Mario's been dying that way for years, so, here's a video in which he tries on some new demises in search of a better good death. They missed Defender, where he explodes in a fireworks burst and burns white-hot thermite particles through anything on the screen. That would be funny. Certainly funnier than what happened between Luigi and the Koopas.

Deaths That Just Don't Work for Mario [YouTube]

Some may see the development as just another version of the classic Dragon's Lair in your pocket. Others will realize that a PSP version is but one inevitable step in the game competing with Doom as the most ported title in the history of mankind.

DRAGON'S LAIR® UP FOR GRABS ON SONY PSP! [gamingnexus]

"Don Bluth's animation just pops in Space Ace HD" says David Foster, President of Digital Leisure. "It's fantastic that today's computers allow gamers to enjoy full high definition products. There are details in the animation that I didn't know existed before seeing the game in such high definition. The colors are incredibly vivid and the surround sound mix will have you looking over your shoulder!"

Digital Leisure announces release of Space Ace in HD

GORMLEY, Ontario, Canada (October 4, 2007) — For the first time ever you can experience the stunning classical animation of Space Ace in true High Definition. This release of Don Bluth's legendary animated arcade game features video transferred directly from the original film source, delivering the sharpest images and most vibrant colors ever - even better than the original laser disc release.

The follow-up to last year's release of Dragon's Lair PC HD, Space Ace PC HD also comes with a completely new five channel surround sound audio mix. The original audio has been cleaned and remastered to eliminate any impure background audio then analyzed to determine the best placement to immerse the players in the action. With the striking visuals and remarkable 5.1 surround sound audio, Space Ace HD offers fans an experience well beyond the arcade.

In Space Ace you play the heroic Ace who must stop the evil Commander Borf from taking over the Earth! Borf plans to reduce all of humankind to infants and take over the planet. Only two people have the courage and strength to stop Borf and save Earth: the beautiful Kimberly and the heroic Ace. But as they approach Borf's stronghold, Ace is hit by the Infanto Ray, changing him into a child, and Kimberly is kidnapped by the evil madman! The fate of Earth is in your hands!

Space Ace HD PC will be available this fall at many fine game retailers as well as at www.digitalleisure.com. Look for Blu-ray and HD DVD releases of Space Ace in 2008.

Digital Leisure is a leading publisher of interactive video based titles. The company acquires and re-masters existing video-intensive titles that would benefit from the superior video and audio quality of DVD and HD.

So yes, Dragon's Lair is now on HD DVD. And somewhere, if you listen closely enough, a child is weeping...softly.

Product Page [digitalleisure]

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]

As I was making my weekly perusal of The Arcade Flyer Archive (TAFA) I ran across these amazing rub-off game cards posted on the front page. TAFA owner, Dan's new girlfriend apparently has quite the little retro game collection herself including these awesome cards. The games came in trading card packs with one of those horrible pieces of rock hard gum and worked along the same principle as rub-off lottery tickets. You would rub off the silver covering on the dots as you made your way across the playing field and hoped you would make it all the way through without "dying." Of course, if you were like me, you just ended up rubbing off all the circles anyway just so you could see what they all were.

Pretty cool little piece of game nostalgia for your Sunday morning! Flynn De Marco

Donkey Kong Rub-Off Game Cards [TAFA]
Dragon's Lair Rub-Off Game Cards [TAFA]

Digital Leisure just sent me this swanky personalized postcard to remind me that Dragon's Lair has made its way to the Blu-ray, and yes the Playstation 3.

The classic, but increasingly dated, $50 game will run at 1080p and will include "exciting special features."

