Three more videos from IAAPA with some arcade game footage

While I had hoped for more videos of video arcades in action at IAAPA, I suppose that might have been hoping for too much since there is a lot more there than just arcades. But in this series of vids from the IAAPA floor you get to see several brief snippets of arcades in action in between all of the other stuff. Some games you see in these particular videos (albiet briefly) include NFS: Carbon, Razing Storm, Battle Stations, Sea Wolf, Rambo, Sega Rally 3, Nicktoons Nitro, Go Go Jockey, etc.

Part One

Part Two – most of the arcades you’ll see are in this video

Part Three

Videos taken and posted by youtube user HawTian

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IAAPA 2008: Final Round-up (now with some release dates)

We’ve received a final batch of pictures from the IAAPA show in Florida (thanks again to Kevin Williams of The Stinger Report)and it’s only fitting to ‘finalize’ our coverage of the event. Overall I think that it was a great show, in terms of new games and what we can look forward to coming into 2009. While there isn’t any new game seem here, we do get a better look at a few games.

Slambot was at the show – I know that they have been to previous IAAPA events and I’m glad to see that they were there. In case you have missed previous coverage of Slambot, it’s an arcade game that uses robots inside of an enclosure as they slam into each other and colored buttons around the edges. I almost got one for my arcade but there was a few month waiting list so I wasn’t able to get it at the time. (Videos of previous Slambot versions here and here)

Here is a new game, Xball by Unis (or Universal Space). It is similar to a couple of games we’ve seen in Asia that came up with the ‘throw a ball at the screen’ concept. I’m just waiting for someone to make one of these games where it’s a virtual snowball fight, which could be a lot of fun without the need of getting pegged with iceballs.  While Universal Space’s website doesn’t list Xball on it yet, I noticed that they do have IGS’s Pirate Revenge game there, which I had thought would not come over to the US.

For another video redemption title we have Jungle Drummer. It says that it’s part of the Percussion Master series so I wonder if this has something to do with Pump It Up Jump (which was not at the show but I talked with Andamiro about it at AMOA). I like the cabinet design, very eye-catching for kids.

Similar to what you see above is a DDR clone called Boogie Down. The dance pad is simplified and with the brighter color scheme this also should attract kids pretty well.

Here’s a couple more shots of Brick People. I heard that when the game is finished, the game clears the bricks itself but at the moment it sounds like that feature is sort of clunky with how it works and may not clear it properly every time. They still have time to figure that out though.

 

Big Buck Safari Deluxe was at the show and from what I heard it was working better than it was at AMOA and ASI. I’m still not sure when we’ll see it though.

Here’s a little more on Textminator by LAI Games. Here is a picture of the promotional flyer for the game where you get a look at what it’s about and notice that there is a pad on this much like DDR but no foot controls of course. I wonder if it’s DDR meets texting. It probably won’t be my cup of tea but for it’s target audience it will probably do really well, especially where it has ticket payout.

 

Here’s a variation of the new pedestal cabinet from the Fun Company for Incredible Technologies. I like the lit up version on the right better than the standard ones.

These racing simulators are cool. I’m not sure what racing game they are playing but they would be quite attractive at any amusement park.

And finally, what post would be complete without more pictures of girls playing Guitar Hero?

 

As for release dates – Guitar Hero has been given a date of February and I hear the price tag is around $7000. The game will also include a hook-up for a separate TV so more players can see what’s going on. American Idol is scheduled to come along in January and while I haven’t heard a price, it’s going to use the CoinUp network extensively. Also according to some distributor sources of ours, Namco is planning to release Razing Storm and Nirin in March, just in time for ASI/AMOA. R-Tuned Racing is set for January, Hummer for March and Harley Davidson for “1st quarter 2009″.

So where does that leave us off? I counted at least 24 new games if you count video game redemption titles and I know there was more for just regular redemption. Still, for the video sector that’s pretty good and not what I’d call a dead and buried industry. Of course we will have to see how operators take to all of these games next year. 

