BRD’s Full Car Motion Simulator that we’ll probably never get to play

Newsfeed 909 via

I wasn’t sure about running this story as in the description they state that this simulator is made for race drivers and thus not for amusement parks but that might not stop an amusement facility with a lot of extra cash on-hand from getting one, so we’ll take a quick look at this. The simulator in question is by Ball Racing Developments Ltd. or BRD for short. They have developed a new Forumla 1 racing simulator using “Simulator control technology that has been designed by racing drivers for racing drivers [and the] most realistic motion cues for professional racing drivers.” I’m not going to list all of the features it has here as you can just as easily read about it on the website for the machine but it’s worth noting that this simulator tries to reproduce the experience down to creating smoke from the tires. At least the chances of you getting to play this are slightly higher than that Ferrari simulator on the back of a huge robot arm but not by much.

BRD's Full Car Motion Simulator that we'll probably never get to play

Newsfeed 909 via

I wasn’t sure about running this story as in the description they state that this simulator is made for race drivers and thus not for amusement parks but that might not stop an amusement facility with a lot of extra cash on-hand from getting one, so we’ll take a quick look at this. The simulator in question is by Ball Racing Developments Ltd. or BRD for short. They have developed a new Forumla 1 racing simulator using “Simulator control technology that has been designed by racing drivers for racing drivers [and the] most realistic motion cues for professional racing drivers.” I’m not going to list all of the features it has here as you can just as easily read about it on the website for the machine but it’s worth noting that this simulator tries to reproduce the experience down to creating smoke from the tires. At least the chances of you getting to play this are slightly higher than that Ferrari simulator on the back of a huge robot arm but not by much.

Experience a top-of-the-line race simulator at the Weston–Super–Mare Grand Pier, UK

Cruden's system as seen at IAAPA 2009

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If you aren’t happy with the driving experience that a run o’ the mill arcade driver gives you then there are companies which address that, with crazy setups like we see by Cruden. They had one of these at IAAPA, which I only watched from the sidelines, but it was quite impressive. Little did I realize that these setups are used by both professional drivers and engineers for virtual training but where it was being shown at IAAPA, obviously the company had a desire to move the simulator into the amusement sector. Now they have accomplished just that, with at least at one location in the UK known as the Weston–Super–Mare Grand Pier installing two units to play. The units are known as the Hexatech 3CTR interactive race simulator and this is the first installation of such machines for use by the public. The article that Kevin sent us doesn’t mention what the price will be to play one of these (if you are in the area it’s probably best to save up, just in case). It is also mentioned that to keep things fresh, there are a variety of options on the table for the pier to add extras to the simulators, from “fitting car bodywork or mounting actual vehicles to a motion platform”; as well as upgrades to the software for different kinds of cars and tracks.

[Via Highway Games] [Cruden.com]

Hopping Road Kids gets a release in Japan

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At AOU 2010 in February, Taito revealed a 4-player light-gun shooter and a new version of their game Hopping Road called Hopping Road Kids. Hopping Road itself is an original arcade title that has players taking part in pogo-stick racing in a cartoony, cutesy world. Despite it’s appearance (if you’re turned off by cute) it looks like a fun game, there’s nothing quite like it in arcades right now, and it even gives a player a small workout so it’s appealing to fans of games that require physical activity. The downside to any game requiring such activity though is the potential for it to break down so I’d be curious to know how these have fared in the field so far. The first video below shows some footage from the Japanese version of the game but before you write this off as another crazy title no one will see outside of Japan, think again. Hopping Road is available in both Europe and the US, although I do not know of any US locations which have picked it up yet. You can see the English version in the second video below, filmed at the Trocadero in London. Taito also has a page for HR on their English website.

Anyways to get back on track, Taito has announced that the Kids version is now available in Japan, which you can see here. While they have not yet indicated when they will be releasing this internationally, I think it would be an even easier sell to operators since the game already appeals more to kids than adults and with plenty of locations out there already catering to kids with ticket redemption, this offers a nice video-only alternative (although some operators would certainly prefer a redemption version of this). Assuming the kids version also comes with a smaller price tag, that can certainly improve it’s chances.Hopping Road Kids can be linked up to a standard version for four player pogo races between kids and adults

Japanese Demo from the standard version of the game

Footage of the English version at the Trocadero

New I-WAY racing simulator arcade in France

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If you love racing simulators and you ever happen to be passing through Lyons, France (or if you live nearby) then a new business that recently opened it’s doors there will certainly hold appear for you. Called I-WAY, the pace has be under construction for the past four years and offers more than racing simulators although the simulators are the primary attraction for spending your hard earned cash there. With 18 6-axis simulators built around full-sized “Formula 1, rally/touring and endurance race cars” you will be spending quite a bit a of cash for the experience, with a single race starting at a mere €60 (or about $73.25USD; I am being facetious when I say “mere” here). You can also get a racing package with ten races for ‘only’ €630, so save up before you head in. At the very least with the quality of simulators that they appear to have, you know that you are going to get a high quality experience out the it.

[Via OhGizmo!]

