Newsbytes: Bowl Expo 2022 Wrap-Up; Japan Arcades News; Football Frenzy & More

Welcome to Newsbytes, a post of curated content from around the world of arcades & pinball. There isn’t a ton of stuff to discuss this weekend (and in the States it’s the 4th of July weekend so that also tends to be slow – Happy 4th to my fellow citizens though 😉 ) but there is enough for now so let’s jump into it:

Bowl Expo 2022 Wrap-Up

As mentioned on social media channels and a previous post, I had to cancel my trip to Vegas to attend Bowl Expo (my brother is doing well, thanks to everyone who asked; he’s back to the work grind today). Fortunately, my friend Walter at PrimeTime Amusements was kind enough to film a few things there and send it my way to use. Thanks to that, here is this video, which shows:

• Fast & Furious (Raw Thrills; more footage here than in my recent F&F news video)
• Rhythmatic 2 (VRsenal)
• Space Pirate Trainer (VRsenal)
• Virtual Rabbids: The Big Ride Ultra HD (LAI Games)
• Allstars Basketball (Sega Amusements)  – Sega also posted a very brief phone video of their booth on LinkedIn
• Dicey Jump – Street Version (Touch Magix)

If there is any more footage or video of these games (and any others that might have been missed), I’ll be sure to share but PrimeTime will also be posting some footage of these and additional games to their own YouTube channel.

Sega’s Former Arcades In Japan Are Bouncing Back… But…

Thanks to Bijatron on Discord for sending this my way; A story out of SoraNews24 discussing the turning of fortunes for the arcade chain operating what used to be Sega’s arcade operations chain in Japan – GENDA or on the street they are seen as GiGO. At first glance, it’s great news, as the chain announces a good profit. The article does point out that thanks to some smart accounting that it’s not exactly because people are swarming to locations that is producing the result.

I reached out to a couple of contacts in Japan to ask about this and I was able to get some additional insight into this and unfortunately I have some not-so-great news for those who think of video games when they think of Japanese arcades – GiGO is strongly taking the approach of marginalising video games from their game mix and are swinging into prize machines, particularly claw/cranes. GiGO does not appear to see video as serving them well in the future, although that could change.

We did hints of them going in that direction when they made won a world record by revamping a Shinjuku location to feature most crane games ever, and opened one in Ikebukuro that was right across the street from a world famous Sega arcade location once was and the new place only had one video game available, Mobile Suit Gundam Boost Extreme Vs. 2. I hope that they come back to game genres other than this but it’s not sounding like they will for the present moment :/

Emoji Game Spotted On Test

Since we’re kind of on the subject of redemption, we turn to the states where Jdevy spotted a new Emoji game on test. No clue who is making or testing this one but you can tell from the design that it’s a redemption game (possibly single button – push to stop the spinning wheel with emojis on it I’d guess).

Step ManiaX #28 Out

Back to video games, this free update adds 5 new songs to the roster:

VRStudios To debut new American Football game – Football Frenzy

At IAAPA 2021, VRStudios debuted their new two station unattended VR cabinet called Fury, along with a basketball game called Hoops Madness where players shoot as many hoops as they can as they race against the clock. Now they’re going to offer an American football title for that cabinet called Football Frenzy. Per the description, it will be similar in nature to Hoops Madness in style, just applied to football:

Players will experience the thrill of being a pro quarterback in a stadium underneath the bright lights and feel the excitement of the crowd cheering them on as they march down the field in a test of accuracy and skill.

VRStudios is also running monthly cash tournaments on Hoops Madness now, for those who have one near them.

Namco Museum of Art – Tekken

It’s been a little while since Namco posted one of these art videos but this one, even if it is all in Japanese, should draw attention of those who appreciate not just art but Namco’s 3D game history. Well, and Tekken. Enjoy:

Atari Pole Position On The Factory Line

Let’s end our videos with some Atari & Namco history, H/T to BemBlake for this one, posted by The Arcade Blogger. In case you missed it, I unboxed a Toobin’ & a Hydra this week and I also livestream talked Atari on the 50th.

Remaking Sega Rally In UE5

Also in appreciating arcade history, there’s this remake/tribute to the original Sega Rally made in Unreal Engine 5  – H/T to Kevin Williams on this one. I’d always hoped to have come across a used Sega Rally 3 but it just has never popped up. I wonder how people would feel about a Sega Rally remake like this in arcades… or Sega Rally 4.

Headlines

The Main Event Buy-Out By Dave & Busters Is Now Complete

Fozzy Football Now Has A Pool Table Conversion Kit – If you missed this one, click here.

exA-Arcadia Is Selling Sets Of Flyers – Scroll down to the bottom to find “Merch”

The History of Golden Tee’s Champ ’99

This Makes For One Valuable Guns ‘N Roses Pinball Machine

Reminder: California Extreme Is Coming At The End Of This Month – No I won’t be headed to this one.

This Guy Knows How To Play Speed Of Light

Registration Open For Amusement 360 Event

[Console] Atari 50th Anniversary Collection

[Console] Are We In A new Game Crash? – Possibly. I wish I could be optimistic about the near economic future but my June numbers are some of the worst I’ve ever seen for a summer (excluding 2020). Best I can say is gird your loins if you haven’t already.

[Console] Pac-Man World Re-Pac Trailer – Sadly, this extra-confirms that Bandai Namco is moving away from Ms. Pac-Man

[Console] Treasure is working on a new game

[Console] Reader BemBlake Really Wants You To Buy The Upcoming Klonoa Game (As Does Namco)

[Relatedish] The Mario Movie Is 75% Done