JAMMA 2010: New games, hardware and ideas that could shake things up

The 48th JAMMA Expo is now underway in Japan and with that comes a flood of news concerning future projects that Japanese developers will be bringing to the market. AM-Net has a number of photos that they have published from the event, with more to come and here are some highlights including new Taito arcade hardware, more 3D gaming from Namco, Sega’s new Pengo and an online content delivery system from Taito that could revolutionize the industry called NESiCAxLIVE. Read on!

UDATE#1:More System Board Y3 details including glasses free 3D display made for arcades; Namco’s Dead Heat goes 3D; Sega and Namco introduce new IC card system called AiME; added a few more pictures + some videos

UPDATE#2 – Videos added by Gigazine

UPDATE#3: AM-Net and Sega have updated galleries of photos showing crowds gathering around the various booths. I’ve added a few select photos below, including a shot from the new VF5, The Tablecloth Hour and more

UPDATE#4: This Youtube user has posted a number of videos from the event. http://www.youtube.com/user/Puyo432343

UPDATE#5: Segaonline.nl has some direct screenshots of Initial D Arcade Stage 6AA, Shining Force Cross Raid and Border Break 2.0, a couple of which I’ve added below

UPDATE#6: Just when you think we’re done, we have more content from the show. Thanks to Fillmore Games, a distributor in Japan for providing more pictures of the show. From them we find out that Vulcan-M and Heat Up Hockey were there as well.

AVATAR Pinball machine coming to arcades and game rooms this fall UPDATED

possible design for AVATAR pinball. The backglass is supposed to have a 3D effect

Stern Pinball revealed their next pinball game for this fall this morning and once again it is based upon a movie license. This time however, Stern got on board with the highest grossing

One of the toys from the AVATAR pinball game

film yet, James Cameron’s AVATAR. So far very little has been revealed about the game, but here is what we do know. The mechs seen in the movie will be a toy on the playfield that you can “fight” (meaning it will be a target of some sort); the backglass uses a 3D pop-out effect; and it’s not a retheme of some older pinball machine like we saw with Ironman pinball. Someone on Stern’s Facebook page(where the announcement was made) linked to the picture of cabinet above but we’ll have to wait and see if that will be the final artwork for the machine. If they continue to use the ancient orange dot-matrix display then I’ll be disappointed once again – seeing how the changes Avatar has made to the movie scene (for better or worse depending upon your perspective) you would hope that the same could happen for the pinball machine. Not that I’m calling for a 3D display, just something with color in it.  Of course it is best to wait and see the playfield design, at least where it isn’t a retheme we can look forward to something fresh.

So what are your thoughts on this? Generally Stern has the movie themed games out around the time the movie that they are based upon launches but at least this means that they don’t have an excuse to exclude content(lines and scenes) from the movie into game. Can we at least expect this to be more entertaining than the Avatar home video game?

UDPATE: Stern has published a press release on their website. They are pushing the fact that the movie is going to be re-released with 8 new minutes of footage (sigh,  a silly trick that reminds me of the Star Wars digital remakes) as the pinball machine will begin production in mid-August to coincide with the re-release. The presser also mentions the following:

In Avatar pinball, you as player are the hero Jake Sully.  Capture the pinball in the transporter link, a case that reveals a Jake figurine, and transform yourself into his Avatar.  Then, after a series of challenges, get past the motorized up/down target bank protecting Colonel Quaritch and fight the Colonel in his AMP Suit, aiming your pinball at him.  As you overtake the Colonel, his AMP Suit crashes to the ground and you save the Na’vi people from total destruction.  Avatar pinball also features a twisting ramp, the magnet for random ball play, and lots of multi-ball action.

[Stern Pinball]

Arcade Heroes Podcast #15

Another month, another podcast. Here is the podcast for June where Kevin and I talk about E3, 3D applications in arcades, Open Day event, arcades opening and closing and more.I had to cut it short a little earlier than normal as towards the end I received a text and had to run off to take care of something. But we still managed to talk for about an hour so I hope you enjoy it

Download the podcast here.

Disney Interactive releases 3D Ping Pong in China

Via

Now here is something a little different, especially coming from Disney called Disney 3D Ping Pong. By jumping into the 3D craze with both feet first, not only is Disney going to be embracing 3D in several movies this year, including the arcade-related TRON Legacy but now they are going 3D in the gaming realm as well. And not just any games, but arcade titles. This unit features a 3D monitor that is able to produce a 3D effect without the use of glasses (these have been around for a little while now in the PC market) and features motion capturing controls for a very unique gaming experience. According to the press release: “It is a pioneers in healthy arcade game stations and an innovation in China’s arcade game history.” It is currently listed as being for sale in China, Hong Kong, Macau and  Taiwan and also according to the press release, the team who developed this will be creating other titles employing similar technology so we will have to keep an eye on them.

I find it very interesting that Disney is involved here – as you might recall they had a Space Paranoids arcade title at Comic Con last year although that was only created for that event. I would really like to see Disney use Space Paranoids arcade in a promotion for the new TRON movie at arcades around the country so seeing that they are involved in game development in China is a trend worth watching. I also am curious to see how the 3D trend in gaming is going to turn out. As I mentioned recently, it has been done in arcades before and in recent times companies like nVidia has been promoting the technology in PC gaming. Add the success of 3D movies like Avatar (which is already causing movie studios to promote 3D even more than they were going to) and it’s something that will carry some steam with it for a while but I do wonder if it will be a gimmick again.

For more on Disney 3D Ping Pong see the Press Release

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