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I first learned of a company called Universal Space a few years ago when I made my first visit to IAAPA. They surprised with an arcade version of Cooking Mama and a strange game called Ultimate which borrowed a page from a Namco arcade-title called Panic Park. The game itself and general cabinet design was different from PP, aside from the control scheme which was the same, involving sliding joysticks. With their newest game called After Dark, the Namco love continues in a similar manner, the game appears to be different and the cabinet itself isn’t exactly the same as Deadstorm Pirates, then you look at the controls and have to wonder.
Comparing apples to apples, the gun designs are not exactly the same, the shells and joysticks are different, although organized in a similar manner(dual sticks attached to the gun base). So nothing to worry about there as many different games have gone that route. The only thing is the steering wheel, which has been made to look like an old ship wheel, just like in Deadstorm Pirates. Again, mixing a steering wheel with guns has been done on various games, and borrowing ideas in the arcade industry is a common practice I just think they would be better served by at least changing the wheel design to not be so blatantly like DSP. Being that this is probably a prototype they could still change it to look like some other kind of wheel and avoid disputes. The deluxe cabinet has a Dark Escape 4D vibe to it, although it is also different enough and honestly looks pretty cool in its own right. The standard version has a 47″ screen, the deluxe a 55″ and also includes a motion seat. There is a very good chance we will see these games at IAAPA as UNIS tends to show off a number of new games at the show, although that does not necessarily indicate that they will be released out West; They once showed off a light-gun game called Forest Guardian which was kind of like Halo meets AVATAR with a 3DTV screen but they ended up not releasing that game as far as I know. I have wondered if a similar thing might happen with another light-gun game they showed off back East a few months ago called Iron Heart, which they still don’t list on their website.
Similarities aside, if this is at IAAPA I would like to get a look at it and compare as Dark Escape 4D will be there too. Given what I have heard about the DE4D price tag, UNIS could have prepped this as a challenger in that regard but we will have to see how software quality compares too.
The question has to be – homage, borrows or copy!
Well if the story, levels, music and characters are different then I guess it’s ok but it still looks like a rip off especially the rudder controller and cabinet, but time will tell if I play this though. Is it being released in the west and if so then when? I’d still give it ago just to see either way 🙂
Is there models from The Elder Scrolls V – Skyrim in After Dark? I was feeling suspicious when I seen the sign that said “Helgen, Ivarstead, Falkreath”. I was a bit too surprised after seeing it, so Falkreath was a bit fuzzy. I know for a fact there was Helgen and Ivarstead on the sign. I’ve played through Skyrim a few times and adore it, and this is something I wouldn’t let slip. After seeing that, I payed more attention to the surroundings and realized it was a slightly modified rip of Skyrim’s map. Witnessed in Playdium, Ontario, Mississauga. Might want to erase this game, Bethesda has attempted to sue Mojang, the creators of MineCraft, for calling their trading card battle game Scrolls. And what would stop them from sueing a blatant rip of their map put into a laser blasting werewolf in an old car game? Back to the topic, is this in the map of Skyrim or is it just an easter egg?
Oh, “awaiting moderation”? Hope you aren’t trying to hide this, I’ll gladly report to Bethesda.
1) Every 1st time new poster is automatically put into a moderation queue that has to be approved by hand. I have two jobs I work in addition to the blog so I can’t be on all the time waiting for new comments 2) We are a blog, not the maker of this game. We report about pretty much every arcade game that comes along, especially those that are done for the North American market.