Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Arcade Mania The Turbo-Charged World of Japan's Game Centers by Brian Ashcraft Arcade Mania: The Turbo-Charged World of Japan's Game Centers by Brian Ashcraft. Arcade Mania! The Turbo Charged World of Japan’s Game Centers is a great book that is filled with facts, history and graphics from some of the most well known video games in the world and some that can only be found in Japan. Written by Brian Ashcraft with Jean Snow, the book is as fun to read as it is to visit a game center in Japan. Game centers, or arcades, are ubiquitous in Japan – they can be found in almost every neighborhood and cater to all ages from young women and Japanese schoolgirls who can’t get enough of the sticker picture machines to the boys who aim to be the best shot in a variety of shooting games. Younger kids can be found trying their hand at traditional Taiko drumming to modern melodies and salarymen, and even women, can be found placing their bets at Mahjong or one of many other popular betting games despite the fact that gambling is technically illegal in Japan. Arcade Mania! covers the whole scene by providing insights from game designers, top Japanese gamers and even a few foreign experts who are hooked on the game centers in Japan. “Arcade Mania! offers a glimpse into a world not a lot of people know still exists. Arcades have, for the most part, disappeared in North America, and yet in Japan you find them everywhere. Acrade Mania! offers readers a virtual tour of a modern Japanese arcade and shows you how and why that happened….” Jean Snow on Arcade Mania! If you are of a certain age, you may remember playing games like Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong in your local arcade, thousands of mile away from their origin in the minds of Japanese designers like Tomohiro Nishikado who created Space Invaders in 1978, the first game that was not played against a clock but offered players three lives. The game became so popular that game centers in Japan were originally called “invader house” in Japanese and caused a national 100 Yen coin shortage! “I like going to game centers, and I usually go to Taito Hey! in Akihabara when I’m in that neighborhood, or to Sega Gigo in Ikebukuro near my home. I try to keep my visits down to once a week, and the one game I always make a point of playing these days is a side-scrolling shooter called Deathsmiles. My favorite retro game, the game I remember enjoying the most in arcades when I was young was Spy Hunter, but I haven’t played it in a very long time…” The game center experience in Japan has changed a lot with the advancement of technology. From games that were limited to black backgrounds to virtual people that resemble characters from Japanese manga (comic books), today you can even customize your sticker pictures by scribbling on an LCD screen and creating what is know as rakugaki. It’s hard to image what will come next but Japan’s game designers are sure to come up with innovative games that will amaze and entertain us all far into in the future. Arcade Mania! is a great book for those that love the video game scene and want to learn more about its history, appeal in Japan and why game centers remain on the scene here long after they have disappeared elsewhere in the world. A big thank you goes out to Jean Snow who contributed to the book, provided quotes for this article, and worked with the publisher, Kodansha International Limited, to provide The Nihon Sun with a copy for one lucky reader to win! Do you want to add this great book to your library? Purchase Arcade Mania: The Turbo-charged World of Japan’s Game Centers today or answer some arcade trivia from the book to win a copy of Arcade Mania! by clicking here. Electronic game. An electronic game is any interactive game operated by electronic circuitry. [1] Forms of electronic games include video games (arcade games, consoles, PC, handheld consoles), electro-mechanical games (arcades), and handheld game systems. Contents. Electro-mechanical arcade games [ edit | edit source ] Electro-mechanical (EM) games were electronic arcade games that predated and were similar to arcade video games, but relied on electro- mechanical components to produce sounds or images rather than a cathode ray tube (CRT) screen. [2] These were popular during the electro-mechanical golden age of the 1960s and 1970s, but video games eventually overtook them in popularity during the golden age of arcade video games that began with Space Invaders in 1978. [3] Electro-mechanical golden age [ edit | edit source ] The electro-mechanical golden age began with the 1959 arcade hit Mini Drive , a racing game where the player used a steering wheel to control a miniature car across a scrolling conveyor belt inside an arcade cabinet. It was manufactured by Kasco (Kansei Seiki Seisakusho) and became a hit in Japan. [3] Periscope , released by Namco in 1965, [4] [5] and then by SEGA in 1966. [6] Periscope revived the North American arcade industry in the late 1960s. [7] The game was cloned by Midway as Sea Raider (1969) and