-Spectacular new transfer directly from the original film. -Digitally remastered in High Definition - Full HD 1080p Video and Extras -For the first time in dramatic 5.1 surround sound that immerses you in the action -Arcade Authentic with a watch feature to view Don Bluth's stunning animation -Frame by frame digital restoration -Full length visual commentary from the creators! -All new interviews with creators: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and Rick Dyer

Maybe for $30, but no way would I pay $50 for that. Though these Blu-ray screen do give me a hankering to play the game again. Brian Crecente

Dick McVengance over at Destructoid has written a great article lamenting the decline of the old school arcade. With the rise of home consoles, the existence of actual arcades have become fewer and fewer. More often than not, arcades are now relegated to Chuck E. Cheeses, Mini-Golf courses and the occasional movie theater lobby. I remember the arcade I used to frequent near my house and how much I used to love it. It was the place I first discovered my favorite guilty pleasure, Crystal Castles and where I dropped an endless amount of quarters playing Dragon's Lair, never quite being able to get past the first few screens.

Back when I was living in New Orleans, before the hurricane, there was a terrifying arcade filled with thugs and gang members on upper Bourbon Street, one at Celebration Station, and two out in Metarie that were actual dedicated arcades where games were still a quarter. In the five years I lived, I watched the two main arcades close and eventually, Celebration Station as well. The last time I was there, the Bourbon Street one had closed as well, but I think that was more due to Katrina than anything else.

Dick makes an impassioned plea at the end of his article to send him your stories of any arcades that are still running that you know about so he can eventually compile a list of them all. And while age now prevents me from going to them without looking like a perv, I will always remember those heady days of the eighties, standing around the arcade in my Sir Issac Lime t-shirt, watching in amazement as some kid saved Princess Daphne to much cheering and applause. Flynn De Marco

Weekend Reading: Arcades, where have you gone? [Destructoid]

It looks like someone is in the process of porting Dragon's Lair to the Nintendo DS.

Yes, I nearly passed out too. DSLair version 0.1.4 preview includes just the first four levels of the game and has been tested successfully with NeoFlash. The question, and I do mean the only question, is if this game uses the touchscreen. Sure, you could just play it with the D-Pad, but where's the fun in that? Brian Crecente

Dragon's Lair DS [DS Video]

For the gamer on your holiday shopping list who has everything—excluding a healthy social life—the DreamArcades 100-inch video arcade center might be the final thing he or she needs. Okay, "he". No woman wants this garish monstrosity in their home.

Featuring a wireless audio and video connection, a DLP projector, a PC with an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ CPU with emulation software pre-installed, and a few dozen arcade titles from Namco, Capcom, Atari, Midway and others, this beast will set you back $4500 (plus shipping). It also features almost every control scheme your little noodle can think of, including a light gun.

I'm ordering now and expensing this bad boy. If I get it approved, 100-inch Home Video Arcade Centers for every reader! Michael McWhertor

Dream Arcades 100-inch Home Video Arcade Center

A few days ago I put out a call to arms: tell me good things about Sony, Playstation, and the PSP.

My strongest personality trait, after anger and enthusiasm, is oppositionalism, and I'm getting itchy about the unified anti-Sony front that the games media is presenting as of late. I want to be different, damn it. I want to be happy about all, or at least some things Playstation. And I asked for your help, my sweet readers.

I cannot say that the response was overwhelming. I received a total of six emails, some of them from the same several writers. I will allow that some may have been trapped in filters or lost in the sea of t-shirt embroidery spam in the tips mailbox, but I kept my eyes peeled.

For your enjoyment, I present to you the scrapings from my good news dragnet. Please contribute your own to the comments, or email me directly. I will call these Sony-related bonbons "Butternut Dumplings" now and forever, for no particular reason.

Follow me into the land of optimism!

Butternut Dumpling #1 - RUMOR: PaRappa Coming to PSP
This was sent in by Dominic. QJ.net reports that PaRappa the Rappa is looking at a PSP iteration in the near future, citing a Famitsu article, but no press releases or official word have surfaced yet. I followed the crumb trail to a german blog, where the first comment cracked me up: "Oh mein Gott, neeiiiiin." The objections of some random commentor aside, this is a fun rumor.

Butternut Dumpling #2 - Region Free
William wrote in to say: "The bruises heal after time, and there are plenty of excuses that easily explain everything (I play sports now). All I need to do to wash away the sadness, is whisper a mantra I created: 'Region free, Region free, oh god please don't get rid of my region free.'"

