000.

[Arkeg]

The company has selected four independent arcades eligible for the prize money and left the result up to a competition. All you have to do is visit their Save The Arcades site and play Zapataur, "the most highly anticipated game in the history of time for arcade gaming enthusiasts." Then you'll be asked to allocate points to one of four arcades and the one with the most points by October 6 wins the money.

Here are the four arcades up for a Stride Gum bailout:

* Arcade UFO in Austin, Texas – A unique blend of classic arcade games and rare Japanese titles
* Game Galaxy in Nashville, Tennessee – Proud owners of the most coin-operated pinball machines in Tennessee
* Starbase Arcade in San Rafael, CA – Marin County's first video arcade, operating for more than 25 years
* Star Worlds Arcade in DeKalb, IL – A "living time capsule of video games," operating for nearly 25 years

Characters from Final Fantasy IV, Romancing SaGA II and even Magic The Gathering will be making appearances in the game.

According to the website, the game will be out in Japanese game centers this autumn. Nothing like a countdown clock counting down to Japanese arcade games!

Lord of Vermillion II [Official Site]

Being a patriot, he eschews Japanese components in favour of American HAPP parts (though you can ask for Seimetsu/Sanwa parts if you're picky), and there are two variants available, a Ryu and an Akuma.

The sticks are for the 360, and include a rechargeable pack that can be juiced from your console's USB port. And finally, for that extra touch of old-school authenticity, he's measured the exact dimensions of the button layout from the old SFII arcade cabinets and replicated them on the surface of these sticks.

Being hand-made, they're not cheap, with both going for $190. But hey, for a hand-made, wireless controller, that's not too bad.

Mekishiko916 @ Etsy [Etsy, via technabob]

The latest victim of influenza type-A, or swine fly, in Thailand has been confirmed to be a worker at a computer game shop in the Ratchaburi province. The Ministry of Public Health confirmed the cause of the 330 pound woman this week, citing that she may have had complications that made her more susceptible to the virus.

The news comes shortly after Deputy Public Health Minister Manit Nopamornbodee issued a statement suggesting that the popular hangouts, where players go to spend countless hours playing online computer games, were a major transmission point for swine flu, with so many bodies packed together in small rooms for large periods of time. The warning was issued after a survey of children that tested positive for the virus indicated that symptoms developed after visiting game shops.

And people wonder why I am a shut-in.

Flu claims 17th victim, 209 new cases [Bangkok Post via G4TV]

The King of Fighters 2002 was released back in, wait for it, 2002 in arcades. This past February, SNK released a remake of the 3-on-3 fighter called The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match for the PS2.

Unlimited Match won't only be making its way to Xbox Live Arcade, but the KoF 2002 remake will be remaking its way back to actual Japanese arcades.

Starting this week, an game center version of The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match will be available for play in The Land of the Rising Sun.

If you're at work or on a slower computer, beware: the tour is heavy going on your web browser. But it's worth bookmarking and saving for a quieter moment, if only because you'll rarely, if ever, see something this great in real life.

[Pinsane: Miahcel Jackson @ Julien's]

The Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines (the Soviet ethic lives on in the place's name, then) is home to versions of 20 of the original 37 machines licensed for manufacture in the old USSR during the 70's and 80's.

The place is open to the public, and all the machines have been restored, so they're playable. Worth remembering if you're planning on taking a trip to Moscow! Or, you know. If you live there.

The Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines [MSAM, via Hobby Blog]

The game is an upgraded version of PS3 title Metal Gear Online with a special added feature: 3D Googles. The shooter connects arcade players from across Japan via Konami's e-AMUSEMENT.

3Dメガネにも対応！『METAL GEAR ARCADE』は2009年稼働開始予定 [Inside-Games]

Remarkably, the writer of last week's piece on "the highest arcade in the world," (7,000 feet above sea level) is having some luck finding the young man who whooped his ass at Street Fighter Alpha 3 on the PSOne back in 1999. Lee Bradley says that, after his piece ran on Bitmob, someone wrote to say he would ship a Dreamcast and some games over to the parlor in Darjeeling, India.

Apparently the reader failed to notice this travelogue was about an experience 10 years ago. Undeterred, Bradley set off to locate the kid and/or the parlor. After a call to the hotel he'd stayed in, and an appeal on the comments section of a Darjeeling newspaper's site, Bradley's gotten so far as to narrow the parlor's site down to one of three locations. He's asked a local man to visit them and take some pictures of each so he can verify which is correct.

He's waiting to hear back. More on this as it develops.

Also by the way, "highest arcade in the world" has a nice ring to it, but at 7,000 feet, I'm sure there are some game rooms at ski areas, past or present, that could top that. But I bet they don't serve the kind of tea you can get at this place.

The Search for Arcade Boy [Bitmob]

The newest issue of Famitsu reveals Sega's latest entry, announcing Shining Force Cross for arcades. The game, due to hit Japanese arcades this Winter, supports up to four players on cabinets linked via Sega's ALL.Net platform. We'd expect this one to stay only in Japan, hence the "only in japan" tag, but wouldn't put it past Sega to bring it to home consoles at some point in the future.

The game's official web site is not yet live, but we'd expect it to be later this week, when Famitsu hits newsstands proper.

Once you get past the chit-chat from this rather excited Frenchman, you'll see that, well, it's a giant, mechanised bobsled. Sadly, there's little actual footage of what's happening on-screen, but then, with a $6.50 cabinet as big as a car, that's not really why we're here.

If only it was for Virtual On instead...

Storm-G, Sega's Latest Arcade Game Attraction [Akihabaranews]

And once you've got hold of some, get hold of some arcade stick components (OK, that last bit's probably a bit harder) and throw 'em inside the Tupperware, wire everything up and hey presto. A Tupperware arcade stick. Cram a sandwich in there, keep the stick in the fridge overnight and you're set.

Tupperware Arcade Stick Throws Hadoukens, Totes Sammiches [Gizmodo]

Police are reporting that a faulty gas canister is to blame, which resulted in an explosion so powerful it blew out every window within 40-feet of the blast and flipped a car that was parked outside clean onto its back.

It's unclear at this stage whether the explosion originated inside the arcade or out on the street in front of it, but either way, as you can see in the above picture, there's not much left of the joint.

Explosion at Casablanca video game arcade kills 1 [AP]

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]