Sea Devil (1970). Midway later adapted it into an arcade video game, Sea Wolf (1976). [8] SEGA's 1970 multiplayer EM shooter game Gun Fight was a direct precedent to Taito's 1975 arcade video game Gun Fight , which in turn was influential on shooter video games. [9] Video projection games [ edit | edit source ] In the late 1960s, Japanese arcade manufacturers Kasco and SEGA introduced a new type of electro-mechanical game, video projection games. They were similar to, and anticipated, arcade video games, using rear video image projection to display moving animations on a video screen. [2] [3] [9] Video projection games became common in arcades of the 1970s. They combined electro-mechanical and video elements, laying the foundations for arcade video games, which adapted cabinet designs and gameplay mechanics from earlier video projection games. [9] The first video projection games were Kasco's Indy 500 , released in the late 1960s, [3] and SEGA's Duck Hunt , released in January 1969. [10] [11] Indy 500 was a rear-projection racing game designed by Kenzou Furukawa. It used rear image projection to display a first-person scrolling track on a video screen, along with rival cars the player needs to avoid crashing into, while the controls consisted of a steering wheel and accelerator pedal. It became a hit in Japan, selling 2,000 cabinets there, and inspired several clones in 1969, including SEGA's Grand Prix and Chicago Coin's Speedway , which became an even bigger hit in North America, selling 10,000 cabinets there and winning a prize. Indy 500 laid the foundations for racing video games. [3] In the late 1960s, SEGA developed Jet Rocket , which eventually released in 1970, and was cloned shortly after by three Chicago manufacturers. [7] It featured shooting and flight movement in a 3D environment from a first-person perspective, a precursor to first-person vehicle combat video games such as Battlezone (1980) and Hovertank 3D (1991), and the first-person shooter video game genre. [12] In 1974, Nintendo released Wild Gunman . It was the first interactive movie game, and the first game to use full motion video (FMV). [12] The quick time event (QTE) mechanic also has origins in Wild Gunman . Alternate film footage was played depending on the player's quick draw reaction. It paved the way for later QTE laserdisc video games. [9] In the 1970s, Kasco released a hit electro-mechanical arcade game with live- action FMV, projecting car footage filmed by Toei. [3] In 1975, Kasco released the first holographic 3-D game, Gun Smoke , a light gun shooter. It was a hit in Japan, selling 6,000 cabinets there, but only 750 cabinets were sold in the US. [13] It was followed by two more holographic Kasco gun games, Samurai and Bank Robber , released between 1975 and 1977, as well as a 1976 Midway clone, Top Gun . They predated the first holographic video games, SEGA's Time Traveler (1991) and Holosseum (1992). [14] Following the release of Pong in 1972, arcade video games began competing with electro-mechanical games in the arcades. [15] [3] The gradual shift was not abrupt, as early arcade video games were largely modelled after earlier video projection games, [9] which continued to thrive up until the 1978 video game Space Invaders , [3] which dealt a powerful blow to electro-mechanical games. [16] Kasco, one of the biggest electro- mechanical arcade manufacturers at the time, declined due to its reluctance to make the transition to arcade video games. The 1978 release of Space Invaders marked the end of the electro-mechanical golden age, and the beginning of the golden age of arcade video games. [3] Electronic handhelds [ edit | edit source ] Waco, a Japanese toy manufacturer, manufactured the first electronic handheld game, Electro Tic-Tac-Toe . It was released in 1972. [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] Electro-mechanical game. Electro-mechanical ( EM ) games were electronic arcade games that predated and were similar to arcade video games, but relied on electro- mechanical components to produce sounds or images rather than a cathode ray tube (CRT) screen. [1] These were popular during the electro-mechanical golden age of the 1960s and 1970s, but video games eventually overtook them in popularity during the golden age of arcade video games that began with Space Invaders in 1978. [2] Electro-mechanical golden age [ edit | edit source ] The electro-mechanical golden age began with the 1959 arcade hit Mini Drive , a racing game where the player used a steering wheel to control a miniature car across a scrolling conveyor belt inside an arcade cabinet. It was manufactured by Kasco (Kansei Seiki Seisakusho) and became a hit in Japan. [2] Periscope , was released by Namco in 1965, [3] [4] and then by SEGA in 1966. [5] Periscope revived the North American arcade industry in the late 1960s. [6] The game was cloned by Midway as Sea Raider (1969) and Sea Devil (1970). Midway later adapted it into an arcade video game, Sea Wolf (1976). [7] SEGA's 1970 multiplayer EM shooter game Gun Fight was a direct precedent to Taito's 1975 arcade