Thanks to some great coverage Arcade Heroes has received this year, we have a lot of new readers here. If I haven’t welcomed you already, then I offer a welcome now. I hope you have enjoyed our coverage of the arcade industry seeing how sparse it can be out there.
From now until November you are going to be seeing more stories where I refer to something called IAAPA and I figure now is a good time to explain what that is. IAAPA stands for “International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions” and they are the largest association that holds trade events around the world when it comes to out-of-home amusement companies and their products. In fact, they are holding an event next week in Germany called EAS 2012. Naturally this includes arcades although they are just one segment of everything you would find at such a show.
When I start talking about IAAPA this time of year, I will be referring to their annual US show that always takes place in November not long before Thanksgiving. We have covered IAAPA to some degree every year here as this is the show where arcade manufacturers generally reveal a slew of new products and this show allows us to get some hands-on time with these games before they launch to the general public. When I started attending this show in 2009 it was in Las Vegas but in 2010 they moved it to Orlando, FL where it is supposed to stay for the next 8 years or so. Here are some examples of our previous IAAPA coverage:
2008:
Guitar Hero, American Idol, Justice League
Brick People, Nirin, Razing Storm
2009:
Sega Racing Classic, Terminator Salvation, Tank! Tank! Tank!
Various pictures
2010:
2011:
For 2012, the event is taking place from November 13th-16th. Some news is just starting to trickle out about it, here’s one from Namco with a picture showing two games of theirs we have talked about already, Dark Escape 4D and Pac-Man Smash being prepped for shipping to the show. More stories about what will be there will continue to show up, in regards to Sega we already know that Dream Raiders will be there; for Raw Thrills they will have SnoCross Arcade and Cars, GlobalVR will have The Swarm but there will be more as there always some surprises.
For those interested, the official IAAPA website is found here.
I wish they take back to Vegas….or at least have one in Vegas or Los Angeles. Some kind of arcade showcase need to hit So California for once.
Yeah Vegas was great for me too, a lot closer. But Orlando city got them to lock it in for a whole decade.
There is talk of AMOA/AAMA show that takes palce in March leaving Vegas and going to other parts of the country. Perhaps LA will be an option at some point? Either way I’m sure Salt Lake is at the bottom of any of those lists 😛
Is the public aloud in or just arcade operators?
They usually open it for anyone on the last day of the show but I am not sure what the cost is to get in on that level.