Just a few months after the official unveiling in Las Vegas, the newest entry to the top arcade hunting series, Big Buck HD is rolling off the factory floor, on it’s way to distributors and operators to put on location. I had some hands-on time with the game a couple of weeks ago and walked away with a good enough impression to work out a deal for my own arcade with a game operator here to sell my old Big Buck Safari and replace it with a Big Buck HD Panorama version. Also in conjunction with the factory roll-out comes the launch of the new Bigbuckhd.com where some players are already earning cash in the tournaments available for the game. That portal will also allow players to take advantage of the numerous online features for the game, which you can read about here. Play Mechanix will also be releasing a free app for iOS and Android devices where players can access their account or find locations near them. I’m certainly excited to see what effect this game will have on other arcade titles in the future in regards to online features – while it does have a few things in common with Incredible Technologies’ Golden Tee LIVE 2012, there are some extras BBHD is bringing to the table in particular with the way player accounts operate (they feel like an Xbox Live account but are free), the social media operation and more. I imagine that using Twitter and Facebook as leaderboards will prove popular, as will the expanded opportunities to win some cash for skilled players. With this news I have bumped Big Buck HD up to the “Already Released” category on our Arcade Releases for 2012 page.
Here’s a pic of the games being prepped at the factory from a few days ago (Source)
And in case you have missed it, a trailer made for the game. Also if you are interested, here is a review I have wrote up about it. Other arcade reviews are coming shortly.
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I’m curious, who plays these games anymore? Every one of these Big Buck games I see in bars/clubs are almost always left idle. I know that there is some sort of tournament system set up to try and entice people to play, but even here in the deep south, in the Sportsman’s Paradise, somewhere where you’d expect a “Big Buck” Hunter game would be popular, but I’m just not seeing it.
I can only speak for my place (aside from their community on Facebook and what is seen on the tournaments) that casual players are drawn to it, some teens, often middle aged men. I think the graphical improvements with HD will be a bigger draw – World wasn’t any improvement over Open Season, Safari, etc. but this one certainly is. I’m getting setup with an operator so there is pretty much no risk to me. I figure everyone who currently plays Safari (which makes about third that Terminator does) will play HD and it likely will pick up some new play just because it doesn’t look like an old game anymore.