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Otago Daily Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Museum hosts exhibition blending arcade gaming, te ao Maori
''Arca Arcade: Round One'' exhibition designer Preston McNeil amid a colourful array of arcade machine-inspired art at Tūhura Otago Museum. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON Space Invaders, Pac Man, Asteroids, Donkey Kong — if you were a child in the 1980s or '90s, the warm glow of a spacies machine at the local fish and chip shop or dairy was alluring, almost intoxicating. Now, that atmosphere is being reimagined through the lens of contemporary design and te ao Māori in a new exhibition at Tūhura Otago Museum, titled "Arca Arcade: Round One". Exhibition designer Preston McNeil, of Wellington, said it was a bold fusion of industrial design, retro technology and cultural storytelling. It featured custom-built, wall-mounted machines, adorned with original artwork from some of New Zealand's top contemporary artists, including Gina Kiel, Flox, Otis Frizzell, Joe Sheehan and Otis Chamberlain. Visitors can play the games housed inside each uniquely designed cabinet, making it as interactive as it is artistic. Mr McNeil said the exhibition was believed to be a world first in arcade machine design because it integrated carved pounamu and whakairo-inspired design elements. He had wanted to create something that honoured the history of arcade gaming and the richness of contemporary New Zealand art. The result was a powerful collision of classic video game culture with te ao Māori — a celebration of play that was deeply rooted in place and identity, he said. "These machines are a love letter to every kid who dropped their last 20cents into a game they knew they couldn't win, but tried anyway. "Blending those memories with the depth and craft of Māori design has created something I never imagined I'd be able to build. "And it's amazing to finally bring it to the South Island." The exhibition opens at the museum tonight, and it is the first time it has been held in the South Island. Tūhura Otago Museum exhibitions and design head Craig Scott said the museum partnered with the Centre of Digital Excellence (Code) to present the exhibition, in the hope of showing young people what was possible when design, technology and culture collided. "This is about inspiring, as much as it is about fun nostalgia." Mr McNeil will give a free public talk at the museum tonight, sharing insights into the creative process, the challenges of building playable art, and how he collaborated with the artists to bring each machine to life. The exhibition runs from July 19 to September 21.
Top Gear
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Here's that in-car version of classic Atari arcade game Asteroids you wanted inside your VW
Here's that in-car version of classic Atari arcade game Asteroids you wanted inside your VW Finally, long road trips accompanied by a symphony of 8-bit game sound effects Skip 1 photos in the image carousel and continue reading Turn on Javascript to see all the available pictures. The auto industry seems intent on making native in-car gaming a thing. You can play Uno in your BMW, Solitaire in your Tesla, and now not to be outdone, Volkswagen's Airconsole integration has bolstered its own gaming portfolio by adding Asteroids: Recharged and Breakout: Recharged. We're hearing early reports that the makers of I Spy and Just Sit Quietly Or I'm Turning This Thing Around And Going Home are holding crisis talks in response. The pair of arcade classics joins the Airconsole roster alongside Pac-Man, the aforementioned Uno, Pictionary and Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? Advertisement - Page continues below For anyone not well-versed in in-car gaming, Airconsole works by displaying the game on your car's infotainment screen and allowing passengers to connect their phones as game controllers. Meanwhile the driver – and we can't stress this enough – continues driving the car. That's unless they're parked up, of course. If you're sitting in the car while charging, it might be a welcome way to occupy some time. 'Atari laid the foundation for generations of gamers,' said Anthony Cliquot, CEO of N-Dream, in the announcement presser. 'To welcome these timeless titles onto AirConsole shows that our vision for in-car play is being embraced by the world's most trusted entertainment brands.' The games are available to Volkswagen owners with an active VW Connect Plus contract, and an active internet connection via their smartphone. Advertisement - Page continues below Top Gear Newsletter Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox. Success Your Email*
Newsweek
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Best Arcade
Asheville Pinball Museum | Asheville, NC Photo courtesy of Asheville Pinball Museum Photo courtesy of Asheville Pinball Museum Relive the arcade glory days of the 1970s and '80s at the Asheville Pinball Museum. One ticket lets you play dozens of classic and modern pinball machines along with retro video games (Frogger, anyone?) all day long. This place is so popular that there's often a waitlist, so show up early to make sure you can get inside, grab a local craft beer and start racking up high scores. Big Time Entertainment | Oxford, AL Photo courtesy of Jose carlos Cerdeno/iStock by Getty Images Photo courtesy of Jose carlos Cerdeno/iStock by Getty Images Bowling, axe throwing, mini golf, go-karts, laser tag: if it's fun, Big Time Entertainment has it waiting for you and your family. Its arcade features over 50 games, from classics like Pac-Man and Skee-Ball to the newest VR games that immerse you in the