Welcome to Newsbytes, a post of curated content from around the world of arcades & pinball. There are a few items of note for this weekend, although before that, Happy Father’s Day to any dads out there.
Let’s hop to it:
Sega Testing Wahlap’s Storm Rider 2 In The UK
Sega and Wahlap have had a cozy relationship for several years now and that is continuing to bear fruit as we have another title that Sega is testing for them over in the UK. The most recent one was Crazy Rafting and now they’ve got a sequel to a game that hit the market about a decade ago, Storm Rider. 
All we know about SR2 is from this pic above and in analyzing it, I noticing that it has a motion base (similar to Speed Rider 3DX) and one other interesting addition that I’ve not seen on a motorcycle game before – there’s a small monitor attached to the front of the bike (no, not like Hang-On, as that was the main monitor for the game, not a secondary one). What this is supposed to do isn’t clear – I’d guess an HUD to show something like the track layout maybe?
I’ll share more info once available. Thanks to Ted H. for the tip.
Noisz Arc+Coda Is Now Available For Arcades
This might nab the award for most original game to land in arcades this year, given that it’s a mash-up of a shooter and a rhythm game. Featuring 40 songs, this is the first rhythm game to come along for the exA so between that and the shmup side of it, I imagine it will do really well in Japan where the two genres still do really well. I did get to play an early build of this last year and it’s fun although those who are into both genres will get the most out of it:
What is the next game to launch on the exA-Arcadia? That’s unknown at the moment, as their shop isn’t listing anything for pre-order. Quite a few games on their games page are saying “Available 2022” although I would not be surprised if the Touhou game comes along soon since the hype in Japan is off-the-charts for that one. My hope is that Samurai Shodown V Perfect is coming soon too but we’ll just have to wait and see.
Stern Launches Insider Connected Leaderboards
Stern rolled out a new feature for their Insider Connected system this week, allowing operators to easily setup and manage tournaments and leaderboards on location. I don’t have the equipment yet for setting up a monitor to constantly operate said boards, but it’s something I’m looking into (and I’m grateful to Stern for expanding the offerings to include such a thing that’s a benefit to locations)
Dave & Busters Gets Dodgeball
Well…not that Dodgeball (although that would make for a fun license)
Seen very briefly in this very brief video is a sneak peek for ICE’s next release, Dodgeball Ultimate Arena. I did reach out to ICE for details but there’s no comment on it for now. D&B adding 10 new games to their repertoire shows that they are investing again, which isn’t surprising given how well things have been going for the company this past quarter. the question for the rest of us though is: How many of these are D&B exclusives? I suppose we’ll find out when Bowl Expo ’22 rolls around soon:
Let’s Talk About Arcade Game Design
It took a while to put this together and it doesn’t cover every aspect of game design (such as redemption/videmption or pinball), but hopefully you find it to be a useful primer. Thanks to the devs who responded and if there’s interest, I’ll do more of these to delve into other other sectors of the industry, including VR and such:
Headlines
LAI Games Updates The Virtual Rabbids Page To Showcase The New UltraHD Model
Toy Story 4 Pinball Gameplay Video – The Game Also Broke Sales Records For JJP
A New JAMMA-to-JVS I/O Board Is In Development
Next Up For Simulator Creator DOF: Nautilus
Stock Available On Asphalt 9 Legends AC
[Console] TMNT Shredder’s Revenge Is Out Now
[Console] Atari Mania Aiming To Do WarioWare For Classic Atari Titles
[Console] The Switch Passes 25m Sold In Japan Alone
[Console] Zombie Musou? Sign me up
Have to see if Storm Rider 2 is at any of the Southend on Sea arcades… do they ever mention the actual locations in the UK? Rergards
Not that was passed along, so unfortunately I’m unsure where the game is at but if I do find out, I’ll let you know 🙂