Kowloon Walled City-themed Arcade in Tokyo
Neulich hatte ich ein Posting über eine detailierte Risszeichnung der Kowloon Walled City „of Anarchy“ in China, eine autonome, wild bebaute Stadt, die auf engstem Raum bis zu 50.000 Leute und neben Kindergärten, Schulen und eigener Wasserversorgung auch Puffs und die Triaden beherbergte. Und selbstverständlich gibt es in Japan eine Kowloon-themed-Spielhalle mit bemoosten Wänden und verranzten Wasserleitungen. Fehlt eigentlich nur Rick Deckard, der dort Replikanten jagt.
Kowloon Walled City now exists in Japan as a game center! Which, when you think about it, is either incredibly fitting or incredibly inappropriate. We’re still not sure which.
The game center, which is called “Digital Kowloon City,” is located in Kawasaki City, just south of Tokyo. Built in the spirit of the original Kowloon Walled City, the game center’s exterior and interior both look horribly rusted and uncared for.
Electric Kool-Aid Acid-Pinball
Ein LSD-themed DIY-Pinball von Tilt Warning: „Evil Mansion is a hand painted LSD themed custom pinball machine by Pittsburgh based graffiti artist and sign painter Soviet NSF.“ (via Laughing Squid)
The Life and Death of the american Arcade
The Verge hat ein ziemlich fantastisches Feature über Arcade-Spielhallen und die Wurzeln von Videogames in Pinball-Maschinen. Must Read!
To say that Nolan Bushnell single-handedly created the arcade would probably be overstating it: coin-operated machines had been popular in America for decades by the time he got his start in the early ’70s, and the pinball arcade had a storied (and notorious) spot in American history. It is also undeniable, however, that the video game arcade would not have happened without him.
The video game arcade had its roots in 1971, when Computer Space, the first commercially sold, coin-operated video game, was designed by Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Though considered a failure at the time, the game was revolutionary, and formed the foundations of a new industry. It also marked the beginning of a long, illustrious, and world-changing career for Nolan Bushnell. In 1971, however, Computer Space looked anything but illustrious, and the idea that there would soon be arcades dedicated entirely to video games was the furthest thing from anyone’s mind — except for maybe Nolan Bushnell’s. To understand the ecosystem that Bushnell and his ilk injected themselves into to create the modern video game arcade, however, you have to go back a lot farther than the 1970s.
For Amusement Only: the life and death of the American arcade
Building Pong from Scratch
Redditor BluesImage hat das Original Pong-Arcade Game nach den Original Schaltplänen mit 66 Logic Chips nachgebaut, hier ein Video des Teils in Action. Impressive! Most impressive: Pong Reborn – Rebuilding the original arcade version of Atari’s Pong.
Here is the schematic diagram for the original arcade version of Pong, the first digital video game. Unlike other video games of the time, Pong used an all digital circuit to produce the graphics, sound and game control. There is no software or processor, just a collection of 66 discrete chips performing a single function, inter-connected to create the game we know.
To build a video game from scratch, you must first invent the universe
Russian Arcade Machines
Die Website des russischen Arcade Museums in Moskau hat jede Menge HighRes-Fotos oller Sowjet-Zockmaschinen inklusive online spielbarer Versionen der Games. Das Teil oben ist die russische Variante von „Sea Fight“, wurde tatsächlich in einer U-Boot-Fabrik gebaut und das Periskop ist ein tatsächliches Periskop aus einem U-Boot (zumindest das Endstück).
Painting the Trails of Lunar Landers
Vimeo Direktlunar, via Waxy
Gestern ging ‘ne Pinball-Painting-Maschine rum, die war mir eine Spur (ha!) zu random. Aber das hier find’ ich gut: Lunar Trails von Seb Lee-Delisle malt die Wege, die man auf beim Arcade-Klassiker Lunar Lander hinterlässt, mit einem Roboter auf ‘ne Leinwand. Toll!
Lunar Trails is an interactive installation, first commissioned by the Dublin Science Gallery for their GAME exhibition, running from November 2012 to the end of January 2013. It features a full size arcade cabinet running the vintage 1979 game Lunar Lander. As you play the game, the path that you take is rendered on the wall with a large hanging drawing robot.
The trails build up to produce artworks that are solely created by the game players, and is a reflection of all their individual journeys to the surface of the moon.
Arcade Coin-Slot Belt
Die Arcade-Münzschlitz-Gürtelschnalle ist leider schon ausverkauft (wird aber auf Bestellung gefertigt), aber die verkaufen noch eine aus ‘nem alten NES. Nicht ganz so cool, wie die Arcade-Variante, aber immer noch: WANT!
This Belt buckle is made from genuine recycled arcade parts that died in the line of duty and have been preserved as a wearable homage to their place in Silicon Heaven.