video game Gun Fight , which in turn was influential on shooter video games. [8] Video projection games [ edit | edit source ] In the late 1960s, Japanese arcade manufacturers Kasco and SEGA introduced a new type of electro-mechanical game, video projection games. They were similar to, and anticipated, arcade video games, using rear video image projection to display moving animations on a video screen. [1] [2] [8] Video projection games became common in arcades of the 1970s. They combined electro-mechanical and video elements, laying the foundations for arcade video games, which adapted cabinet designs and gameplay mechanics from earlier video projection games. [8] The first video projection games were Kasco's Indy 500 , released in the late 1960s, [2] and SEGA's Duck Hunt , released in 1968. [9] [10] [11] Indy 500 was a rear-projection racing game designed by Kenzou Furukawa. It used rear image projection to display a first-person scrolling track on a video screen, along with rival cars the player needs to avoid crashing into, while the controls consisted of a steering wheel and accelerator pedal. It became a hit in Japan, selling 2,000 cabinets there, and inspired several clones in 1969, including SEGA's Grand Prix and Chicago Coin's Speedway , which became an even bigger hit in North America, selling 10,000 cabinets there and winning a prize. Indy 500 laid the foundations for racing video games. [2] In the late 1960s, SEGA developed Jet Rocket , which eventually released in 1970, and was cloned shortly after by three Chicago manufacturers. [6] It featured shooting and flight movement in a 3D environment from a first-person perspective, a precursor to first-person vehicle combat video games such as Battlezone (1980) and Hovertank 3D (1991), and the first-person shooter video game genre. [12] In 1974, Nintendo released Wild Gunman . It was the first interactive movie game, and the first game to use full motion video (FMV). [12] The quick time event (QTE) mechanic also has origins in Wild Gunman . Alternate film footage was played depending on the player's quick draw reaction. It paved the way for later QTE laserdisc video games. [8] In the 1970s, Kasco released a hit electro-mechanical arcade game with live- action FMV, projecting car footage filmed by Toei. [2] In 1975, Kasco released the first holographic 3-D game, Gun Smoke , a light gun shooter. It was a hit in Japan, selling 6,000 cabinets there, but only 750 cabinets were sold in the US. [13] It was followed by two more holographic Kasco gun games, Samurai and Bank Robber , released between 1975 and 1977, as well as a 1976 Midway clone, Top Gun . They predated the first holographic video games, SEGA's Time Traveler (1991) and Holosseum (1992). [14] Following the release of Pong in 1972, arcade video games began competing with electro-mechanical games in the arcades. [15] [2] The gradual shift was not abrupt, as early arcade video games were largely modelled after earlier video projection games, [8] which continued to thrive up until the 1978 video game Space Invaders , [2] which dealt a powerful blow to electro-mechanical games. [16] Kasco, one of the biggest electro- mechanical arcade manufacturers at the time, declined due to its reluctance to make the transition to arcade video games. The 1978 release of Space Invaders marked the end of the electro-mechanical golden age, and the beginning of the golden age of arcade video games. [2] GameSetInterview: 'The Turbo-Charged Making Of Arcade Mania' [Continuing with a series of GameSetWatch-exclusive interviews exploring alternative looks at gaming, Jeriaska sits down with Arcade Mania author Brian Ashcraft to look at his and Jean Snow's new book about the Japanese arcade game scene.] A new generation of console games equipped with internet connectivity has allowed for the return of a key feature of the arcade game experience: joining in a game with another human being you’ve never met before. Combine this phenomenon with the thriving retro game scene and there could hardly be a better time for an overview of the past and present of the arcades. Enter Arcade Mania!: The Turbo Charged World of Japan’s Game Centers, a book by Brian Ashcraft with Jean Snow. While out in Japan since October, care of Kodansha International, the book arrives this week in English-language territories. What many who grew up frequenting arcades in North America and Europe will notice in Mania! is a brew of the nostalgic and the not-so-familiar. There are trips down memory lane with racers like Out Run, light gun titles like The House of the Dead, and 2D hop-and-bops like Bubble Bobble. Then there are glimpses of gaming experiences that may be altogether new---through sticker pictures, pachinko parlors, past mahjong tiles and collectible card games. Here to offer us a walkthrough of the book’s trip through Japan’s game centers is author Brian Ashcraft, editor for Kotaku, whose writing has appeared in Popular Science, Metropolis Magazine and Japan Times. The discussion offers both an introduction to the action-packed read and some insights into the