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IAAPA Day 2: More Guitar Hero; CSI pinball; NX Absolute; Go Go Jockey; Battle Stations & more

Once again thanks to Kevin Williams of The Stinger Report for getting us this information. I will be talking with Kevin directly later tonight to get some extra details on all the things we are seeing here so that we will fill in the rest of the gaps. Either way, I think it’s clear that for an industry many love to call “dead” there is quite a bit of new content to go around, a little bit more than we’ve seen in previous years. As always, click on the thumbnails for a full view of the picture.

POST UPDATED – New info below

First off, a little extra detail on two games we’ve seen get a lot of attention: Guitar Hero and American Idol. In another surprise for Konami’s part, their name is also on American Idol and not just GH (there had been a rumor to that effect but it hadn’t been confirmed). According to the GH flyer, it will have over 50 songs, 11 playable characters in 8 venues and “Enduro-Ax Industrial Strength Controllers”.  UPDATE: Apparently the build at the show is only 60-70% complete – the final songlist is not complete and the cabinet will be changed for the final release. Here are what the flyers for the games will look like, just poster size. Also pictured is sort of a close up of the guitars, it sounds like GH has been a major hit at the show. Kevin even got Guitar Hero 3 tattooed onto his arm (fake or not Kevin? )

Stern was showing CSI pinball at the show and they also had their Spiderman redemption game there, which we first saw at AMOA. My local distributor tells me that they are expecting to receive a couple of CSI machines within the next few days so I’ll get to check it out soon.

Incredible Technologies wasn’t showing any product we hadn’t heard of before there but they had their full line-up of games running on their new pedestal cabinet that looked nice.

We mentioned Andamiro’s NX Absolute yesterday and today we have pictures of it. There were two versions of it there, a standard and deluxe. Not much else on this one though.

Next up, something from Tecway Developments. They are bringing Go Go Jockey to the US which is another game they showed off at the GTI Expo 2008 in Taiwan. This is a horse racing/riding game where you sit on a horse controller. I also believe that the next two pictures are from some redemption product in the Tecway area.

This next game is IGS’s answer to Sea Wolf called Battle Stations. It has what looks to be a periscope kind of controller and at least in the picture below it seems like the graphics are pretty nice. The game is polished and even includes boss battles at the end of each level, it also uses a different torpedo system than Sea Wolf does. While IGS generally releases some product to the US through their company American Alpha, this was found at the Smart Industries booth.

We also got two new shots of Trans-Force in action. It reminds me of Galaxian 3 by Namco with the multiplayer space shooter theme. It can house up to six players, each with their own contoller that moves gun turrets around on a space ship. On top of it having great graphics, the game also uses a motion base to enhance the experience further. This is being made by a Russian company who specializes in simulators.

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IAAPA: Guitar Hero and American Idol seen, some details

The information is starting to come out of IAAPA and first are the anticipated Guitar Hero and American Idol arcade games, we have been discussing for a little while now. This info comes to us via bemanistyle.com, which is allowing us to run with the info (thanks!)

First off, Guitar Hero. As was ‘rumored’ the cabinet has a 32″ monitor, a lot of LED lights and several speakers. It also has buttons for each player, Guitar Hero 3 related side art. The guitar controllers are specially made for this version of the game and at present the game cannot use your home controllers (although Raw Thrills would like to do that – perhaps in the future?). The cabinet also has a foot rest in case you get tired and it will use the Coin-Up tournament system, not unlike what is found with Big Buck Hunter/Safari Online. Also there are stickers for Raw Thrills, Activision and Konami on the cabinet so everything that was rumored the other day is completely true. Awesome. BTW- The game IS a two player game, they just hadn’t set the guitar up in the picture.

Then there is American Idol which is pretty interesting (we revealed that American Idol was headed to arcades a little while ago). The game cabinet is more of a enclosed booth that will allow players to record their performance which can be put onto DVD or sent to them via e-mail. As it shows in the picture, the cabinet says “Star in a Music Video” and the cabinet has a touch screen on the outside.  There aren’t any other details on this yet but expect more soon!

