Now I know round ups are usually reserved for after the shows, but I only have time to do a quick little in depth round up this evening. All my videos and photos plus further impressions will be coming at the weekend when I have the chance to put it all together. Also Heavy Electricity will be attending the show tomorrow so you should be getting some impressions from him as well.
In the short time that I had at the show I managed to play quite a lot of the games I wanted to. The layout of the show has changed some what since last year. All of the amusements has moved upstairs, leaving downstairs to be filled with fruit machines and a like.
Sega
So lets break it down by developers; Sega, now on a bigger stand than last year, had a lot to entertain me with. With regards to new games they had thier new special attraction; Hummer which makes much better use of the motion base than Outrun did. Mainly because of all the crazy jumps and the off road nature of the game. Also on the driver front was R Tuned. Obviously we have had our fair share of street racers in the last few years but I really like this one. It’s a fast paced racer with unlimited boosts (I think) and the force feedback is insane but can be a bit brutal a times. The latest Harley game from Sega has taken a more extreme take on the biker genre. Using a boost mechanic that is built up by collecting coins(?) and overtaking other bikers. Track wise the game is typical Sega. My favourite being an airport where you have to dodge planes taking off and landing! Also I saw Brick People which we’ve seen at other shows.
Konami
Definitely a better showing this year from the kings of rhythm games. Thier were plenty of Guitar Hero Arcades to play. For anyone that’s played any of the console versions before there’s not much to report. But I can’t knock it! I play this game & Rock Band all the time at home but it won’t stop me slipping a few nuggets in to it when I see it at the arcades. Staying with rhythm based games, Konami also had Ubeat. For a game that is just essential tapping buttons to the beat of the music, it is pleasantly satisfying. You really have to be play to appreciate how cool it is. Castlevania was also present, which I had a chance to play a few months ago when I caught it on locatin test. But by far my favourite game on thier stand was the new GTI Club. What won me over were the game modes available. There was the classic traffic dodging street races, car football (Top Gear fans will now how fun this is!) and a great pass the bomb mode. Which is absolute manic, crazy arcade perfection! I highly recommend it.
Namco
New games on show were Razing Storm which is the perfect next step in Namco’s great line of pedal ducking shoot em ups (just made that genre up myself). The game looks fantastic and really makes good use of that PS3 based hardware. The game is non stop action. If your not taking out multiple grunts coming at you from all angles, you are taking out massive walking tanks. Be warned; this game is relentless! Nirin was on show also and although I’m not particularly good at bike games, I did enjoy this one, great cab, great graphics and flat out game play.
Global VR
Along with the the latest NFS, which has a fantastic cab, was the Justice League brawl em up. Loving the graphics but I found it all a little bit repetitive. I guess that’s how brawl em ups have always played and maybe I’ve played a few to many in my time but this didn’t really do anything for me.
Raw Thrills
The new games from the ever impressive US developer was the newly announced H2 Overdrive which was great fun and is a nice change from the usual racers out there. Bring on more aquatic racers I say. Also there was Guitar Hero Arcade which I’ve already mentioned. There was also a sweet BBH Safari special attraction. This was basically a purpose built room with projector displaying what had to be a about a 100 inch version of Raw Thrills’ popular shooter.
Capcom
Wasn’t expecting to see this at ATEI! But low and behold it was thier on Highway’s stand. Suffice to say there was a massive crowd around it and I got my arse kicked when it was finally my turn. But it was great to finally play this highly regarded beat em up. Lets hope we see more of these sexy cabs over here!
Nanotech
The second newly announced title was Xtreme Rally from Nanotech. I liked the different approach this game took, with a free roaming style point to point racing, along with traditional style rally driving. I also got the impression this game had a few kinks to iron out before release. So I will look forward to any future improvements this game gets.
Blimey! There it is. Wasn’t expecting to get that much info out there. Hope you enjoyed it. Apologies if I missed anything, but it was some what of a flying visit but stayed tuned to Arcade Heroes for Heavy’s ATEI report, picture and videos from myself, as well as the opinions of the Stinger and any other ATEI news we can get our sweaty palms on 🙂
Just a heads up there was a blazeblue tucked away on the Konami/ Namoc side of the hall (as opposed to the SEGA side), have alook for it tomorrow!
Arse! Shame on me, if this wasn’t my site, I’d sack myself for missing that. Heavy, I trust you will hunt this down!
Awesome round-up TS, count me jealous. 😛 I was eager to hear how a few games play – like H2Overdrive, Xtreme Rally racing, and Justice League. I really hope that Konami brings GTI Club over to the US eventually.
I need to see pics of the H2Overdrive cabinet, I’m frothing at the mouth…
The next pinball (’24’) from Stern isn’t there. 2 x CSI and a Batman: The Dark Knight. Was hoping to nip up to the smoke 2moro for a quick run round, but with the absence of 24, I might just play some pinball here and save the parking charges (or do my tax return)! If someone can have a quick nose round the Electrocoin/Stern stand, that’d be swish!
I’m surprised that they don’t have 24 out there already – I think the show has been on for a few weeks already, I wonder when they’ll have the pin ready to go?
you said Top gear? the game from snes, or Top Gear the tv program?
The TV program. Theres an episode where they have a footy match using Toyota Aygo’s vs VW Fox’s. Check the link;
I really like Sega’s lineup. I only love Sega’s racing games. Lets hope we see all 3 games with Sega Race TV on the 360 or PS3. Sadly, it will never happen, but I can still dream about it.
Now if I here any news about a new Outrun, Daytona or Hangon, I will start break dancing. 🙂
I made it up there today, not much for the pinball guys really, not even an Ultrapin or anything similar. IGT ( I think it was) didn’t even have their pinball simulator thing. There was a “Typhoon” machine (like a mini simulator) and among roller-coasters and runaway carts there was a simulated pinball ‘ride’ (took a small video – it’s on my blog if anyone’s interested). Pretty cool, but definitely something you’d only do once (although still quite fancy one for my workshop!). Didn’t seem to be a whole lot of people there, but I was there late on the last day. Met a few people I knew which was cool.