Newsbytes: SFGE 2022; New Asteroids Arcade Game; TRON’s 40th & More

Welcome to Newsbytes, a post for the weekend that curates news from around the arcade & pinball world to for your reading pleasure. Let’s get to it:

Southern Fried Gaming Expo 2022 Is Underway

SFGE 2022 has been taking place in Atlanta, GA since yesterday and with that there are a few videos out there about it. The event ends tomorrow so if you’re anywhere close and hold an interest in arcades, don’t delay.

Interview with Midway’s Paul E. Niemeyer:

There’s A New Atari Asteroids On Test Out There

While I’d normally give a new game on test a full post, the quality of info on this one isn’t quite ‘there’ yet – but perhaps this signal boost will help generate some better pics. While the artifacting and general blurriness of the pics I fused together is quite heavy, that logo is unmistakably the original Asteroids. Who is making this is a mystery, but in looking at the pics and knowing where the tests are taking place – D&Bs in Buffalo, NY and Addison, IL – hints pretty strongly that this is a new Play Mechanix & ICE collaboration (I’ve known that ICE is working on something new for a little bit now and this would fit).

Just a reminder though, since this is on secret test, it’s very possible that this gets canned and never sees the light of day, or it could change a bit between this and production. Sent to me by Jdevy, it appears that the quality is so bad here because it comes from the background of a pic or video and it was not the central focus. It’s probable that it was in the background of someone’s selfie (of which there is plentiful abundance when it comes to D&B-related social media posts) and Jdevy caught it.

It’s intriguing to me that it’s a cocktail game and it’s running a 4 player setup. The most surprising thing from this photo below (you can see it in the one above but it’s hard to tell until it’s pointed out) is that the game uses giant analog style flight sticks. My gut reaction to that is that it seems wrong, but I won’t knock it ’til I try it. That said, I would have preferred trackball controllers on Centipede Chaos (which was Play Mechanix and ICE’s previous retro collab) but the game was still playable with joysticks.

What do you think?

The New Mr. Do Game Is Available In Europe

This went completely under my radar so H/T to Ted for the tip. We heard a while back that Mr. Do would be returning to arcades via Electrocoin but it wasn’t clear what form it would take.  If you guessed that it would be a pure redemption game however, collect your prize. I am slightly confused though; maybe Mr. Do has changed appearances in recent times but I always knew him as a clown and there’s no Mr. Do character present on this game…just the logo and characterized balls.

That said, this is at least a variation from the standard ball redemption game; Usually this sort of piece would have the guns fire the balls at the target holes but instead the guns server as blowers.

The produce page for it is here.

Transformers Joins Top Gun: Maverick For Dave & Busters VR

There’s no trailer that I’ve seen on this and details appear to be light, but if you hit up any D&B with their exclusive motion VR platform, you can find this game as a part of the selection. It’s called Transformers Decepticon Invasion VR; in it, players “Enter a world where you can be a hero alongside Optimus Prime!” [quote from LinkedIn]. Here’s the page, which might get a trailer at some point?

Japanese Game Updates

Some brief updates to games in Japan here – there’s not much, but still.

Bombergirl Has Been Updated To Bombergirl Rainbow – I highly doubt this one will ever come out West in an official capacity, even via R1US, but good to see Konami continuing to support it.

Rumble Storm X Launches For Hawt Pink – As far as I’m aware, this one is only available in Japan & Europe through certain retailers at the moment; It’s the 2nd game for the Hawt Pink platform. If you own an exA-Arcadia system however, the X-rated stuff can be shut off and the game played straight.

TRON Turns 40

Granted, the anniversary was last Saturday but I didn’t really have enough to pack this Newsbytes together then, so consider this a belated happy birthday. I still celebrated it the day of on YouTube though 🙂

Sure, it was a bomb in cinemas but the arcade game broke the bank. It’s also the movie that influenced many of us, including myself, to pursue an interest in video games professionally, particularly arcades thanks to this launching right in the center of the “Golden Age of video games” where arcades were king. It’s the first true film to be influenced by and be about arcades but there is more to it than that which fans like myself appreciate.

Headlines

The Nationwide Golden Tee Tournament Is Coming To Nashville In August

Indie Arcade Wave Interviews Rick Medina Of Arcade Odyssey – One of these days Rick, I’ll visit your place 🙂

New Book Highlights The British Arcade Scene – I’ll have to see about grabbing this and reviewing it

I Got My Hands On A Prototype Cabinet For Atari Games’ Hydra – I’m no Galloping Ghost but it’s a cool thing to grab

Namco’s Dragon Saber Is Now Available On Arcade Archives

The Marble Madness Action Figure – Seems a bit overpriced to me but anything licensed from Warner Bros. explains it

RUMOR: Stern Working On A Sonic The Hedgehog Themed Pin – This would make sense given Stern’s history as Sega Pinball, way back

Some Dave & Busters Locations Might Become Main Events

Nintendo Buys A Visual Production Company

[Console] I’m Pretty Sure The Intellivision Amico Is As Dead As A Saturday Night Here In SLC – If not…deader. And yes, I stole that joke from Red Dwarf.

[Console] The Rumble Fish Games Are Headed To Consoles

Have a great weekend!