[Pics and info via BemaniStyle.com] [Discuss on the Forum]

IAAPA news: Guitar Hero to be at the show (UPDATED)

Here is a very interesting rumor to start off with some IAAPA coverage: Guitar Hero will be at IAAPA and there will be a twist in who is involved in the game. According to the source at bemanistyle.com, the game has been developed by Raw Thrills but it will be published by Konami. Konami of course makes Guitar Freaks so if they are in fact involved with the new GH Arcade, that will not just be a big surprise, it also makes me wonder if the gameplay will mimick any certain aspects of Guitar Freaks. Here’s a little more according to bemanistyles anonymous source:

our source has stated the cabinet is going to feature 8-10 speakers, more than 500 LED lights and a 32″ monitor. The cabinet is also reportedly slated to take advantage of Internet connections to provide online cash tournaments sometime starting in 2009.

The online thing would deal with none other than the Play Mechanix/Raw Thrills Coin-Up network and offering cash prizes could easily draw many GH fans to any arcade with an online enabled cabinet to play.

Just keep in mind that it’s still a rumor  – I have contacted some sources about this to see if there is anything else to it but so far I have not heard anything back (which isn’t terribly surprising as it’s Sunday night) but we’ll keep you posted as soon as we find out more.

Tiny update: While I tried to get some confirmation on this, all I could find out is that Konami is going to be at the Betson booth, which is why they are not on the IAAPA map. Raw Thrills also shares the Betson booth so the union on Guitar Hero would be pretty easy to handle. That and our friend Editor in the comments below confirms it so now we just are waiting for the pics and video.

Another update: I have received confirmation that American Idol and Guitar Hero are there at IAAPA. That’s not much considering it’s starting tomorrow but at least it’s no rumor. We’ll have all the info we can get on it when it becomes available.

[Thanks to Bemanistyle] [Discuss on the Forum]

Pre-IAAPA thoughts and guesses

IAAPA is just a few days away and this is unfortunately one event I will not be able to go to. But we will have information pouring in straight from the floor as our friend Kevin Williams of The Stinger Report will be there and I also hope to be able to get some info from other sources there as well. So what can we possibly expect to see at the show? Here are my guesses/predictions for now – as always the arcade companies are being very tight lipped about everything as usual so the best we can do is guess.

Andamiro: We saw Hammer 2 at ASI and AMOA so that will likely be there; the latest Pump It Up! games should be there (Pump It Up Jump would be a mild surprise – it was tested but what happened after that?) and of course Arcana Heart 2. Could we see other Examu games coming over already, such as Demon Bride? I’m not sure but they did say that AH2 would not be the only game coming over for this new hardware.

Coastal Amusements: The new Sea Wolf will be there and we then should find out how it compares to the previous game and how much it costs. If another video product were going to be there we probably would have heard by now.

GlobalVR: We were hoping to have something in advance on Justice League but it looks as though they are waiting to show it there at IAAPA. Whether it will be a cabinet or just a video of the game in action I do not know, GVR has a decent booth there so expect to see NFS:Carbon and maybe NASCAR & Sky Bandits too.

Incredible Technologies: They have a smaller booth than they did at AMOA so I think that they used that event to really show off their new stuff (Power Putt Golf, Golden Tee LIVE 09, the new pedstal cab) and this is just going to be a downsized version of that with their newest stuff.

Konami: There is a bit of talk going on about Konami making a comeback in the US and I know that they are supposed to have a booth at IAAPA but I have looked around the Expo map and I cannot find them so they might be sharing with another vendor. I think it’s a given that we will see DDR:X and uBeat but there could be some other surprises too – maybe DrumMania & Guitar Freaks or even CastleVania? UPDATE: Konami is at the Betson booth, which also is shared by none other than Raw Thrills. Could this be confirmation the Guitar Hero rumor?

Namco: They have a fairly large booth so we can expect to see more than what they had at AMOA. While it’s hard to guess what they will be showing off here since Namco has been fairly silent this year in the US, it will be very telling to see what they offer here as it will likely be a glimpse into their plans for 2009. What would be great to see there: MaxiTune 3 DX, Razing Storm, Nirin.

Raw Thrills: Big Buck Hunter and Safari should be there, including the Deluxe version of Safari. The DLX version of the game was supposed to have been released last month but I haven’t heard anything since so perhaps we’ll get a fixed date for the game this time around. American Idol should be there since it was found on test recently but who knows what they will say about the Guitar Hero rumors. Of course if GH shows up then it will be a plesant surprise. Also expect to find Nicktoons Nitro and Tokyo Drift.

