The one song featured here is quite um…cute I suppose. I imagine that a lot of the music is along the same lines but the combination of these two genres should work out pretty well. For those interested, here is the official site for the game.

At IAAPA 2011 in November of last year I got to try out IGS’s 3D racing game Speed Driver 3 for the first time. I walked away with a good impression of the title, it’s more of a technical racer trying to get into Wangan Maximum Tune or Initial D territory. IGS is seeking to expand on that with Speed Driver 4: World Fever. This has added online play features and the graphics, judging by the video below are pretty good. Depending upon the final price this game might serve as a decent alternative to the costly WMMT4 and ID6 or 7 cabinets some might look at importing. Also where they translated 3 into English, there is a chance the same could happen for 4. I’m sure that the resident racing fans here would enjoy this one as well.

While this video for it is not from the Expo, this game pictured above called MuziBox was there. The cabinet design as well as the controls are similar to a music game we saw a couple of years ago called Mozarc by Hypaa. At first I actually thought that this was a Hypaa game but I did some digging and found out that it was developed by IGS. The control scheme is very similar to Mozarc, which used a plexiglass panel with cuts at certain points in it so it worked likea  keyboard over the screen. This gets rid of the specially cut panel and instead has a plexi strip for each key. Also they seem to have grabbed a big name or two for music licensing so that is always a plus. You can find an official site for the game here: MuziBox website. This is being manufactured by a Taiwanese company called Saint Fun IGS, Saint Fun is acting as an agent for the game in Taiwan (thanks for the correction ExpoFrontier)

I personally can’t stand the song being played here, that “You had a bad day” one-hit wonder but there are plenty of other songs available for it.

Speaking of Saint Fun, they had a booth with a racing game called Fast Beat Loop Racer. Here’s a close up of the cabinet, a picture of the game at the booth can be seen here.

From Sega Amusement’s Facebook page, MaiMai. We are still waiting to find out when this will be coming to the States as we have heard, although I imagine that it will be tested out somewhere here first and the release will depend upon the test.

A blog by the name of Sloanwang has some pictures of the games mentioned above. They also mention that the queues for Namco’s Dark Escape 4D were very long and people wanted to play the game so bad, apparently some paid to get into the expo just to check this game out.

They also have a picture of a four-player light gun game that used mounted light-guns and thus it’s a huge control panel.

I am still expecting more from GTI Asia Taipei Expo 2012 but its a matter of waiting so keep checking in!

First off, Sega has really begun to push stuff through their Facebook page. This is where the “spy” photos came from recently on some new project they are developing and today they posted a link to the K.O. Drive page on SegaArcade.com. Not much has been revealed about it on that page, aside from the fact that there are six tracks to race on and six units can be networked. I’m sure more will come along soon.

Next up, thanks to JJ Kam about this tip that Namco is going to test out Wangan Maximum Tune 4 in Hong Kong in a few weeks. What’s interesting to note about this he mentions is that most of the WMMT3DX+ units in Hong Kong just so happen to be in English. So if there is an English version of WMMT4, we could be seeing it soon.

UPDATE: Right after posting I came across a tweet by Taito that mentions that their new follow-up to their Let’s Go By Train arcade title that was released in Japan had the soundtrack for it done by ZUNTATA. You can buy it on iTunes. For some reason they don’t have the Dariusburst Another Chronicle sound track up there, which is certainly one of the best game soundtracks of 2011 to be overlooked out West, but that is because of the availability issue. Everything else Zuntata has on iTunes you can browse here.

