All you have to do is dust off your Wii and update the Shop channel. A little button saying "One Free Title" should appear after you've done so and then you'll get the goods. Hurry up, though, the offer expires on 11:59pm PST on 12/31/2009.

So now, after updating my Wii for what feels like the first time ever, the only question is which NES game should I get? I was thinking to get a game I haven't played before like Kirby's Adventure or the original Final Fantasy. But half the fun of Virtual Console is nostalgia, right? So maybe I want Galaga or Donkey Kong...

Thanks for the tip, Nightwheeldot!

Day, from the small Australian town of Braidwood (not too far from my abode in Canberra), had been practising for six months on an original Galaga cabinet in anticipation of his run at the record, which he broke thirty minutes after midnight early on Saturday morning. Laidlaw's best score was 2.7 million; Day cruised past it on his way to 3.4 million.

The score is yet to be officially verified by Twin Galaxies, but Day's feat has been recorded and is on its way to Walter Day & co for perusal. So things should be OK. Last I heard, there was no beef between Billy Mitchell and the people of Braidwood, NSW, Australia.

Aussie smashes arcade video game world record [The Age]

[Image: Lannon Harley]

As I was listening to the summer edition of the official Lost podcast and trying to not count the months until the show's final season, I caught this video-game-related snippet. It's at 17:24 of the August 6 installment, during a conversation with two of the show's executive producers.

The men are discussing the recreational distractions that occupy the Lost writing office and turn to Alec Baldwin's favorite pastime:

Adam Horowitz, Lost Executive Producer: All I know is that there was a lot of Galaga in season three.

Eddy Kitsis, Lost Executive Producer: In fact, the name of the sub originally was going to be — in fact, did we name it that? I can't remember. We wanted to name it the Galaga because we were playing so much Galaga.

Horowitz: [Lost co-creator] Damon [Lindelof] and I got into a vicious, friendly competition on Galaga.

Kitsis: Yeah, Adam and Damon would literally play for 20 hours a day.

Horowitz: The problem became that we both got so good at the game. And I will concede that Damon ultimately did come off with the high score — although there is an asterisk attached to that, which is that he passed a million and then it goes back to zero, so the high score of mine of 970,000 is the one that's up on the board but he actually did get the high score...

Host: Was this a bit like your own King of Kong-type competition?

Horowitz: Kind of...

Kitsis: But there's no kill screen.

Horowitz: There was no kill screen, but by the end of it, it got to the point where we had both gotten so good that when one of us would start the game our first man would take a half an hour and the other one would have to go off and do whatever. It just became too much of a time suck.

As with everything related to Lost, there's a plot twist. In this case, the twist is that the sub already was called Galaga and that some people knew this. Somehow, despite discussing this show obsessively with my wife and fellow devotee/reporter Patrick Klepek, I never picked up on it before.

08-06-2009 Lost Podcast

This year's show goes down the weekend of July 11 at the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara. Ticket prices are $60 for the whole weekend, $35 for Saturday and $30 for Sunday (kids under 12 get in for half-price). Once inside, all the games on the floor are free-to-play. So, by my amateur calculations, I only need to play Galaga 240 times to cover the cost of a weekend pass.

Tournament organizer Bown Kerins tells me that they're hosting a Guitar Hero Arcade championship tournament, sponsored by arcade gaming developers Raw Thrills and Betson. The grand prize winner gets a Wii, full band kit and four Guitar Hero games (Smash Hits, World Tour, Aerosmith, Guitar Hero III). The top 16 players score various games on systems of their choice, plastic guitars and drum kits included.

You can check out California Extreme's site here. A quick glance at their list of games expected at the show in 2009 reveals a ton of classics that are so hard to find, plus my beloved Galaga.

I'll be hitting up the show Saturday, July 11. I can't give you a prize if you spot me, but I will totally buddy up with people for Gauntlet II.

