eBay Watch: Mini Arcade Replicas

Not real, but an incredible simulation.

Some amazingly cool U.K. artist is selling super-awesome mini arcade machine replicas on eBay for pretty darned cheap. These hand-made little gems are non-functioning and are for display only, but feature some amazingly precise detailing and very faithful cabinet design. For around $60 U.S. you can pick three designs from over 100, including all of your favorites like Pac-Man, Tempest and Paperboy, and they'll arrive fully constructed, signed and numbered by the artist himself. And since the replicas stand around 6" tall, they're a perfect match for your nerdy action figures!

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE TEENY TINY ARCADE GAMES!

Video games of the late 70's: an 8-minute retro visitation

Retro-gaming pundits frequently refer to the "Great Video Game Crash of '83." But rarely do they mention the "Great Video Game Frenzy of '79" - the furious wind-up that propelled us deliriously through the heyday of '80-'83, and made the prospect of a "crash" a possibility in the first place.

In 1979, the shorthand word arcade changed its meaning from "pinball arcade" to "video arcade" as operators swapped their assortment of coin-eaters from majority pin to majority video. The affordable microprocessor began to change coin-op gaming dramatically.

Take a quick look at the field of game releases in the late 70's. As flocks of new developers and players entered the arena for a piece of the action, many uninspired copies emerged as new developers got their footing. But some innovative standouts foretold the sensation to come. Amidst the generic gunslinger games and near identical driving clones you'll see a few inspired standouts that led to the defining classics of the early 80's: Berzerk, PacMan, Galaga, etc.

While baby-boomers raised their young children, teenagers with names like Cynthia, Dennis, Debbie, and Roger went cruising and played games that looked like this.

Birth of the game cartridge

The method of expanding a video system via game cartridges—still employed by today's handhelds Nintendo DS and Leapster—was first introduced in an obscure home system called the Fairchild Channel F. Released in the nebulous period after the glut of home pong copies, but before the Atari VCS, The Fairchild boasted some significant firsts for the home market. In addition to being the first system to utilize game cartridges, it was also the first home system that allowed 1-player gameplay against the computer; all previous home systems required 2 players.

Dial F... ...for forgettable

The Fairchild Channel F eventually released 26 cartridges. Despite being the first of its type to market, it made only a blip (perhaps also a bloop) on the radar of videogame history. Having only half the RAM of 1977's Atari VCS (64 bytes) and games that were widely-regarded as "not much fun," the system died with little notice; few attended the funeral. In this video, The Irate Gamer, takes a humorous look at the Fairchild's dreary entertainment offerings.

For more:

• Fairchild entry at AllGame database
• An interview with system designer Jerry Lawson

Bonus points. If you enjoyed that video, be sure to check out Episode 3 of the Irate Gamer's History of Videogames, which uncovers the mid-70's coin-op hits you've never heard of, including Combat for Atari - a coin-op port of Tank.

Not all fun and games: Inside a Ms. Pac-Man factory

Imagine a dystopian universe in which all the world's industrial assembly robots have been replaced by clumsy people. Horrific image, right?

Now imagine that the world's consumer electronics assembly plants (staffed with the aforementioned fleshy, human laborers) have been moved overseas, and relocated in the United States of America. It's not a futurist nightmare, it's the past bitch!

Spend 4½ minutes on the Ms. Pac Man assembly line in this newly-digitized raw news footage from the Bally/Midway plant in Chicago, 1982.

At Retrogeeker, we know retro.