IAAPA 2015 Recap #2: Point Blank X, Tekken 7, Ghostbusters, Pinball & More

There’s plenty more to talk about regarding IAAPA 2015, which event ended today. For Recap #1 and the new games to find there, click here.

Continuing our chronological order of when I posted the video, let’s start with the new Ghostbusters videmption game by Play Mechanix/ICE:

Then check out the anticipated Point Blank X by Namco – as the chorus of comments go on this one, players are none too happy about what they see with the giant scaling reticules here, as well as the lives system but keep in mind, it is in beta so changes will likely occur.

Surprise! Tekken 7 off of test and at the show. I still think this should be offered as a 2p kit as opposed to the Versus linked for US operators to want to embrace it with a pending console release (no date announced for consoles but just knowing it is coming hurts). Looks beautiful in person though.

Let’s throw in a still photo here and there. Incredible Technologies continues to showcase their line of videmption titles in their custom touchscreen cabinet, this time introducing a new game called Tickle Monsters. While obviously pulling some inspiration from Muppets, it doesn’t cross that line all the way so it’s all good – “tickle” the on screen monster by moving your hands on its feet to win tickets.

I covered this on the blog what seems like ages ago so it was nice to finally see it in action. It’s a projection mapped VR style experience by the name of Scale-1 Portal. It took some getting used to but it was interesting, while still having some of the issues that VR has (such as the depth-touch perception problem), no cumbersome hardware to wear, just a pair of stereoscopic 3D glasses

Little tour of the Sega Amusements booth covering Sonic Dash Extreme, Storm Racer G Deluxe, Let’s Go Safari and Showdown 2-player Special Attraction:

And a tour of the other Namco products including the Star Wars Battle Pod update, Time Crisis 5 Standard (as I predicted!), Ace Angler (a surprise brought in from Japan), Whack ‘Em Funky Gators, Pac-Man Air Hockey and a little more footage I found on accident of the World’s Largest Pac-Man & Friends game. I only realized today that the “& Friends” is a part of the title. I also didn’t realize that a new version of Pac-Man Battle Royale was there – I just thought it was an odd ‘got to fill up booth space’ thing, but next to Ace Angler were the pedestals to the Pac-Man Battle Royale Deluxe game. It was connected to an odd looking TV stand, instead of the big marquee and screen the game came with at first. According BN’s catalog, this is a new release that allows a venue to connect whatever screen they want to the game, ala Golden Tee.

Let’s go for another photo here, this time from the Valley Dynamo booth. The Black Hole table pictured here graced the cover of a Replay Magazine earlier this year but oddly enough, the article didn’t really get into much detail about this new table, which was left for this show. The main difference this has going for it is in the overhead score bar. On each side is an LCD screen that shows scoring in front of animations but if you look really close, you can see a camera under the bar. This is used to show “instant replay” events after one player makes a goal. The table also blasts a gust of air at the losing player using that slot right beneath the screen. Only suggestion I’d make is to have an announcer say “Instant replay!” or “Let’s watch that again” to help draw attention to the feature as I might not have noticed it unless the sales rep had said something. Dynamo said that this was outearning their popular FireStorm table by wide margins so expect this to be at the forefront of their marketing in the near future.

Can’t miss pinball at these shows, first video I uploaded was of Jersey Jack Pinball’s The Hobbit, now in a form that felt ready to release:

And the new Game of Thrones and KISS pinball tables by Stern Pinball. While I’ve not watched/read GoT so the characters are unknown to me, the table had some cool elements to it. I liked the sword fight video mode and the multiball on the LE was fun.

And finally Angry Birds Arcade & Pink Panther Jewel Heist, which have been mentioned on the blog here a few times previously. I just took brief shots of these two so calling this a “quick look”.

Let’s end out on a gif of an air hockey table found at a Chinese manufacturer booth whose name I can’t recall. For many of these newcomers, I think they overlook the importance at times of keeping it simple and so we get these games that are overloaded with LEDs. Still, the hockey stick under the table and the attached mallets was a little different. I wonder how this would stack up on location as far as durability and earnings go.

I’m not done yet! More videos and photos to come so stay tuned!