Return of the Arcade?

Remember the days when the best (or only, if you're that classic) way to play a video game was to go to the local mall or bowling alley and play one quarter at a time? Nowadays with all these newfangled Wiis and PS360s in everyone's home nobody needs to leave home accept to buy a new game (and soon that may be unnecessary altogether with that new-age game download thingy).

At some point between those two time periods, the home arcade nearly died altogether. You are hard pressed to find a decent arcade at a mall, and if you do the games are mostly old news. But could the arcade actually be on it's way back? Next Generation investigates.

Next Generation Feature: Arcadia

Twin Musical Tesla Coils playing Mario Bros

If you think you've heard every possible way to play game music, think again. This time the Mario Bros theme song gets played with twin Solid State Musical Tesla coils! The music that you hear is coming from the sparks that these two identical high power solid state Tesla coils are generating, there are no speakers involved. Hit play to see for yourself.

To give you perspectiveof what you're looking at here; the Tesla coils stand 7 feet tall and are each capable of putting out over 12 foot of spark. They are spaced about 18 feet apart. The coils are controlled over a fiber optic link by a single laptop computer. Each coil is assigned to a midi channel which it responds to by playing notes that are programmed into the computer software. What is not obvious is how loud the coils are. They are well over 110dB, and you could actually hear the echo off the building nearby if you were there. Props to Steve Ward and Jeff Larson for constructing this masterpiece.

90 Arcade Games Online

pnFlash Games has over 90 fun Flash games that you can play right in your web browser, using the X-Arcade™ controllers of course. What's different here is that the site also has game ratings, user comments, and saves high scores so you can really be competitive. Indie game developers can also submit their own projects there for the world to play. Check it out!

Arcade Games On Tap

Free Web Arcade Games

If If you really want to play some free web arcade games, look no further than the website of the same name, FeeeWebArcade.com! These are not just Flash and Java remakes of classic games, some of them are upgrades. Check out 3D Frogger™, 3D Pac-Man™, and Hulk Rampage™! They even have a near perfect-looking Punch-Out™ arcade clone. Many are classic arcade game clones, everyone is sure to find something fun here. Leave your quarters and head to the arcade!

The Free Web Arcade Awaits

Gaming's Worst Gaming Ideas Ever

Sometimes that "forward-thinking" mentality in the games business backfires, blowing up in we the gamers' faces. Next Generation (yes, again) takes us for a ride through ten horrible “innovative” features that video gamers have had to endure in the 30- years since Nolan Bushnell started his long, strange trip from self-appointed Father of Videogames to nutty old man telling the ne'er-do-well kids to get off his front lawn. This could get ugly.

Bad Game Ideas

Classic Halloweeners

Mitch Gerson of GameRoom Magazine wasn't happy with his fifteen minutes of fame when he was featured on Floorplan™. No, he got one taste of the glamour of the spotlight and just had to have more. This Halloween he dressed up as everybody's favorite arcade champion Billy Mitchell! That is indeed a scary costume! Thanks for sharing it Mitch!

Mitch Gerson as Billy Mitchell

And for those interested in a costume based on a game sure to become a classic,check out this Big Daddy and Little Sister costume from the contender for Game of the Year, Bioshock™. The hand-made Big Daddy lights up from inside its dome, and Little Sister even has ADAM!

Check Out BYO Classic Costumes Here

Tankstick Overclocked

OC-Modshop has made quite a name for itself among the PC game hardware and overclocking aficionados. They have guides for pulling every Mhz out of your PC gear, and reviews for everything cutting edge.

So how would the X-Arcade™ Tankstick stand up to the critical eye of these mad-modders? Straight from the horsepowers mouth: "X-Arcade™ has made quite a name for itself among retro gamers, and rightly so. They have a great reputation for producing practically indestructible authentic arcade controllers, and the Tankstick is the most fully-featured product yet." Read the full review to see how they scrutinize it in detail and don't miss a thing in their five page review. If they could have overclocked it, they prolly would have!

OC-Modshop's X-Arcade™ Tankstick Review