action. Kids and adults alike appreciate Big Time Grille for a quick burger or pretzel bites before another round of air hockey. Captain Crazy's Paradise | Foley, AL Photo courtesy of Captain Crazy's Paradise Photo courtesy of Captain Crazy's Paradise If you want to play old-school Atari and Capcom games but your kids want to play Fortnite during your Gulf Coast vacation, you can do both at Captain Crazy's Paradise. This arcade brings the nostalgia with games like Asteroids and Street Fighter alongside gaming bays with projectors for your family's favorite console and PC games. Rather practice your golf swing than fight aliens? Head to the golf simulator. Dave & Buster's New York City - Times Square | New York City, NY Photo courtesy of tupungato/iStock by Getty Images Photo courtesy of tupungato/iStock by Getty Images You've probably been to one of the 170+ Dave & Buster's before, but you've never been to one like this. The part sports bar, part arcade in Times Square was recently remodeled, adding mind-blowing games like the Human Crane, a giant claw machine—where you're the claw! Besides cutting-edge arcade games and wall-to-wall TVs, this location also offers murder mystery dinners, half-price games on Wednesdays and all-you-can-eat wings on Mondays. Galloping Ghost Arcade | Brookfield, IL Photo courtesy of NoSystem images/iStock by Getty Images Photo courtesy of NoSystem images/iStock by Getty Images The largest video arcade in the U.S., Galloping Ghost Arcade houses almost a thousand games to blast, fly and fight your way through for a flat fee. These aren't the clunkers you've seen at the mall; each is lovingly restored for peak play. The games work so well they've become popular for world-record runs—you never know which elite player might be next in line to the Castlevania machine you're playing! Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade | Portland, OR Photo courtesy of Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade Photo courtesy of Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade At Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade, your mission is to have fun with more than a hundred pinball machines and video games, both new and retro. Families are welcome from noon to 5 pm, perfect for challenging your kids to an NBA Jam game while downing tasty snacks and mocktails from the full bar. In the evening, the arcade switches to 21+ and hosts mixers, karaoke nights and Stern Army tournaments. Jedi Alliance | Spokane, WA Photo courtesy of Jedi Alliance Photo courtesy of Jedi Alliance The Force (of nostalgia) is strong at Jedi Alliance, where you can play over 150 arcade and pinball games before wandering through its fascinating pop culture museum. After testing your skills on vintage favorites like Mortal Kombat and Theatre of Magic, go geek out over the museum's unique collection of movie props from sci-fi greats, such as Terminator 2 and Galaxy Quest, along with tons of Star Wars memorabilia. JW Entertainment Zone | Palm Desert, CA Photo courtesy of JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa Photo courtesy of JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa Inside the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa, you'll find one of California's largest resort arcades, brimming with nearly 200 classic games, from air hockey and basketball to a giant version of Pac-Man. Treat your friends to a round of drinks during a round of duckpin bowling, and then take a break from the noise of the arcade by walking outside and saying hi to the resort's famous flamingos. Musée Mécanique | San Francisco, CA Photo courtesy of KathyKafka/iStock by Getty Images Photo courtesy of KathyKafka/iStock by Getty Images On Pier 45 of Fisherman's Wharf you'll find a place that's part arcade, part sideshow museum and all kinds of quirky—Musée Mécanique, one of the world's largest private collections of coin-operated games and gadgets. Among rare finds like an antique hand-cranked organ, you'll see midway favorites you can play, like Atari's 1983 Star Wars video game, pinball cabinets from the 1960s and Zoltar-style fortune-telling machines. The best part? Free admission! Next Level Pinball Museum | Hillsboro, OR Photo courtesy of Next Level Pinball Museum Photo courtesy of Next Level Pinball Museum As if the over 300 pinball machines and over 300 arcade games from the 1980s to the present weren't enough, Next Level Pinball Museum draws in pop culture lovers too with thousands of vintage lunch boxes, pieces of movie memorabilia and toys that'll take you back to your childhood. It's one of the largest arcades in the world, so big that it takes almost four days to play every game! Peasants Deli & Arcade | Solvang, CA Photo courtesy of VTT Studio/iStock by Getty Images Photo courtesy of VTT Studio/iStock by Getty Images Come for the Kobe roast beef sandwiches, and stay for the secret stash of arcade games at Peasants Deli & Arcade. The arcade is small but mighty, with new-release and classic pinball games, claw machines (because everyone wants to win that huge rubber ducky!) and racing simulators. You'll love the arcade's wine-tasting events, complete with gourmet tapas and game tokens, that pair perfectly with a game of air hockey. Silverball Retro Arcade | Asbury Park, NJ Photo courtesy of Wirestock/iStock by Getty Images Photo courtesy of Wirestock/iStock by Getty Images Step off the Jersey Shore boardwalk and into Silverball Retro Arcade, where over 150 new and vintage games are ready to play. From a 1930s prize machine and a 1980s Donkey Kong arcade cabinet to the latest digital wonders from Jersey Jack Pinball, there's something to make every inner child giggle. If you work up an