Newsbytes: Yoshimitsu; GTI Asia Taipei 2015; Wahlap; NTG#43

Good weekend everyone and to the mothers out there, Happy Mother’s Day tomorrow. My mom is not a gamer by any means but she put up with my little obsession, among other things that moms put up with from their kids 😉

BTW – A new Arcade Heroes Podcast is on the horizon later this coming week. It has been about 3 years since I did it last time so hopefully I’m not too rusty 😛

Yoshimitsu Revealed – Harada had said that Tekken 7 wasn’t a done deal and as proof, there is the new footage showing a Cthulu-esque Yoshimitsu, that they are also reemphasizing is a “space ninja”. Tekken 7 is available in Japanese arcades now, I have not heard of anyone importing a unit to the US at this time as it does require network connectivity and Bandai Namco Amusements USA has not shown interest in distributing the game here at the moment. Yoshimitsu will be available on May 12th.

Synchronica Japanese tests – speaking of Namco and Japan, their latest music game is getting some additional testing over there. If you enjoy a game like ReRave then I imagine you would enjoy this one too, it looks like fun.

GTI Asia Taipei Expo 2015 – There has been an arcade trade show taking place in Taipei, Taiwan over past few days and while sometimes this produces enough content to fill a unique post, so far that doesn’t appear to be the case for the 2015 event. Sloanwang shared this post with me showing some of what was at the show, as usual most of the attention was soaked up by Taiwanese manufacturer IGS but other companies such as InJoy Motion and Saint Fun were there to show off their latest ideas. If I can find more then I will be sure to share.

The Grand Master Returns (sans Tetris) – Right after publishing, I found out from Arcade Belguim’s forum that the famous The Grand Master series is returning but this time it is without the Tetris license. Kind of odd on that, I assume the license must be more expensive than ever. Still, it will be Grand Master Tetris so I wonder what happens if the current holder tries to sue (seems unlikely, given the amount of Tetris clones out there but you never know). At the moment the build is called TGM 2015 but they said it will likely change.  More info on the TGM_Series Twitter.

Wahlap Shows Off New Air Hockey, Storm Racer G Motion – Chinese manufacturer Wahlap is building up their selection of content now that they have entered into the US market. They recently announced a partnership with game maker Wik and have begun to promote Wik’s Storm Outdoor air hockey table. The Storm is a variation of the Skate and it uses a curved surface with added lighting effects.

For Wahlap’s internal content, they have finally released a game I have been hearing about for a while now, the motion deluxe version of Storm Racer G. Storm Racer G Deluxe was developed in part with InJoy Motion, who designed the motion base that is used in some of InJoy’s own games like Allied Tank Attack or Dido Kart AIR. The cabinet with the translucent backlit shells is also more along InJoy’s design lines, now just combined with Wahlap’s fun Storm Racer G software. Sega has been selling the standard version in the US although it is unclear at the moment how Wahlap’s new-found presence in the US will affect that.

Name That Game #43 – Last week wasn’t too difficult – excepting the last entry, which a commentor nailed right before I posted this. There was a focus on Konami given the bad news surrounding them; they are now changing their name to Konami Holdings, de-emphasizing the focus on gaming. Guess it goes to show that you can only focus on certain properties for so long before no one cares anymore.  Here are the official answers:

#1 – Contra by Konami

#2 – Pitfall II: The Lost Caverns by Sega

#3 – Monster Maulers / Dadandarn by Konami

For this week: