"Guitar Hero Arcade" seems poised for success before it's even out the door, which already has the game's developers thinking about the future.

When development started at Raw Thrills, Activision and Neversoft were building "Guitar Hero World Tour." "Guitar Hero Arcade" is based on "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock."

With "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero World Tour" taking band-style music games to the mainstream, Raw Thrills VP Andrew Eloff is intrigued at the idea of expanding that to the arcade game.

"It's exciting to think about, isn't it?," said Eloff to MTV Multiplayer during a "Guitar Hero Arcade" interview last week. "I personally really like playing the drums now because that's like a whole different level of play [The decision] really is up to Activision and Konami. At the end of the day, it's Activision's baby and Konami is the partner on it and we're developing it and manufacturing it for them. It's really up to them, but I think it would be super cool to add more instruments and stuff like that."

What do you think about "Guitar Hero World Tour" in the arcades? If this game had been available during my college years, it would have eaten my wallet.

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Source: ‘Guitar Hero Arcade’ Coming Next Year From ‘Big Buck Safari’ Developer

"Guitar Hero Arcade" is coming early next year, courtesy of Activision, arcade developer Raw Thrills (see: "Big Buck Hunter") and…Konami?!

That's right. Former music game heavyweight and genre pioneer Konami is working with its former rivals to bring "Guitar Hero" to a brand-new scene.

Soon, you won't even have to leave the bar to play a few chords from your favorite Nirvana song.

To learn more about what to expect from "Guitar Hero Arcade," we hopped on the phone with Raw Thrills VP Andrew Eloff, who explained the project's history, what Konami's involvement is and what "Guitar Hero" fans will find when they pop in a quarter.

[Photo Credit: bemanistyle]

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Rumors have suggested lately that Activision Blizzard is about to help "Guitar Hero" enter the arcade business.

The rumors are right. A source close to the project anonymously told MTV Multiplayer over the weekend that "Guitar Hero Arcade" is coming next year.

"Guitar Hero Arcade" is currently in development at Raw Thrills, said our source. They're the same Illinois developer founded by "Defender" creator Eugene Jarvis that was responsible for the popular "Big Buck Safari" games and the infamous "Target: Terror" game released on Wii earlier this year.

Re-affirming details surfaced elsewhere, our source relayed that "Guitar Hero Arcade" will feature "10 speakers, over 500 LED's, a 32" monitor, and online cash tournaments." More on the game should be revealed soon.

There's no word on what tracks we might expect in this version, what kind of guitar it will use or if it's even a guitar-only affair. When contacted, Activision Blizzard had no comment.

We'll keep digging for more information. In the meantime, you excited for "Guitar Hero Arcade"?

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With reports popping up on the Internet about "Street Fighter IV" arcade cabinets appearing in a handful of arcades across the United States, I began to wonder:

How can I get one?

I asked my man in Capcom PR how to obtain an official arcade unit. He confirmed to me that "technically, the average gamer probably could" get one -- if they can navigate the following hurdles:

1) Spend A Lot Of Money: Capcom won't divulge the price. All I could find out is that the 2,349,400 Yen cost I found on a website from March is a re-seller's price. Capcom is selling for less. But considering that re-seller price amounts to $21,802, I guess we're talking about an actual price that is still greater than what I usually spend on a PS3, a year's supply of socks or a honeymoon.

2) Buy In Bulk: Want a "Street Fighter IV" arcade cabinet? Too bad, you can't get one. You have to get four of them. So be ready to write a really big check. Capcom won't take orders for single units. The company requires a purchase of four units of "Street Fighter IV." I wonder how many "Street Fighter V" units they'll require when that game comes out? (Apparently Bungie Studios inquired about buying one -- but do even they have money for four?)

3) Live In Japan: Capcom isn't selling "SFIV" arcade cabinets in the U.S. yet. So how is the game already in some American arcades? It appears that U.S. arcade-owners have imported their units, in some cases just having imported the boards and stuck them into non-"SFIV" cabinets. The units in the U.S. now are gray-market and not approved by Capcom.

4) Wait: Capcom U.S. pr man Chris Kramer tells me that there's no official date for when the ""SFIV" cabinets will ship to the U.S. But the company wants to make it happen. "We're still talking with a few people here, but the arcade business outside of Japan is tough," he told me today. "There are at least two companies seriously interested in purchasing 'SFIV' machines from us, but no done deals at the moment."

If any of this discourage you for some reason, GameStop indicates that a slightly cheaper version of "Street Fighter IV" will be shipping for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in February.

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[Image Credit: Capcom Unity]

It's a bit ironic I'm spending time writing about my love for "Target: Terror," a game with a Metacritic score of just 34, during a week where Stephen Totilo is examining reviews.

I tracked down Eugene Jarvis, the head of Raw Thrills, who created the arcade version of "Target: Terror." This is the man responsible for "Defender" and "Robotron" -- true classics!

I had no idea our interview would end up evoking 9/11.

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If you haven't seen last year's documentary "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" (or read Stephen Totilo's series of stories from last year), turn off the computer and track down a copy (it's on DVD) right now. You're missing out.