appetite, Silverball Café can refuel you with Nathan's Famous hot dogs and funnel cakes. Silverball Retro Arcade | Delray Beach, FL Photo courtesy of Silverball Retro Arcade Photo courtesy of Silverball Retro Arcade Need a rainy-day activity during your Florida beach trip? Silverball Retro Arcade offers throwback fun with dozens of pinball and video arcade games from every era. The arcade's disco ball sets a party vibe as you team up for a game of table shuffleboard or Ms. Pac-Man. You should definitely try the arcade's zeppole, Italian doughnuts topped with pastry cream. Weekday happy hours make the fun budget-friendly. The 1up Arcade Bar | Denver, CO Photo courtesy of The 1up Arcade Bar Photo courtesy of The 1up Arcade Bar With four locations spread across Denver, the 1up Arcade Bar brings its A game no matter where you are in the city. You'll love playing classics like Big Buck Safari and Galaga alongside new hits like Mario Kart DX racing and Stranger Things pinball. Each arcade has a full bar, perfect for downing a pickle shot (or a mystery shot if you're feeling brave) before joining the monthly pinball tournament. The Midway at Circus Circus | Las Vegas, NV Photo courtesy of Circus Circus Hotel & Casino Photo courtesy of Circus Circus Hotel & Casino Step right up! The Midway, inside the famous Circus Circus Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, is a family-friendly arcade filled with hundreds of carnival games and arcade machines, both new and old. You can win big prizes while you play or simply sit back and watch the incredible (and free!) circus acts that wow the crowd on the arcade's center stage. The Track Family Fun Park | Gulf Shores, AL Photo courtesy of kali9/iStock by Getty Images Photo courtesy of kali9/iStock by Getty Images While you might be tempted to ride the Skycoaster, go-karts and Blaster Boats all day at the Track, take a break from the Gulf Coast heat inside Fat Daddy's Arcade, the Track's indoor gaming space. Over 60 games, from claw machines and racing games to digital bowling, will thrill your family—especially once your kids get to redeem their tickets for cool prizes!
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
After the Arecibo collapse in 2020, a lone NASA radar dish in the Mojave desert stepped up as a leading asteroid hunter
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Rising out of the remote Mojave Desert, NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar is a solitary satellite dish that communicates with spacecraft. In its downtime, the facility's antennas can track objects in space as they pass by Earth, improving measurements of their orbits that help scientists calculate if a particular target has a chance of colliding with our planet. By the end of 2024, Goldstone had detected 55 Near-Earth Asteroids, setting a new annual record for the facility. In 1968, scientists used Goldstone to make the first radar asteroid observations. In the decades that followed, researchers leaned more heavily on the Arecibo Observatory, a larger dish in Puerto Rico that could make more detailed studies. "While Arecibo was in operation, about 2.5 times as many binary system satellites had been found there relative to Goldstone," asteroid hunter and planetary scientist Lance Benner, of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told by email. But the unexpected 2020 collapse of Arecibo left Goldstone as the new heavy hitter. According to Benner, the number of binaries identified by Goldstone is comparable to those found at Arecibo. Benner, who uses Goldstone to observe known asteroids, updated the planetary science community on the status of steroid radar observations made to Goldstone in March, at the 56th annual Lunar and Planetary Sciences Conference in Houston, Texas. Asteroids are leftover bits from the dawn of the solar system, and have the potential to reveal information about those formative years. Of the 37,255 known near-Earth asteroids, only 1127 have been observed by radar, and 512 of those were observed by Goldstone. Since the fall of Arecibo, 199 NEAs have been detected at Goldstone; 154 of them were detected for the first time by radar. Of those, 112 were classified as potentially hazardous asteroids. While asteroids are more easily discovered with optical telescopes, radar images shine when it comes to details. Radar can help astronomers study the physical properties of the asteroids, including their shapes, sizes, rotation states, surface features like roughness, and radar reflectivity. "Some images obtained with radar […] rival the resolutions of spacecraft flyby missions," Benner said. All of this can help scientists better understand the structure and composition of the asteroids as they buzz by Earth. Radar can also help to refine the asteroid's path through space, which can help researchers determine how likely it is to collide with Earth in the future. And radar shines when it comes to companions. Because it provides the equivalent of an up-close look at the space rocks, it can determine when asteroids are in binary pairs or even triple systems. Of the 75 binary and triple asteroid systems observed by radar since 2000, 70% were discovered using radar. From 2021 to 2024, Goldstone's DSS-14 radar antenna observed 19 binary systems, identifying 14 of these for the first time. Goldstone even helped revise some of Arecibo's findings; the system 1998 ST27 was formerly classified as a binary from previous observations, but has now been reclassified as a triple thanks to Goldstone. Observations of these NEAs are generally scheduled well in advance, though there are occasionally opportunities to study a newfound asteroid on short notice. In some months, Benner