California Extreme [Official Site] [Image Credit]

Less than 150 feet from any shoreline near a beach boardwalk, there's probably a video game arcade. Beach arcades have been around even before there were video games – in the late 1880s and early 1900s, you could pay a nickel to have your palms shocked by an electric current or your grip tested by a challenge to squeeze metal handles at Venice Beach, California or Coney Island, New York. And then, since the advent of Pong in the 1970s and through the phenomenon of Dance Dance Revolution, video game arcades and beaches have been closely linked.

Your average trip to the seaside can be a trip back to childhood. We undervalue trips like this, especially since the bum economy has many people taking "stay-cations" to local beaches instead of vacations to tropical resorts. Even worse, we undervalue some of the last dedicated video game arcades in the country, which you can find at Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, Redondo Beach, California or Virginia Beach in Virginia. With a good listing of local arcades featuring classic video games, you're all set for a summer of time travel.

Santa Cruz, main arcade.

For me, my beach arcade nostalgia trip began with a visit last week to the arcades at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. I walked up and down the boardwalk, watching kids try to drag their parents into the smaller arcades where redemption machines were visible from the walkway. I saw a group of preteen girls gather around MTV Drumscape, unsure of how to work the controls and apparently unwilling to read the instructions. I doubled back toward the Casino arcade and noted how the sand that people tracked in from the seaside gathered in little piles by the line of Mario Kart arcade machines. Turns out, people were sitting down on the plastic kart seat to empty out their shoes. And I saw a sunburned little girl who could have been me 15 years ago head toward the Galaga machine with a handful of tokens.

I'd never been to Santa Cruz as a kid, but I was overwhelmed with nostalgia as I walked between arcade machines and squinted against the flashing neon lights coming from their screens. It took me back in time 15 years to a noisy, air-conditioned cacophony of flashing neon lights and blaring 8-bit music in an arcade somewhere near Monterey Bay, California. On that fateful day 15 years ago, I was converted from a budding beach bunny into a total arcade animal when I got a high score on Galaga after two hours and $10 in quarters.

Santa Cruz, the Classic Corner.

That arcade in Monterey is gone, now. Like so many arcades across the country, it probably closed when Nolan Bushnell's Atari and Chuck E. Cheese empire declined and arcade machines across the country lost the 3D technology battle to Nintendo and Sega's home consoles. By 1997, there were maybe two arcades in my hometown where I could find Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Ms. Pac-Man, but by and large, those "arcades" threw out their video games and replaced them with kiddy gambling machines that spat tickets. The thrill I got from those kinds of arcades faded like a sunburn – it was nothing like the burning passion Galaga instilled.

The feelings and experiences of that long-gone arcade all came back to me within minutes of finding the Galaga machine at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk – tucked into the Classic Corner of the Casino arcade building along with a dozen other old-timers, even a Sea Wolf machine, circa 1976. There were actually several Galaga machines throughout the boardwalk, since there's more than one video game arcade. In the last few years or so, the management team at the boardwalk decided to merge their video game arcades with their kiddy gambling centers (a.k.a. "redemption centers") and now you cannot go twenty feet along the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk without spotting Street Fighter, DDR, or Ms. Pac-Man right next to ski ball and UFO catcher machines.

Santa Cruz.

The arcades at Santa Cruz have a reputation among hardcore arcade gamers for having one of the largest selections of classic arcade games of any beach arcade. There's only one other place where you can find more than the 50-odd functioning classic arcade games of the 70s and early 80s; and Funspot in Laconia, New Hampshire doesn't count because it's a museum, not a beach arcade.

What does count as a beach arcade but doesn't quite top Santa Cruz's collection is Half Moon Arcade at Weirs Beach, New Hampshire – about two miles away from Funspot. Like Santa Cruz, it's a tourist location with a lot of local traffic, but unlike Santa Cruz, it's only open in the summer. Arcade manager Robert Ames says that no matter what, there will always been an arcade at that beach.

Weirs Beach — Image Cred.