Last up so far is the Rusty Quarters Arcade. They are a new arcade we reported about not long ago that is in Minneapolis, MN. They sent out a release this weekend stating that they are in trouble – so much trouble that if business doesn’t pick up soon, they will be closed as of June 1st. I’d hate to see any arcade close down but I can feel that pain – out here in Utah I have seen a slowdown lately (a slowdown from a relatively slow economy to begin with). Being in a mall I am often limited in business to how busy the mall gets but whether its the continued construction in the area, gas prices, improving weather (as people go out to do things they haven’t been able to do for the past five/six months or winter) or the continually sluggish economy, it’s been slow for the entire mall so it’s not just me. I have watched economic news closely; I know it’s not just a local thing or even a national one and I’m sure it’s a combination of factors but it’s unsettling nonetheless. We’ve been in this slump much longer then it should be going on for and it would be really nice to do business in a robust, growing economy for a change. When that will kick in however, I wish I knew. In the meantime, doing the best we can to spread the word about our businesses and improving where we can afford to is perhaps the best thing we can do. I also really wouldn’t mind seeing some more kits. I did the math this past week on the Friction kit that I had bought last year and it was an ROI of six months for me on that, making it a great investment.  Much better than Super Street Fighter IV, but that’s because I could have bought several Friction kits for the cost of that one so lesson learned.

Anyways, here is the message that Rusty Quarters was getting out:

Dear Customers,
Everyday is a fun day for us. We always get to see new faces walk through our doors, excited to see the glowing screens and pew-pew noises from each arcade and pinball machine. It’s fun to make new friends that remember playing these arcade games when they were a kid or watching parents with their little ones, huddled over a game and cheering with their son or daughter as they jump that barrel, stomp on the turtle, or shoot that last spaceship.

We always hear you guys and gals cheer, “Thank you for doing this, for opening up in my neighborhood.”… And we always respond with, “Hey if it wasn’t for you guys showing up, we wouldn’t have a fun place for you guys to hang out”.

But the way things are going, Rusty Quarters might have shut our doors forever.

Recently we’ve seen a drastic decline in attendance. Drastic enough that it is affecting our day-to-day business. Some of this is due to the recent odd weather (warm/cold/warm/raining). Some is due to recent public badmouthing of local small Mom & Pop businesses that rely on hobby fandom to survive. And some maybe just for a the fact that the novelty of bringing a retro video arcade back to life has just faded by way of the dinosaur…

We are currently in a high rent lease, locked in for 2 more years. We started this labor of love with a very small shoestring budget. We have spent every penny to continue to keep us open. (Sage had to sell his prized ’57 Chevy for us to stay afloat. Just one among many other personal sacrifices.) We’ve tried our best get a Small business loan but have been denied at every turn. (Turns out, you have to have money to borrow money) We are too small of retail space for a food/alcohol license…

Bottom Line, if business doesn’t pick up soon for Rusty Quarters, we will have to close our doors June 1st.

We’re not asking for donations. We just hope that if you guys get bored around the house, had a hard day at work, need to do something fun with the kids, or just need a cheap date night, you’ll decide to stop by your neighborhood arcade and spend a couple of quarters. Relax with fan favorites such as Donkey Kong, Tempest, Galaga, Rampage, Centipede, etc. Also keep us in mind for your next birthday party or event. Revenue from those activities helps us make up for those slow days.

Also, please join our Facebook page and spread the word to your friends and family that there is a fun place in town to spend your afternoon/evening.

We’re not asking for all of your hard earned money. All we’re asking for are your spare quarters, which believe it or not truly add up. With your continued support of this neighborhood small business, we’ll keep you guys playing with new games in a kid safe and clean environment. Hey, who knows, maybe with your continued support we’ll be able to move into that bigger space… maybe this time with a hamburger grill or a pizza oven.

Thanks for reading, and we hope to see you soon!

Annie (Boss Lady) & Sage (The Rube) Spirtos
Rusty Quarters Retro Arcade & Museum
818 West Lake Street, Minneapolis, MN 55408
www.RQARCADE.com

Website Gamavi.com (Provided by Stinger  Report newsfeed 1202) has some details on the Namco Bandai booth, in particular with the most recent version of their famous Gundam pods and Dark Escape 4D. In the case of the latter that is still on track for a Western release sometime later this year as far as we know but for the Gundam pods, that is still an overseas thing. But this marks the first time I know of that they have been demonstrated in such a manner outside of Japan. So this could mean that finding one of these illustrious pods will become a little easier, if you just so happen to find yourself in Taiwan or China instead of Japan.

