A short time ago we had a scoop on Sega’s next racing game called Showdown. What we had was a look at the location test/beta version and today Sega Amusements has officially unveiled the game with some differences to the design from the loctest build.
Before that, let’s take a look at the new trailer, which does not show direct gameplay, just a teaser:
Now for the cabinet and the features:
(To see any of the images in a larger format, just give them a click)
There are a few things we learn just from this image above however I have the brochure and the brochure is even better (perhaps someone at Sega heard my complaint earlier in the year that brochures are so often lacking in any useful detail :p ) :
From a hardware perspective, it looks like Sega has been taking notes as to what operators want – strong and unique force-feedback with a new motion system for the seat, working tachometers and the 100″ Hybrid Laser LED Projection screens which are also curved. I’ve seen curved screens available for consumers and I was wondering when the arcade industry was going to give them a spin as an alternative to the full dome projection screens. There is also the Showdown TV which is much like the Daytona USA multi-cabinet setups of old which have connected TV monitors to show the action.
UPDATE: I had almost overlooked this on the brochure. Sega has a new website up dedicated to their arcade games which use QR codes for tracking high scores. At the moment only Plants Vs. Zombies The Last Stand uses the system but Showdown will as well. This will allow users who scan the code to easily look it up as well as share it on social media. Check out the live SegaScores website here.
Interesting twist on the modes here – Race Off, Demolition, Knockout, and Crossroads. Race Off sounds similar to Dirty Drivin’; Demolition is an arena type mode, Knock Out a King of the Hill mode and Crossroads sounds like a new 3D version of the old-school Super Sprint/Badlands tracks.
There is a nice selection of cars and locations.
Last but not least, the cabinet design was inspired by a racing helmet:
For the moment this is the only cabinet configuration that Sega is promoting, which could be considered a Motion Deluxe cabinet. Whether they will have a standard version, we will probably only find out at IAAPA 2014 – same thing with the costs and the release date. Given all of the hardware in place here, this will probably be landing in the area of an “attraction piece” level game or FEC-centric; it is certainly closer to an arcade simulator than a typical arcade racing title. I am surprised by how much they have packed into it though given the modes so when I get a chance to play this in a few weeks I will have to spend more than just a few minutes checking it out.
What are your thoughts on this game based on this info?
To say the least, I am actually quite suprised that Codemasters is actually porting Dirt Showdown to the Arcades and turning it into something that looks both ridiculously crazy and stupid at the same time. thqt being said, I wouldn’t be suprised if this showed up at a Dave & Busters in the near future, because honestly, we could really go for another awesome-looking attention piece.
I always wondered when the curved screen would finally return to the arcade. Yes, curved has actually been done before in the arcades.
There was a pretty rare Super Deluxe version of Racing Jam by Konami in 1998.
http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=2122&image=1
Thanks Steffen. I was referring more to these screens which are available on the consumer side in modern times – you could count dome screen projectors in this class but I was thinking for smaller applications where it makes more sense to use them in arcades than for watching regular TV: http://hometheater.about.com/od/televisionbasics/fl/Curved-Screen-TVs-What-You-Need-to-Know.htm
Curved screens are something I wish Yu would come back and make another Ferrari F355 title for. But we could also use an update to Daytona 2 as it was very hard to come across one, unless you were real lucky your area had it.
OK all good .The missing piece of the succesfull puzzle is the price of the game ,if it has a logical price it will go good if not even if it has the best features of the univerce it will not go to as many places as possible … lets hope very nice work though indeed …
are both this cabinet version and the other based on sega grid going to both be released?
Not sure. I will check with Sega at IAAPA but they seemed to hint that there is only one version planned at the moment. Perhaps they roll this out, see how it does then when it has sold what it will probably sell come along with the standard version