A few days ago we talked about a new arcade title out of China that Disney was involved with called Disney 3D Ping Pong. Since then we have heard of other games in Asia that are jumping on the stereoscopic 3D bandwagon – we knew of Metal Gear Arcade already and there was Star Predator. Kevin Williams of The Stinger Report told me of more developments happening in this area and it looks like they were revealed today. I came across some interesting news on Coinopexpress today which involves the same company who developed Disney 3D Ping Pong called 3D Group. Today the company revealed eight new video arcade products, all of which employ a 3D stereoscopic TV as well as touch screen play. The games are fitted for ticket play and there are several genres that the series covers which you’ll see below. There is no price on these yet but Coinopexpress does state that all of these games are available for sale.
The list of games includes: Balonga – a dance style controller but you fight monsters instead of just hit dance steps. (coinopexpress link)
Chicken War -some sort of space game involving chickens.
Star Cube / Galaxy Puzzle – a puzzle game that sounds like a Rubik’s cube, but it employs the touch screen to move it around. I’d really like to see how that works out in practice with the 3D pop effect. (coinopexpress link)
Go Fishing/ Shark – this one is a 4 player game where players try to catch fish. It’s probably like Butterfly Garden which UNIS was showing off at IAAPA. (coinopexpress link)
Hit The Rats – whack-a-mole style game with the touch screen (uh oh).
Pachinko – As the name says, it’s video pachinko.
Space Zuma – it’s the popular Zuma puzzle game, set in space and with a 3D screen. (coinopexpress link)
Tricky Rabbits – some sort of game involving rabbits and treasure, the description isn’t entirely clear. (coinopexpress link)
So there you have it. 3D Group is really throwing down the proverbial 3D gauntlet but we’ll have to wait and see how well the trend catches on with other manufacturers in the industry. I’m in a wait and see mood about it – it’s hard to shake the feeling that the whole pop-out 3D thing is a gimmick as it has been in the past but technology in this area has improved quite a bit and sales of 3D movies like Avatar are nothing to sneeze at. The arcade sector does stand as a great place to introduce such technology to the masses as home consoles are really not in that position right now and even if they were, they would need the customer base to go out and buy 3D TVs which is a big ‘if’ for them to bank on. Of course it can be a big if for arcades to but where a couple of companies are trying it out, I am sure that everyone is going to take a hard look at how games like this perform. If the effect is cool and doesn’t require glasses (as some 3D TVs are supposed to do, I’ve never seen that effect in person) then it could be a great way to bring people into the arcade.
