AAMA Gala 2012 Game Previews From Replay and Play Meter Magazines

It’s been a few weeks longer than I had anticipated to get some more information on what new arcade games were shown at the annual AAMA Gala in Chicago but if you subscribe to either Replay or Play Meter Magazines, then they have a run down of what was there. We would have been there to get some direct coverage but there was a good logistical reason I couldn’t make it this year (I will be making it to IAAPA, barring anything unusual that might prevent that). I will find out more information when I can about these games so stay tuned.

First off, the largest pictures of two new games by Raw Thrills came from their full page ad:

Now for a rundown on the games

SnoCross: I actually found out some great details on this one several weeks ago as it was on location test but without any pictures I have been sitting on the news since I would like to have at least one image of the new game. Like H2Overdrive did with Hydro Thunder, we could say that Snocross is going to do with Artic Thunder, bringing a snowmobile racing game back to the scene. One thing that makes this unique is the smartphone and social media angle. The game will display QR codes that can be scanned by the user to automatically send their score to just about any social media site around. So if Facebook ever becomes MySpace, it will still be usable on other sites like Google+, Weibo, Orkut, etc. The Gala had two different cabinets on hand, a 32″ version with a fixed seat and the movable handle bars and a 42″ deluxe version that has a moving seat like Super Bikes 2. There are six snowmobile racers to pick from and seven tracks to race on. It can handle 8 linked units. This also happens to be a licensed game from ESPN/ Winter X Games. The magazines mention it will be released around IAAPA so look for it come November.

Cars: I actually met with the development team behind this one as they are (or perhaps were) based in Salt Lake City when they made a visit to my arcade. Not too long after that though they said they weren’t working on it anymore so I had believed the game to have been canceled, until it suddenly showed up at Gala. How the game might have changed since I first learned about it I have no idea although I did not get to see it in action at the time; I also say were as I do not know if the project was handed off to another team as the email for the guy I had been talking with is closed now. The team at the time did say they liked working on an arcade game though as it was a bit simpler than your typical console title. As for the game itself, it uses the Cars license with content from both movies, seven cars to choose from and a 42″ screen. Not many other details have been shared about it but it will also be at IAAPA in a few months so we will be seeing more of it soon.

Virtua Tennis 4 Deluxe: We saw this in the videos and pictures from Sega’s booth at DEAL 2012, it’s the same game released to arcades at the end of last year/beginning of this one but with a 55″ screen and more personal space given to players with separated control panels.

Virtua Tennis 4 Deluxe as seen at DEAL 2012

Dream Rider: This was supposedly a new Sega game at the Gala but there is no information on it in the coverage. I’m guessing this is K.O. Drive but I wonder what is going on with that overall. I guess we will be waiting until IAAPA to know for sure.

Deadstorm Pirates Mini: Namco has been testing out the idea of a Deadstorm Pirates cabinet that works for kids, its essentially the standard upright model with a shorter base. It’s been a while since we’ve seen upright cabinets made just for kids, aside from those NeoGeo mini cabs seen in South Korea or we have to go back to Moppet video games from the early 80s.

The Swarm: This is the only game seen at the Gala that we already have featured a full preview on, which you can read about here if you haven’t already.

Beyond all that Replay has a Fall Preview with details on some other games that weren’t necessarily at the show but will begin shipping within the next couple of months. Most of them are mechanical redemption games but there are a couple of titles on there which are in the videmption realm:

Sea Wolf 55 – Just when you thought that the new Sea Wolf was done, Coastal Amusements has another new version of the game in store. Sea Wolf 55 sports a larger cabinet than any previous version, along with a big 55″ screen and some as-of-yet  unnamed “number of new features”. Previous versions of this game could work as just a standard video game without ticket payout if the operator choose to go that route. The new game will be out in October so we will know soon enough.

Temple Run – Speaking of Coastal Amusements, this news is sure to delight ECM as it’s another example of a phone game being turned into a full fledged arcade title. It looks like they took the same cabinet for their Rubik’s Cube game and redressed it for this one. I think this trend will continue for a while since Fruit Ninja did so well on the market. This will probably be redemption only.

Everything else we’ve covered to a degree already. If I can get more information or screenshots on the games above, I will be sure to share.