Welcome to this edition of Newsbytes, a quick collection of arcade news from around the world to share with you. There hasn’t been a lot to share lately, thus I haven’t done a Newsbytes in a bit, but there was enough to do one today. We’ll have “normal” arcade news, with stuff related to the pandemic at the bottom.
Be sure to catch up on some other articles from the site that were posted this week, in case you missed them:
Pandemic Shutdown Updates: The Slow Act Of Re-Opening
Over-The-Hill – Pac-Man Turns 40 Today
Canceled But Not Forgotten – Star Trek Battleground by Raw Thrills
Incredible Technologies Reveals Golden Tee Go
At Amusement Expo 2020, Incredible Technologies had a monitor with a countdown on it. Naturally, they were being coy about what it was counting down to, but it appears that they’ve pulled the curtain back on it, showing Golden Tee Go. This is a non-coin/commercial version of Golden Tee that is “portable,” although not pocket portable like a Nintendo 3DS or a phone would be. It will include arcade-quality controls, and a monitor built into the panel, although there appears to be video out ports on the back. Details on pricing and ordering are “coming soon.”
Here’s a little more info about our new friend called #GoldenTee GO! #ComingSoon pic.twitter.com/EoTNdLwi6A
— Golden Tee Golf ⛳ (@GoldenTee) May 15, 2020
Insert Coin Documentary Review
DiscussingFilm.net has a review of the new documentary about Midway Games that was supposed to debut at SXSW 2020, but since that was canceled, the opening was postponed. Fortunately, this site got a chance to see it and share their thoughts. The film benefits greatly from the director being a former Midway employee, Joshua Tsui, who “uses his inside knowledge and resources to make an insightful, yet easy-going dive into the dogma of the arcade industry. He never distracts the viewer with bleeding his personal history with Midway into the narrative.” There’s more, but I won’t spoil it all; Sounds like a high recommendation, so hopefully we’ll be able to check it out soon.
Here’s something from NBA Jam The Book that shows behind-the-scenes on Mortal Kombat Mythologies, seems fitting:
Kerri Hoskins (Kia) learns how to do a move from Carlos Pesina (Raiden) on the set of Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero. pic.twitter.com/a8yKLMpVR6
— NBA Jam (the book) (@nbajambook) May 23, 2020
Terminator Salvation: Delta Mission Marquees Now Available For Big Buck Reloaded
I recently got my upgrade for Big Buck Wild to update it to Reloaded, and I hope to capture some direct footage from the game this next week. One thing that I had to do when I got it was log-in to my Coin-up account and activate both Delta Mission and In Case of Monsters: Lost Island, otherwise they show up as Locked in the game (if you’re an op, be sure to check that). If you are also an op, you can order the Terminator Salvation marquees to add to the game for $99. I think I’ll be doing so, as otherwise I think it’s getting overlooked a bit, despite a Terminator being on the marquee.
Raw Thrills Red Alert! Big Buck Hunter Terminator Toppers Available Now! #Terminator #BigBuckHunter – https://t.co/OIwNcmrjEj pic.twitter.com/PiRhN6GO6s
— Raw Thrills (@rawthrills) May 23, 2020
Next For Lapentino: Pac-Man: 40 Years of Waka Waka
A while back, I reviewed an art book by Tim Lapentino called The Art of Atari. That did a deep dive into the artists who created iconic artwork at the company, covering both arcade and console releases. This week, Lapentino revealed his next work, Pac-Man: 40 Years of Waka Waka. You can read up on this here, although pre-orders won’t open until July. Based off the Art of Atari, I’m sure we’re in for a treat.
The Origin Story Behind RAMPAGE
While Pac-Man has been all over the internet this week, you can’t forget some other games, like Midway’s RAMPAGE. Over on upfromthedepths.net, Alex Rushdy interviewed game designer and Game Refuge CEO Brian F. Colin about how the classic building bash arcade game came into being. Check it out!
On a related note, I can’t remember if I shared this unboxing and installation of the new (and official) Rampage marquee topper:
Zero Latency Unveils Zombie Arena
I’ll be honest, I thought that Zero Latency already had a zombie game, but this is being promoted as new. This promo trailer was done with plenty of Neo-80s flare, and should be available for ZL arenas now (I have no idea how many are open right now). Check it out:
UNIS Reveals A Home Version Of To The Net Called Elite Games Basketball
With the public/commercial shutdown taking place, some companies have been shifting some of their focus to producing content for the home, while maintaining the arcade format. That appears to be the case with UNIS’ new rendition of their To Tha Net video basketball game, as shown in the trailer below. This features a unique cabinet than can auto-adjust it’s height (something that would be nice for regular arcade bballs), touchscreen controls and face recognition that actively tracks your position and caloric burn for the “Fitness Mode.” Game mode plays just like To Tha Net.
Direct Captures From Exa-Arcadia Games
After receiving a firmware update for my Exa-Arcadia system (to properly operate with the 4K TV I have), I went ahead and captured some footage of the two titles that I have – Aka & Blue Type-R and The Kung Fu Vs. Karate Champ. Note that the audio capture isn’t the best (due to some laptop issues I’m having that is affecting every capture I do) and the visuals are best seen on the 4K display that we’ve got, but this still should convey the games. Watch them in 1080p for the best results – my capture device is incapable of 4k capture, so had to downrez it. The next title I’ll be grabbing (that I pre-ordered a while back) is Lightning Knights, so I’ve been practicing on Iron Crypticle on the run-up to that.
On Aka & Blue Type-R, I have set it to 3:4 mode, which does change up the UI. To compare, you can see another capture I did here, where it was running in 9:16.
From the Realm Of The Pandemic…
Ohio Coin Machine Association Files Lawsuit Against State Over Virus Restrictions
Arcade Monsters Re-Opens in Florida
Rocket City Arcade Re-Opens in Alabama
Pinballz Arcade In Texas Is Holding a Job Fair
That’s all I’ve found for now – have a safe and good weekend out there!
