Continuing the IAAPA 2011 trade show coverage with twice the pics and half the salt! In case you missed it, pictures of games like Bejeweled can be found here. All of these pictures are courtesy of Kevin Williams of The Stinger Report. And no, your eyes are not deceiving you, that is a pair of official Half-Life 2 Arcade cabinets, originally by Taito. These were at an unidentified booth, which I hope to track down today.

But moving on, below find pictures of the Stern Pinball booth, Dirty Drivin’, Deadstorm Pirates 3D, Let’s Go Island 3D, Pac-Man Battle Royale Deluxe, Project X-Pher, DJ Max Technika 3, Flight Control FX, Powerputt 2012 and more. Please note, this is still not everything we have and I’ll be uploading videos within a few days so make sure to come back for even more! Click below to continue.

Let’s start with some pinball, in particular Transformers and TRON Legacy at the Stern booth. Not sure if Wizard of Oz Pinball is around anywhere, I will keep my eyes open today though.

Raw Thrills

Dirty Drivin‘, without the full-size crank I played and instead the new design with the dash crank. I hope the side crank is an option, seems more enjoyable to me.

Super Bikes 2 and Super Cars

Betson had a little more than Raw Thrills on the booth – Konami’s DDRX2 as well as IGS’s Power Truck (a big rig truck racer) and Wahlap’s Storm Racer, which I get into a little more below

Speaking of rhythm games, now’s a good time for DJ MAX Technika 3 by Pentavision Global. It was seen in two configurations, deluxe and Solo, the Solo model seen here

Adrenaline Amusements

These guys made waves recently with the release of Infinity Blade FX and they already have something to follow-up with at IAAPA, the unveiling of Flight Control FX. It’s the third game to join their FX platform after the aforementioned Infinity Blade and Fruit Ninja.

Namco

The new Pac-Man Battle Royale Deluxe. We saw a pic of this at the AAMA Distributor Gala but that didn’t give me a proper sense of scale. It’s a big cabinet, sporting a 54″ LCD and the lighting on it is great.

A more compact version of Deadstorm Pirates

And a shot from the Deadstorm Pirates 3D booth

Sega

Since describing Let’s Go Island 3D‘s autostereoscopic lenticular glasses-free 3D display is a mouthful to go on about, I was thinking of perhaps another name for such technology – how about Free3D or FreeD? Anyone? Either way, Sega’s showcase in cutting edge technology was at the show, I only glimpsed at it from the back so I wasn’t in the calibration zone but I could see some ‘pop’ in the image. Also in case you missed it, you can see the pics of the new Bejeweled and Operation GHOST by Sega here.

Incredible Technologies showing off their latest titles including Golden Tee 2012 LIVE and PowerPutt LIVE

InJoy Motion

We’ve discussed Taiwanese based InJoy before, they specialize in motion games, particularly with motion seats. They have a few new games on hand including the dress-up/rhythm game Love Touch which has already been mentioned. here is the new co-op shooter (same vein as Let’s Go Island or Deadstorm Pirates but with a sci-fi theme) Project X-Pher. This uses InJoy’s multi-feedback guns, and you start the game off with two weapons, a machne gun and a cannon. Both have unlimited ammo and completely different gun feedback

Dido Kart 2. This sequel has a bit more to it with an in-game purchasing system, card support and the motion seat. The kart racing itself is standard although I only found out afterwards it has a drifting function as well. Really nice graphics on this one.

Finally, the first InJoy game I ever came across was called Panzer Elite Action, it was in a unique sit-down cabinet where the screen slid down in front of you. Only problem was it didn’t allow anyone else to see what you were playing so InJoy has decided to bring the game back with a more traditional sit down cabinet, with a motion seat of course. This also uses a yoke controller, which I haven’t used in ages.

