It has been a busy, busy week for me, I hope it has been great for you readers out there. Not really arcade related but I got a chance to see that Atari: Game Over documentary that popped up on Netflix. My review is…mixed leaning on the positive side.
Midwest Gaming Classic 2015 – This weekend was the beginning of the popular video gaming show Midwest Gaming Classic, being held in Milwaukee, WI. While there is always a strong console gaming presence to be found, there is an equally strong arcade and pinball one too. Here are a few pics I’ve found through social media:
“Playable replica of the Andy Capps PONG that’s being worked on, and we’re doing a test run of the first edition of it here at Midwest Gaming Classic. Getting played nonstop. Next one built will be the full final museum quality version of this.” – Atari Museum
From All Castle Games, a few newer games at the venue:
I’ll keep my eyes peeled for more!
How are the latest arcade games faring? – I received a couple of items through the “grapevine” so to speak this week that I figured I would share, one for the new Jurassic Park Arcade, the other for the new Time Crisis 5. On Jurassic Park, the game is reportedly earning very well: “The collections are insane on Jurassic Park. Theater location pulled over $2000 in one week at $1/play. 2800 plays per week average at a kiddie FEC. #4 overall game (including redemption, but not accounting for cost of ticket) at another FEC.” according to Raw Thrills. The unit at my place made $262 in two days (right before Easter) so it has been drawing in a lot of attention.
On TC5, I haven’t heard earnings reports but I was told that out of the initial shipment of 150 units, “only 24 are left”. That won’t be all they are making of it of course but it does show that demand is high. The same rang true for Star Wars Battle Pod, which also sold out of the initial production run.
I have not heard how Sega’s new Showdown is doing yet although I did talk to an operator (and AH reader) at the show who said he ordered some standard units. I imagine they should have arrived to his locations by now.
Overall if locations are buying video games and they are earning well, then that is good news for our industry at large!
WrestleMania Pinball – Stern published this video to promote their new WrestleMania Pinball game. It is a little bit later than usual but better late than never for a professional look at the title:
Full Throttle Production – Speaking of new pinball, here is a just posted video by new UK manufacturer Heighway Pinball showing some of the effort that has gone into starting production on their new Full Throttle Pinball machine. I can imagine that getting that CNC machine into the facility was nerve-wrecking, to say the least. I still have to question if they will have Alien Pinball ready this month if this production is just getting started but they are making the cabinets modular, so you can buy kits and switch the game out.
New Dissidia Final Fantasy Arcade Trailer – People are going crazy over this, moreso since the controls look a lot like PS4 controllers so the assumption is that this will get a console release of some kind. Which would be the only way sans imports that we would see this game in the West.
What Genres do you miss? (Take the poll) – Speaking of something like Dissidia, a few years ago I wrote some articles for AH covering various shunned game genres that we rarely see anymore out West. China and Japan might have something like them every now and then, otherwise you have to rely on games from earlier decades to get your fix. We’ve also had some discussion about that from the popular article, What really happened to arcades that was posted this weel. So which genres do you miss seeing made new, using today’s technology and graphics? Vote in the poll and comment, I want to know…what you’re thinking.
Loading …Name That Game # 41 – Last week you guys guessed the correct games rather quickly, good job!
#1 – Gunblade NY by Sega
#2 – Tutankham by Stern/Konami
Fer’ this week:
we need more awesome racing games like Storm Racer, Ridge Racer, Rush 2049 SE, Crusin’, and Outrun 2, those were the best types of classic coin-op racing games!
I wish that Wrestlemania table would use the classic character theme as standard rather then the current one. In fact, this makes me want to question Garry’s motive knowing that special and limited editions will net more money since I’m certain he’s only doing this to capitalize on it.