"I grew up with this business," he says. "At one time or another, we've had just about everything in this arcade." Between the arcade's two locations along the shoreline of Lake Winnipesaukee, there are more than 200 machines (redemption and video game) for people to play. Ames says the arcades see a mixed crowd of families and teenagers as well as hardcore gamers who compete at DDR.

The crowds who gather at Santa Cruz's Casino arcade include hardcore gamers, first-time teenagers and a ton of families. Arcade manager Barb Phillips and chief technician Brian Gustavson say that the Santa Cruz crowd shifts from mostly families and 15-year-olds without driver's licenses in the summer, to hardcore Capcom vs. SNK and DDR crowds and students from nearby UC Santa Cruz during the off-season in the winter.

Even with the recent downturn in the economy, the boardwalk hasn't taken a hit. "We're seen as a local destination, so people think of it as an inexpensive vacation," says Phillips. "We've had consistent [tourism] numbers this year and even in the off-season we do okay." I can see how they would. The Classic Corner may not have gotten as much foot traffic as the rest of the arcade – it's tucked into an awkward location next to laser tag and a row of pinball machines and can only fit about 15 comfortably. But tight clusters of teens formed around light gun games like Time Crisis 3 and around fighting games like Virtua Fighter 4, feeding token after token into the machines with the same fervor I remember from my 15-year-old affair with Galaga.

Santa Cruz.
Fuller would not disclose just how much money the arcade games pull in for the boardwalk total – but of the 176 arcade machines that don't spit tickets, every single one pulls its weight enough for Gustavson to justify the expense of ordering custom parts to fix them when they break.

Maintaining old arcade machines is definitely a challenge for beach arcades in a strapped economy. Gustavson talked about how sand gets where isn't supposed to go, overzealous gamers break joysticks and about how machines left in storage near salty sea air tend not to do so well when you try to switch them back on. Replacement parts for machines from the 70s can cost as much as $200 on auction sites; and many arcade technicians have to improvise.

Flipper McCoy's arcade in Virginia Beach does pretty well on its own repairs. Most coin-operated machines in the South are run by the Southern Amusement Corporation – and according to arcade manager Jay, the chief technician at the arcade is the husband of one of the corporation's owners. "He never has trouble finding parts," says Jay, who declined to give his last name because he's joining the Navy. "We've got a ton of machines here and they run off quarters, so there's enough money to keep ‘em all running."

Jay says Flipper McCoy's hasn't had a hard time with the drop off in summer travel, either – mostly because their tourist crowd is made up of foreigners from Russia or Morocco. "We do get a lot of local hardcore gamers who want to play Marvel vs. Capcom, but there are a lot of [tourists] who are all like, ‘Hey, there's Spider-Man in a game, I want to play that.'" Arcade games and classics like the original Super Mario Bros. are a big draw for the Flipper McCoy's crowd, he says, but there are still way more redemption machines than classic arcade games.

Back in Santa Cruz, Gustavson observes that any game where you can show off or at least ride a plastic motorcycle is enormously popular with older kids and adults – while the ticket-spitters are mostly the domain of young children. "People like to compete with each other," he says. "And the games where you can sit down and pull a curtain shut – they're pretty popular with the teenagers out on dates."

Santa Cruz, Casino Arcade.

That made me blush. Jurassic Park, first French kiss, Chuck E. Cheese, 1994. See what I mean about time travel?

Beach arcades may not be that different from other arcades that survived the downfall of the Golden Age. A few arcade gaming experts I interviewed said as much.

Ken Chaney, co-conspirator and operator of classic video game arcade showcase California Extreme says that after the Golden Age ended, "Arcade games were relegated to niche markets, tourist traps." And what are beach boardwalks besides very large tourist traps?

Chaney's co-organizer, East Coast-based arcade tournament director Bowen Kerins, agrees and adds that the redemption machines are just as ubiquitous at beach arcades as they are in the Chuck E. Cheeses they conquered. "These games are not providing the kind of experience people will want to come back to," he says.