Sega: Sega has a larger booth for IAAPA than they had at ASI and AMOA combined so I am curious to know what we will see there. I’d put Sega Rally 3 and Rambo into the definite category, Clay Challenge, Primeval Hunt, Mini-Rider 2 and Hummer Extreme into very likely; R-Tuned, House of the Dead EX and any surprise announcements into the ‘maybe’ section.

Stern: While Stern has a small booth, I imagine that this willb e the first chance for the public to try out the new CSI pinball. Since that is the only pin that is coming out within the next month or so it will probably be the only new product there but the Spiderman redemption game and Batman and Indiana Jones could easily make it there as well.

Other stuff: What else could possibly be seen in the world of video coin-op? I do not know if ArcSys has any presence there, maybe through a distributor we could see BlazBlue – the game is scheduled for release on Tuesday. On games like Friction and Get Outta My Face! it’s hard to say but we will be trying to find out the latest on those titles as well. I doubt that Capcom will be showing off something like Street Fighter IV or Tatsunoko Vs Capcom since they have snubbed other big arcade events in the US and where they are gearing up for the console release of those games within the next few months I wouldn’t expect them to go pushing the arcade games they don’t plan on releasing here anyways.

I am not really sure what happened with the company known as iMotion – they weren’t at AMOA and I don’t see their booth on the IAAPA map now. Perhaps Power Boat has been lost in the US. There is one company based in Taiwan that does have a booth at IAAPA though, known as Tecway Developments and I am curious to see what they will be offering. We have covered them before when it was revealed that they made a new tank arcade game called Tank Adventure – that game is still on their website and it would be cool if they have decided to bring it to the States. Maybe they will bring Rythm High as well.

So there you have it, my best guesses. It’s nothing earth-shattering I know, but we will do everything we can to cover news as it happens.

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Sequel to Sea Wolf at IAAPA – Sea Wolf: The Next Mission

When I was at ASI earlier this year, there wasn’t a lot of new content around but there were a few pleasant surprises. The video/redemption game Sea Wolf was one of them as it’s old school gameplay with new graphics was a lot of fun and both my brother and I ended up playing this title several times during our short stay in Vegas. In case you are not familiar with Sea Wolf, it was originally a Midway title from 1976 where you torpedoed passing enemy ships and you used a periscope to view the action; the remake held some changes in the cabinet design but gameplay wise it was essentially the same. While fun, it did have the problem of not containing a lot of depth for those accustomed to such things these days but the new version promises to address that with 7 missions to play (instead of no ‘missions’ at all). To describe it further, Coastal Amusements said the following:

As the player advances, each mission becomes increasing more difficult.  Enemy ships lay mines and return fire and enemy planes drop torpedoes, all in an effort to sink the Sea Wolf.

The new Sea Wolf requires more strategy from the player, and has much more depth to hold the players’ interest.

They also will be releasing the game in three different configurations this time around – the standard sitdown (which the release earlier this year used) and two upright designs with 26″ or 32″ LCD screens. The controller appears to be the same on each design and it’s good to see artwork plastered over most of the cabinet. Now we’ll just have to see what the prices are for each unit; last time it seemed like they priced it in the same field as redemption titles (it can work as video only, which is why we’re covering it). In case you’re going to make it to IAAPA, you can catch the new Sea Wolf at booth 1624.

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SlamBots in action

When I caught the news about a product called SlamBots on the latest Stinger Report, I was intrigued. I have personally thought about the application of robotics in coin-op games before but this is the first time I had heard of someone actually trying such an idea. To my astonishment, SlamBots (which made an appearance at this year’s IAAPA 07 event) has actually been available as a coin-op title for more than a year already although I have not found it on any distributor sites yet. Here is a video of the game in action by the company, posted to Youtube. Perhaps by them showing the game at IAAPA again (it washown at last years IAAPA as well, according to the website) it will garner more attention. The sites description of the game is fairly simple:

The goal of SlamBot is simple- SLAM your robot into the targets when they light up! Play solo or head-to-head! SlamBot can be enjoyed by up to 4 players simultaneously (or more on custom systems).

Players can earn points for slamming targets (playing offense) or they can prevent their opponents from scoring by bashing into their robot (playing defense).