making of Arcade Mania! . GSW: Arcade Mania! is divided into nine chapters, each focusing on different realms, past and present, of Japan’s arcade game centers. Along the way we are introduced to nine players, including Daigo Umehara, the 2D fighting game champ, and Aaron Chmielowiec, the rhythm game phenom. At what point in writing did you decide to make arcade gamers a prominent voice in the book? Ashcraft: That was one of the main impetus for writing the book. When I came up with the idea for doing an arcade book, I didn't just want to focus solely on the games and the people who make them. That's the obvious approach, I think. Instead, I wanted to showcase the players. Games need players. Players are the final puzzle piece that is gaming. Players are what take gaming out of the abstract and put them in the real world. So, I thought from the beginning if this book is going to have any weight, we need to do more than trace the history and talk to developers: We need to talk to players. One of the things that inspired this was superplay DVDs -- DVDs that show recorded footage of famous arcade players' spectacular gameplay. Those DVDs often have interviews with the players and even commentary. That was always fascinating watching them play and hearing them describe how they got good or why they liked a certain game. I figured that would make fantastic material for a book. So early on, I wanted to divide the book up into genres and peg each player to that genre. The player would be a vessel for telling not only his story, but the genre's story. This is good structure for telling stories and makes the information more human and approachable. Often game writing focuses either on very technical things, and some of the humanity is lost. I wanted to focus on the technical, while at the same time, bring out something real, something personal. Another thing that inspired the book was a Kotaku post I did on the UFO catcher queen, Yuka Nakajima, about two or three years ago. The post was some Japanese TV clip showing her catching prizes in some game center. At the time, I thought, "Wow, there's someone in Japan who specializes in crane games?" When I was dividing up the chapters into the various genres, I wanted players that would represent each of them. She immediately came to mind. Same for Daigo Umehara, Kenta Cho and Aaron. And so I was able to start fleshing out the book and laying out the chapters. GSW: I like that Aaron has the chance to point out some of the finer points of arcade social norms in the chapter on rhythm games, like that in Canada leaning against the support bar while playing DanceDanceRevolution is frowned upon because it takes away from the spectacle of the performance, whereas in Japan it’s more widely accepted as necessary to maxing out your dance points. Have you found there are other surprising or significant cultural differences when comparing the arcade scene in Japan with that of North America or Europe? Ashcraft: Oh definitely. Perhaps the most notable would be with fighting games. In North America, fighting game cabinets typically have two joysticks and button layouts side-by-side. You can see your opponent, he or she is standing right next to you. However, that's not true with the cabinet set-ups for fighting games in Japan. Fighting games in Japan typically have two cabinets back-to-back. You cannot see the other player, and it's considering bad manners to look over the cabinet to see whose ass you are kicking or who is kicking your ass. That's quite a discrepancy. Co-op two player games like beat 'em ups and shooting games have the joystick and button layouts side-by-side. That's a telling insight into Japanese culture. Author Brian Ashcraft with giant, marauding Norton Fighter. GSW: Your book comes replete with interesting facts about the history of the game center. There are some insightful comments from Space Invaders creator Tomohiro Nishikado and Xevious mastermind Masanobu Endo. One thing I found interesting, not everyone might be aware that Sega was an abbreviation of “Service Games,” and that both that company and Taito were founded by people born outside of Japan. Have you found in your writing for Kotaku and other publications that you’ve had the chance to explore a history of arcade gaming in such depth? Ashcraft: Interviewing both Nishikado-san and Endo-san was a real treat. Both have contributed tremdously to basic gaming grammar, and gaming owes them a great deal for their work. It's easy to forget just how big "Space Invaders" was in Japan, and "Xevious" too, for that matter. Both Nishikado-san and Endo-san are more than happy to talk about their games, arcade history and arcades today. They're a fountain of knowledge and insight. The nice thing about writing for Kotaku is just the plethora of stuff we cover. We do something like 60 posts a day, so we get all the news, we break news, and then we can post about stuff that's off the beaten path -- stuff that isn't news, but hey, it's interesting to us at least. It's because of that I was able to post that clip of the UFO catcher queen all