Wahlap

You might not be familiar with this name (we have spoken of them before on AH) but perhaps that will change soon. This is the first time they have had a presence at IAAPA that I am aware of, they have always been strong players at various Asian trade shows however. One game they have at IAAPA stirring some buzz is Storm Racer, which I haven’t had a chance to play yet but it looks very polished. In fact a couple of units were at the Betson booth.

GSPIRIT Tennis. Big screen game, sort of an arcade answer to Wii Sports Tennis

Storm Racer.

Newsfeed 1134 via

As an effort to provide Japanese gamers with a portal for everything revolving around their arcade games, Konami has launched a new site that focuses on bringing game information, player rankings, discussion with mobile device support together to support the players. It’s only for Japan (which isn’t much of a surprise considering Konami’s weak arcade presence outside of there) but it is always good to see any company opening up the means to bring more attention to the content they offer.

[e-Amusement Gate]

[Via GameSetWatch]

(Thanks to Jarett for the tip!)

Well this is a pleasant change – we get to discuss an article on a mainstream media site that paints modern arcades in a positive light and more then that, showing how they are still relevant. They take a look at some big arcade chains like Dave & Busters, Gameworks and Chuck E. Cheese. They also point out why arcades still have appeal, particularly with the idea of playing games in a social setting.It’s not completely perfect – House of The Dead 4 that they mention was released at the end of 2005 and Sega has released plenty of games since then, as have numerous other companies which if you read this blog with any frequency you are well aware of. Still, I’m happy to see an article like this to point these things out as one reality I like to point out is that when we see the other argument based upon poor research, ie. “arcades are dead”, that isn’t helpful to the many small businesses out there trying to make it in this industry.

Check out the article here!

(Via AM-Net Blog)

Back in 1997, Taito released a coin-op “train simulator” video game called Densha De Go!. That basically translates to “Let’s go by train!”. It was successful enough in Japan to warrant a couple of sequels in 1999 and in 2001. The point of the game is to get your passengers to the arrival station on time and in one piece. Drive like a crazy person and you’ll lose points by annoying the passengers.

This coming Spring, Taito will release the fourth installment of the Densha De Go! series. We don’t know much about it aside from the image above and that it will use cards. I imagine that it most likely will stick to the Japanese market but it’s a good example, yet again, of the simulator experience that arcades can pull off so well. In thinking about it however, I’m sure a videmption type game based on the Thomas The Train series would probably do well internationally.

So today a new film is making it’s way to theaters called “Real Steel”. I haven’t seen it yet, not sure if I will be seeing it but there are a lot of commercials about it on TV and some talk about it out there. From what I can tell, it’s Rock’Em Sock’Em Robots – the Movie. It probably has some Rocky dashed in there as well. It’s obviously tapping into the entertainment people get from TV shows like Robot Wars.  The arcade industry has a game that will be tapping into this as well but it will allow people to actually control the robots for a change, a game we have been following for quite some time now called Robo Restle by Robotic Amusements and Namco America. While it doesn’t feature robots punching each other, it’s close enough for our purposes today. It has also come a long way since it was Robo Basho.

We heard that the final release version of RR was at the EAS 2011 show in London last month. To help you catch up on it, you control a robot with a joystick and buttons and the goal is to tip your opponent’s robot over as many times as possible within the given time limit. An LCD screen shows the time, scores and features an animated robotic announcer; the game will also have optional ticket redemption support. It’s a simple game that has always attracted attention at the shows and as such I imagine it will be a big draw at the arcade where there is nothing like it. I haven’t been able to get a final release time or price on it yet, perhaps that information will be handy when the IAAPA Expo arrives in about a month in Orlando. With the final version being shown at EAS, that most likely means you will be able to come across one starting this Winter. Here’s the most recent video I captured of the game in action, from this year’s Amusement Expo 2011. You can also read up on it a little from our preview page on RR here.

(Thanks to Shinichi for the tip!)