With Dark Escape actually on its way to us let me focus on that for the moment.  Namco has apparently had a change of heart in regards to branding their 3D content. Recently at a Dubai trade show we saw that they changed their DeadStorm Pirates 3D to 4D+. I imagine the plus comes in part because DSP4D is a bit like Galaxian 3 in that it takes up a bit of space and four players are

Click for a larger view

involved(Galaxian 3 had six but DE4D using 4 is more then the two the game normally supports in other versions). Dark Escape had the 3D moniker to it last we saw it but now it’s 4D. Now this is with reason – generally in the coin-0p industry any time you have a feature that goes beyond the standard controls and stereoscopic 3D they call it 4D. There is no standard yet at what separates 4D, 5D, 6D or even 7D. It’s all up to marketing departments, kind of along the lines of the “bits” arguments of the late 80s and 90s. What DE4D (which looks better abbreviated now then DE3D did) entails at this point is 3D w/ glasses, surround sound, seat vibration, air blowers and the heatbeat sensor. The article mentions that the game tracks how many people are considered to be scared by the game and it apparently also has something to do with game progression. I think it my change the game in ways like we saw with the Gamecube game Eternal Darkness.

Beyond that link, there are a couple of things to share from Youtube and Facebook in the area of rhythm games. Konami still is pushing their bemani lines in Taiwan where they have a strong audience and they brought the latest version of Sound Voltex Booth and Dance Evolution Arcade.

Really brief video of someone attempting to play Sega’s MaiMai

Also here is a short report from Music Game Fantasia about some of the music content there. (Updated link with English version text!)

More GTI coverage coming later this week, stay tuned!

The CTO of arcade game maker Raw Thrills, Andrew Eloff was interviewed by Josh Neland of Electronic Design about modern arcades and technology. He bills it as ” If you want to understand what we do in 30 seconds, look no further.” It’s not a terribly long interview but it does get into the essence of what special advantage arcade games can offer over games you play at home or on your phone. Take a read here. He talks about the evolution of technology in arcades and what it is about a modern title that makes them stand out, which to boil down briefly is that they have moved more into the realm of simulators than just gaming boxes.  Mr. Eloff notes that with extra resources, they would be working on something like the Holodeck from Star Trek, which I agree is the direction that we are eventually headed although it will probably still be a while before we get there. But if that is any indication then arcades have good prospects well into the 24th century with technology like that!

My own thoughts on this, to dive further on the subject aren’t a secret and in my new, still unnamed book (I’m calling it a Book With No Name for the moment, a play on this gaming forum’s name) I actually have dedicated a whole chapter to the subject of technology and arcades. It’s actually become such a large part of the book that I’m considering splitting it in two parts as there are plenty of historical examples to pull from that emphasize the real advantage arcades can have in creating a unique gaming experience that is done in good part by the hardware the user has in their hands to control the situation. Even though trends have been towards Kinect style motion technologies, I think that gamers have quickly realized that something like Kinect is good for an enhancement but not always the total replacement of the whole gaming experience. Sure there are some games that pull it off well like dancing games but racing games – not so much. Perhaps that will change over time but I can’t say that aside from a small handful of titles, I have not heard of many killer apps for Kinect. That’s not saying that it is a bad technology by any means but it seems more enjoyment has been got out of hacking it or using other non-game features then there are for the games themselves. That’s just my impression on it so far.

Of course I have been a constant advocate for other genres to get some love back in arcades and I have said before that when it comes to games based around vehicles, arcades really should be way ahead of the crowd. We have the racing genre pretty well covered but take any vehicle you can imagine – a tank, a mech, a submarine, a fighter jet, a train, a boat, a spaceship, a motorcycle, a bike, etc. and what you can do with that in arcades doesn’t have to be limited to a simulation of that vehicle, but can branch out into many unique forms that give us a gaming experience worth paying for over and over again.  There are examples I could cite but I won’t bore you this time around. Suffice it to say I think that the simulator angle is here to stay with arcades and seeing it develop further is one thing we have that is worth looking forward to on the arcade scene.

