Disney has a new Tron movie coming out at the end of the year, Tron Legacy. For this, they’ve pulled out all the marketing stops. Viral sites, an ARG campaign, A recreation of Flynns arcade at Comic-Con, and, of course, a tie-in video game.

But that’s not what I want to talk about now. Instead, let’s have a look at the viral site Arcade Aid. Within it is a visual quiz, where they have hidden 56 classic game titles. Check it out.

Personally, I got up to 35 by myself, then I found the rest by collaborating with a couple of friends. How many can you find? Post your scores!

Note: If you are gonna post an answer in the comments, make sure to provide a clear warning first, so nobody gets spoiled.

Billy Mitchell, your barrel-dodging reign has come to a screeching halt. Say hello to the new king of arcade game Donkey Kong, New York City plastic surgeon Hank Chien!

Chien has dominated over Mitchell’s old score by 10,000 points, as verified by Twin Galaxies, the official name in arcade scoring.

The real kicker behind this? Chien has been playing the game less than a year. He says he started playing it just last September. “It’s something to add to my resume,” says the Harvard graduate.

Chien said that he was turned on to the game by watching the 2007 documentary The King of Kong, which depicts how Billy Mitchell defended his title from those who would contest it.

“This film made me realize there was a whole group of people that were playing the classics,” he told the New York Daily News. The overtaking occurred during a February snowstorm when Chien decided to take a day off and attempt a shot at the record on the machine he keeps at home.

“It’s something I can be proud of,” he added. “Donkey Kong requires reflexes, it requires strategy, it requires foresight planning and timing. It requires everything, which is the beauty of the game.”

Happy birthday, PS2! Ten years ago today, Sony launched the PlayStation 2 in Japan. The console launched on October 26 and November 24 respectively in the same year.

Since then the PS2 has become the best-selling console of al time, selling over 140 million units. The best selling PS2 game of all time ended up being Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

So let’s all join together and celebrate the PS2! Good times

Majesco has released an impressive collection of 15 fan-favorite games by developers Data East. This fantastic bundle will be seeing the Wii for $19.99.

The collection’s titles include: BurgerTime, Peter Pepper’s Ice Cream Factory, Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja, Burnin’ Rubber, Caveman Ninja, Crude Buster, Express Raider, Heavy Barrel, Lock ‘n’ Chase, Magical Drop III, Secret Agent, Side Pocket, Street Hoop, Super Real Darwin and Wizard Fire.

All games feature single and two-player support and now allow players to save, load and pause the action (something you can’t quite do in an arcade). In addition, there are 75 achievable goals in the compilation including unlocking of soundtracks for the games, gallery items, classic arcade marquees and bezels, and the ability to link your high scores with your Mii.

All games will support various controller types including the Wii Remote, Wii Remote with Nunchuck, Classic Controller and GameCube controllers.

A box full of nostalgia for $19.99? I think we know who wins in this deal.

Speaking to GameTrailers recently, Final Fantasy XIII producer Yoshinori Kitase admit that he’s quite interested in seeing a Final Fantasy VII remake come to fruition.

“I’m really interested to see this more complete form of Final Fantasy VII portrayed more realistically with the voice and animation and all the suttle expressions there.

“I’d be interested to see that and to make that, it would be a great experience. I don’t get tired of people asking that question, so I’ll continue to answer my thoughts as long as people keep asking.”

It’s surprising to hear this, considering that Square Enix has gone on the record numerous times stating that its simply not going to happen. Of course, just because he wants to make it, doesn’t necessarily mean it will actually happen.

Concept art from a cancelled version of Rare’s retro classic Sabre Wulf has recently appeared on the internet.

A lot of you might not be familiar with the name Peter Mckinstry as an employee for Rare, but you’ll definitely be familiar with his work – he is a concept designer for the Dr. Who and Torchlight television series.

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Remember the Xbox?

No, not the current one that dies if its out in the sun too long, the old bulky giant that kick-started Microsoft’s entrance into the console market. Remember how it was online enabled and everybody loved playing Halo 2 online as if it was the second coming?

It’s time to say your goodbyes and final farewells, as Major Nelson announced today that Xbox Live and online titles on the original Xbox will finally shut down on April 15th.

“We did not make this decision lightly, but after careful consideration and review we realize that this decision will allow us unprecedented flexibility for future features,” Nelson explained in regards to the closing of the service.

Rest in peace, you big hunk of metal you.

Are you one of the many gamers who fell in love with the Shenmue series back in the Dreamcast days? Are you still hoping that, even after all these years, the final chapter in the series will released? Well, it might still happen… if one of the console makers funds.

“None of the previous games sold really well for the investment made” according to statement by SEGA on Eurogamer.pt, “and SEGA is in doubt as to if it will resurrect the series. However, SEGA assured the fans that if there is some opportunity to revisit the series, they would love to do it.

“SEGA also mentioned the chance of one of the three hardware makers financing the game’s (Shenmue III) production in exchange for an exclusivity deal.”

