44 years ago (22 May 1980 to be precise), the first Puck Man machine was placed in an arcade in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, starting a worldwide global videogaming phenomenon. Today, Namco’s Pac-Man remains one of the most recognisable video game characters, transcending popular culture. I won’t rehash the story, but I wrote about the development…
Tag: arcade history
The TDE Podcast Ep 33: Atari’s Roger Hector
Episode 33 of the Ted Dabney Experience podcast is available now for your listening pleasure! If you enjoy reading ArcadeBlogger.com, you’ll love the other project I’m involved with: Senior corporate executive, serial entrepreneur, automotive designer and fine artist. Roger Hector is not only a successful businessman but a bona fide creative polymath. A long time…
Atari’s Mike Jang
Some sad news to report on the blog this week. I got word that long-time Industrial Designer at Atari coin-operated division, Mike Jang, has passed away. I’ve known Mike since 2016, and whilst we never met, he was always on the other end of an email answering my questions and providing really valuable input into…
The Automatic Services Universal Arcade Cabinet
A few weeks back I wrote about Automatic Services and the arcade cabinets that a group of us were able to acquire, after its owner Mark Shepherd passed away. If you missed that post, go here. This week, I wanted to follow up by taking a closer look at one particular cabinet from the haul…
A British Classic Arcade Photo Tour
Searching the web for photos of classic arcades from back in the day, tends to bring up a plethora of American locations. Which is all well and good and pretty informative, but sets of genuine photographs taken in the 80s and 90s that documented the British arcade videogame landscape are pretty thin on the ground….
The Madness of Sega’s Arcade Super Circuit
I wanted to take a look this week at an unusual arcade release from 1989, Sega’s Super Circuit. This hybrid arcade title took the concept of first person driving and ramped up the immersion, to give players a real world birds eye view of racing against their fellow arcade goers. The game was released at…
Atari Arcade: From Concept to Cabinets
This week, I wanted to share some cool shots of very early concept models of Atari cabinets from the early eighties. These things have never really been highlighted before, but represent a key part of the design function at Atari Coin Operated Division during the Golden Age of arcade gaming. Most of you will be…
The Ted Dabney Experience at the Arcade Archive!
Over here in the UK, the opening of a place where classic arcade titles can be played is always something of an event for those of us in the collecting community. Its probably fair to say that we have a decent number of options across the country now, all within a few hours drive if…
The Development of Xevious
Well here we are at the end of another year on the blog. I want to thank everyone for checking in regularly and of course for the support with my book, which continues to sell well. Over the Christmas break I found myself playing a lot of Namco’s excellent vertical shooter Xevious on my Mini…
The TDE Podcast Ep 25: Centuri coder Lee Feuling
Episode 25 of the Ted Dabney Experience podcast is available now for your listening pleasure! If you enjoy reading ArcadeBlogger.com, you’ll love the other project I’m involved with: This month’s episode: Lee Feuling is a retired United States Airforce and American Airlines pilot who, once upon a time, was a coder for Centuri Video Games…
The Arcade Blogger 