First off, we have another entry in the newcomer pinball creation circuit, this time by a new group called Skit-B Pinball. They are in the process of creating Predator Pinball, yes based upon the 1987 movie of the same name.  It’s also officially licensed so no worries about legal problems on that end. I did go off on a tirade against licenses a few months ago but as long as the game is fun and makes some attempts at innovation then I won’t have a problem with it. Unlike a lot of recent developments they are eschewing an LCD for a dot-matrix, although they are using an LED based display instead of a plasma one (better savings on voltages). I suppose the idea for that is with this being based on a late 80′s movie, making it look like a pinball machine somewhat from the period makes sense. What I like about this table so far is they are trying out some neat ideas based upon the license such as the Hunting mode, which changes the whole lighting scheme using UV lights along with UV reactive paint to unlock rewards. The game also allows you to save your progress of sorts, you enter your initials and it will track who you are. That is a no-brain feature that would be a great way to incentivize repeat plays, especially if it were combined with online functionality of some kind. Anyways, here is a video of the prototype whitewood getting some play. Skit-B is taking pre-orders for the game now, they are aiming to sell 250 units for ~$5000.

Game magazines used to cover pinball machines somewhat back in the day, when they also would occasionally give some love to video arcades. But for the most part they ignore pinball as much as they ignore arcades these days, unless it is a virtual pinball game they can fire up on their home console. There is a magazine called Pingame Journal that covers the scene but having a magazine dedicated to nothing but pinball is not something that is not a common sight by any means. Pinballnews.com has an interview with Jonathan Joosten, who is launching Pinball Magazine, a high-quality publication that will do just that. He also states that it will be different enough from Pingame Journal to avoid directly competing with what they do. [Pinball Magazine Website]

But that shouldn’t stop companies from setting up a way for people to report sightings of a machine they find or perhaps own “out in the wild”. That has been done some by Specular Interactive  in finding their H2Overdrive and Dirty Drivin’ games and more famously with Pac-Man Battle Royale and their Facebook app that allows users or locations to submit locations they find. Beyond that there are arcade site finders online where people can share such information but when it comes to official support, it is very sporadic to find such tools. That should not be the case and hopefully it won’t be long before every manufacturer has a way for people to submit locations for game tracking. It helps market the game as well as the locations that spent a pretty penny to carry the game in the first place.  I can’t think of a really good reason why such a thing should not be in place for all new arcade games, but someone feel free to give me a counterargument if you can think of one.

Anyways, to the real point of the post, Step Evolution & Coast to Coast Entertainment’s ReRave Arcade is the latest game to employ a game finder, which you can visit here @ the ReRave website. At the moment there are only 8 locations listed, but if any of you know of others that are out there and not listed, at least you can submit the location now. ReRave is online enabled as well, which assists in this location finding as well as offering free content downloads and global rankings.

They produce a lot of commercials and their most recent commercial has an arcade touch to it, being based on Sega’s OutRun (and a little Carmageddon thrown in there). Check it out for yourself:

Speaking of TV or movies, I heard that the hugely popular The Avengers has Namco’s Galaga in it. I haven’t had a chance to go and see the movie yet but I’ve heard nothing but good things about it so far…

It was reported a short time back that the famed Chinatown Fair Arcade in NYC was going to be re-opening it’s doors. After the heart-ache fans went through with the locations closure, this is certainly welcome news although the word on the street is that it will be much more of a family themed place so I guess time will tell how that will work out, being that it was a ‘gritty’ type arcade previously. I’m sure we’ll be hearing feedback about it soon enough. [Via The Gothamist]

UPDATE: Arcade Hunters offers some impressions on the re-opened venue. It’s definitely taken a different route, headed towards a modern redemption/video arcade instead of tradtional style it used to be

Crusin’ on over to sunny California, Sega embraces the fighter game once again in conjunction with Southtown Arcade, a newer venue in San Fransisco. Not many people know this but Sega did release Virtua Fighter 5 in very limited quantities to arcades back in ’08. I actually had a choice when I opened my own arcade to go with either a House of the Dead 4 Super Deluxe or a Virtua Fighter 5 and I opted for the former. However after releasing the game to consoles here, Sega continued to create some specific updates to the arcade version of the game in Japan, one of which added Twitter functionality. Sega has recently announced that a new version of the game is coming to home consoles this Summer called Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown and it just so happens that they have decided to give players a chance to try it out in arcades first, to a limited degree, in particular by hosting a tournament for the title at the Southtown Arcade this past week. The Official Sega blog has some details about that, although at the moment I highly doubt that they will be giving this a wide release in the US.