said, there might be observations anywhere from 10 to 15 days, while in other months hunting asteroids is regulated to only a handful of days. The process has become more flexible in recent years. In the past, would-be-observers had to obtain permission from more then 20 government agencies or military units who control restricted airspace surrounding the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex. "Obtaining approval could take several days, and in some cases, the asteroids had moved too far from Earth by the time we got approval to take full advantage of the observing opportunities," Benner said. That requirement is no longer necessary. Observers no longer need to get approval to transmit toward specific parts of the sky and at specific times. "This gives us the ability to change targets on the fly," Benner said. That, in turn, allows for a rising number of asteroids to be studied. "There are now so many asteroids known — and being discovered, sometimes more than 200 per month — that there are usually multiple asteroids within our range of detection every day, so flexibility with observing is really important," Benner said. The greater flexibility has led to an increase in asteroid observations from the Mojave. The 55 NEAs detected at Goldstone in 2024 represents a 1.5x increase relative to the average from 2012 to 2018, and a five-fold increase compared to 15 years ago. "Overall, there has been a significant uptick in time allocated at Goldstone for radar observations," as priority for radar observations is now considered comparable to space missions, Benner said. RELATED STORIES: — 2 asteroids just zipped by Earth, and NASA caught footage of the action — NASA radar images show stadium-size asteroid tumbling by Earth during flyby (photos) — Radar could help scientists find potentially threatening asteroids. Here's how Goldstone saw first light in December 1958, immediately after NASA was created and just in time to support the agency's Pioneer 3 mission to the moon. The Pioneer Station, an 85-foot (26-meter) polar mounted antenna, was the first to be constructed at Goldstone, and went on to support multiple spacecraft as well as the Apollo missions. It was officially shut down in 1981, and in 1985 was declared a National Historic Monument due to its role as the first deep space antenna in the Deep Space Network. The first observation of an asteroid using a radar telescope was made of asteroid (1566) Icarus in 1968 at Goldstone and later the then-functioning Haystack Observatory. At the time, Icarus was a subject of extreme interest as it made its closest approach to Earth. Goldstone antennas have also been used to study other objects in the solar system, such as the moon. Goldstone was the first of three instruments that today make up NASA's Deep Space Network. Along with dishes in Canberra, Australia and Madrid, Spain, the network communicates with ongoing missions, including continuing to keep in contact with the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft, the most distant human-made objects in the solar system. More than 40 missions have depended on the network, and it is expected to support twice that number in the coming years.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Hyundai Teases the Insteroid, a Concept That Looks Straight out of a Video Game
The video-game-inspired Insteroid concept is based on the , a compact EV SUV sold in Europe and Asia. The Insteroid concept features insane motorsport-influenced styling, with a massive rear wing, boxy wheel arches, and pixelated LED rain lights. Hyundai is expected to officially unveil the new concept early next month as a show car. The video game landscape has changed quite a bit since Asteroids was released in 1979. High-poly 3-D models, hyper-realistic graphics, and sophisticated physics engines have turned video games into a medium for transforming fantasies into virtual reality. With its new Insteroid concept, Hyundai aims to flip that script by building a real-life concept so wild that it looks like it could only exist on a virtual racetrack. The Insteroid appears to be the antithesis of the humble 113-hp Inster EV SUV that it is based on. While the standard Inster is a budget-conscious foreign-market electric crossover best used for inner-city transport, there's nothing humble about the Insteroid's visual styling. Hyundai says that the Insteroid name is a combination of the words "Inster" and "steroid," and it certainly looks more 'roid than Inster. Its aggressive exterior mixes visual elements reminiscent of 1980s WRC and modern Formula 1 cars, with Audi Quattro–style boxed wheel arches and a rear wing that could have come straight off of Max Verstappen's championship-winning F1 racer from last year. In Hyundai's dimly lit teaser photos, the silhouette of a roll cage can be seen through the Insteroid's windshield, and a roof scoop sits atop its lid. Pixelated LED rear rain lights are another playful accent that blends the barrier between virtual and reality. The Insteroid's interior presumably matches its sporty exterior, with control buttons and an instrument display designed specifically for the video game-inspired concept. It is unclear whether the Insteroid features the same 103-hp electric powertrain as the standard Inster (if it features a powertrain at all), but Hyundai will likely discuss those details when they unveil the concept early next month. With the Insteroid set to remain a show model, the only time that you are likely to drive it is if it appears in Gran Turismo. You Might Also Like Car and Driver's 10 Best Cars through the Decades How to Buy or Lease a New Car Lightning Lap Legends: Chevrolet Camaro vs. Ford Mustang!
