Arcade news has come to a standstill, which seems to be a thing in April. In part that’s due to it being a post-tradeshow period, although everything I’ve come across for the past week or so just hasn’t warranted a full post. Fortunately that’s what Newsbytes is for, so lets see what’s been happening out there. Just note that things are so slow that there isn’t a whole lot for this post either.
There’s A New Crazy Taxi In Development But…
I’ve not heard a thing about this being in the works for arcades – which it should be but I won’t hold my breath. This article at Bloomberg heavily implies just consoles from the way it talks about development (not to mention how Sega’s Japan arcade development side has been downgraded to a skeleton crew). The last time that arcades were graced with the presence of a new Crazy Taxi was in 2003, with the relatively unknown Crazy Taxi High Roller. I don’t recall hearing that it was ported to consoles but I could be wrong.
If this comes to arcades it will be a pleasant surprise – there was an attempt at such a thing in recent memory with UNIS’ Crazy Ride, although I’m not aware of that launching in the US due to certain similarities it shared with Crazy Taxi.
Zapcon 8.2 Taking Place In Mesa, AZ This Coming Weekend
As the headline says, if you’re an arcade collector or gamer and find yourself anywhere near Mesa, AZ this April 30th & May 1st, then you’ll want to check out Zapcon. This is a gaming convention that includes arcade and pinball machines, enjoying it’s first go since the pandemic started. Find out more here.
New Cabinet Shot For Interstellar Team
Remember Interstellar Team? I don’t blame you – it was mentioned once on the blog here and then never again. Well, in case you are interested in this new environmental gun shooting game by a Chinese company called Superwin, here’s a sharp new look at the game’s cabinet. While taking a page from Halo: Fireteam Raven, it is an original work at least but I have no idea whether or not the game is any good. I also do not know if any distributor plans on picking this up for North American distribution but I’ll keep an eye out for any additional news – or perhaps I’ll stumble across this at IAAPA 2022.
Mark Struhs Leaves Raw Thrills For The Really Big Crane Company
Raw Thrills sent out an email this week to mention that one of their heavy hitters, Mark Struhs, has moved on to a new pasture within the arcade industry. He’s someone that you should know if you’ve done any business with Raw Thrills, as he had been the point man for sales at the company for the longest time. RBCC has been at various industry tradeshows (any show where Raw Thrills has attended) so you’ll still see Mark around. Here are some highlights from the email:
Why Don’t We Have Maximum Tune 6RR In North America?
It’s a pretty easy answer:
Pump It Up XX Update 2.08.0 Is Out Now
Teased on April Fools, the 14th update to PIU XX was no joke and it’s now available on machines out there. From what I’ve heard, players are enjoying the new songs, to the point that the game has been seeing quite a bit more play.
Headlines
exA-Arcadia Rolls Out New Version Info Section On Their Website
Book Review: Pinball: A Graphic History Of The Silverball
This Pinball Cake Looks Delicious
Sega Releases Chunithm New Plus In Japan
Who Would Be Interested In A Re-Release Of AfterBurner Climax Made Like This?
[Console News] Gaplus Now On Arcade Archives
[Console] The History of Simulmondo, the First Italian Software House
Konami Makes A Slight Name Adjustment To Celebrate 50 Years
Sadly that’s it, there just really hasn’t been much to report on, but at least it’s something! Stay tuned to the video channel for an upcoming thought discussion on arcade game design.
Crazy Taxi High Roller was actually a port to the Arcade.
It was originally released for the first Xbox. That version of Crazy Taxi contained the previous two Crazy Taxi cities plus the then new Glitter Gulch.
Wasn’t that good technically though due to slowdowns when there were a few lightning effects on the screen.