Like with other modern fighters that all originate from Japan, the expense and the risk for such a short window of time on these games often is not worth the payout, especially in cases where updates are given more frequently to the console versions then the arcade. This shouldn’t be the case these days in our ultra-connected world we live in but it is. This case with VF5FS looks like a special case where it’s more of a promotional thing taking place, so I am talking about in general/industry wide. If there was a revenue share system direct with the manufacturer’s in these instances or something like NESiCA then I think it would be less of a problem. I would gladly split revenues with Namco or Sega for a few months worth of a game like Tekken Tag 2 or VF5:FS while it was an arcade exclusive. Or at least release affordable kits (that are priced in typical kit ranges like $2000-$3000 and not $10k) that could manage to pay themselves off in time. Often the argument is made that kits will go into crappy cabinets put there by lazy operators and perhaps that is true in some cases but given that this is a profit and reputation driven market, arcades that make the effort to procure an HD cabinet will be rewarded with more business then a venue that doesn’t. So I believe that while some will use a junk cabinet with a kit, many others will put it into something nice, like is seen with Southtown here. It’s just too bad that arcade fighters could be raking in some great revenues and visitations for venues but that can’t happen for whatever logistical reason that is keeping the current system in place.

Visual Sports – Arena Pro XT – nice visual sports simulator

Perhaps the biggest news from the show was the aforementioned fact that Sega had a new game on hand, K.O. Drive. Well that wasn’t the only product they had to show off. They had several titles we have seen before and perhaps you have stumbled across them out there – Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Arcade, GRID, Let’s Go Island 3D, and Bejeweled as examples. But there was another unexpected item there – a deluxe cabinet of Virtua Tennis 4

If you are behind on what is going on here, Sega released a standard version of their console game Virtua Tennis 4 to arcades a short time ago in a cabinet that has been called an “iPod cabinet”. This breaks from that to offer a big screen but this design borrows heavily from Namco’s Pac-Man Battle Royale Deluxe, as you can compare below (PMBR was also at the show).

If Namco wasn’t feeling flattered enough by that, an unidentified Chinese company went a step further in borrowing the design for their own Smash Fun. As best I can tell, this has to do with smashing food, which isn’t a bad concept on the surface but depends a great deal on how they actually went about it. I almost wonder if it borrows a little from Fruit Ninja as well but without a video all I can do is guess. UPDATE: I found this game on Coinopexpress.com. It’s surprisingly cheap (for an arcade game of this size. It’s about half the price of a typical 42″ game) and it has to do with cakes.

Before wandering off too far from Namco, they had Deadstorm Pirates 4D+ there. Not sure if they just gave it a name change or if they have added more effects to it as last we saw it, they were calling it Deadstorm Pirates 3D. When I saw this at IAAPA I was impressed by the smooth 3D the game had, even though you had to use glasses. If they have added extra effects (motion, wind, bubbles, etc.) I’m sure it is a nice bonus.

Last year Taito released a cutesy racing game in Japan called Kickthrough Racers. It was a follow-up to another unique racing game they had made called Hopping Road. In this game you racer with scooters and you have a foot lever you pump as a sort of gas pedal. Taito took the step of adding this game to their English arcade site which gave us a hint that it was likely destined for an outside-of-Asia release but we haven’t seen it show up anywhere – until DEAL 2012. Four units were setup as you can see below and by this showing we can safely assume that Europe will also be getting the game but no clue on whether the game will head out to the Western Hemisphere or not for now.

Also seen at the show, the Western version of Taito’s Sonic Blast Heroes, redubbed Real Puncher 2.

Speaking of boxing type games, ICE’s Real Steel was on hand too, situated next to a new videmption game by Team Play called Pirate’s Booty.

Dancing concepts for kids are not common but not unheard of. Andamiro has Pump It Up Jump! and now UNIS has this title called Boogie Down. Here is a webpage for it at their website.

