I would have got to this earlier but its been one of those days at the arcade where everything starts to break down. Hurray.
JAEPO 2014 was only held for two days this year so it’s already wrapped up. With that, here is a remainder of what was seen at the show. Here is part 1 in case you missed it.
Ultra Street Fighter IV – Here’s a trailer for the new character Poison. This will get a short time of arcade exclusivity in Japan before the console release
Konami’s new touchscreen Bemani game, Beatstream. It slightly reminds me of Love Touch.
Trailer for the new arcade version of Gundam Extreme VS. Maxi Boost
New trailer for Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax which is going to be available on Sega’s ALL.NET+ Multi network; 2nd video is some live play from JAEPO.
I believe this was live streamed from JAEPO, a Persona 4 Ultimax Ultra Superhold tournament
The newest version of Pop ‘N Music by Konami
Also the newest version of Jubeat Saucer by Konami
A gameplay free trailer for Sega’s new Border Break Scramble
New screenshots from the upcoming Deadstorm Pirates Special Edition, which as has been noted previously but in case you missed it, is coming to the West.
Also some images for Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 5
Konami’s booth got plenty of attention – the new Pop N’ Music can be seen here although not fully. I haven’t found any images of the cabinet yet. Also looks like Silent Scope Bone Eater was popular and the article at 4Gamer mentions the interest in Steel Chronicle Ganesh was high. There is also this interview with the producer of the game with some extra pics and info.
I think that is all for now but in case something else pops up we’ll be sure to share!
Still no word on Wangan Midnight 5 coming Stateside, or is Namco still insistent that Dead Heat is not, well, dead?
Nope, not a thing. My assumption, along the likes of what UK racers said, is that they will see how the internet side of Mario Kart turns out before deciding on that. Tekken Tag 2 was the dry run for their network stuff, MK is the first big rollout. Assuming that goes off without a hitch perhaps they will be open to other titles trying it.
Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 5 has a separate cabinet for the Tuning Cards? Was it also like this for the other Wangan games or is this an optional piece you can get instead of the smaller card reader/dispensers?
I really wish Namco would have brought Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 4 to NA and Europe, its still only in SEA countries and Aus / NZ. The terminal is a required part for MT4 as that is the main station to get Bana Passports as well as change “dress up” parts on your vehicles and check other information about your cars on your passport. I’m guessing that Namco hopes Mario Kart Arcade GP DX will fill in the void for racing games and not need to bring MT4 outside of SEA. I play MT3DX+ here in Hawaii and I can tell you that Dead Heat is rubbish compared to Max Tune.
WMMT5 is not going to be released in Western countries, exactly like WMMT4, at least until Bandai Namco launch the Banapassport system outside Asia. But this is not going to happen soon…
Honestly, at this point everyone that’s waiting for WMMT4/5 might as well throw in the towel. Even if there is a release for it outside of Asia, unless Dead Heat is completely upgrade-able, Arcades…..even the big ones, are not gonna pony up the money to buy 4 new units as well as a Bana Passport Terminal unit.
And more and more, WMMT is becoming more like the “Battle Gear” series in the U.S. Good game, had support, now its like it never exist in 2014.
Namco is already slipped and it probably missed the ball to capitalize on the scene in the states….because face it “Racers” is #1 as far as profit goes in the arcade (U.S.).
If something like IGS’ Speed Driver 4 suddenly started doing well on the US market (and it is an excellent game from what I played at some trade shows), then we might see WMMT or ID in response but you are right, at this point it seems unlikely that those fans that are left are sufficient to warrant production of the games. Earnings wise a racer like that would have to consistently outearn the leaders on the market at this time, such as Super Cars or Dead Heat.
Well it’s looking very likely wmmt 4 won’t becoming out west no more. Guess the nearest thing will get is dead heat which is crap compared to wmmt especially as they’re removed the pin and ghost car feature
That is true and it will likely be true for WMMT5. My thought on the matter is that players should be willing to support games ofa similar nature that are brought out West, instead of ignoring them with the fleeting hope that ID or WMMT comes back. As an example, Speed Driver 4 by IGS. This was done in English, had card and online support and Wahlap attempted to sell it overseas. It was also priced about the same as a standard racer and it was a good game. But it didn’t have the name and so no one clamored for it. If that had sold well because players were demanding it, then you can bet that companies like Namco and Sega would have taken more notice but without any support, they can easily assume that their games, even with the big names, will also do poorly in terms of distribution sales.