Which stories here at Arcade Heroes were read the most by you the readers this year? What is it that we covered through the year? Here is a breakdown for those that are curious!
First off, here is a video I compiled about the Newest Locations, Newest Games, Trade Shows and the Top 3 stories of 2014. This is the first time I have done such a thing, usually I have done the Top 10 Posts as a way to look back at the year. But I think seeing all of the new locations and games in a video like this makes a nice statement in regards to the current state of the industry. Everything does pass by quickly but if I didn’t edit it like this then it would have been a very long video (I was going to do a month-by-month play of the stories we ran but I would probably finish that in time for the 2015 YIR). Enjoy!
Now for the 10 most read stories of the year. Like usual I am not counting stories published in previous years (sometimes those get a boost from a link somewhere online; otherwise a couple of stories from 2012 would actually take 2nd and 3rd place!) or pages like the Arcade Releases page, where that one is actually the #1 page on the site but it is more an info page than a news post. While I started compiling this a couple of weeks ago, last minute changes in stats have affected the line-up. This is no arbitrary list based upon what I feel like today, such as those “27 things you Must do while visiting Antarctica with your pet lolcat” lists produced by the many ‘clickhole’ websites that are popular these days. Instead, this list is determined by what it is you the readers visited the most! Huzzah!
The Top #10:
10) New Screenshots From Play Mechanix’s Aliens Armageddon Arcade (January)
Early in the year I was able to nab some screenshots from the newest Aliens arcade game that was hitting the scene, which had been difficult to come by otherwise up to that point. This had been in 9th place but over the past 12 hours the next story jumped ahead by 3 views.
9) Unboxing: Transformers Human Alliance by Sega (March)
Earlier this year at my arcade I received a new Sega Transformers: Human Alliance game at my arcade thanks to an operator that I work with. Here I took pictures of the unboxing and assembly of the cabinet. I did Star Trek Pinball and Allied Tank Attack unboxing posts but those generated less attention than this.
8) The Pinball Game of Your Memes: Internet Meme Pinball (December)
Posted just days ago, the story about a UK company remaking an old EM pinball game with a theme based upon popular internet memes has racked up a lot of views, beating out stories about mass produced pinball machines by wide margins. It also almost caught up to story #7, where there is currently about a difference of a dozen views between the two.
7) JAEPO 2014 Day 1: New Games For Japan (February)
In a blow to my ego, none of the IAAPA coverage I did broke the top 10 this year (although it is in the top 20) 😛 But this look at arcade games that mostly stick to the Japanese region was popular!
6) Bandai Namco Amusements’ Time Crisis 5 Is Coming To Arcades In Spring 2015 (October)
The Time Crisis has taken a long nap from the video arcade scene but that will come to an end 9 years after Time Crisis 4 was released when the game will receive a full International release in 2015.
5) New Details About Mario Kart Arcade GP DX’s Online Features (March)
Anytime a new arcade game is launched with online features, people want to know what those features will entail. Thanks to a great tip, we received some interesting information on what it was that the new Mario Kart Arcade game was going to do .
4) Taito Unveils Left 4 Dead Survivors Arcade In Japan (May)
Initially teased as “Project Z”, it was demonstrated that this was in fact an arcade version of the popular series Left 4 Dead. This wasn’t the first time Valve and Taito had worked together on a project, the two companies having collaborated to bring Half Life 2 to Japanese arcades back in 2006. This particular game was released just a couple of weeks ago in Japan, there is no indication it will make its way to the West, so far.
3) Dave & Busters Aiming To Open 7 New Stores in 2014 (January)
Way back in January there was news about Dave & Busters expanding the number of stores they would be operating in 2014 by 7 new locations. It was the first big news of the year and it has remained as a top contender in views ever since. It appears that only 4 locations had a ribbon cutting ceremony however, from what I could determine. I got this 4 locations thing wrong, which I apologize for and 8 locations were apparently opened in 2014, so the company was able to achieve one on top of where they set their initial goal.
