FORT90

The following post originally appeared on attractmo.de, on August 22, 2013.
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Some of you may have seen the above already, via Kotaku. But for everyone else: North Korean’s government run news agency recently released images of a newly built game center in Rungna Islet, located in Pyongyang, the nation’s capital.

It’s filled to the brim with the “latest” arcade offerings, plus there’s mini golf, a skate park, even a roller coaster! One source states that it’s open 24 hours, and during the first ten days of business, the number of visitors “exceeded tens of thousands”.

Seeing video games in such blatant propaganda is amusing to say the least, though it strikes a special cord for myself; my mother was originally from North Korea. Her and the rest of the women folk escaped through the mountains, immediately after the communists took over the family business during the Korean War.

I’ve long fantasized of visiting my mom’s homeland, which is tricky enough under normal circumstances, but being the son of an expatriate makes it a billion times more difficult. I’ll need to get a false identity, in Switzerland, among other things. But I am dying to see what games this Pyongyang arcade holds.

On a related note, am currently back in Washington State, where I grew up, to get ready for the big show. Though later tonight I’m swinging by the B&I, where the Pacific Northwest’s biggest arcade can be found, and which used to my most favorite place on earth.

But it’s a total horror show these days (you can pictures from last year’s visit here and here). Am eager to see if Virtua Fighter 1 is still kicking. And hopefully I won’t get shot… which happens there a lot these days, no joke.

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The following post originally appeared on attractmo.de, on August 13, 2013.
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… Is the name of Mikko Walamies‘s tribute to The Last Of Us, for Fangamer X Attract Mode. It was actually the very first piece submitted for the show, hence why it’s kicking off the following taste test.

Usually I’ll post a preview for an upcoming show just a few days beforehand, but some of the pieces we’ve received thus far are so incredible that I can’t help but share a couple right here, right now.

A few have made appearances already, via Polygon, or perhaps you caught them tearing it up on Tumblr, as usual. At any rate, there’s plenty more to come. In the meanwhile, be sure to admire the following from Zac Gorman…

Jacob Ferguson…

Kris Mukai…

Mingjue Helen Chen…

Nicole Gustafsson…

Corey Lewis…

Cherry Slug…

OMOCAT…

And don’t forget: as fantastic as they look on your computer, smart phone, or tablet, they’ll all pale in comparison to the real things, perhaps hung on your wall?

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