Arcade 1Up Brings 'True' Arcade Machines into the Home

Owning a real arcade machine is one of the dreams we've all had right? RIGHT? Well, as you get older life and funds get in the way, after all, an arcade machine is pretty big, heavy and usually quite expensive to buy and maintain. However, Arcade 1Up may have the solution; a 3/4 sized arcade machine that weights just under 30 kg and costs just $400. The whole package contains a 17'' LCD screen and can be assembled like IKEA flatpack furniture using just a screwdriver.

The arcade machines feature all the original artworks and have true control panels and the bonus is that the machines contain between 3 to 4 games including classics such as Defender, Joust, Rampage, Centipede and Street Fighter II.

The arcade machines will be on sale in September and will be available across the world. I won't be buying one anytime soon as space is a premium in my house and my small mancave wouldn't cope with it in, but maybe this could be the arcade dream machine you've always wanted.

PLAY Expo Margate was pretty cool

I went to the PLAY Expo in Margate a couple of days ago and I have to say that it was an excellent experience. There were loads of original arcade machines, 10 pinball machines and tonnes of original consoles with classic games. I finally fulfilled a gaming dream and played Tempest 2000 on the Atari Jaguar and got my mitts on M.U.S.H.A. on the Megadrive.

There were 10 pinball machines set to freeplay... I was in flipping heaven!

There were lots of LAN games set up and a myriad of retro systems hooeked up ready for play.

I made a video of the event and have placed it below for your viewing pleasure.

Flyer Fever

Dan Hower, an avid arcade flyer collector, has created a website with over 3000 hi-rez images of flyers and lots of details including the date of the flyer, the publisher and obviously the title. Looking through the page it is amazing to see the evolution of the art styles and the use of colour and imagery. If you are a looking for something cool and unusual then you could do a lot worse than this wonderful site!

Arcades on the Beach

Like many seaside towns Whitley Bay, America is not what it used to be. Artist Danny Passarella has fond memories of the bars, pubs and arcades and has used this to inspire his art exhibition. He wanted to show how arcades changed the landscape of his hometown, "... like the monolith in 2001: Space Odyssey" and so has been placing classic arcade machines in fantasy Whitley Bay locales. The results are beautiful. His work will be exhibited at Forge and Co. on Shoreditch High Street, London, on 25th July... so if you can why not head down! If you can't make it click on the link below to go to his webpage and see more of his wonderful work.