But there's something to be said for the nostalgia the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk brought me. Chaney and Kerins trade on that same feeling for their annual showcase – but with the right arcade nearby, anyone can take that trip back in time almost at any time of the year.

I take comfort in knowing both that there's a place where I can get my Galaga fix and in knowing that there will be other generations of kids after me that will one day grow up, go to the beach for a vacation, and find that arcade game and all of the memories attached to it somewhere nearby.

I mean, we should be happy. It's Galaga, in your pocket. Actually, it's two Galagas: the original, and an updated version that runs in landscape mode.

But then, as with most iPhone ports, that control scheme looks far from ideal. Especially when you consider the game's going to cost $6.

Galaga Remix Finds A New Home On The iPhone [Appgamer]

Baldwin writes in his own testimonial "I would play video games from, like, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., and I would wind down. Then I'd go home and go to bed."

"This was the only way I could go 'beta' and go into that state I needed to be, where I could calm down and take my mind off everything," the actor wrote, claiming that playing the arcade version of Galaga at a warehouse was his downer.

Baldwin writes that it was the arcade's operator, a man named Julian, who was partially responsible for his own "moment of clarity."

"Julian would put the key in the lock and open the door, and he would just kind of look at me like, 'Wow, I'm glad I'm not you.'" Baldwin writes. "You got no idea, Julian. Julian, I need you. I need you to get that key and open the f- - -ing door and let me in. I got to play 'Galaga.' "

Hey, we've all been there. I might've been hopped up on Fun Dip, but I can still relate.

BALDWIN: I WAS AN ALEC-OHOLIC [NY Post via Defamer]

The MAME port's author writes that performance on the SDL is a tad flaky—Pac-Man and Q*bert run well, but Galaga and Gyruss suffer. No word on how accurately Burger Time's performance is but the project lead is looking to port an older version of MAME to the Apple phone.

iPhone MAME [Google Code]

WII-KLY UPDATE: THREE NEW CLASSIC GAMES ANNOUNCED FOR WII SHOP CHANNEL

Aug. 6, 2007

What makes a game truly classic? Is it unforgettable graphics or timeless characters? Is it crisp realism or mesmerizing fantasy realms? The answer, of course, is all of the above, and this week's additions to the Wii Shop Channel cover the whole gamut. From wild water sports to heroic puzzling to intergalactic space battles, these newly available titles are proven favorites you'll learn to love all over again on your Wii.

Today Nintendo adds three new classic games to the popular Wii video game system's Wii Shop Channel. The games go live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Nintendo adds new games to the channel every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week's new games are:

Wave Race 64 (Nintendo 64, 1-2 players, rated E for Everyone, 1,000 Wii Points): Take to the waves on your own personal watercraft and experience some of the best water effects in video game history. Choose one of four characters, each with his/her own unique abilities and style, and master the game's excellent controls. Make your way through nine courses, each with its own challenges. If the ramps, mines and hairpin turns aren't enough, you'll also have to deal with varying weather conditions that can make the water choppy or cover the course with fog. And if you ever feel like taking a break from racing, then try out Stunt Mode to polish your skills by pulling off handstands, rolls and more. Get good enough and you might even be able to ride a dolphin-just don't get seasick.

ADVENTURES OF LOLO (NES, 1 player, rated E for Everyone, 500 Wii Points): This was the first game in the Eggerland puzzle series to be released in North America. After the love of his life, Lala, is kidnapped by the Great Devil and taken to a haunted castle, our hero Lolo sets out to rescue her. The journey is perilous because the Great Devil's fortress is guarded by a massive army. But Lolo has a few tricks up his sleeve, including a Magic Shot that turns enemies into eggs and an Emerald Framer that shields him from attacks. Combining clever environmental puzzles with tricky enemies and an engaging style, ADVENTURES OF LOLO is a true classic.