I’m not sure why it wasn’t at the UNIS booth but another UNIS game by the name of Mighty Moto (which the closest thing I can compare it to is the motorcycle racing levels in Mario Kart Wii) was hanging out with some of the Raw Thrills and Taito games.

More and more Chinese companies are making appearances at these international trade shows and while they have not quite brought along something that has become their Space Invaders(on part of that is no one is going to touch a clone and there are still plenty of those; you also have many games designed in a way that don’t work well outside of certain regions), they have been coming up with various concepts. I think it will take a major manufacturer to work some sort of deal out with them to make it that far and the game will have to really stand out, much like what Japanese companies did back in the 70s in licensing their games for manufacture and distribution overseas. That has sort of happened to a degree with Wahlap’s Power Truck, which made another appearance here but with four units together. It’s notable that another racer that made waves at IAAPA was not on hand, Storm Racer. I think at the end of the day Power Truck stands out more then SR does, although SR wasn’t a bad game by any means.The main issue with Power Truck at the end of the day however, and it’s the only negative I had with the game was the price tag of ~$12,000 per cabinet. When you can usually pick up a pair of standard racing games at that price, it makes it difficult to compete.

Here are two games by a company by the name of Huataibaishun Animation. The one on the right we have seen before but at booths of different companies so I never know what the deal is on that one. Still, it’s a helicopter 3D shmup that is either Air Strike or a modification of it that also uses a yoke controller. I don’t know of helicopters that use yokes but still, its a way to be different. The other game is a light-gun shooter that uses 3D glasses and some cool mounted guns called Yiji 4D. Even though the company behind the glorious Vulcan-M is now defunct, that game did have an effect of adding a little more realism to some light-gun games, such as the addition of the moving bullet feed at the side of the gun.

We haven’t heard from Tecway in a while, a Taiwanese based company but they were here with their Arkanoid-like game Pong Pong Table (which I have played at IAAPA and it was interesting. Been a long while since a game like that has come along and I liked the slider controller, although it needed calibration) and a clone of Andamiro’s Winner’s Ringer/Tower of Hanoi game. I can’t make out what the name is from the picture so let’s call it Winner’s Wannabe 2, just for kicks.

Another company called Zhongshan Amusement Company had this on hand, Live Boxer. The cabinet is pretty much the same as Taito’s Sonic Blast Heroes/Real Puncher 2 but the game is some sort of anime boxing style thing.

In case you were feeling their fault, here are some games we have come across a few times previously, here are some by Raw Thrills, Adrenaline Amusements and InJoy Motion.

There were three videos made by HawTian that are filmed in NarrowVision(tm) where they wander around the show floor. I will only post one of them though since for the most part it’s just a look at the booths and not really the games. This does show some of what I have talked about above.

This video starts off in the arcade area then goes back to brisk booth scanning. Around 1:30 is a Chinese company that has some knock-offs of more popular Japanese games; then UNIS with Boogie Down. Jumping ahead to 3:45, they get back to the Simuline booth and after circling around there I caught something at 4:45 – Taito’s KickThrough Racers. Some other games we have seen before are seen very quickly after that – Real Steel, Pac-Man Battle Royale Deluxe; Namco’s DeadStorm Pirates 4D is at 5:54. Jump ahead to 7:29 where they get to the Sega booth and Sonic & Sega All-Stars racing Arcade is there followed by Operation GHOST; right after OG, you can catch a brief glimpse of the Virtua Tennis 4 Deluxe control panel but they don’t stop on the screen.  Unfortunately they do not move around to show K.O Drive either so we will have to keep waiting to see that in action. After that it’s back to booth skimming until 8:50 where we get InJoy Motion where they had their latest games on hand.

That wraps it up for what I have been able to find. Next week we have another trade show to look forward to in regards to the GTI Expo although it is usually one of the more challenging shows for us since we often get inconsistent pictures of what is there and while there are often surprises to look over, details can be very difficult to come by. Not that I don’t enjoy a little speculation now and then over what I am looking at, I always prefer to have the best information possible.  I know that would be remedied if I could make it there, the show is in Taipei, Taiwan but the budget for world travel in these regards is still a ways off for me.  All in good time I suppose!