For folks already keenly aware of the ongoing score battle between "Donkey Kong" rivals Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell, and rooting for the game's "good guy," I have some bad news.

Twin Galaxies, the organization that keeps record of video game high scores, monitored a match between the two in Las Vegas last week. Despite Wiebe's multiple attempts to topple Mitchell's oh-so-close high score, he couldn't.

Wiebe wasn't under the scrutiny of a documentary lens this time, but it was still, you know, Vegas. "Possibly the biggest challenges Steve had to overcome were the loud nightclub music, the chaotic environment and the late hours," said Twin Galaxies' referee Walter Day on the Guinness World Records website.

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First there was "Boxing" on the 2600. Then came "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!," followed by "Super Punch-Out!!" on the NES and SNES respectively. The "Ready 2 Rumble" games followed on the PS1, Dreamcast and PS2. And finally, the "next-generation" of consoles have their own arcade-style boxing game. EA's recently announced "FaceBreaker" is the next game to step in the ring.

I never really consciously made the choice to like boxing games. Sports games in general have never really been near the top of my list of games that I feel I need to play. But for some reason there is a special place in this gamer's heart for boxing games -- particularly the arcadey ones. That's why, when I had the opportunity to sit down and check out a pre-Alpha demo for the game last night at an EA press event, I was more than a little more excited.

After being shown a quick trailer for the game I got to jump in and actually see some action in the ring. The demo was running on an Xbox 360 development kit. The two boxers from the trailer, the bald Russian Molotov and the flamboyant Spaniard Romeo, were duking it out in a standard-looking gym. Their fighting styles were distinct: Molotov was a big bruiser, while Romeo was quick and on his toes. As you might expect, they each had their own special attacks that emphasized their strengths. For example, Molotov would come at you with both fists, and throw you in the corner, and have his way with you. The character animation looked smooth and fluid, even thought it was an early build of the game.

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Some of you may remember when Multiplayer pondered the question of who should make "Halo 4". We're pondering a new hypothetical today.

With the news that EA and Marvel have parted ways after the closing of the EA's Chicago studio, it means that the license for Marvel inspired fighting games is now up for grabs.

That leaves the question that is near and dear to my heart … who will step up to make the next fighting game worthy of starring Marvel's super heroes?

Once held by the 2-D fighting kings, Capcom, the license is not only a lucrative, but one that has spawned some of the greatest fighting games of all time. While the perfection that is "Marvel vs. Capcom 2" may never again be achieved, there are a variety of other publishers that could do the license justice.

I consider the top candidates -- and some longshots -- below.

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Peter Molyneux stole money from his grandmother. Chris Taylor made his hands stink of dirty quarters. I blithely played a "Donkey Kong" rip-off called "Pickaxe Pete" -- and liked it.

These are the essential components of our very first video game memories. Late last week I asked a group of people in and around the video game industry to share with me -- and with you -- their very first, hazy memories of playing a video game. Molyneux, Taylor and a dozen others -- including the Multiplayer team -- offer their first recollections below.

Read on to see how lifelong obsessions with video games begin. Then tell me, what's your first memory of playing a video game?

Brian Allgeier, Creative Director, "Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction"

First Gaming Memory: I was about nine years old and my family was vacationing in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We were at a hotel and my brother had just run full speed into a sliding glass door (Darn invisible collision walls). While my mother tended to his wounds, my Dad entered the room giddy with excitement. He wanted to show me some new amazing thing he had just found. We rushed outside and into a nearby pool hall. In the center of the smoke filled room was a shiny "Pac-Man" arcade cabinet. We played a few quarters and I remember being mesmerized by that yellow pixilated critter gobbling up dots in a neon blue maze. Oddly enough, that was probably the first and last time I ever saw my Dad get excited about a videogame.

***

Jonathan Blow, Game Designer, "Braid"

First Gaming Memory: "Combat" on the Atari 2600. I was unbeatable on the Tank-Pong levels (bouncing bullets!) I liked "Air-Sea Battle" better, but "Combat" was the canonical 2600 game, and being the pack-in, probably the first game anyone would boot up.

***

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The "Mario Kart" series is undisputedly my second favorite Nintendo franchise ("Smash Bros." wins the top spot), and when I see the opportunity to play the newest game in the series I seize it.

Unfortunately, the newest entry I had an opportunity to seize last night wasn't the much anticipated "Mario Kart Wii." It was a version that most people will never actually get to bring home: "Mario Kart Arcade GP 2."

Haven't heard of it? It is the second in a series of Namco produced full-on, sit-down style "Mario Kart" arcade cabinets. When I heard about the original "Mario Kart Arcade GP," I was convinced that a "Mario Kart" arcade game would never make it stateside. However, on Wednesday, upon wandering into my local Dave & Busters in Times Square, there it was, like a Japanese beacon from the gods, calling out to me to come and play. My time had come for me to spend my hard earned money on some arcade style "Mario Kart"ing. Having never even seen the first in it's full electronic glory, I was pretty shocked to find this fairly rare machine, and I was already to go.

I only had time for a handful of races, but it was long enough to see that the game was simply amazing, and I can only hope that the forth coming Wii version takes note of some of this version's nuances and ends up at least as enjoyable.

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