Capcom, one of the last remaining developers still making games for arcades, has blamed the declining Japanese arcade market on the rising cost of fuel, among other things.

Their latest earnings report shows “sluggish growth” in the ailing arcade market, even though the company opened up nine new arcade plazas across the country last year.

“There were several factors that negatively affected performance: the dissemination of home video game machines, intensified competition, declining popularity of card dispensing games for children, and the decrease of visitors to those arcades located in suburban shopping malls due to rising gasoline/petrol prices,” Capcom said.

The company notes that its arcade operating income took a huge dip in 2007 versus the previous year, leading to a nearly 10% drop in Capcom’s net profit for its arcade business.

The next edition in the TrackMania series, TrackMania United Forever, is launching this Friday and will feature even more tracks than before. The game will also feature quite a few new cars and will let players share their custom-created tracks as well as customized cars. Below is the car list:

• Stadium Car - Iconic TrackMania car that’s part F1 car, part sturdy buggy
  
• Fast racing Car - The fastest car in the TrackMania series will test your reaction times
  
• The ‘American’ - Sensitive suspension to challenge handling skills
  
• 4×4 Grand Class - Fast and flexible with a motor revved to the max
  
• Rally Car - Slide round dirt tracks with this ultra light and ultra powerful vehicle
  
• Roadster - Requires meticulous driving with expert acceleration and breaking
  
• Pick-Up - Rough and tumble racing with a mechanical monster

Microsoft has finally come out of the closet and announced Xbox 360 Arcade, a cheaper model of the Xbox 360. Aimed at families this coming Holiday season, the Arcade model will retail for $279/£199 that includes a 256MB memory card and a wireless controller as well as a disc containing full versions of the five following Xbox Live Arcade titles: Pac-Man, Uno, Luxor 2, Boom Boom Rocket and Feeding Frenzy.

The new model is already available in North America. It will hit UK stores this Friday, October 26.

Wideload Shorts sends word that it will release Cyclomite, an online browser-based game to support its launch of InstantAction, an online gaming site. To be released early next year, the game will have players pilot the titular vehicle through relentless meteor storms. There will be two multiplayer modes, hundreds of co-operative multiplayer levels, and a competitive versus multiplayer mode.

“For InstantAction to succeed, we need to have the top Indie developers participating. So we are stoked to have Wideload bring us an original title,” said Josh Williams, CEO of Garagegames.com. “We haven’t stopped there. We expect other top developers to announce their support Instant Action in the coming months.”

InstantAction.com is the first web-based game network that will provide original action games through standard web browsers. The site will go live during January 2008.

The badass-ness of Contra is coming soon to your DS, as Contra 4 is being released on November 13. A dedicated website for the game will launch later this month. The game goes back to the series’ roots and will feature hardcore gameplay with two-player cooperative play.

Trippy shooter Gridrunner++ is headed to Xbox Live, as revealed by Jeff Minter, the psychedelic game’s creator, on his Livejournal blog. Already available on PC and Mac, with demos available from the Llamasoft website, the game is a traditional top-down shooter injected with flying sheep and weird stage names, among other things.

“I already have it running modified for the different aspect ratio and working off the x360 pad as opposed to the mouse, and I’m changing and extending the gameplay; it’ll be a much more involved game than the PC-only predecessor,” he wrote on his blog. “I’m getting all the gameplay working first then I’ll overhaul the graphics; we’ll likely go for algorithm generated 3D shapes rather than the hand-drawn sprites of the PC original.”

The legendary animated arcade game Space Ace has been re-released in high definition. Video from the game has been transferred directly from the original film source, resulting in sharp images and vibrant colors which are said to be better than the original laser disc release.

Dubbed Space Age HD, the game will also feature a completely new five channel surround sound audio mix and more. Here’s the deal on the story:

In Space Ace you play the heroic Ace who must stop the evil Commander Borf from taking over the Earth! Borf plans to reduce all of humankind to infants and take over the planet. Only two people have the courage and strength to stop Borf and save Earth: the beautiful Kimberly and the heroic Ace. But as they approach Borf’s stronghold, Ace is hit by the Infanto Ray, changing him into a child, and Kimberly is kidnapped by the evil madman! The fate of Earth is in your hands!

The game will be available later this Fall on PC. It will also be released on Blu-ray and HD-DVD sometime next year.

Some awesome new screenshots from Burnout Paradise.

Want to cook on the go? Majesco has heard you, because they are publishing Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends for the DS on November 13. It will also be released for the Wii.

Not a full-fledged cooking simulator like the console version, the arcade-like title will offer up 80 virtual recipes, the taste of which will be judged by an in-game panel of food critics. There will be 150 cooking mini-games and four player wireless multiplayer.

Following up on its hit arcade game, SouthPeak Games has announced Monster Madness: EX for release in North America early next year for the PS3. It will retain the four player co-op gameplay from the original, but will include an all new polished look and improved game elements, though exact details weren’t specified. The game will also feature tightened controls, a host of mini-games, newly built-in extras and a polished camera, among other things.