Anyone have a few million sitting around? Want to help fund this?

Nobody?

Drat.

A leaked video has appeared online from this year’s CES 2010 show in Las Vegas, which shows Microsoft’s president of Entertainment and Devices Division Robbie Bach discussing the soon-to-be-announced feature for the Xbox Live.

‘Xbox Game Room’ is a feature that will offer users the chance to relive old retro games from the comfort of their couches by being able to play games classics, including “Centipede,” “Asteroids Deluxe,” and “Super Cobra”, and many others.

Players will be able to invite friends to your own custom arcade to challenge each other. The retro games will appear in their original cabinets and can be placed anywhere in your arcade.

Titles will be priced between 240-400 points for download, while 40 points nets players a single play as if they were using a quarter in the old arcade cabinets. Over 1000 titles will be available for play over the next three years. Microsoft also lets player’s have their own leaderboards, challenge friends to games, and be able to play games for free when viewing their friends ‘Game Rooms’.

‘Game Room’ is set to be announced and launched this Spring of 2010.

CVG today made an announcement of the discovery of a video on the internet, which they claim is the work of EA Warrington, showing concept gameplay of “bikers wrestling each other at high speed, and swinging baseball bats”.

If that sounds like Road Rash to you, then you’d be right.

It’s clear from even a cursory glance at this video that this isn’t live gameplay footage, but pre-visualisation CGI meant to give a basic idea of the concept. Whether this definitely real, we don’t know, but we intend to find out.

Check the video out for yourselves below. It’s pretty damn impressive.

Details recently scoured from SEGA’s PR FTP site have unveiled some interesting nuggets of information regarding future Sony plans, including the potential revelation that PS2 titles will soon be coming to the PlayStation Store.

PS2 emulator for PS3 (confidential)

• SCEA wants to sell all PS2 titles on PSN (GTA Vice City/Sonic/etc)
• For co Marketing money show PS3 controller on TV ads – similar to EA Madden Spots, NCAA, etc…

Sega is declining to comment on the leaked information.

Check out the full thing for yourself after the cut.

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Remember Elite? One of the most critically acclaimed video games of all time? Well, this week is its birthday, and to celebrate, Frontier have launched a website in honour of the legendary franchise.

The site “hosts information and media on the original Elite and its two sequels”, and we all as a general resource hub for those retro fans still looking for their Elite fix.

Full press release below

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Sega brand manager Ken Balough confirmed to GameSpot today that a new 2D Sonic game, with modern HD graphics, is currently in development, and is due for release in 2010.

The title (currently going under the codename “Project Needlemouse”, an amusing reference to one of Sonic’s original names before his character design was finalised way back when) is apparently being created in response to “old-school Sonic fans who have long asked to see Sonic return to a more 2D style of gameplay.”

“Speed returns in an all new 2D adventure built from the ground up,” states the trailer. Check out it out below, and try not to get too excited!

Ah, the GameBoy, quite possibly Nintendo’s finest gaming platform to date. Why are we celebrating the GameBoy, you ask? Because the grey brick is 20 years old today!

Created by Gunpei Yokoi, the GameBoy set out to conquer a virtually untapped market by letting gamers everywhere game on-the-go. With the immense popularity of Tetris and Pokémon, the GameBoy was dubbed the best handheld gaming system on the market.

Since then, we’ve been given a colour version as well as an Advanced model, with hardware sales for all models coming to a whopping 200 million units sold. No other handhelds, not even the DS has come close to matching this number.

The GameBoy was my introduction to gaming. My parents, my brother, and I were in Spain on vacation and both me and him were given a GameBoy to keep us entertained whenever we were bored. This was in 1992 and I was 4 years old.

Bundled with the GameBoys were special cartridges that contained 8 games on a single cartridge. Among those games was Tetris and Alleyway, titles my brother and I fell head over heels in love with. Since then I’ve been a big fan of Nintendo’s handhelds, owning at least one version of every model.

But as they say; you’ll always remember your first, and my first was the grey brick. Join The Gaming Vault in celebrating the GameBoy, an oldie, but a goodie.

- What are your fondest memories of the GameBoy?

- What was your favourite GameBoy title?

Missing that sense of gaming nostalgia from your daily life? In need a quick, fast way to keep yourself updated on the latest news from all corners of gaming culture? Want to be bombarded all day with nerdy gaming references that only those old enough to remember the Commodore 64 will understand?

Good, because The Gaming Vault is now on Facebook (as well as Twitter, if you didn’t already know), and all for your nerdy benefit!

As well as being an obvious and quick means for you to keep up-to-date on the latest gaming news that we post here on the site, TGV’s Facebook page will also attempt to serve up a regular nostalgia trip for those of you old enough to get the obscure and (hopefully) witty comments on gaming culture that we plan to dilute your life with as often as possible.

Add us! Invite your friends! Tell the world!

We can’t take over the universe all by ourselves, right?

LINK: TGV’s Facebook Page