Is anyone ready for more IAAPA games? I knew you were. I am almost done with the videos from the event so perhaps I’ll find the time to procure other arcade stories. Then again, we’ve got the End Of The Year summaries to get to…
Today’s post almost completes everything in the video arcade/pinball/VR part of IAAPA, there only being a few things left to get to.
Amusement Virtual Reality
As had been mentioned on the blog a few times, VR played a big role at this IAAPA 2017. Around 60 companies had some sort of VR setup that was available to use or being demonstrated in some form. As that was, there were far too many for me to end up filming in the midst of everything else. I did manage to capture a few in action, however, distilled into this video. This one also ends with a couple of other technologies seen there, some holographic marketing displays, and an interactive robot.
It’s difficult to say if any one of these new products will be the breakout hit that amusement VR needs to cause a new renaissance in our industry. You have a lot of competition for something that costs attraction level prices and in almost all cases still require an attendant both to assist the customer but also in running the software. It still feels like something that is more for theme parks than FECs, although I am sure that there are a few products seen above that you’ll come across at the latter.
I was going to capture footage of something Wahlap had on hand but they were adamant that none of their equipment is filmed by the press (they didn’t seem to have an issue with people filming with smartphones) so I obliged. They never had an issue in the past but they had a VR thing there this time so I guess they were concerned about that being copied. Funny that a company who has been found to have copied the games of other companies would suddenly be so concerned about that sort of thing (even though they had nothing special that hasn’t already been seen at the Asian trade shows and other videos online).
Not included in that video was this robotic arm by Lotte World, designed to clean multiple headsets at once:
Perfection (Bay Tek Games)
I only recall coming across The Game Of Perfection once as a kid, it was one of the few board games my parents didn’t buy for some reason. Whether you enjoyed it growing up or not, there is plenty to like here. It is a big piece so may not be suitable for all street locations but it does make an impression and the bubble buttons are fun to smack as you scramble to match the shapes in enough time. These are rolling off of Bay Tek’s assembly line already so you should be able to find them at certain FECs this Winter:
Spinner Frenzy (Adrenaline Amusements)
The fidget spinner fad was an odd one to watch this year – I saw some kids at the mall with them around May and ended up finding one or two left on a game. My kids wanted one but a couple of weeks later, no one was using them anymore. I still see stacks of them at a store here and there but I want to say that slap bracelets and pogs had a longer shelf life than this one. Either way, you don’t have to be a fidget spinner aficionado to play Spinner Frenzy. Your goal is to ‘skillfully’ achieve the posted number of RPMs. Get below that and win a few tickets; get above that and win more. You need to be precise to get the bonus though.
Ice Man (Coastal Amusements)
We’ve spoken about Ice Man on the blog before after it suddenly started showing up at locations without any formal announcement or fanfare to accompany it this past Summer. I also grabbed of video of it on location when I discovered it but now, we’ve got trade show video to share of this water gun game that is a bit like Plants Vs. Zombies but with the water, mist and a couple of other changes:
Dino Invasion (UNIS)
This shooting gallery style game was at IAAPA 2016 but for whatever reason, I ended up missing it last year. Since I was on a mission to try and film everything this year, we’ve got this video below. The game has a little more to it than just blasting dinosaurs that run away; I saw a sequence with a T-Rex chasing the player camera but what I filmed at that point wasn’t usable. It also plays differently when not a free play/infinite bullet setup as you a limited amount of ammo in a pay-to-play situation. Thus, a little less Rambo than what you see in the video. Otherwise – it’s an interactive shooting gallery (in thinking about animatronic shooting galleries, I didn’t see any this year…might have just missed where they were setup at). The software can also be switched out with a jungle themed gallery called Outback Hunter.
Hopefully we’ll have all of the IAAPA seen products wrapped up this week!
Non-IAAPA News – Golden Tee 2018 Gets Another Course
If you have been playing the latest Golden Tee then you might be interested to know that a popular course by the name of Rattlesnake Ridge has been re-made for the game and has rolled out. I wonder how many other courses they will release for the game through the year.
These games look quite fun, especially the arcade shooting.
VR will become a big thing, but I’m skeptical about VR headsets. I’m sure those headsets will make me literally sick. The Nintendo 3DS was a good try for VR without headset. This stuff should move to the next level. PS: RIP Vidme.