Butternut Dumpling #3 - 1 Million Units by December 31st
Dominic wrote in again to add: "Dave Karraker, Senior Director of Corporate Communications at SCEA, says that there will be 1-1.2 million PS3 units available in NA by December 31. He doesn't seem to deny Kutaragi's figure of 400,000 at launch but says there will be a million or so by December 31."

He linked to this IGN article, which is an interview with Dave Karraker, the Senior Director of Corporate Communications at Sony Computer Entertainment America. This Dumpling assures us that there will be enough PS3s to go around very shortly after launch, and that is everyone would just quit shoving, we can all have a PS3 in a reasonable amount of time.

Butternut Dumpling #4 - the PS2 is Still One Bad Mutha
Figment writes that even though he is "halfway to being a Nintendo fanboy", he has recently been seriously considering the purchase of a PS2. He cites the release of games such as Okami, Disgaea 2, and Final Fantasy XII as the succubi that have tempted him thus, and says "All of these together show that even an older system like the ps2 is,
in many ways, a contender in the next-gen market as well, because with
a low price and games like these (easily over 150 hours of gameplay
here), you have to at least give sony a little credit!"

Well said, Figment, and I'm inclined to agree.

Butternut Dumpling #5 - Piracy and Homebrew via DVD-R
Jay wrote me to point that the PS3 will play DVD-Rs, leading Jay to assume that the pirate community should be rejoicing. I'm not sure if it's really as easy as burning a PS2 iso and popping in the disk, but it's probably not that much harder, either. The pirates and modders are well abreast of every new PSP update, and it's not a stretch to imagine that they'll be right there with us on the PS3.

Other things I heard about, but that weren't quite Dumplings on their own: the longevity of the PS2 (one guy said he had a launch unit that's played 3 hours of games every day since then and is in perfect shape), and Dragon's Lair joining Warhawk as a tilt-sensitive launch title.

I personally haven't touched my DS in months, preferring instead the sleek brick of awesome that is my PSP. Syphon Filter, Ultimate Ghosts n' Goblins, and Loco Roco are my constant companions.

Add your own little nuggets of joy to the comments, yeah? Indulge me. Eliza Gauger

Just like Dragon's Lair, it's a lot more fun to watch Space Ace than it was to play it.

I was pretty psyched when I read that Dragon s Lair and Space Ace were coming to the Xbox 360. And then I read the fine print. It turns out the games aren t going to be showing up on Xbox Live Arcade or even as an Xbox 360 disc, no. Digital Leisure is just trying to convince 360 owners to buy their collection of DVD compatible games. Kinda crappy if you ask me.

The full release is on the jump, less you think I'm exaggerating about how misleading they are being.

Digital Leisure announces 15 Classic Arcade Games for the All New Xbox 360*

GORMLEY, Ontario, Canada - November 22, 2005 - Digital Leisure today has released fifteen classic games that redefined a generation for the all new Xbox 360*. Hold on to your consoles, included in the release is the award winning Dragon's Lair series of games and American Laser Games classics, like Mad Dog McCree. Also, for the first time on a home console comes the Digital Leisure release of the classic Thayer's Quest! All of these great titles are compatible with the all new Xbox 360*.

"It's so exciting to see the classics continuing to make a comeback. Playing your old favorites on the latest and most powerful entertainment platform will be a great thrill for all." said Elizabeth Foster, President of Digital Leisure, "and we are delighted to be able to continue to deliver more classic games to console gamers!"

Dragon's Lair, Space Ace and Dragon's Lair 2: Time Warp, featuring the classic animation of Don Bluth, are available individually or together as the 20th Anniversary Edition Box Set. Thayer's Quest, an animated adventure originally released in the arcades in 1984, gives players more choice and allows each player to have a unique gaming experience which made it an instant hit. The American Laser Games shooting titles Mad Dog McCree, Mad Dog 2: The Lost Gold, The Last Bounty Hunter, Crime Patrol, Drug Wars, Who Shot Johnny Rock and Space Pirates feature live action video with authentic sound and scenery to put you in the midst of the action.

All of these games are available now from www.digitalleisure.com for about half the retail price of most Xbox 360* releases.