GALAGA '90 (TurboGrafx16, 1 player, rated E for Everyone, 600 Wii Points): This is an updated version of the classic arcade shooter Galaga. Set in the vast reaches of space, you will fight your way through all 29 rounds to reach the enemies' stronghold on Planet Galaga. Game levels consist of a few rounds with changing enemies and backgrounds. To top it off, the nostalgic "Galactic Dancing" lives on to mark the end of each level. With the new addition of dimensions, you can choose your attack route. Collect capsules and open dimension warps at branch sections to take on even tougher enemies. GALAGA '90's inclusion of the triple fighter, scrolling backgrounds, boss Galaga and even new system effects make it nothing less than a masterpiece.

Galaga (NES 500 Points): Thank goodness, for awhile there everything BUT the Wii was capable of playing Galaga. The world is saved.

BRAVOMAN (Turbografx 16 600 Points): Now here's a TG-16 game I can really get behind. Bravoman is a platforming beat-em-up hybrid featuring a bionic superhero trying to stop the evil scientist Dr. Bomb from unleashing his "End the World" weapon. It's filled to the brim with tongue in cheek humor and purposeful Engrish. "Hello, I'm Japanese telephone box!" It can be a bit repetitive (22 stages + only 5 stage types), but multiple paths and the chance to fight flying toasters will see you through.

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (Genesis, 800 Points): Ah yes, Sega's original mascot before Sonic stole the spotlight, I bet Alex is somewhere laughing his ass off right now. Enchanted Castle is the fifth Alex Kidd game and the only one to appear on the Genesis, most recently appearing in the Sega Genesis Collection late last year for the PS2 and PSP. Rock-paper-scissors boss battles for the win!

All in all, not a bad week. Definitely picking up Bravoman, and if I didn't already have 2 bazillion versions of Galaga, that'd be a purchase as well. Full press release follows. Michael Fahey

WII-KLY UPDATE: THREE NEW CLASSIC GAMES ANNOUNCED FOR WII SHOP CHANNEL

April 9, 2007

Do you have an itch to blast bug-shaped space fighters? Have you ever wondered whether Dr. Bomb was a medical doctor or a Ph.D.? Do you resolve all your disputes with a heated round of Rock, Paper, Scissors? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you'll want to pay a visit to the popular Wii video game system's Wii Shop Channel.

Three new classic games go live at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Nintendo adds new games to the channel every Monday. Wii owners with a high-speed Internet connection can redeem Wii Points to download the games. Wii Points can be purchased in the Wii Shop Channel or at retail outlets. This week's new games are:

Galaga (NES , 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points): Players control their fighters, with their unique ability to combine with other fighters and shoot down the invading aliens. Aliens attack in formations using a variety of attack patterns. Rescue a captured fighter to combine with it, forming a Dual Fighter with twice the firepower. Earn Perfect Bonuses more easily by using a Dual Fighter on the Challenging Stages. Galaga was released in 1981 and became an instant classic with its innovative fighter-combination system and varied enemy attack patterns.

BRAVOMAN (Turbografx16, 1 player, 600 Wii Points): The village of Nitta has been invaded by the army of Dr. Bomb, an evil scientist who is plotting to take over the world. Facing this crisis is Bravoman, who received his powers from Alpha Man to stand up against Dr. Bomb in the name of justice. The village of Nitta consists of 22 stages - action stages that take place on the ground and shooting stages that take place underwater. Action stages use a unique control system in which the height of a jump and the distance of an attack changes depending on how long players hold down the button. Players collect the Luck Symbols that appear when they defeat enemies and give them to Lottery Man to get recovery and power-up items. Stop Dr. Bomb and bring peace to the village of Nitta and the rest of the world.

Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (Sega Genesis, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points): When King Thor was kidnapped, his son, Alex Kidd, held out hope that his father would return to their kingdom on Planet Aries. Finally, it was revealed that he was being held captive on Planet Paperock. As Alex, players race to his rescue through 11 levels, battling enemies and avoiding obstacles while winning coins that will buy special items and vehicles. At the end of each level, players encounter a boss and enter into a match of "Rock, Paper, Scissors." Throwing the right symbols puts players ever closer to bringing King Thor home; throwing the wrong symbols squashes them beneath a heavy weight.

