Happy Saturday everyone, if you didn’t catch the special preview for the upcoming JAMMA-based arcade exclusive title Skycurser, click here. In the mean time, here are some other news items to chew on.
Jersey Jack Pinball & The Hobbit Pinball Updates – We have been following the development of The Hobbit Pinball since it was first announced, and with time passing beyond when it was promised for a release last year, questions have been raised (mainly on pinball forums) about the delays as well as money issues with the company. As a direct answer to all of that, yesterday Jersey Jack Pinball announced that they have received major investment money from ThinkLAB Ventures; Pinballnews.com followed that announcement up by showing that two other investors have also infused some cash into the company. They are all big money names so while the exact amount was not specified, it is clear that they have the capital to overcome any issues that might have been in place and focus on building more games – The Hobbit and the mystery game that Pat Lawlor is working on. For an update on the Hobbit, they also had this to add:
We plan to begin sub-assemblies within the next month, with full production/shipping beginning early this Fall. We know our customers are anxious and excited for Hobbit Production to begin, and we are very close. We are doing everything in our power to get parts in as fast as possible while at the same time ensuring all are correct and thoroughly tested. JJP Programmers, Keith Johnson and Ted Estes are working diligently on Hobbit Software so that when games begin shipping, code is close to completion.
Overall I think this is great news for pinball and hopefully that will leave any speculation behind as they turn into a major player on the market.
Speaking of pinball, the Sci-Fi Journal interviewed Mr. Guarnieri recently in this 10 min video where he details the latest for JJP; the last half of the video is an interview with Andrew Heighway of Heighway Pinball and they discuss Alien Pinball. They are using old pictures of that game, which was recently shown to have a different shot map (pictured below):
Latest Alien Pinball shot map (source):
Golden Tee 2016 Trailer – The other day I mentioned that new updates about Incredible Technologies’ upcoming Golden Tee 2016 were rolling out and now they have released a trailer, which gives quick glimpses of the new courses but also covers other features that will be new to the game. Check it out here:.
You’ll Never Guess How They Ruined The Last Starfighter TV Show With This 1 Weird Trick – I wrote up a full post about this on my video gaming blog that isn’t about arcades but it is relevant enough for a mention here. Yes they apparently have greenlit a TV show based upon the cult classic, The Last Starfighter. Whoever is in charge is apparently confusing it with the short-lived Alien Nation show from the late 80s/early 90s as they are making it an “alien law enforcement” show WITHOUT ANY VIDEO GAMES. Ask people what they remember about The Last Starfighter and I can guarantee you that if they have seen it, the VIDEO GAME part is one that would stand out, ergo, that is a reason they might tune in to the TV show. Sometimes you can see ‘destined to fail’ from a light-year away and unless the developers dramatically change their tune, then it is easy to call now.
“I’ve got a great idea, let’s remove one of the best parts of the movie for the TV adaptation! It’s brilliant Jerry, brilliant!”
1 Credit Play Monday – Dariusburst Another Chronicle – I don’t have much else to share for the newsbytes here so here is the latest 1CPMonday show, my personal favorite.
Name That Game #53 – Well, guess we have to move on from #52. Sorry for going too challenging there, I thought that at least one of the games would get a guess. Here are the answers:
#1 – Ninja Spirt by Irem
#2 – Firefox by Atari
#3 – Labyrinth Runner/Trick Trap by Konami
#4 – Bal Cube by Metro‘
For this week:
Rather easy:
1. Rampart by Atari
2. Cabal by TAD
3. Fax by Exidy