This Newsbytes was meant to be run back on February 8th, but as I was finishing it up, the site crashed and began the week long nightmare of not working properly. Fortunately that has passed so it can be a distant memory before too long. I’m also happy that the post remained intact, although I will add a couple of things that were posted through the week. Let’s catch up!
JAEPO 2020 Wrap-Up
I think I managed to get to most of the relevant items in the first JAEPO post, but there are still a few more things I’ve caught out there. Bandai Namco had both Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 6R & Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure: Last Survivor:
Other JAEPO 2020 news items:
- Beat Saver VR (Asia Version, which is different from the one sold in the States by VRSenal) made some waves at the Sega booth
- Famitsu overview, including GunArena CE, Tetote X Connect & the games of APM3
- More details on Taiko No Tatsujin Nijiro Version
- More footage of Tetote x Connect, Taito’s new dance-with-a-virtual-partner game
- Footage of Space Invaders Counter Attack – this game was at IAAPA 2019
- Namco Brings Wacky Gators Back
- Quick promo for the new gaming PC line that Konami is using in their latest arcade machines
- If SNK brought one of their older King Of Fighters games to Western arcades, which one would you be interested in?
- American Takes The World Champion Crown On DDR A20 At Konami’s 9th KAC – congrats to Chris for taking home the second US win
Here are links to livestreams (these are several hours in length) in case you are interested:
- Konami’s 9th KAC
- Konami’s Bemani Pro League Special Stage
- Bandai Namco Amusement JAEPO 2020 Special Stage
- Sega’s MaiMai DX
- Guilty Gear Strive Stream via Arc System Works
Exa-Arcadia Begins Shipping Akyrios EXA
While exA-Arcadia was not at JAEPO 2020, they have been busy. Part of that has been getting game #3 for the exA board out to customers – Akyrios EXA. This game has flown under the radar a bit compared to the other titles for the platform, but if you’re into bullet hell style STGs, then I think you’ll be happy.
So far, people who have come in to my arcade specifically for Aka & Blue Type-R have really enjoyed it (although on a personal note, my next purchase for exA will probably be Lightning Knights… I’m looking to keep things varied, but not ruling out additional STGs if the interest is there). It is a tough game though, so it is not for casual players. But if you have STG fans, or gamers that like a challenge, then A&B (as well as Kung Fu and Akyrios) fits the bill.
Armed & Gelatinous Arcade Gets A Promo
After seeing this, I think that all indie arcade games could benefit from doing 80’s style promos…
Armed & Gelatinous will hit all major gaming platforms in the 3rd quarter of this year, and according to a comment on YouTube, it will also have some content differences from the console versions, although what those will be isn’t known at this point. Check it out:
Stern Pinball Reveals UV Lighting Kit For Stranger Things
Here’s a piece of news that hit the other day, so it wouldn’t have been in last week’s Newsbytes, but since we’re on Friday (Happy Valentines Day for anyone celebrating), we’ll throw it in.
I did have slightly mixed feelings on this – on one hand, it’s a really cool effect and great idea that fits with the theme. On the other, why would it not be included in the Premium & LE’s, which are just starting to roll off of the production line? Maybe to not delay it further I suppose. I do have a Premium model on order(and yes, I did order the UV kit after seeing this), but I don’t really understand how Stern is handling who gets theirs when, as some people have been getting them, while others like myself have been given a vague “probably” shipping the last week of this month or the beginning of next. Nick at Arcade Hunters posted this video of an LE that arrived at the Pinball Dudes down in Florida in case you’d like to catch a review. Anyways, here’s the UV video in case you hadn’t seen it already:
An Arcade1UP Rigged To Take Money – Is This Legal?
While I’m no lawyer, I’d say with 99% certainty that no, it is not legal for any location out there to charge for an Arcade1UP like you see below. This is due to licensing – when arcade games are licensed, it is cheaper to license them for home/residential use over commercial. If money is going to be made off of the game on a per-play basis, then naturally, the license holder will want more compensation for the use. That and where A1ups use emulation (I don’t know what; I assume MAME, but correct me if I’m wrong), emulators do have language in their terms of use that establish that the program is not to be used in a commercial setting. H/T Arcade Belgium, via Reddit.
Comparing Sprites – Mortal Kombat
And speaking of that for something to end on, kids these days will never understand how magical certain things were before the Internet. 😛
Here in Brazil, the culture of Arcade Stores are already dead, the reamining ones, have emulation machines, at least in my city.