With the light turned on, it looks exactly like the big arcade machines from whence it came.
Recycled Video Arcade Twenty-Five Cent Coin-Drop Belt Buckle… that lights up (via Geekologie)
Chiptunes Arcade Synthesizer
Ein Synthesizer mit Arcade-Buttons und ‘nem Joystick. Want!
The Pianocade is a synthesizer designed to sound, look, and feel like vintage arcade games. It’s easy for people who want to dive right in, powerful and feature-rich for people who want to tinker, and fun to play for everyone. With synthesis hardware based off of classic gaming systems and a 128-note range, the Pianocade lets you perform the retro sounds you want, live!
Pianocade Chiptunes synthesizer and MIDI controller (via Killscreen)
Arcade Fire
Von Wired: „Local policemen recently destroyed some 1,000 confiscated gambling machines in Shunqing District of Nanchong City, China.“ Hier das Bild in HighRez.
Wonderland Arcade, 1968
Schöne Bilder aus einer 1968er Spielhalle, lange vor Pacman oder Asteroids: Wonderland Arcade, Kansas City, MO – 1968 (via Geekosystem)
5th Avenue Frogger
Tyler DeAngelo hat einen Frogger-Klon aus Verkehrsdaten (in Echtzeit) von New Yorks 5th Avenue gebastelt: 5th Avenue Frogger, den man auf einer Frogger-Arcade-Maschine aus den 80ern zockt.
We hacked a 1980′s Frogger Arcade so the cars you dodge are really driving down 5th Ave while you play. 5th Ave Frogger is similar to the 80’s classic Frogger except the cars you dodge are actual cars driving down 5th ave in real time.
This year is Frogger’s 30 (ish) birthday. To celebrate, I wanted to imagine what Frogger would be like if it was developed today.
OAK-U-TRON 201X: A Mobile Arcade Game for the 99%
Wired über die neueste Protestform der Occupy-Bewegung: Eine 2-Player-Arcade-Machine auf Rollen: Occupy Rolls Out Its Most Subversive Tech: A Mobile Arcade Game for the 99%. Gaming auf selbstgemachten Arcade-Maschinen als Protest, da wird mir echt richtig warm ums Herz und meine Nippel stellen sich auf.
The OAK-U-TRON 201X console and the videogame that lives therein, Keep Me Occupied, are the most recent inventions of a movement that has spawned human-microphone apps and its own brand of music. They made their inaugural voyage Jan. 28 as Occupy protesters marched in Oakland, dragging the awkward cabinet along with them like ants shuttling weighty foodstuff. Protesters teamed up for games while miraculously avoiding the tear gas and flashbang grenades that eventually made their way into the crowds that day.
The OAK-U-TRON 201X (a nod to the Mega Man games that took place in the ambiguous year of 200X or 20XX) is the brainchild of game designers Alex Kerfoot, Anna Anthropy and Mars Jokela, a project designed both as entertainment and as a microcosm of the Occupy movement — collaborative, ambitious and optimistic. And it’s set to officially debut before the gaming community at San Francisco’s Game Developers Conference on Friday. […]
“The game [marries] the idea of the social movement where everyone who’s playing contributes to the overall success of everyone,” says Anthropy. “Someone who’s maybe not super good at videogames might only get to an early switch, but they’ll still stay behind and hold that switch and help all future players to still be contributing something that’s significant.”
Hier kann man das Open Source-Game für Win und Mac runterladen, hier das Occulade-Tag auf dem Blog der Entwickler.
Vintage Arcade Machine-Poster
Axel hatte in den Comments zu den Spielhallen-Manuals sein Plakat voller Arcade Maschinen gepostet. Aus rechtlichen Gründen will er den Print nicht in seinem Shop verkaufen, deshalb hab’ ich ihn nach dem Motiv in HighRes gefragt und er hat’s mir geschickt, hier die Datei als JPG (2250x3181px, 3,3MB). Damit kann man sich zwar keinen A1-Print drucken lassen, aber für nen Digitaldruck in A3 reicht das locker, vielleicht auch größer. Danke, Axel!
Vintage Arcade Machine Manuals
Vor einer Woche poppte in der Piratenbucht ein Torrent mit über einhundert Anleitungen für alte Arcade-Maschinen auf. Die Dinger sind vollgestopft mit detailierten Beschreibungen aller Platinen und Bauteile und wenn jemand mehr Talent für Elektronikkram hat, kann man sich damit so ein Teil locker selber bauen.
Ich hab’ die PDFs als JPGs ausgegeben und die (für mich) interessantesten Seiten bei Flickr hochgeladen, vor allem die Cover dieser alten Manuals, dazu noch haufenweise Riss- und Explosionszeichnungen der Geräte. Nach dem Klick ein paar davon, hier das Flickr-Set: Vintage Arcade Machine Manuals.
