Well we finally have a real look at Rambo with some direct screenshots, thanks to some coverage from several sources on a Sega Private Show that was held on the 16th of May. It looks like Rambo was quite popular and it looks awesome – no one can say that Rambo will be lacking when it comes to graphics at least. Sega also has launched a new Rambo site but it’s nothing fancy, just the pic they’ll use on the marquee. [Rambo Site Japan] I do wonder why it will be coming out in September, it looks like it’s quite far along already as light-gun games generally only have a few levels to play through, enough to fill about a half hour of time, but we’ll see. In addition to the gun you also will get to use Rambo’s bow, but we’ll have to see how that works out. More pics from various sources after the jump with more Rambo including direct screens, booth babes and Virtua Fighter 5R! I can’t be held responsible for what John Rambo will do to you if you don’t make the jump…
Click on the images to enlarge them. [Via Famitsu]
Pics via AM-Net’s Blog
Rambo from ITMedia. This site has the most direct screens, remember to click on the images to view the full size.
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VF5R
Why is SEGA having a “private” show for their arcade division? Heck, if I were them, or any other arcade manufacturer, I would by hyping the shit out of every game that was either being made or completed. It’s not 1995.
Also, what’s with most of the arcade games; the real state of the art new games, looking, well…just meh… I would think that by mid 2008 arcade games would be significantly more advanced than they are today.
In a way, it’s easy to understand why private shows exist – the environment is right for business, and the distributors and operators present don’t have to compete with players for time on the machines. Of course, in Japan the situation is a bit different – location tests are announced ahead of time, so dedicated players are often able to attend them. The problem is that in the Western market, there are no public showings to accompany new games, leading to players seeking (and often gaining) entry to private events. Because of this, we end up with issues such as the Tekken 6 fiasco at ATEI this year, where players packed the stand and ultimately led Namco to switch the machine off of freeplay.
Of course, the market is always going to be geared towards operators and distributors, simply because they are the direct customers of the manufacturers. However, it is disheartening to see the general lack of support offered to the dedicated players, as with the general lack of player-targeted advertising it is often they who spread the word and drive wider interest in the games. While big expo events such as the consumer sector Playstation Experience and Gamestars Live shows might not be the way forward, it would be nice to see manufacturers courting players a little more in a variety of small-scale ways.
Nicely put – agree with all of the above.
We have tried incredibly hard to get amusement trade and associations to promote amusement outside of trade, but there is resentment to admit that they need help. There are a number of vested interests that want to keep the status quo.
Private shows are a necessity for a trade industry of this structure. You will notice that E3 is now trying to go down this route with the new trade only show – and the number of consumer game ‘private’ screenings of games – GTAIV had a number of private media screenings to ensure the message got out.
My biggest problem is that the consumer media is totally against promoting or supporting amusement. They are working against the genre – some even falsifying data to try and promote a dead industry. It has got to a state now that one publication even tried to hide information about new arcade releases and threatened journos that tried to report certain products. The issue of collapsing magazine sales has forced some magazines down this road as they try and hype their business.
If something like Arcadia can still be published on a monthly basis in Japan how come the arcade industry can’t release that same information over here? There are a ton of dedicated arcade websites out there like this one that would treat any news in a very positive light. There are more cheerleaders for the arcade industry on the internet than there are negative people. If they had high resolution screenshots, videos and an opportunity to play the games a week before release then they’d spread the info in a grassroots fashion among all the blogs and forums.
At the moment even after a games been out for a year you often can’t find screenshots, decent videos or any information about the title whatsoever. What’s 2Spicy about? I’m going to go have a google now because I haven’t a clue. I was looking at those Sega card games in an arcade in Singapore last year. Hadn’t a clue what was going on. If I’d read something about them I might have been more tempted to have a go.
Even if you went with one of the big online websites like 1up, Gamespot or Eurogamer i’m sure if you gave one of them some sort of exclusivity on information they’d be prepared to deliver that information a positive spin. Why wouldn’t they? I want to see what the new Cave shooters look like outside of Youtube! Let gametrailers show a direct video capture in HD! Show off those amazing sprites.
Some interesting points Molloy.
Regarding giving a big site exclusive – we (at the Stinger) gave SPONG exclusive coverage and they ran it four times then lost interest. GameSpot covers the big shows, but then got complaints from their advertisers and slowed down what they reported.
To answer your question “why wouldn’t they” – the magazines and the web depend on controllable news and reviews, and on advertisers. As you have seen over the GameSpot-gate situation, advertisers speak directly on how coverage is arranged. Arcade dose not advertise, or supply reliable (easy) news so media looks the other way. The spoon feeding of news from consumer companies makes for lazy editorial teams and they do not like the closed shop that arcade represents (they particularly hate that we at the Stinger get stuff they do not have access to).
I like the idea of a dedicated mag – but I can not find ANY publisher that would want to front it. We at the Stinger have good access to news and products, but with a slow down in magazine business the publishers are loathed to run the concept – if you could find one we would support it. I am about to pen some features on arcade for another mag but this is a short time gig.
I think you guys need to be aware of how much consumer hates amusement and how this shapes how far we can promote our sector through theirs!
That’s interesting. I didn’t realise consumer hated amusement. I would have thought that so much stuff gets ported over the console and many of the publishers have their feet in both areas so they’d be quite interested in cross promotion.
A dedicated magazine would never work. I’m amazed Arcadia is still going.
I just find it unusual that the amusement sector doesn’t feed media and information to the consumers or attempt to engage with their target market in any way. Of course they should have trade magazines and closed door shows with the distributers and operators, but they should engage with the public on some level too. At the moment most consumers first experience of any new game release is blurry photos, shakey videos shot over the shoulder of players and snippets of vague gibberish posted on forums.
This sort of carry on needs to stop. It’s crazy to ignore your customers like this.
Wow, Sega is back with the Rambo franchise ! Pretty sad as i’m typing this. I accidentially stumbled upon a Vimeo video link showing the new Rambo coin-op –
this month of September !!!! I now realize this was featured way back in MAY.
Shame on the coin-op amusement industry for the lack of exposure.