Speed Driver 2 lands in the UK

It seems like London is a getting a lot of arcade love recently with different companies testing out games there. The latest game to show up is IGS’s Speed Driver 2, a 3D racing game that reminds me of Sega’s Initial D. I do like the cabinet design as it’s sleek and flashy – if you have had a chance to play it, comment on what you thought about it below. I know that the 3D stuff is still somewhat new for IGS as they have primarily focused on creating 2D games (including Oriental Legend 2, which I have played and it’s excellent).

Sega releases R-Tuned: Ultimate Street Racing in the US

Sega’s new drift racing game is now available for purchase in the US, according to several different distributor websites. I know that several readers here have been anticipating this one but in case you have missed out on info concerning Sega’s latest racer, you can click here for the post where we found out about this game back in June; here for a November update; and here for the appearance of the game at IAAPA. As a side note, Sega has changed the color of the cabinet from a mostly green color scheme to blue but we do not know if they have changed much on the game since there weren’t many reports on how this played before hand. The game does employ an IC card system, even here in the US so one can save their progress to a card. I wonder how many more games will be using Sega’s Lindbergh hardware and if they will start giving Europa some more love throughout the rest of this year.

From the looks of it, most distributors are charging about $7400 for the game but it always pays to shop around, even as an operator.

We have moved R-Tuned up to “Already Released” from “Upcoming” on our Master Release Game List for 2009.

[R-Tuned @ Segaarcade.com] [Discuss on the Forums]

New boat racing game by Raw Thrills' and the Hydro Thunder team to be at ATEI (UPDATED w/ SCREENS & CONTROL INFO)

(Click on any image to enlarge it)

Raw Thrills’ has revealed to us a brand new racing game that will be shown at ATEI next week that is tentatively called “H2Overdrive” (which is not based upon the PS2 game of the same name). In news that should be music to the ears of Hydro Thunder fans, Raw Thrills’ has brought together the original team that created Hydro Thunder to give us this new game, which will feature many of the things players loved about that game (such as the huge drops and many shortcuts) but add some new aspects to it as well (which they couldn’t say much about at this time).

The cabinet to be shown features a 42″  LCD HD screen, pulsing LED lights and the game itself looks “amazing”. We’ll have more on this when ATEI rolls around in a few days!

UPDATE: We just received the first screenshots of H2Overdrive from Raw Thrills’. Many thanks to them for sending us these pics. Now just imagine the game running at 60 fps on a 42″ screen and we have a good idea of what it will look like in person 😉

UPDATE #2: I asked Andrew Eloff at Raw Thrills’ about the throttle control on H2Overdrive and he has confirmed that the new game does indeed use the Hydro Throttle like what was used in the original game but it has been “upgraded to be more reliable PLUS with cool new features!”. He also tells us that “The whole cabinet is a radical departure from the original Hydro…This cabinet is brand new from the ground up.”

More reason to rejoice!

As a side note, we have added H2Overdrive to our Master Release List for 2009.

UPDATE #3 (6/4/09) – I have done an interview with Steve Ranck of Specular Interactive where we discuss the game along with a ton of new details on what will make this game stand out not only from Hydro Thunder but from other arcade titles as well. Check it out here.

[Raw Thrills’] [Discuss on the Forum]

New boat racing game by Raw Thrills’ and the Hydro Thunder team to be at ATEI (UPDATED w/ SCREENS & CONTROL INFO)

(Click on any image to enlarge it)

Raw Thrills’ has revealed to us a brand new racing game that will be shown at ATEI next week that is tentatively called “H2Overdrive” (which is not based upon the PS2 game of the same name). In news that should be music to the ears of Hydro Thunder fans, Raw Thrills’ has brought together the original team that created Hydro Thunder to give us this new game, which will feature many of the things players loved about that game (such as the huge drops and many shortcuts) but add some new aspects to it as well (which they couldn’t say much about at this time).

The cabinet to be shown features a 42″  LCD HD screen, pulsing LED lights and the game itself looks “amazing”. We’ll have more on this when ATEI rolls around in a few days!

UPDATE: We just received the first screenshots of H2Overdrive from Raw Thrills’. Many thanks to them for sending us these pics. Now just imagine the game running at 60 fps on a 42″ screen and we have a good idea of what it will look like in person 😉

UPDATE #2: I asked Andrew Eloff at Raw Thrills’ about the throttle control on H2Overdrive and he has confirmed that the new game does indeed use the Hydro Throttle like what was used in the original game but it has been “upgraded to be more reliable PLUS with cool new features!”. He also tells us that “The whole cabinet is a radical departure from the original Hydro…This cabinet is brand new from the ground up.”

More reason to rejoice!

As a side note, we have added H2Overdrive to our Master Release List for 2009.

UPDATE #3 (6/4/09) – I have done an interview with Steve Ranck of Specular Interactive where we discuss the game along with a ton of new details on what will make this game stand out not only from Hydro Thunder but from other arcade titles as well. Check it out here.

[Raw Thrills’] [Discuss on the Forum]

Initial D5 website updated

Sega Japan has updated the site for Initial D5 to include more info, screenshots and a promotional movie. It’s unclear exactly what is all new here (I am sure that hardcore fans of the game already know) but there is a new mode that involves online play that will only be used for a limited time and a new course for players to enjoy. The game certainly looks good for a Lindbergh powered game (I guess they still are holding off on using Europa for more than SR3) and hopefully we’ll find out soon when this will see a wider release.  

[Initial D5 Japanese site] [Discuss on the Forum]