ICE’s Standard version of Panic Museum

Via

At IAAPA I had a chance to play Taito’s huge, theater style light-gun game, Panic Museum. The setup is impressive, with a large projected screen and theater quality sound, but obviously this does not work for many venues where space is an issue. So distributors have come up with a solution, giving the game a more traditional setup with an LCD cabinet. While we are not sure what the screen size is, as you can see from above the cabinet is attractive. This particular version is by ICE for release in the US and it differs slightly from what was shown at EAG. After looking over several distributor websites, I have only found one selling the deluxe version for almost $14,000 and no one has listed the standard version yet. ICE doesn’t even have the deluxe version of the game listed on their website at the moment so we will have to wait to hear more.

[ICE website] [Discuss on the forums]

ICE's Standard version of Panic Museum

Via

At IAAPA I had a chance to play Taito’s huge, theater style light-gun game, Panic Museum. The setup is impressive, with a large projected screen and theater quality sound, but obviously this does not work for many venues where space is an issue. So distributors have come up with a solution, giving the game a more traditional setup with an LCD cabinet. While we are not sure what the screen size is, as you can see from above the cabinet is attractive. This particular version is by ICE for release in the US and it differs slightly from what was shown at EAG. After looking over several distributor websites, I have only found one selling the deluxe version for almost $14,000 and no one has listed the standard version yet. ICE doesn’t even have the deluxe version of the game listed on their website at the moment so we will have to wait to hear more.

[ICE website] [Discuss on the forums]

EAG 2010: Show report

It’s funny how some memories stick, isn’t it? I had only been to the ExCel Centre in London once before dropping in at the EAG show on Wednesday, for the consumer gaming event GameStars Live in 2004. Somehow though, five and a half years from that event, I was able to perfectly remember the layout of the Custom House DLR station that serves the venue, as well as the vast hallway leading into the main exhibition hall. As it turns out, familiarity would be the key theme which ran through the day.

Wandering around the new show, it seemed very much like the ATEI show I attended last year. Of course, there was no accompanying media registration panic this time, and not having to deal with two areas split across the upper level of Earl’s Court was nice. Getting in was a simple process (though this may have something to do with my late entry), and the staff on hand were nice and helpful. The organisational aspect of the show, given that it was running for the first year, was fine and left me free to use my short time  at the show well.

The striking thing about EAG 2010 is that the exhibitors were, by and large, fairly conservative in their offerings. The standard genres were well-represented: shooting, driving and music games all maintained their popularity, and redemption games were everywhere as usual. However, the commotion caused by fighting games at ATEI in the past (Tekken 6 in 2008, and Street Fighter IV in 2009) was absent, and manufacturers seemed to focus on widening the market for their tried and true hits. Even where unusual ideas were present, such as Giant Tetris, Go Go Grand Prix, and The BishiBashi, an element of familiarity was retained in order to reduce risks – perhaps an effect of the economic situation, which has only grown worse since last year.

All that having been said, the financial pressure ensured that the exhibitors at EAG were fielding a strong line-up of games for 2010, with the best of the last couple of years on show as well as the games which will be taking companies forward. And, having compiled a 1700-word monster report on the show, you’ll need to hit the post break for the detailed EAG rundown!

Last batch of IAAPA 2009 vids – Panic Museum, Silver Strike Live, Make Your Own Dog Tags, Animatronics

I’ve finally uploaded all of the IAAPA videos that I took and while I probably should have got a few more, I hope that everyone has enjoyed what I did put online. I know a couple of the videos have terrible sound and I apologize for that – the camera I was using was new to me and I didn’t realize how sensitive the microphone was at first.

Panic Museum – We first heard about Panic Museum as Haunted Museum some time ago and it had been previously seen in Europe. So when I heard that it would be coming to IAAPA I was surprised as Taito hasn’t been bringing most of it’s titles to the US. The cabinet (if you want to call it that) for this one is huge and it allows for an 80″ projected screen. As for the game itself, it throws a lot at you and the story is OK but the voice acting is terrible and there were a few points where I found myself bored with the game. I can’t really pin it down – there is no reloading feature so it seems a bit easy but I don’t know if that’s it. Overall I found it OK, the bonus rounds were fun and there are a number of hidden objects to find which could be added to your character. The graphics look dated by a few years but this wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen that happen with a new arcade game. On the opposite end, Kevin Williams (of The Stinger Report) seems to have really liked this game but he played it all the way to the end.

Make sure the sound on this one is down when you start, it’s a bit loud.

Silver Strike Live – Incredible Technologies did have a booth at the show but it took me a little while to find it as they were downstairs mixed in with the novelty and amusement park area as opposed to the coin-op area. They had six games there, including the brand new Silver Strike Live which launches in Q1 2010. Here is a video of SSL below, I played it a little bit but I am not an expert on SS by any means (as you can tell in the video). Still it’s a fun game that should do well thanks in part to the online features it boasts, although those were not available to check out from what I played.

Make Your own Dog Tags – one trend at the show was for companies to produce coin-operated custom dog tag engravers. They are actually pretty cool but the cheapest one I found as seen below will set you back a mere $14,000 (another company had one for $24,000). By using a touch screen interface, you pick out what you want the dog tag to say, it engraves it and vends the dog tag and a necklace to attach it to. This particular engraver at the ICE booth was very popular as people were allowed to engrave their own dog tags for free.

Last of all we have one thing I decided to film that is not arcade related at all – a booth showcasing some cool animatronic figures.

We’ll be finishing up our IAAPA coverage when I hear from Kevin Williams next. We actually tried to record a podcast at the show but due to our ill-preparedness what we produced was incomplete. Partially due to the fact that we were interrupted by some guy who thought we were just sitting around talking and partially due to the fact that the device we were recording with ran out of juice. So we’ll see what we have to work with and if it doesn’t work we’ll have to try again the old fashioned way over Skype.

[Discuss on the forums]

Taito’s Panic Museum coming to the US via ICE

It looks like the slowdown in arcade news is finally letting up with a number of companies sending out press releases today regarding product that we’ll be seeing at IAAPA next week. One release that surprised me today is ICE’s announcement that they will be showing off Taito’s Panic Museum (also known as Haunted Museum at one point)at their booth. ICE generally focuses on coin-op redemption, crane and air hockey products so seeing them teaming up with Taito on this is an interesting development. Previously the game has been testing in Europe and Japan and I wasn’t expecting to see it in the US. We’ll look into it further at the show next week as well as what this might mean for further Taito games in the US down the road.

[Via Coinoptoday.com] [Discuss on the forums]

Taito's Panic Museum coming to the US via ICE

It looks like the slowdown in arcade news is finally letting up with a number of companies sending out press releases today regarding product that we’ll be seeing at IAAPA next week. One release that surprised me today is ICE’s announcement that they will be showing off Taito’s Panic Museum (also known as Haunted Museum at one point)at their booth. ICE generally focuses on coin-op redemption, crane and air hockey products so seeing them teaming up with Taito on this is an interesting development. Previously the game has been testing in Europe and Japan and I wasn’t expecting to see it in the US. We’ll look into it further at the show next week as well as what this might mean for further Taito games in the US down the road.

[Via Coinoptoday.com] [Discuss on the forums]