Incredible Technologies announces SSB Sweepstakes, will give away bigger prizes

In these troubled times that we hear and see so much about lately, there are some good reasons to head over to your local arcade place which has online enabled games because competition in this arena is starting to heat up.  In the latest press release from Incredible Technologies, they are throwing down the gauntlet by making the announcement about increasing the prizes for Silver Strike Bowling online by 50% next year, while keeping the fees for operators unchanged. That’s pretty bold move considering the perceived and real state of the economy, but business is about taking risks and making bold moves, even when the going is tough. According to the release, the typical monthly prize is going to raise from $5000 to $7500 and they are getting rid of the ten $100 weekly winner prizes and are replacing that with one $1000 winner per week. If you feel like you need a ‘bailout’ of sorts, then it looks like online arcade competition gaming is going to be a good place to look for it.

IT’s SSB Sweepstakes press release is after the jump

Big Buck Hunter Online Region Qualifying Finalists revealed

Thanks to a link posted in the comments to news on the BBH World Championship, we have a look at those who qualified in the regional tournaments to the game and they will move onto the finals to compete for the $10,000 grand prize. This certainly makes me eager to receive my Big Buck Safari Online kit (which I ordered last week) and to start seeing the tournaments being with that starting next month. I won’t post the players who won here, I’ll let the link take care of that but it looks like Texas is certainly in a strong spot once again. No one from my state qualified as usual – honestly though I am not sure how many online enabled versions of the game are around here.  I do have a couple of players who come in and play on Safari who are ridiculously good at the game, I wouldn’t be surprised if they manage to place well in any upcoming Safari tourneys.

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Golden Tee LIVE 2009 goes on sale Aug. 4th, shipping in September

I’ve been hearing a lot of hints floating around that there are a lot of big announcements coming from arcade companies this fall (in particular at the AMOA show) and from what I can tell without getting into many details (as I can’t at the moment since I don’t actually know many of the details), this fall is going to see some good changes along with many great games coming our way, making 2008 the best year for arcades this decade.

To start that off we have an update from Incredible Technologies regarding their flagship franchise, Golden

Golden Tee in 1989

Tee. As you may know, the first Golden Tee came out in 1989 and they have been going strong ever since. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the game, IT is going to put GT2009 Live on sale next week on August 4th and the game will ship in mid-September. The new version of GT will sport some cool new features including Youtube Great Shot Replays where players can upload their shots to Youtube; customized clothing; Closest-to-the-Pin LIVE, a new tournament mode where players can win $50; the Hit List, which will bring new music to the game and will first feature the Dave Matthew’s Band; and new clubs from Callaway, Odyssey and Top Flite Equipment, considered to be the best golf club manufacturers in the world. On top of all this there are new courses as well as a player-designed course that we spoke of some time ago.

For more details, check out the press release after the break!

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Golden Tee Live 2008 cabinet and price

BHM Vending has a place for the latest arcade version of Golden Tee up on their site along with an ordering page. The game is going for $4950 with this particular distributor which is a pretty good price for what you are getting. Just to recap some of the features this game has:

• Play for Glory or Prizes With an All New Tournament System
• All New Practice Facility Model
• Unique “Course Sampler” Model
• Immediate Feedback and Rewards
• Commentary and Analysis by Jim Nantz, Peter Jacobsen, Gary Player, Chris DiMarco and Laura Diaz
• Seasonal Course Conditions Add New Dimensions to Play
• Revolutionary Help Feature Offers Solutions During the Game
• Compete Against Players with Similar Skill From Across the Country
• Revolutionary Player Ranking System
• Customizable Players

On top of that they have intergrated a wireless connection into the game that works “where ever a mobile phone works”. This is a pretty good option for operators that may not want to set up the necessary equipment for standard broadband (which the game also supports – broadband or dial-up). On top of that they say that the hardware is “more powerful than a consumer-based game system” and supports “high-resolution graphics” with a flat-screen monitor. It can even take credit cards! Impressed? I sure am, all this packed into one game for less than $5000 is the type of model arcade developers need to seek after. GlobalVR is going down the same path, they just need to improve the graphics and they’ll be set. Hopefully that “expert” that said that sports games are impossible to have in an arcade setting will also take notice.

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