Darth Nuno's at it again .

This time, going that extra "kilometer" for you by creating a video digest of his recent exploits to swipe, erm....save a 1980 Battlezone from the U.K.

The video was originally put together for his 10th trip to the U.K., only to realize that it was actually his 9th trip.  But hey!  Who's counting!   Check it out here.

And....it must be Battlezone news week.  From the other side of the pond, here in the good ole' U.S. of A. comes arcadefever with his picture diary of a beautiful Battlezone in prime condition as well.  Head on over to his site and have a looksee .

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It would seem our Japanese brethren are experiencing the same decline in market as are Arcades and Pinball locations across the world.

Of interest, a survey found that the number of pachinko players dropped to 16.6 million in 2006, the lowest level in a decade and about half the number reported in 1982.

For those of you who don't know what Pachinko is, it's commonly referred as Japanese Pinball.  It's past is riddled with shady practices and is often times compared to the lure of Vegas-Style gambling.

Have a read, the article will both enlighten you and give you a look at trends happening in other countries. 

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The gang over at 1up.com has a retro roundup article up talking about several retro arcade games that have been ported to the Xbox Live Arcade .

The give a run down of over a dozen games and whether or not they're worth your hard earned points.

Doom on the 360?  Hey, I had no idea.  Nice to see classics like Galaga, Frogger, Pac-man and yes, even Robotron have made it to the 360.

Not long ago I was lamenting on the fact that it seemed that the Wii was outpacing the 360 when it came to retro offerings on their live shops.  I now stand corrected. 

Head on over and check out the 1Up Retro Roundup: Special Edition . 

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Looking for a more rugged case for your Motorola C168 Cell Phone?

A contributor to instructables.com posted an quick article and how to on taking your cell phone and putting it "inside" and old NES controller.

In fairness, the author of that article does give credit to one Sam Garfield who apparently did the same thing back in 2006. 

Not to mention, if you check out the comments on that article, you'll see that several people are taking off with this idea and throwing all kinds of new tech into older consoles.

Got a console that you gutted for re-purposing?  Drop us a line and let us know. 

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RetroBlast! Contributor James Hills gave us a heads up today about an article over at Entrepreneur.com titled 10 Businesses Facing Extinction in 10 Years .

On that list, the Coin-Op Arcade comes in as number 10.   From the article: "Ten years ago, there were 10,000 arcades in the nation, and now the number is close to 3,000, according to the American Amusement Machine Association. Revenue from arcade game units brought in $866 million last year, which sounds good until you consider that in 1994, the industry was pocketing $2.3 billion..."

So what does that mean to you and me, besides the fact that we're not going to see a lot of arcades in malls anymore?  It means that game room you're contemplating building in the basement or garage or spare room just became all the more important to the preservation of classic arcade gaming. 

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Looking for something different to do next weeked?  How about trying to win the 2007 Professional/Amateur Pinball Association's World Championship?

That's right, the Professional/Amateur Pinball Association, or PAPA for short, is holding thier tenth World Championship pinball tournament next week from October 11th through the 14th in Pittsburgh, PA. 

According to the PAPA website, there is a total prize package of $36,000 to be won.  Best of all, competition is open to the general public.  Whether you think you're a pro or you're just a rank amateur, there will be divisions for you. There will be divisions for professionals, amateurs, seniors and even a junior division.  Do you love classic pinball?  There will be a classics tournament as well.

There is a small registration cost for all players and another small fee for each entry into the tournament.  For those players that just want to play some great pinball, there will also be a bank of games set up to play.

The PAPA tournament is held in a 30,000 square foot facility dedicated soley to pinball.  There are over 300 machines expected to be available for tournament play or in practice banks.  So, if you think you can compete with the pros, head on over to the PAPA website and get registered and make a road trip to the 'burgh for some great pinball fun.

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The gang over at GameVideos.com has posted up a great video of Halo 3 being played with the Super Mario Bros sounds overlayed.

For us classic gamers, this is definitely worth a look.  And for you young ones, if you don't know who the Super Mario Bros are.  Well, I just, I just don't know what to say.

So head on over to GameVideos.com and have a look at the video.  Certainly worth the price of admission. (free!) 

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The voting is complete.  Everything has been counted. There were no hanging chads and the undisputable winner has been chosen for the 2007 run of custom arcade tokens.

RetroBlast! contributor Dave Santoro has begun taking pre-orders for the tokens. 

From the site: "Once preorders have been open for two weeks I will make a decision if there are enough orders to proceed with either 1) 10,000 Brass or 2) 10,000 brass and 10,000 nickel, or 3) None of the above. If I am able to at least break even on the original order, I will place the order."

So if you want your Game Room to be graced with this classic design, I suggest you head on over to arcadereplay.com and get yours ordered today. 

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Is your Wii Remote cold?  Does it look bland and drab?  Got greasy hands from eating french fries while playing a game of bowling?

"Nintendo is now including the Wii Remote Jacket for the Wii Remotes in all new hardware being shipped. For Wii owners who purchased their systems prior to this addition, we are offering to send free Wii Remote Jackets for their existing Wii Remotes."

To take advantage of this offer head on over to Nintendo's site and submit your request.

Nintendo Wii Remote Jacket Offer . 

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The gang over at gamerhelp.com has a lively discussion going about the Greatest Video Game Box Art of All Time. Well, in this case, we're starting with the time frame of 1980-1985.  Butthe article continues on to other eras.

Head on over and check out some of the artwork they've got on display.  What's up with that Mega Man box?  I mean really, did that appeal to anyone?

And I had no idea that Mario had a mullet!  No really, check out the box.  Mullet.  Sideburns.  Mustache.  He's a real rocker! 

We know that months, and sometimes years go into game development.  It leads one to wonder, in some cases, just how long it took them to come up with the right art for the box.  Some of those look like they were thrown together in less than an hour, while others, it's quite obvious took quite a bit of time.

So head on over and check it out for yourself.

The Greatest Video Game Art of All Time

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