Newsbytes: CAX 2016; Jarvis Documentary; Brian Colin Tour; Ghostbusters

July always seems like it is the shortest month of the year to me, because it is the middle of summer and you make time fly by while having fun…let’s check out some of the arcade fun out there:

Don’t forget to visit the Arcade of the Week – Underground Retrocade!

California Extreme 2016 is On! – It is July 16th and that means that the world famous California Extreme 2016 event is underway. As usual, hundreds of video and pinball games are brought together in Santa Clara for patrons to enjoy and often this includes many rarities, particularly never released prototypes. Check out the website here…video will likely be up by next week.

One of the events is a tribute to Robotron 2084 by game creators Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar. I’ll look forward to video of that discussion.

I also received a message right before posting this that the 15 year old kid who created a Crazy Otto cabinet is at it again by creating a Pac-Man & Chomp Chomp game this year. More details to come.

Speaking of rarities, here is a tweet showing Flip & Flop, which ran on Atari 400/800 hardware:

We all know Kangaroo, but did you know about the *other* arcade game with a roo hero? @CAExtremeOrg pic.twitter.com/PIv7AdYMAh

— duncanroo@bsky (@duncanroo) July 16, 2016

Name Of the Game Documentary – A new documentary is in the works that is covering the full development of Eugene Jarvis’ and HouseMarque’s new game that they have been working on. As reported last week, this is an effort that originally started as a console game but is also in the works as an arcade title (at least as a test for the moment). The main website for this new film is here; and here is the teaser:

Polling About Licenses – I ran a poll this week on Twitter asking about licenses and while it didn’t garner a ton of votes, I find the results interesting (they would be moreso with more votes). I do know that one of the three licenses is in the works as we speak but I need more info on it other than it is coming in 2017, to do a post about it:

Which license do you think will next be turned into an #arcade game? (wink wink – one of these *is* happening)

— Arcade Heroes – The Saviors of Coin-op Newsblog (@arcadeheroes) July 12, 2016

Brian F. Colin’s Arcade Tour – Game Refuge CEO and classic game designer Brain Colin was at the Analog Arcade Bar this week, showcasing his presentation on game design along with details on his work. A local news station aired this short piece about it (although to the newsreporter guy at the end…pinball’s back too!). Don’t forget, Game Refuge has a couple of brand new arcade games they are developing right now. Note, this is an FB video which may or may not work for you depending on your location and browser.

[fb_pe url=”https://www.facebook.com/GameRefuge/videos/1260824927268822/” bottom=”30″]

Hotels.com Features Arcades, Pinball & Air Hockey In A Promo – Found this from Barron Games as the air hockey table being played here is their Air Ride. Features more arcade goodness in the background!

Flyer of the Week – The Real Ghostbusters: As you know, Columbia Pictures has launched their reboot of the Ghostbusters franchise this week but if this montage of tweets from opening nights around the world is any indicator (and Sony already producing some face palming spin), Ghostbusters II now gets to enjoy existence as not being considered the worst of what little is out there for the franchise. For the 80s arcade game, it was between the original film and Ghostbusters II that Data East graced us with a Ghostbusters arcade game, that frankly played much better than the home console adaptations. The Real Ghostbusters was a popular cartoon in the 80s, although personally I always preferred the movie. As for this flyer, it is…basic. But it gets the job done. The reverse of the flyer actually provided some information on the 3-player game; what did you think about it?

Speaking of the old Ghostbusters arcade game, don’t forget the new ones – there are two versions out there by ICE; a videmption version that I filmed at IAAPA 2015 and a special Dave & Busters environmental version that plays as a straight, albiet short arcade game. Arcade Hunters has a review of that and also don’t forget that Stern Pinball has Ghostbusters Pinball out there too (if GB2016 bombs, and it is looking like it will, I can’t imagine them doing a re-theme of the reboot):

Name That Game #89 – For last week’s games, your answers with appropriate links:

#1 – Galaga ’88 by Namco

#2 – Crime Patrol 2: Drug Wars by American Laser Games

#3 – 9 Ball Shootout! by Bundra Billiards 

This week’s guesses:

[Discuss on our MeWe Forum – seeing if this will work like a forum, which we used to have back in the day]