You’ll soon be heading to the beast’s lair as Conspiracy Entertainment sends word that they have secured the publishing rights to Dragon Lair, the classic arcade game. As part of the deal, they will be releasing the original Dragon Lair and Dragon Lair II ‘Warp Time’ for the DS; they will also publish the DS version of Space Ace. United Coders are developing all versions of the game.

Dragon Lair DS will feature two modes of play - Arcade mode and Director’s Cut. The arcade mode plays just like the classic game, with all the original scenes, death scenes and oddities found in the version. The latter one is played differently, with support for Rumble Pak, Stylus, and voice recognition.

The game is due to ship during Q1 2008, with others following at a later date.

Fireglow Games and Tri Synergy have announced that they will be co-publishing Pirate’s Revenge, an arcade action game set on the high seas as players defeat and loot enemy ships.

Pirate’s Revenge is an arcade action game on the high seas. Successful pirates are rewarded with money and resources which are looted from defeated enemies’ sunken ships. From your island base you can use these resources and treasure to build better ships, weapons and cannon balls to turn the tides in your favor for future battles. If you’re lucky enough to obtain an enemy ships’ design plans you can build faster ships with better armor and equip them with more powerful cannons. Now you’ll be capable of shooting further, faster, and inflicting more damage. Blast your way to victory and riches!

The game is set for release in mid-August and will feature 35 single-player missions, 4 buildable ships, weather effects, multiplayer and more.

Yet another World War II-change-history game is headed our way thanks to Legendo Entertainment. Dubbed Attack on Pearl Harbor, the game has players fighting for either sides, defending or attacking the historical harbor. Here’s the deal:

In Attack on Pearl Harbor, players can sign up for either side as they are offered the role of daring US gunner turned pilot Douglas Knox or Japanese ace Zenji Yamada. History’s yours to shape: Either nation can win the war depending on your actions as players battle for supremacy behind the cockpits of some of the most prolific fighters, bombers and torpedo-bearing aircraft of the WWII Pacific Theater. Playable planes include Japan’s Mitsubishi A6M “Zero”, the D3A1 Aichi “Val” and the B5N Nakajima “Kate” as well as America’s Chance Vought F4U Corsair, the Douglas SBD Dauntless and the Grumman TBM Avenger.

Attack on Pearl Harbor features four campaigns, plus a “quick play” dogfight game mode. In addition to the initial Japanese attack on Hawaii, the game also offers a host of famed and challenging scenarios such as the Battle of Midway, Iwo Jima, Burma and Manila. Each campaign spans several months during 1941-1945, offering an exciting and varied selection of missions each 30-day period.

“Thanks to the talented team at 3D People, we’ve produced a gorgeous “pick up and play” aerial combat experience that recreates all the intensity and atmosphere of the Pacific War,” said Bjorn Larsson, CEO, Legendo Entertainment. “We look forward to bringing this stunning game to the masses in early 2007.”

Peter Nagy, project manager at 3D People, continued, “We’re thrilled to partner with Legendo on this exciting new title. Attack on Pearl Harbor isn’t just amazing-looking. It’s also been designed from the ground up to be fun and accessible to the widest possible audience.”

Chris Bateman, Managing Director of International Hobo Ltd, which provides game design and dialogue scripting services for 3D People and other clients added: “It’s been a delight to see this game come together. The title provides a very different perspective on World War II by affording audiences the chance to see the conflict from either side while remaining brilliantly playable.”

Features

• Intuitive Controls - Pick up and play the game via a simple, straightforward control scheme that’ll have anyone flying in seconds.
  
• Jaw-Dropping Graphics - Widescreen gaming support coupled with dazzling special effects provides a beautifully rendered backdrop of the Pacific.
  
• Choose Your Side - Play as the dashing Douglas Knox of the USAAF or fighter pilot Zenji Yamada of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service.
  
• Riveting Action - Take off from the deck of an aircraft carrier in the most prolific fighters, bombers and torpedo-bearing aircraft of the WWII Pacific Theatre!
  
• Historical Campaigns - Fight the selfsame battles that determined the outcome of the war, from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima!

The game is set for release during Q1 2007.

Through a brief note, SOE announced that Cash Money Chaos, its upcoming arcade-style shooter for the PSP, has been renamed Cash Guns Chaos.

After being captured by an alien race, players struggle through a version of a twisted 70’s game show to save themselves and the human race. There are more than 50 blood-filled and body-part laden levels in CGC where players are try to grab as much cash as possible while destroying all the demented clowns and killer gorillas in their way. Featuring wickedly fast paced arcade style action in a fully 3D world, players will fight dozens of enemies at a time. CGC’s multiplayer functionality allows up to 8 friends to wirelessly team up or compete against each other in exciting online scenarios. As enemies are killed, they drop both cash and prizes, such as toasters and luxury vacations, to help players finish their goal.

Cash Guns Chaos is slated for release during the first quarter of 2007.

Sure to be good news to Xbox 360 and Castlevania fans: Konami will be releasing Symphony of the Nights (the PlayStation version) on Xbox Live Arcade, according to this report from 1Up which cites the September issue of EGM.

The company will also be releasing Frogger, Contra, Track & Field and Time Pilot, among others, on the broadband network. These titles are tentatively slated for release during Q1 2007.