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For me , as a gamer, arcades are one of the major symbols of gaming. A few years ago, arcades were one of the best ways to play great quality games, when consoles didn’t pack that much power. Who doesn’t remember playing their first Street Fighter match on a coin-op, or your first Sega Rally lap?

In Portugal, the arcades are dead. You can still find a Arcade Saloons but not many as you would in the 80’s and 90’s. And while this might be a world wide phenomena, Japan maintains their arcade tradition. These guys are working on a Japanese Arcade scene documentary and after seeing the trailer I wish it would be finished before fall 2011 🙂

100 YEN: The Japanese Arcade Experience from Brad Crawford on Vimeo.

I’m 31 years old. If you’re somehow like me, in your 30’s, there’s a big chance that we share some common memories of our childhood. The toys, the cartoons, the TV shows, the video games, stuff that most of us, as kids enjoyed and remember fondly to this day. Looking at today’s entertainment market it’s cool to see, that the ones that were kids on the 80’s and 90’s are now pulling the strings and resurrecting the stuff that made our dreams back then. Check this:

• The Transformers – Huge cartoon on the 80’s as well as a huge line of toys. Now there’re two big motion pictures on the brand with a third one on the way, a cartoon series as well as two toy lines that were created for both movies and cartoon series.
• V and Battlestar Galactica – Two of the most rememberable sci-fi TV shows from the 80’s are back with brand new shows (I know Galactica is over but it’s a good example).
• He-Man and The Masters of The Universe – If you’re a kid back then you probably had a MOTU figure. It was that big! A new cartoon was made in 2003 along with a new toy line but it wasn’t so successful as the original. Now Mattel is creating a new line of figures just for collectors inspired in the classic line. Oh, and there’s a new movie being made!
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Another cartoon and toy line that were everywhere. The brand completes it’s 25th Anniversary this year and to celebrate they’re made a new animated movie named Turtles Forever, as well as a re-issue of the original action figures. A new cartoon was made in 2003 and a CGI movie in 2007 along with a toy line for both.
• Fame – One of the biggest TV series back then was graced with a motion picture this year.
• Video Games – Well, I’m not even starting a list here. Remakes from classic games are born every day. Retrogaming is really catching up among developers and it brings the opportunity to new players to play old games.

So, are we running out of ideas or are we just resurrecting our passions from the past? Are we that nostalgic or are we just trying to make old successful formulas work again?

My take is that it’s a little bit of both. What’s your’s?

Today I finally spent some time “reviving” my videogames site – 8 Bit Revolution with some new articles and brand new logo. Let me know what you think!

Following the momentum that drove me to update this blog’s template, I decided to reboot 8-Bit Revolution, my blog about Retrogaming and Videogames. New stuff will be announced this week, and there’s already a 8BR Flickr group! What are you waiting for? 😉