News For Allied Tank Attack; Monster Eye; Shining BLADE ARCUS & Reflec Beat Groovin’

This has been a slow month for arcade news, which is somewhat expected after several different trade shows threw their appropriate celebrations. But things are picking up today so here’s hoping that keeps up.

Here is a little bit of news from Taiwan and a little bit from Japan.

First off I just wanted to mention that with InJoy Motion’s Allied Tank Attack, there is a big graphics update coming soon for that which will get the look running at a consistent 60FPS. They say it looks amazing and I will have a chance to fill you in on it when it comes along. In my experience so far, both Barron and InJoy have been very responsive to feedback on the game and improving things from the build I played at Amusement Expo. I’ll wait to do a video review on it until then; speaking of that I need to finish up my edit on Transformers Human Alliance and next week I will have a pinball unboxing to share on the site. So stay tuned 😉

Next up also comes to us from Taiwan, an update about IGS’s Monster Eye co-op light-gun game. As mentioned previously, I believe they intend on selling this overseas, which should be confirmed with the second video below which is all in English and it fits the bill for something Western audiences might play. The game is looking to compete with the likes of Deadstorm Pirates/Let’s Go Island/After Dark. The first trailer shows the cabinets in more detail, particularly what makes the theater version reach the 5D level. That includes a FullHD 55″ screen, 5.1 surround sound, air blowers, motion capture and a shaking seat. They also show some behind-the-scenes footage of the motion capture, which is something of a rarity for us to see in arcade development. I don’t know what kind of budget this game has but I’ve not seen IGS promote any of their games like this before. There is no release date listed yet, just “Coming Soon” but I have to imagine they want to release it close to the new Godzilla movie, despite not using a Godzilla license.

Here is the all English trailer, it only repeats the first two minutes of what you see above and cuts out the cabinet data and behind-the-scenes stuff. I wonder who is going to work with IGS on Western distribution for this one; ICE was supposed to carry their recent Overtake racing game although I’ve not heard any updates on that situation since IAAPA13.

Now for something that will be sticking comfortably to Japan and eschewing the West like it was a former tween pop-star trying to make their comeback. Although I’m sure like every other arcade fighting game on the market, a console version will be along after a short wait. That Shining Force-themed fighting game by Sega called Shining BLADE ARCUS is scheduled for some location testing two weeks from now. It was unveiled back in February for JAEPO 2014. [Source: Famitsu]

Also for Japanese arcade gamers, Konami will hold a public location test a week from now for a new version of Reflec Beat that they are calling Reflec Beat Groovin’!!. Unlike fighting games this will not be getting a home release, it will just stick close to Eastern markets with perhaps an import or two here and there. Although I’m not even sure if Round 1 USA has brought over any of the Reflec Beat titles.