2) Bandai Namco’s NYCC Unveiling Event – Star Wars Arcade Liveblog (October)
Coming in second place was the “liveblog” of sorts that I did for the Star Wars Battle Pod unveiling event at the NY Comic Con in October. I wasn’t able to actually be at the event so I had to liveblog what others in social media were sharing but either way, the return of Star Wars to the arcade scene was big news. This game will be launching in March 2015.
1) Capcom Has Tested Luigi’s Mansion Arcade In Japan (November)
Surprisingly beating out Star Wars, this story about Capcom testing out an arcade version of Luigi’s Mansion in Japan is what readers were the most excited about. This actually has twice as many hits registered as the SWBP Liveblog post. As of writing this, we still have not seen screenshots or video of the game in action but if someone brought this game to the Western Hemisphere I imagine players would go crazy for it.
Overall I have to thank you for your readership, comments, tips and support. Here’s to a great 2015!
According to Dave and Busters SEC filings and various press reports regarding their IPO they actually opened EIGHT stores this year. It took me about twelve seconds to confirm this on Google. Not sure how you concluded they only opened four stores.
Those are the only stores I could confirm as having been opened with actual locations and announcements. They were the four I have those images for which were shared on the D&B main website and social media channels, including the Los Angeles, North Carolina, New Mexico and Oregon locations. I would be happy to mention the other four if you have evidence that the locations did open but I have not located any records of which specific ones those were.
Yes I don’t know why this site doesn’t give me the news I really want to read. Stories about Dave & Busters’ Securities and Exchange Commission filings and press about trading on the stock market. What a blast that would be. Might I make a suggestion for a NTG alternative? Maybe start a “Name that Company” (NTC) complete with stock charts and financial documents.
Really surprised that stories about newly unearthed prototype games weren’t more popular. Hammer Away looks really cool and I would love to get it on a board like they did at GGA. Thanks for this amazing website. Hope to see more in the new year.
Sometimes stories like that will have legs over the long run. I am surprised to see the posts from 2012 about the 40 Years of arcade games in overall 2nd and 3rd place this year. I also still have some posts from 2008 which are in the top 25. You made me curious so after checking, Hammer Away was in 41st place and the RoboTron 2084 update (which also had a lot of attention, especially on Facebook) was in 51st among 2014 only.
Thanks for the kind words, my brain is churning to come up with some new feature articles as well 🙂
0_o 9 NINE YEARS TIME CRISIS SERIES HAS BEEN DORMANT FOR THAT LONG OMG !!! STILL DONT BELIEVE ITS BEEN NINE YEARS MAN 😀
Why does everyone seem to think time crisis 4 came out in 2006 when it was actually 2005 since that when it got released? We got it in October to December that year
Ok, since you asked, here’s one example:
“During the third quarter of 2014, we opened one store in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California and one store in Manchester, Connecticut. Subsequent to the end of the third quarter, we opened three additional stores located in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Portland, Oregon; and Greenville, South Carolina which completed our development plans for eight new stores in 2014.”
(Source: http://ir.daveandbusters.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=887954)
It sounds like you uncovered the location of only the most recent four openings, three of which seem to have happened just last month.
Thank you for the link. The only one I did not mention or find any other info about was Manchester, CT. I still have no info on where the 3 other locations might be or when they opened, making reporting on something like that difficult as I am not going to Vox it up to have to make a correction of a correction later or run a one sentence story on how D&B says that they opened 3 locations out there but hasn’t bothered to say where those are.
Christ, in a minute I’m either sending Dave and Busters or you an invoice for my time.
OK, for future reference big companies like them put out these things called “press releases” that tell you stuff like when a location opens or other things that might be interesting to “the press”. These “press releases” are typically just a wee bit more accurate than, say, *scraping their web site* for graphics…?!?!
It took me just one Google search to find Dave and Busters press releases on their own web site going back almost three years: http://ir.daveandbusters.com/releases.cfm
February: Los Angeles
March: Vernon Hills (appears to be near Chicago)
May: Panama City Beach
August: Hollywood
September: Connecticut
November: Clackamas (Portland?)
November: Greenville, SC
November: Albuquerque (For some reason not deemed deserving of its own press release but all over the Internet so obviously opened.)
Wow, sorry to touch your nerves there princess.