Infinite Lives

Beacon, New York’s Retro Arcade Museum opened its doors late last month. There, and for just $10 an hour, visitors can play curator Fred Bobrow’s collection of vintage pinball and arcade cabinets from the 50s, 60s, and 70s.

I suspect the handheld collection isn’t playable—as it’s behind glass—but, uh, it never hurts to ask?

• Flickr – RETRO ARCADE MUSEUM via Retro Thing

They told him, “Don’t you ever come around here,
“Unless you’re really good at Soul Calibeer”
There’s Frogger in their eyes
And Crystal Castles in their leers
So beat it, just beat it

This April, Michael Jackson will auction his arcade collection, including Frogger, Soul Calibeeer, and an old Zoltar machine. Zoltar, you guys.

Check out the Julien’s catalogue—either MJ doesn’t own a Moonwalker, or he ain’t sellin’ it.

• Siliconera – What Arcade Games Did Michael Jackson Own?

That sound you hear? It’s the whooshing of Chris Kohler’s envy.

This image I purloined from Game|Life, which conveniently doubles as an illustration of how my intestines feel today, is a screenshot from Alien Crush Returns. The Virtual Console revival of Alien Crush—that is, the original TurboGrafx pinball game from 1988—apparently generated enough interest (and revenue!) that Hudson released this spectacular graphical update of Alien Crush todayish on WiiWare. Well, in Japan.

But Chris Kohler isn’t one for geographic circumscription, so you can bet your bottom dollar he’s already played Alien Crush Returns. His early impressions? ”[It’s] pretty nifty,” he writes.

The game is played with the trigger buttons on the Wii’s nunchuck and remote, and Chris notes that the lack of Classic Controller support “is kind of disappointing—it’s a bit tiring to have to use your index fingers the entire time instead of your thumbs.”

Chris promises a full review later, so keep watch.

• Game|Life – Impressions: Alien Crush Returns, Hooray

This weekend, we made it out to San Jose—barely—for this year’s California Extreme, the classic arcade expo. Parkside Hall was crammed with video arcade and pinball machines spanning decades, including some contemporary machines (The Act, anybody?).

Set to the music of the New Pornographers, this shaky-hand footage is from Saturday, July 19.