Welcome to Newsbytes, a post of curated news about arcade & pinball from around the world.
GameWorks Seattle To Make A Comeback This Summer
When news hit that GameWorks as a chain was closing down at the very end of last year, it was somewhat of a shock to see what had become of the prototype to the modern FEC & arcade. That shock was particularly hard for employees, who had only heard the news from social media reports and not internal communications. Overall, it was a lousy way to end 2021 and start this year but there is some good news on the horizon for the Seattle location.
Geekwire is reporting that Greg Stevens & Howard Brand have partnered up to revive the location this summer. One interesting bit in the story is that they both recognize the role that the location played within the community and so they are looking to bring it back with the same vibe, games and even employees where they can. That none of the games were sold off is a little bit of a surprise; That makes me wonder about the status of the other locations. They are aiming to re-open by July.
If your curious as to the history of the company, click here. It would be something if the re-launch party was able to attract some star power like the original launch did, although they probably wouldn’t want Will Smith to attend this time…
Bobble Head Baseball Replaces Spider-Man; Super Bikes 3 Gets A Special Update
I mentioned Dave & Busters the other day when discussing Pac-Man Chompionship DX and there’s more going on for their line-up of games, so lets discuss what has been happening. Just note that I’ve not received any official word on these things, this comes from on-the-ground reports from users visiting D&B locations in this past week or so.
Let’s start with a game replacement – Adrenaline’s Spider-Man Homecoming videmption game. This has been a Dave & Busters exclusive since 2017 but now it appears that they are going the conversion route by changing the web-slinging game to Andamiro’s new bat swinging piece, Bobblehead Baseball. Jdevy had found what appears to be a listing for this specific conversion kit, although the link is now blocked. Regardless, it sounds like most if not all Spider-Man cabs will be getting the treatment. I doubt that Adrenaline will release the game, but no clue what will become of the existing hardware. BTW – this sort of thing used to happen all the time in the business – a game would stop earning and a conversion kit would be created just to replace a specific game. I have that with an old Xenophobe converted to a Knights of the Round.
Next up is a new, Dave & Busters exclusive software version of Super Bikes 3. This is mentioned in the latest changelog for SB3, but the game with this software has been showing up at D&Bs, even replacing a Maximum Tune 5 in one instance. Reportedly, this software adds a new track and the unicorn that is in the console port of Cruis’n Blast but I have been unable to get any confirmation from RT about it.
NeoTRIS Now Available For The Neo Geo MVS
The Tetris variation developed for SNK’s Neo Geo AES & MVS hardware is now available in proper MVS cart form, as reported by Arcade Belgium. The game is a variation of Tetris developed by Chips on Steroids that comes with some small additions like being able to set a piece aside and a caravan mode. The kit is 180€ + shipping (35€ for Europe, 50€ outside Europe); You have to email the creator directly to order.
Golden Tee PGA Tour No Longer Shipping With Monitors
Thanks to the continued challenge of getting certain components in arcade machines along with huge price increases, Incredible Technologies has told distributors that their new GTPGA cabinets will no longer include a 55″ 4K Samsung TV. This is being done with the expectation that they can ship units out in a more timely manner; To give you an idea, pre-pandemic, IT could ship out thousands of kits & cabinets when every September rolled around, but with this release units didn’t start shipping until January of this year. Here’s some additional info from the email they sent out:
The “shroud,” aka the back panel with LED lighting that encases the television, was designed to spotlight a 55-inch TV. It was also crafted with flexibility in mind, meaning any 55-inch, 4K television should fit into the unit quite nicely. The dimensions should accommodate all TVs this size.
The Golden Tee PGA TOUR Edition stand and bracket were designed to hold televisions weighing up to 77 pounds. The VESA bracketing is universal and should work with all major television brands.
It is worth reiterating, however, that the television must be 4K quality. This is part of our agreement with the PGA TOUR to deliver the highest quality presentation; it is also how we have designed new courses and the overall look. While the overwhelming majority of televisions sold these days are 4K, the GT PGA TOUR software will not operate without it.
If you’re looking at getting a GTPGA but want to know about any suggested monitors, then just ask your distributor and they should have some recommendations ready to go. That said, checking the official Golden Tee PGA Tour game page shows that they need to update the language which still says it comes with a monitor…
Footage Of The Ultra-Rare Taito Game Vertexer
Everyone has heard of Vertexer before, right? Well you can’t be blamed for not being familiar with it. Developed as a game that could be installed into Taito’s IDYA motion cabinet, it received a very low production run (I asked collector ShouTime about it and he confirms it did hit production, as opposed to a canned prototype). It has never popped up for emulation to my knowledge; As such the quality of photos for it out there have always looked like a thumbnail in a Gamepro Magazine from 1992 – until now:
https://twitter.com/higenekodo/status/1522193070271639552
Ninja Baseball Batman To Live On As A Comic Book
We’ve had some oddities land in arcades over the years, Ninja Baseball Batman by Irem being one of them. It was a great game but is relatively obscure as it came about in a time where beat ’em ups were hot but there were so many with higher profile names that many locations passed on it. Still, hardcore arcade fans will likely be familiar with it and now the series is living on in comic book form, thanks to the efforts of original game creator Drew Maniscalco (who is also the current president of Andamiro USA), writer Dave Cook and artist Steve Gregson. Find out more here; They also just setup a Patreon.
Jersey Jack Talks Pinball With Indie Arcade Wave
There’s no reveal of their next game, although they have been teasing that such a thing is currently in production so I imagine we won’t have to wait too much longer before whatever it is gets announced. If you’re interested in who Jack is and what he’s done with the company, then give this a watch.
When You Sell Your Games
I do hope to be posting some more of these Operator Insight videos this next week, I just got a bit sidetracked with some other things. I am also working on a couple of Atari videos, one for their upcoming 50th anniversary date and another on an unreleased Atari arcade game I’ve been able to get a tiny bit of new info
Headlines
LAI Games Is Moving To A Bigger Location – Expect shipping delays during the process
Somniacs & Barron Games Partner Up For Birdly VR – I thought they already were partnered up on this but this makes it official
Here’s One Way To Combine Arcades & VR
Duke Nukem Forever 2001 E3 Demo Leaked Onto The Internet
Gunlord 2 Is In Development – Bust doesn’t sound like it’s coming to arcades this time around
The Switch Has Now Outsold The PS4 In The US
That’s all for this weekend, see you on the next story!
