More footage from the 48th Amusement Show

UPDATE: Please note that for the latest news, go to ARCADEHEROES.COM. The site made a major move after the post below but we have kept doing the same thing, reporting on the world of arcades.

While we eagerly await news from the Sega Private Show to come about, including more information on GRID and Let’s Go Island, let’s take another look at the recent JAMMA show that took place in Japan.

First off, Taito released a video featuring an overview of their booth, which includes the first footage of their new racing title, Battle Gear Spin Wheel. This one won’t have any trouble earning it’s place on the list of “quirky” arcade titles as you will see briefly below.

Here is a brief look at the Sega and Namco booths from SankeiNews, which shows a quick clip of Deadstorm Pirates 3D.

This user, wx4058, has posted tons of videos from the show, content includes Gundam Extreme Vs., Blazlbue Continuum Shift II, Initial D AA Arcade Stage 6 , Shining force Cross Raid, Pengo, Pac-Man Battle Royale, Darius Burst and more. To get to the JAMMA stuff you’ll have to scroll down past all of the Tokyo Game Show videos.

I am surprised that no one tried to get any video of the autostereoscopic displays that were there, at least as a means of discussing the topic.

If Time Crisis were a movie

Newsfeed 915 via

I had thought that this was published sometime ago but the video poster has the date as Aug. 11th 2010 so perhaps it’s not as belated as I had though. If you’ve seen it already then at least it’s worth watching again, if not then get ready for what Time Crisis would probably be like as a live action movie, right down to the video game physics and some humor(I loev the part where they fire their guns just like most people do in boss battles). It even includes actor Andy Whitfield (IMDB profile) –  Now they just need to do the other TC games, from 2-4 as well as Crisis Zone and Razing Storm.

Just a note, it is violent as it’s just a long gun battle and there is some blood in there, in case you’re somewhere that would frown upon such videos.

The director, freddiew also has some other game-related videos including his concept for a Future Rock Band game.

If you build it, they will come and play

When Aaron Auzins sent me this video from the opening of the Galloping Ghost Arcade (they are promising to send more media as well which I have added to our previous GGA post to keep it condensed) I had an idea. The consistent claim that arcades are dead, that no one wants to go out and play them because they have better options at home, etc. can best be combated by visual examples of arcades packed with engaged players.   It’s hard to argue with visual evidence such as this especially if we can get some video from all over the world so if you have a video showing such things, send it in – if not, record some the next time your arcade is packed or you are in a packed arcade. I’ll update this post and point out any updates in the Twitter feed.

Here’s the Galloping Ghost Arcade opening video, just moments after they opened their doors for the first time (8/14/2010)

More later as we get them.

Videos from the Akai Katana (aka Red Sword) location test

(Thanks to ECM for the tip)

Interested in seeing CAVE’s new shooter Akai Katana? Then here are some of the first videos of the game in action, as seen recently on location test. I’m used to seeing CAVE use vertical perspectives in their games so this is a little different (like DeathSmiles) but if you are comfortable with bullet hell, then they have plenty of that to dish out in Red Sword.

Videos found embedded @ the2bears.com

CRUSIER from InJoy Motion Corp. resurrects the "Lucky & Wild" concept, adds motion

Back in 1993 Namco had a game which combined two popular arcade genres into one game – a racer and a light-gun shooter with Lucky & Wild. With the huge focus we have on both of those genres today I am surprised we don’t see something like this more often although Namco sort of did that in Deadstorm Pirates by including a wheel in the game, although that is only used in occasional events. Today I came across the Youtube channel for an arcade game developer in Taiwan called InJoy Motion Corp., who we have covered before. They specialize in motion based games and a few weeks ago they posted a video of a new game they are calling Crusier. Unfortunately the video focuses on showing people being jostled by the cabinet and not the game itself but if you stick with it, you do see the game for brief moments in the game and see the controls, which is designed for two players. One player drives with a steering wheel and the other fires using a joystick controller. From what little we see, it appears that the graphics are shiny and colorful but it’s really hard to say based on this video alone. I do like the colorful cabinet although it would be better if it was designed like a space ship or whatever it is you are supposed to be flying in the game.

