Arcade Lounge

I was off on a ‘cold shoulder’ mission earlier to purchase a replacement Bounty bar… how was I supposed to know it wasn’t ALL for me?! I think it was more about the principle, but I had been working too hard over the weekend to consider the concept of sharing.

So, whilst at the shop I spotted the latest T3 magazine and stuck that under my arm and went in search of the chocolate isle. On my way home as I was having a quick flick through (as getting the chocolate back was priority here), I noticed something familiar…

I’m straying a little off-topic here, but I thought it was worth taking a little time out for this one.

You have to love the bootlegging abilities of Asia, cashing in on popular icons. The naive parents thinking that their kids will never notice, even though within a week it will have fallen to pieces and they will be ready to move onto their next super hero.

I know that I always neglected these inferior toys as a child, knowing that they weren’t the real deal. But you have to admire the effort that went into changes in names and appearances in an attempt to dazzle the buyer.

Some of these images were from the excellent SomethingAwful forums… one of my favourite corners of the Internet.

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Want to know what separates the surface tension table from the rest? We’ve already talked about the iTunes and Airport Express integration.

Now it’s time to hear about the, dare I say it, sexy control panel which is used to shoot, guide, sprint, jump, steer and dodge your opponent.

Made from fine brushed stainless steel, with discreet branding and set flush into the drawer, the control panel is designed to take a bashing from even the most excitable player. The retro-gaming joysticks, buttons and trackball are industry standard… and you can imagine what they have to go through in an arcade environment!

See more…

When you’ve had enough of playing due to sore fingers, bruised ego and the need to blink, just fire up iTunes, set to random and close the control panel.

You can find the finer details for our tables in the Pages menu on the right. These will be added to when we’re not too busy building, installing… or playing Track & Field!

Well, you might think you do. But not as much as a certain group of guys in Oregon…

This crop circle is the handywork of a couple of Mozilla interns working on a spreadfirefox.com project.

See the video…

Kotaku.com managed to get their hands on some scans for Japanese version of Nintendo’s Wii console. Make of them what you will. Here’s a few choice cuts…

…reminds me of the sausage scene at the start of grange hill.

A Wii is for life, not just for Christmas.

That damn Wii, stealing my lucky charms…

There’s plenty more…

Do you ever get the craving for another go… You know the toy I mean, that little helicopter on a stalk that was nigh on impossible to control, but kept you coming back for more. Another chance to rescue the astronaut stranded on your sea-carpet in his dinghy that last time should really have lost his head due to your incompetence… or maybe that was just me.

This is what I’m talking about…

Anyway, head over to Peter Hirschberg.com for a spin on his free-to-use Vertisim, the 3d vertibird simulator, complete with astronaut, boat and capsule. It’s great fun and even more difficult to control!