Newsbytes: Gamers Arcade Bar; NJ Gamer Con; Alien Pinball; DDR A Hits Europe;

Not a whole lot to discuss this weekend so it will be brief. Have a great weekend!

Gamers Arcade Bar Opening Soon In Spokane, WA – If you are in the Spokane area and have been hoping for some bar/arcade action coming to you then this place is for you. Called Gamers Arcade Bar, they are following the standard bar/arcade formula by offering food and drinks. The arcade is small at 25 games but not sure what titles they will have as there is no list at the moment. Either way, best of luck to them in the business! Gamers Arcade Bar Facebook page.

Upcoming Indie Arcade Games Showcased @ NJ Gamer Con – While the San Diego Comic Con is the convention that is dominating the headlines, on the other side of the country a gaming convention has begun and they have an arcade on hand. As a part of that arcade, Galloping Ghost Productions and Game Refuge have sent titles from their studio in IL to show off here. That includes the yet to be released Fish In A Barrel, Raiders Run and Dark Presence; Game Refuge CEO is also showcasing his work on titles like Rampage. If you don’t recall details on these games, check out this post

Interview With Andrew Heighway of Heighway Pinball – If you are looking for an update on what is going on with UK pinball manufacturer Heighway Pinball, then check out this interview by ‘Bloodshed Deadbath’ at the Rocky Mountain Pinball Show 2016. Andrew says Alien is still on track for a reveal/release next month:

Bonus: Early Alien playfields as of last February. These are not final but are close. See more at Primepinball. And I have seen the “Secret Video” that is mentioned in the interview above – Heighway can only show it privately but cannot release it onto the internet due to the licensing agreement. It wasn’t the final design of the game but I liked what I saw, especially the pop bumpers.

DDR A Hits Europe: As these tweets show, Europe is also getting some action with Konami’s DDR A. The first unit, which does have e-Amusement support, is at the Las Vegas Arcade in London. A message I received stating that in the USA, Betson will be once again providing distribution for Konami although no details have been provided as to when and how much.

https://twitter.com/7Ten/status/756158859291557888

https://twitter.com/7Ten/status/756628953650040832

Arcade Heroes store sale – Our Teepublic store is running a sale this weekend so T-Shirts are $14 instead of $20 and they now offer mugs, phone cases, notebook cases and more. Check it out and help us out!

Flyer of the Day: Star Trek – This week the big return of a franchise to theaters is Star Trek, although Star Trek has not had anywhere near the issues that Ghostbusters has had in keeping the flame alive. This year also marks 50 years of Trek since it debuted on TV back in 1966. This flyer marks one of the few attempts to bring the sci-fi show into the video arcade but Sega did a masterful job with the game. The color vectors looked great and the game is fun – the main issue was that Sega’s vector technology was known for being unreliable and having overheating problems. Unreliable game = poor earnings from gamers. That said, it was 1982 and Star Trek II was in theaters so the game still sold well enough that Sega released a kit upgrade; the game was also released in Upright and a “Captain’s Chair” cockpit. Check out the rest of the flyer here.

Name That Game #90 – We’ll keep this week mostly sci-fi but for last week’s answers:

#1 – Laser Ghost by Sega

#2 – Konami GT by Konami

#3 – Grobda by Namco

This week: