Its a week after EAG Expo 2013 opened its doors to show off the latest in coin-op/out-of-home entertainment for the European sector and thanks to The Stinger Report here are some pictures from the event. Commentary below is my own. Stay tuned for a full show report from AH writer HeavyElectricity – he has been working hard on that and it is quite extensive so hang tight as that will include his thoughts on the games and their features. All I can do here with the pictures sent me is offer up thoughts on what I see but I was not there to experience it all myself. A few pictures we’ve already shared in recent stories, such as the Sci Shooter and the pinball games. I also will be including a press release for After Dark sent to us by UNIS at the end of the post.
Here is the EAG floor before the crowds were around to check out the games. If you ever can manage it, wandering the show floor before its officially open is nice in that regard.
As seen in this picture was the Bandai Namco booth. We already have mentioned Dead Heat Riders, a companion game to Dead Heat that can link up with that game for cars vs. motorcycle racers. Raw Thrills’ Snocross Arcade was right next to it so showgoers had an easy chance to compare the two games. Also seen below was Dark Escape 4D making its European debut.
Over at the nearby Sega booth was Dream Raiders making it’s full UK debut as well. Right next to it was a game called Urban Skater. I actually saw this latter game at IAAPA but for some reason it was roped off to prevent play. This is not a Sega game and I cannot recall who it was that had it at the IAAPA show as I had not heard of them before and they had a bunch of kiddie rides on the booth. That made this this stand out at least, it was too bad it was roped off. The monitor felt a little small but at least the cabinet is detailed. Perhaps an interesting game to fill in the niche of skateboarding but not sure for now.
Also around Sega was a game I caught at IAAPA, an original videmption game called Pirates of Monster Island. Re-uses some assets from Dream Raiders but actually looks better than DR does probably due to more powerful hardware under the hood.
While not a Sega product persay, ICE products are carried in Europe by Sega Amusements so they had Harpoon Lagoon at the booth. This videmption game was quite popular at IAAPA, one has to wonder if a concept like this with unique fishing controllers and some updated graphics might do well as a video-only product. It fits into the realm of play that you get with Pac-Man Battle Royale (competitive multiplayer) so I don’t see why not.
UNIS was expanding their presence, bringing some of their latest games we saw at IAAPA to Europe including After Dark and Veggie Blast. As you can see on the latter it even was shown with some Chuck E. Cheese branding.
Among videmption products to be found at EAG was a product called Can Knockdown 2 Arcade Edition by Magic Play. This game can be found on both iOS and Android devices but like various other mobile-to-arcade games this gives the player a much bigger screen to use. Graphically the game looks pretty good but whether this will be found outside of Europe or if it has a video-only option I am not sure at this time.
Also on the subject of videmption, here is the Adrenaline Amusements booth, with the European debut of their clear LCD prize game Black Out which we saw at IAAPA, along with Fruit Ninja FX and Lane Splitter Extreme.
The Electrocoin booth has been seen in various pictures floating around out there as they had Power Truck and Stern’s pinball games but there was more to see there as well, such as Real Puncher 2.
Also nearby at their booth was Taito’s Trickloose, something we haven’t seen much of since it was first seen last year.
The Push Koong prize redemption games could be found at Electrocoin’s booth as well. I’m thinking we might see a explosion of games that use this unique clear LCD tech, Heighway Pinball already has plans for their second pinball machine to use it and hopefully some pure video concepts can figure out how to use it soon as well.
Here is the press release sent by UNIS for the European release of After Dark.
PRESS RELEASE – For immediate release
After Dark Sensation for UNIS
When it comes to new ventures, UNIS (Universal Space) is certainly not afraid of moving in a slightly different direction. Meet After Dark!
Launched into Europe at the end of January at the EAG London, After Dark created a sensation – a top of the range deluxe video machine with motion platform but with a good value price offer.
Aimed at a slightly different market to the primary range of machines in the UNIS portfolio, that of young teens and above, this video game machine offers a fully functioning steering wheel, guns with motion and a motion platform (DLX version). This video game machine is intense and thrilling, looks mean and certainly appealed to the buyers at EAG. “It gives the player a great game for their spend” Ian Eason of UK distributor Instance Automatics remarked. There are a few other similar quality deluxe machines like this on the market but not at such a low price, and in this economic climate buyers want real value for money. With After Dark you get a lot of machine for your money”.
Shipping of After Dark SD and After Dark DLX is now available in the US and Europe.
Find out more at www.universal-space.com email Steven Tan sales@universal-space.com or call Debbie Gonzalez, US Sales Manager on Tel: +1-714-377-0508
Hmmm I take it taito’s not bringing it’s kick through racers game then pity, so dead heat riders even though it’s an update and the same game apart from motorbikes and the ability to link with the original dead heat car game will it feature new tracks along with the originals since according to highway games australia it’s not out until Q3 surely that would give them time to add new tracks but I do like the idea racing against cars and motorbikes though 🙂
Even though after dark clearly rips off namco’s dead storm pirates and dark escape cabinet design and setup is the games story and levels original if you know what I mean?
Really looking forward to playing all those games you mentioned but I take it WMMT4 wasn’t there was it 🙁
@Arcades4ever – Taito did not come, their distributor just showed he stock they had – and Trick Loser is just there as a videmption for Western application as they abandoned plans for Kick Through. Fundamentally, the Japanese have limited resource so their Western studios do the heavy lifting, so don’t expect great shakes from the Dead Heat merger – no new levels. Same way don’t expect to see WMMT4 any time soon – that said I would not be surprised if there is a major development in the network infrastructure seen in the West from Japan…watch this space!
I thought though that there was an English translation of the WMMT4 game, be a shame because the other 3 games were always played on back when we had in the bowling alley arcade. Is the networking system really nessosary to have for the MT4 and even so why not make a localised version. I guess that taitos hopping road was fun and unique enough to get released worldwide since there are no other pogo games right now which is why kickthrough racers won’t be seeing the light of day outside Asian countries.
Hey I just realised, sega’s KO drive is not in any of the pictures, was it at the show?
KO Drive was not show 😉
Ummm are you trying to tell me something editor about the game 😉