those years back and get the wheels churning for this book. GSW: In terms of your own background with arcade games, are there any memorable experiences that come to mind? Ashcraft: Oh definitely. There was an arcade called "Tilt" at Prestonwood Mall in Dallas that I went to a ton as a kid -- "Crystal's Pizza" also had a pretty good arcade from what I remember. Memories of things like playing "Pole Position" at Chuck E. Cheese, beating "Final Fight" with a friend and trying to figure out how the hell to control "Dragon's Lair" are still vivid. Arcades have a nostalgia factor that's different from game consoles. I don't know what it is exactly, perhaps it's that you had to leave your house, or the weight of the quarters in your pocket, or the smell of cigarettes and Orange Crush on the carpeting, but they aren't the same -- for me, at least. GSW: The book includes conversations with a number of prominent game creators working in the industry today. Hearing from Suda 51 of No More Heroes about his love for Elevator Action, or Parappa the Rapper’s Masaya Matsuura’s thoughts on arcade rhythm games, gives an idea of how deeply game centers have been in informing the development of software on home consoles. Had you known that these designers had a love of the arcades before starting work on the book? Ashcraft: That was a little trickier than, say, featuring Yu Suzuki. Suda and Matsuura are primarily console game developers. Fortunately, I have friends that work for them and who were willing to gauge their bosses to see if there was any interest. I did want to feature game developers in not the typically developer sense, but as players. Before they made games, they only played them, so I really wanted to capture that -- especially with Suda, who talked a great deal about his childhood playing arcade games. It's a side we don't usually see. GSW: How did you find Player 9, Ren, who introduces the section on collectible card games? Ashcraft: Ha! Easy. That's my oldest son. He plays tons of card games and likes arcades, so he seemed like a good fit. I wanted a wide variety of people in the book -- female players, extremely famous players, regular people, developers, non-Japanese folks. Basically, I didn't want it to be an entire book of dudes. After a few chapters, that would have gotten stale. Finding Renny was simple. Finding some of the other players was extremely hard. Like, we all know who Daigo Umehara is, but how do you find Daigo Umehara? It's not like he has some website we can get his email address off of. Same for people like Clover-TAC and Clover-YMN. Even tracking down Aaron, the DDR player, and Sakurina, the sticker picture model, was challenging. We sent Aaron several emails to the address on his website, but through some coincidence, the book's editor, Cathy Layne, knew someone who knew Aaron. And then even after locating them, it was always a matter of whether they wanted to be in a book or not. Some people are shy and maybe reluctant to be interviewed. We didn't find that to be the case, but there was always a bit of nervousness and uncertainty while I was writing the book. What if we don't get this person? Who can we interview? GSW: What are some of the advantages that you have found of working in print that are not afforded by net publications? Also, for bloggers who might be pursuing a book publication for the first time, what warnings should they receive in advance? Ashcraft: The big advantage is time. You have time to go back, pretty up your sentences, check things, double check things and triple check things. With online, you are writing in the moment. Brian Crecente, Kotaku's Managing Editor, often compares online writing to TV and not print. That's a fair assessment, I think. Many times you're writing about something as it happens. Because time moves quicker for online, your copy tends to be raw. You don't have the luxury that print writers do of typing something up, putting it aside, coming back to it and sprucing it up. So when people compare online writing and print writing, I do not think it's an accurate comparison. Then again, one of the big disadvantages is time. Print moves slower. There is the fear that you're idea will get scooped by a magazine or, especially these days, a website. You can't relax really until it's in print. For those pursuing a book, just keep this in mind: It's a year of your life. You cannot get it back. Make sure you're writing about something that engages you, something that helps you grow -- not just as a writer, but as a person. I really hope this book does well and inspires other publishers to take a chance on doing other game books from other writers. There's no shortage of strategy guides published, but there is a shortage of books examining social or cultural trends. We've seen some published recently -- I'd like to see more. Game books are a hard sell for publishers. As my editor pointed out, many book stores don't have a "Game Book Section" per se, so it's hard for retailers to know where to put something like "Arcade Mania." It's changing, but slowly. Fingers gently crossed