[Slambots Website] [Discuss on the forum]

The Stinger Report #599 – IAAPA 07 coverage part I

The Stinger Report has released the first part of their IAAPA coverage and it is loaded with information pertaining to arcades and what the future holds for our industry. Certainly this is shaping up to be the best year we’ll see in amusement this decade. The report itself is quite long so I’ll work on slimming it down to something managable for this post.

——————————————————————————-

Sega Amusement USA – Had two booths, demonstrated Primeval Hunt (90% complete), Sega RaceTV (80% complete), 2 Initial D4 cabinets, and two of Sega’s mid-sized attractions OutRun 2 Special Attraction and Let’s Go Jungle Special. For Redemption they had UFO Catcher, their plush line and Pirate’s Revenge, a new game developed by a developer called TecWay along with IGS. Edit:‘Pirates Revenge’ is developed by IGS and distributed by Universal Space (UNIS) [no word why TecWay had it on their booth!!?] TecWay also was demonstrating a redemption game targeted towards kids called Ghost Hunter. They also showed a BeMani game called Drummer Championship, a game called Revenger a game that had players pounding cartoon characters with a mallet to corresponding clues.

GlobalVR – Demonstrated some of their latest releases including a linked NASCAR, America’s Army and Aliens: Extermination. Otherwise they did not show anything new but attracted large crowds.

IMON – demonstrated a new version of their Panzer Elite Tank title running on the motion based iGO hardware that includes network support and an external screen so people passing by could see what is going on. This version is already available from some distributors.

SimuLine – the creators of Sega’s Cycraft showed of MiniRide 2, which runs a series of special motion ride films based on the unique hanging motion system. They also announced the development of another simulator title called Race Car of Tomorrow: Today.

Incredible Technologies – no new games shown, their standard titles were shown as well as a new cabinet style.

Merit Entertainment – The makers of popular touch screen coin-op games demonstrated their new Firefly platform which is based on Tablet PC technology.

Namco America – Demonstrated their highly anticipated fighter, Tekken 6. Namco is testing the waters with the game in the US, which uses a HDD, IC Cards and the same style cabinet as seen in Japan (a sitdown cabinet with an HD monitor). It remains to be seen how the expensive hardware will do in arcades, especially if the PS3 version comes out soon afterwards. In addition to this Namco showed off their titles that are currently on the market including Maximum Tune 3, Mario Kart GP 2, Pac-Man 25th Anniversary and Taito’s Chase HQ 2. They also are working on a redemption title called Family Bowl 2.

AndaMiro – Showed off DDR’s major competitive title, Pump It Up NX2: Next Xenesis.

Trio Tech Amusement – demonstrated the very popular UFO Stomper that we at AH have show in a few posts. It uses two projectors mounted in the roof of the system. TrioTech is working on other titles to play on the platform.

Betson: Showed off the latest version of Big Buck Hunter Pro that includes innovative online play via the ‘Coin-Up’ system.

Finally according to the Stinger Report:

“Most of the interesting products on the show floor came from major (long-established) amusement manufacturers. However, two notable new developments from start-up developers proved a pleasant surprise, proving there is still interest in new concepts:

SlamBots – Two-Player coin-operated robot combat game, using technology familiar from the redemption car driving market, this new concept builds on an interest for robots in amusement.

Aerr-Ball – Best described as an air based foosball style game, the innovative design and compelling game experience will prove to be a big hit for the first manufacturer that licenses the hardware.”

We’ll see if we can get some pictures of some of the more interesting games mentioned. Hit the post break for the full Stinger Report.

[The Stinger Report] [Discuss on the Forum]

Some brief IAAPA 2007 coverage

[Via Barcade.com]

Barcade has posted two articles on their experience at this year’s IAAPA event. There are some descriptions of games we’ve discussed here including the new Sea Wolf, TrioTech’s UFO Stomper, Sega’s RaceTV and what makes it interesting and Sega’s Primeval Hunt. So far everything I have read about Primeval Hunt gives it a thumbs up, I can’t wait to try it out myself. For the full reports, hit the links below.

[Barcade IAAPA Report Part I] [IAAPA Report Part II] [Discuss on the Forum]