There are some other interesting videos they have on their channel, including one I’ll post here showing some sort of prototype for a different kind of gun game. They also have direct feed videos of their other titles, including Street Racing Stars, Dido Kart Racing, Top Gunner, PowerBoat V2.0 and Panzer Elite Action

[InJoy Motion Official website]

CRUSIER from InJoy Motion Corp. resurrects the “Lucky & Wild” concept, adds motion

Back in 1993 Namco had a game which combined two popular arcade genres into one game – a racer and a light-gun shooter with Lucky & Wild. With the huge focus we have on both of those genres today I am surprised we don’t see something like this more often although Namco sort of did that in Deadstorm Pirates by including a wheel in the game, although that is only used in occasional events. Today I came across the Youtube channel for an arcade game developer in Taiwan called InJoy Motion Corp., who we have covered before. They specialize in motion based games and a few weeks ago they posted a video of a new game they are calling Crusier. Unfortunately the video focuses on showing people being jostled by the cabinet and not the game itself but if you stick with it, you do see the game for brief moments in the game and see the controls, which is designed for two players. One player drives with a steering wheel and the other fires using a joystick controller. From what little we see, it appears that the graphics are shiny and colorful but it’s really hard to say based on this video alone. I do like the colorful cabinet although it would be better if it was designed like a space ship or whatever it is you are supposed to be flying in the game.

There are some other interesting videos they have on their channel, including one I’ll post here showing some sort of prototype for a different kind of gun game. They also have direct feed videos of their other titles, including Street Racing Stars, Dido Kart Racing, Top Gunner, PowerBoat V2.0 and Panzer Elite Action

[InJoy Motion Official website]

Weekend videos: Atari' Hercules Pinball and Taito's Ice Cold Beer

What do you do when there’s not much news to discuss? Find some videos showcasing the stranger or cooler products found in arcade days past. here are two videos from TNT Amusements, who has been restoring some rare games from the early 80’s. First is Hercules pinball, the largest commercially released pinball game ever, followed up by Taito’s Ice Cold Beer, a skill-based game for bars involving balancing a ball.

Weekend videos: Atari’ Hercules Pinball and Taito’s Ice Cold Beer

What do you do when there’s not much news to discuss? Find some videos showcasing the stranger or cooler products found in arcade days past. here are two videos from TNT Amusements, who has been restoring some rare games from the early 80’s. First is Hercules pinball, the largest commercially released pinball game ever, followed up by Taito’s Ice Cold Beer, a skill-based game for bars involving balancing a ball.

First full look at the indie arcade game Friction

It has been a while since we first teased about a new arcade light-gun shooter coming to arcades from an independent game studio known as Friction Game Studios and today, we can reveal quite a bit more about the game.  I have been excited about this game since I first saw it in action at AMOA 2008 and one thing I particularly liked about the entire project was that it has been designed with the small operator in mind. From the price to parts replacement and game quality, this game is going to be a great deal for ops looking to add another arcade exclusive title to their list.

As you can see from the picture above (as well as after the break where I have embedded several more pics) the game is housed in a cabinet that features a 27″ CRT monitor; there are two light-guns (force feedback is optional); a bit of slick artwork all over the cabinet; and two 180 watt speakers for superb sound.

To give you a better idea of how the game plays, here are four videos of Friction in action. Graphically it has changed a little bit from when I saw it, with better lighting effects and lot more particles being thrown around. While we do not have an exact idea on when this game will be available, as you can see it’s finished and should be available soon. The game will be sold direct so checking the website for the game for details on how to order is probably wise. We look forward to seeing what else FGS will bring to the arcade industry in the future so give them your support!

For more pictures of the cabinet, check them out past the break below. Many thanks to Juan of Friction Game Studios for providing us with this first look!

Videos from JAMMA including Shining Force Cross,KOF Sky Stage, Giant Tetris, taito's table flipping game and more

Who wants just still photos of an event when you can have videos?

Sega’s Shining Force Cross. This is less like Gauntlet than I imagined it might be but it’s still cool. I really want a Gauntlet-like game for arcades again however.

Sega’s Giant Tetris

Taito’s Table pounding/flipping tantrum game also translated as “Ultra Low Dining Table”. The guys in each of these videos are a lot nicer to the table than most patrons would probably be.

KOF Sky Stage

Namco’s Tank! Tank! Tank! EDF 2017 wishes that it was this crazy looking. I like the bug parts flying everywhere, at least we know that of all of the titles on this post, this one is coming to Europe and the US.