that we'll get that more books and more stories from more writers. GSW: In closing, in talking with game creators today, do you get the sense that they are pessimistic about the future prospects of the arcades, as seems to be a prevailing vibe in North America? Or is there more of a sense that continued innovations, like the ones featured in Arcade Mania! , will see the arcade game centers of Japan through to a bright future? Ashcraft: Some of the genres, namely fighters and shooters, seem to be going through a Renaissance of late. That's great for fans of those types of titles. There does seem to be something in the air, a feeling of nostalgia, or something. Maybe it's just me, maybe it's just wishful thinking, but I do hope that Japanese arcades continue to evolve just as they have since SEGA introduced those mechanical games in the Post War Era and right up to today with card games. As someone at SNK told me, "If we didn't release our games in arcades, no one would buy them." Arcade Mania by Brian Ashcraft and Jean Snow. Arcades are dead. And rightfully so: American arcades never bothered to change with the times (despite a brief dalliance with the public spectacle of games like Dance Dance Revolution ). Not so in Japan, where arcades continue to evolve in surprising ways, in the stereotypical "bigger, crazier" Japanese method, as well as the more pedestrian. Case in point: Yuka Nakajima, queen of "Crane Games", those funny claw machines that are commonly ignored in department store vestibules in the States but big business in Japan. Nakajima is so adept at "UFO Catchers" (the Japanese moniker for all claw machines) that she has an entire room filled with the stuffed bears she has won and is the star of video tutorials included in the games themselves. I learned about Nakajima in the new book Arcade Mania: The Turbo-charged World of Japan's Game Centers by Brian "The Sweetest Man in Games Journalism" Ashcraft and Jean "Pretty Sweet Himself" Snow. Ash is a pal, so I was a bit worried when I first got my copy; how interesting could a book about arcades be? Turns out I had nothing to fret about. There's a whole new set of human experience happening inside Japan's game centers and it's just as varied and weird and surprising as you could hope it would be. I too often have an expectation, a caricature, in mind about Japan and its culture that occludes my perception of the people living and playing there. That's natural, of course, and perhaps even welcome: it makes a reading a book that supplants many of my preconceptions so effectively even more exciting. Destiny toaster. Bought all the strategy guides, figurines, spin-off media and other merch? Game publisher Bungie is selling a Destiny-branded toaster for the Destiny fan who has it all! $85, ships in December. 10% of Profits from sales of the Destiny Toaster will go to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital (R)Free Sandwich Holder with Purchase!Pre-orders will instantly… READ THE REST. Nintendo Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda is available for pre-order and is coming in November. Yesterday my daughter and I watched Nintendo's E3 announcement video. She was excited about: Super Monkey Ball remastered collection Mario Party collection Shin Megami Tensei V Danganronpa Decadence Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword HD Breath of the Wild Sequel My list was shorter: Nintendo Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda Shin Megami Tensei V… READ THE REST. Computer games to look forward to this year. PC Gamer summarizes its best 2021 picks on Windows and MacOS from the E3 trade show in Los Angeles, as does Eurogamer (which includes console picks) and Gizmodo (focusing on nerdy stuff). In previous years, we focused our awards on E3 games we've actually been able to play. E3 2021 was all-digital, which meant fewer… READ THE REST. The Farting Frenchies card game is as silly as it sounds. It's also hilarious and fun. If you're a highly cultured, ultra-evolved lord or lady of high standing, this might be a topic you're going to want to avoid. We're about to talk about a game that focuses on dog flatulence. If that's a matter that instinctively makes you clutch your pearls and gasp in horror, we understand. Farting Frenchies: A… READ THE REST. This canopy tent assembles in minutes and protects the entire family. Everybody wants to enjoy the summer sun. But nobody wants to bake, so you bring an umbrella to provide a little shade. That's fine if there is one or maybe even two of you seeking protection. But if you've got more people, or even a couple of kids jockeying for position, one umbrella isn't gonna… READ THE REST. This dog hammock is the perfect blend of comfort for your dog and protection for your car. Everybody loves the plan. Well…in theory, that is. You pile the whole family into the car, including your favorite pooch, and you hit the road on an adventure. But by the time your fun is done, the backseat ends up looking like it's now your dog's new home. Covered in hair, dirt, and ugly scratches,… READ THE REST.