For more information about Wii, please visit wii.com.

Maybe the Namco cease and desist will make it impossible. Anyone seen this for sale out there on the internets? Michael McWhertor

Verte Life

Still, for an edible metaphor for the loss of independence it looks pretty darn spiffy, and I am sure it was nummy. Michael Fahey

Galaga Themed Groom's Cake! [RetroBlast!]

Good morning sleepy heads! Getting read for work or school? Before you head out of the house, just know that Namco's classic shooter Galaga is making its Live Arcade debut today. If that's not enough to make you call in sick, then how about over 250 levels, worldwide leaderboards and the original music. Swing by, download and tell bossman to shove it. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Gamerscore Blog]

The demo couldn't be clearer: I'm shown a game in progress, a very popular one. I'm assured that this isn't a custom version of the game, they haven't touched the original code. The COO of Exent, Yoav Tzurya, clicks a button, and suddenly the hero is living in Ad City. His shirt says ADIDAS. He's wearing Levi's jeans. Newspapers show the face of Exent's CEO.

The main character drives into town, and a generic restaurant turns into a Blockbuster. A car ad appears in a storefront. "We can also change any of the sounds in the game," Tzurya explains, and the implication is clear: the music and atmospheric sounds could as well be a Pepsi jingle. And then, startlingly, the game displays something familiar to nearly every user of the Web: a pop-up ad. The ad explains that if you can find the hidden can of Coke in the game, you could win a thousand dollars.

In Exent's vision, this isn't limited to any one game. Every game invented has the potential to become a venue for ads that can be inserted or changed at any time. They show me an arcade-style clone that suddenly switches to a battle against McDonald's burgers and fries. Their feeling is, why limit yourself to new games that may or may not be hits when you can put ads in the entire back catalog of games on your PC, and eventually your consoles.

And who's going to put the software on your machine so that ads can be imbedded into games you've already paid for? According to Exent, you will. They know very well you're going to be resistant to gaming through a pitch for Verizon Wireless. They want to overcome that resistance with incentives. They know you don't want to mess with your brand-new fifty dollar game, but they're betting that once you've played the game through a time or two, you'll welcome the chance to change your character's looks, or his outfits, or play the game with an added contest, and that you'll be willing to look at ads in order to get it. And of course there's also the possibility of taking old games and re-releasing them in free, ad-supported format.

In the end, Exent says they want the system to be completely voluntary, so their success is up to you, the gamer. Are in-game ads a great way to subsidize new content for old games, or an unwelcome intrusion no matter what the incentive? You can guess what Exent believes the answer will be.

Gamers Reports got their mits on four screens from the upcoming Xbox Live versions of Pac-Man and Galaga Both sport colorful, but useless borders and seemingly not much more on the extra side. I'll still be all over these games when they hit because I'm a retro whore... that doesn't sound right.

Pac-Man and Galaga Xbox Live Arcade Screens [Gamers Reports]

Ever wonder how much gaming nostalgia costs? Well, apparently it falls somewhere between overpriced and expensive. Online retailer ExtremeToysForBoys (might wanna change that name) is over a cocktail cabinet that plays Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga. Gaming nostalgia, it seems, is on even sale as the cabinet is marked down $600. The thang still costs three large, though.

Order Here [ExtremeToysForBoys] Thanks, Sinner!

As part of the 25th anniversary celebration of Pac-Man, Namco and Verizon are giving away eighty 25th Anniversary Limited Edition Pac-Man arcade machines. The cabinet features Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga in one machine with the original 80s art and logo for Pac-Man. Unfortunately, the contest is only open to people who were Verizon customers as of Oct. 1 and to enter you need to download Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga or Pac-Mania by Nov. 12.

It was almost a cool contest.

Official Rules [Verizon]