UK Pinball Party starts tomorrow

Pinball junkies in the UK have a big event to look forward to, the UK Pinball Party. It begins tomorrow and runs through Sunday although they already have held a warming up event with a competition between Martyn Raison (the top ranked junior UK player) and the two times Pinball World Champion Gary Flower. This competition was for the UK pinball Party’s Charity Challenge and it also saw new Stern-made pinball machines provided for the event. Details on that and tomorrow’s party  can be found in the press release below.

Initial sales numbers for Terminator Salvation arcade

Guitar Hero Arcade sold 2000 units in 90 days. Big Buck Hunter Open Season sold 3000 units in 90 days. Silver Strike Live sold over 3000 before it was released due to pre-orders.

(Before anyone accuses us of favoring one company over another in reporting numbers like this, we can only report what companies release and most arcade companies keep the sales numbers to themselves. Otherwise I’d be happy to share those kinds of figures)

So how has the well-hyped Terminator Salvation Arcade fared in sales numbers? The reports of it earning strongly on location test seems to have given the game a solid start in sales as Betson is reporting that the game has sold over 1000 units in less than 30 days. The game is also on backorder in Japan and Europe and “other parts of the world”. To compare it to some of the games listed above it holds significance as a) it is not sold in a kit form like BBH: Open Season or Silver Strike and b) it’s the most expensive game to buy out of the titles listed in this post at around $8000 or higher.

Of course it’s also significant as in the US where we constantly see banter about how dead the arcade scene is in the US (which flared up a bit again when news came out about Gameworks liquidating) how is it that we have a non-redemption game selling like this. The number 1000 doesn’t look like much when compared to how people read about console games selling in the millions but there is that issue of price differences again.

Hit the post break for the press release

Terminator Salvation now sampling; H2Overdrive sees first player to reach Fleet Admiral rank

Here’s some news out of the Raw Thrills’ camp today, with two press releases on two separate products.

First off Terminator Salvation will be shipping out in limited quantities to certain locations with the game hitting full production in March. The reported test location earnings have been quite good (between $983 and $805 a week at one US theater; $1395 1 week at a Japanese arcade, etc). These earnings which were released to distributors caused a “fury of sales orders” for the game worldwide; it also is at AOU 2010. As far as the sampling goes, I have heard of two places that are getting the game in my state prior to the full release, I imagine that such is the case in other places as well so if you’re looking to play the game, you might get lucky and find one within this next week.

Also H2Overdrive, which was released last summer is still making news, with a player in Texas achieving a rank in the game that so far, no one else has managed, Fleet Admiral. The reason why this is news is that it takes between $500-$600 of money spent on the game to reach this rank. It certainly helps that H2Overdrive is arcade exclusive but this also is testifies to the replay value of the game. Betson is also reporting that the game has sold almost 2000 units since last June, which is pretty solid for video in coin-op.

IT unveils more details on Golden Tee 2010

We mentioned not too long ago that Incredible Technologies would be ramping up to deliver their most recent Golden Tee creation to the public and with that date fast approaching, they have begun to unload the details on what will make GT2010 different from past GT games. Skins makes a comeback, Jim Nantz and Peter Jacobsen have recorded over 5,000 lines of commentary for the game and they have added on the Facebook updating feature that we mentioned last time. The game ships on October 1st and it comes in the new IT Showcase cabinet which all of their games are now using. I could discuss everything they added to the game in this part of the post but they sent along a 5-page press release detailing everything you’ll ever want to know about GT2010 short of playing it, so I’ll just post that after the break and you can go from there.

DDR X at Japan Expo 2009 in Paris

In case you were wondering what players would think of the new DDR X in Europe, then the recent appearance of the title at the Japan Expo 2009 in Paris France should answer that question. The game has undergone extensive testing in Europe and according to the press release (which you can read after the post break) the game is shipping to locations across Europe in the following weeks via Electrocoin. More info can be found in the press release below

Ground Kontrol presents the 1st annual Pinbrawl tournament

One of the best things about an arcade is that they give you a great place to go and compete. You don’t have to set up anything at home and worry about strangers coming into your house and unlike online tournaments, you can actually see and talk with your opponents face-to-face. So it’s a good thing that we’ve been seeing an uptick in tournament announcements that are taking place in different arcades across the country.

The latest tournament announcement comes to us from the famous Ground Kontrol Arcade in Portland Oregon. On April 19th they are going to hold a big pinball tournament where one lucky player will walk away with their own pinball machine. What machine that will be has not been announced yet (they will reveal it at the event) and players will compete on a number of GK’s 26 different pins. At $10 entry, it sounds like it’s going to be a blast of a brawl so good luck to those of you who compete! More details below after the jump.

[Ground Kontrol] [Discuss on the Forums]

Sega's ATEI game roster

Sega has sent out a press release detailing their ATEI 09 line-up and in addition to a few games we already have seen info on previously such as HUMMER, Harley Davidson, R-Tuned Racing, Rambo, Sega Rally 3 and Block People, they also will be showing off a new game called  “Missfits”. While there is no information on the game in the release, we will be at the show on Wednesday to find out more. Sega also discusses the Game Gate VU which we talked about a few days ago and how they will be picking up Raw Thrills’ kits for Europe. For the full release, including some info on their redemption product hit the break below.

Sega’s ATEI game roster

Sega has sent out a press release detailing their ATEI 09 line-up and in addition to a few games we already have seen info on previously such as HUMMER, Harley Davidson, R-Tuned Racing, Rambo, Sega Rally 3 and Block People, they also will be showing off a new game called  “Missfits”. While there is no information on the game in the release, we will be at the show on Wednesday to find out more. Sega also discusses the Game Gate VU which we talked about a few days ago and how they will be picking up Raw Thrills’ kits for Europe. For the full release, including some info on their redemption product hit the break below.

DDR:X making an appearance at ATEI 09

The ATEI 09 news continues to trickle in, now with news on Konami’s DDR:X machine. According to the press release, the game is slated for a world-wide release in “Spring/Summer 2009” and include the largest track list for a DDR game ever with 350 songs. It also has been testing very well, despite having incomplete software. Expect to see more on this with our ATEI coverage next week and of course if any of you get a chance to play it at the show, leave some comments here on what your thoughts are about the game. Hit the post break for the press release.

Stern press release on Batman

It’s no secret that batman: Dark Knight is an insanely popular and is currently the second highest grossing film of all time, right behind Titanic (which personally I never understood what all the fuss was about) and Stern Pinball is happy to have the only game out right now that has something to do with the new movie (since the video game has had some problems in getting made). They have issued a press release to remind everyone of how popular Batman is and to pick up their new pinball based on the new Batman.

I have had a chance to play this a couple of times and it is a cool game – the color scheme is great, I really like the crane toy but I haven’t seen the Joker toy in action enough to comment on it. In fact because my Indiana Jones pin has been so popular (even more popular than my Movie Stop redemption game) I have been thinking of getting Batman. My only real complaint about the game is the lack of audio or scenes from the new movie, which does have a few things but they are rather brief from what I have seen so far. They obviously have permission to use stuff from the movie but I don’t see why they can’t get more to make the experience feel more complete. The same problem exists with the Crystal Skull ramp on Indiana Jones – it’s pretty lackluster against what happens with the other movies. Game updates are still being released for Batman every week however and it seems to improve a little each time so it probably will just take a little more time to be complete.

Here the press release, after the jump or discuss on the Forum