Need something to spruce up your arcade or gameroom? Mini-cabinets are always nice. These cabinets in particular are something you can put together yourself and it’s all molded plastic, a 1:12 accurate and detailed replica of the real thing. Pictured above is Namco’s Taiko No Tatsujin, they also have a replica of Namco’s The Idolm@ster (click on the thumbnail to the right here to enlarge). I really like the amount of detail they put into these, at least from what the pictures show. These are both made by HobbyWave which is based in Japan and these models are certainly outside of what they normally seem to produce in quantity (i.e. 3D anime dolls).

(Thanks to Joe for the tip)

These aren’t an official Taito product but in case you like playing cards and you want an “8-bit” deck of sorts, this looks like it has you covered.

Yep, that’s all I have so far for today. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the recent stories on the new arcade games seen this week at EAS 2011; the US Darius Burst Another Chronicle Location Test or why not our in-depth look at Dirty Drivin’? Or if you want an old but good story, how about our look at Midway’s never-released RIP Squad: Raids Against The Reich? We’ve got plenty more than that in our archives but they are all certainly good starters.

Today in London there was an event to show off some of the latest creations in the arcade/amusement/out-of-home entertainment sector. Kevin Williams of The Stinger Report was there at EAS 2011 to snap some photos of the games that were on hand, click below to check out some of the new stuff including Virtua Tennis 4, Let’s Go Island 3D, Deadstorm Pirates 3D, Robo Restle, Dirty Drivin’ and more

First up from Kevin is a look at the Sega booth which includes the first overseas appearance of Let’s Go Island 3D. This game is also listed on the Sega US site so I imagine we’ll be seeing it at IAAPA as well. As we’ve mentioned many times before, no 3D glasses required.

Sega wasn’t the only company to show off a 3D game as Namco demonstrated with Deadstorm Pirates 3D. This is also the first time they have shown this title overseas. From the looks of it, it’s a 4 player game now although will it just be a large format theater game or will it be done in a smaller form?

Another first time overseas appearance happens to be that of Sega’s Virtua Tennis 4. We did know about this in advance thanks to JAMMA, where this was shown to be made primarily for the international market. It still remains to be seen whether this is a European specific release or not.

We have seen Robo Restle and the standard version of DeadStorm Pirates previously however this marks the first time the final release version of Robo Restle has been seen. It’s not clear when it will be available exactly but I imagine it will be very soon.

Operation GHOST

Dirty Drivin’

Sonic Blast Heroes and Frightfearland, European versions.

Cube Shooter. We first saw this at the DEAL show earlier this year.

Fruit Ninja FX

A couple of racing simulators were there to draw some attention, RaceRoom and EvoTek.

TrioTech’s XD Theater and XD Dark Ride

A 5D Cinema called Landscape Navigator

The TransForce 5D system

The 5D Alterface

An entertainment robot called Robot Thespian

The Animalive entertainment system

If we get anything else from EAS, I’ll be sure to share.

Newsfeed 1117 via

One place where you might come across an arcade game that isn’t an arcade, FEC, or bar is a coin-op laundry. Usually it’s just a couple of games tucked away in the corner as they try and suck up a few quarters from people who have to stick around the laundromat and don’t have anything else to do while they wait. So what about combining the two into one – a laundry machine that also works as an arcade machine? That’s what Kingston University student Lee Wei Chen has developed, an innovative way of washing your clothes and getting some fun out of it in the process. The bottom half of the cabinet contains the washing mechanism, the top half is the controls and monitor. He chose to use a steering wheel and buttons for the controls and programmed the game so that if you fail, it will stop the washing cycle and you have to insert more coins to continue not just the game but the wash as well. If you’re talking about replay value, then this is certainly one way to do it, as you won’t want to leave your clothes incompletely washed.

More info is here at Creative Boom – the only thing they don’t show is the actual game you play. I am already imagining something like Enduro on the Atari 2600(you could call it LaundroRace or Launduro) but who knows, I’m sure he came up with something enjoyable to play while you wash.