Newsbytes: P-47 Aces Test; New Redemption Games On Test; FarcryVR; More

Welcome to Newsbytes, a post that curates news from around the wonderful world of video arcade games and pinball machines. Posted to the weekend for your reading and viewing enjoyment, let’s see what’s been going on out there over the past couple of weeks:

P-47 Aces Mk. II Now On Test In Japan

exA-Arcadia announced a two day location test for their upcoming shmup release, P-47 Aces Mk. II in Japan, and it started yesterday. From the retweets, it sounds like fans are enjoying it. As a reminder in case you hadn’t heard of the exA before, all titles are released worldwide so this is not just a Japanese thing. The company also released the official trailer for it, which you can enjoy below. The intended launch is at the end of September; If you’re looking for more details, click here.

New Redemption Games On Test From Bay Tek, UNIS, and Sega

There are a few redemption pieces on test out there that Jdevy brought to our attention on Discord – first, one by Bay Tek called Big Ticket Drop. The camerawoman is quite shocked by how easy it is to win the bonus on this one, which could lead to that becoming a little more difficult, if Bay Tek goes ahead and releases this one. I’d almost call them notorious for killing projects though, as we’ve seen many games tested by them over the years that never hit production (meaning that they tested poorly):

Next up is Emoji Roller by UNIS. I’ve heard a little bit about this pusher-style game but this is the first time I’ve seen video of it. I couldn’t tell you how it stacks up to the likes of Pearl Fishery though, as pushers just aren’t my thing. I wonder if the location knew that the game was partially broken though…

Last but not least is not a video but a muddy pic of a new game from Sega called Bop It!. This is based upon the kids toy of the same name and I would assume that it will play just like the toy does, making players perform certain actions in order, with that order getting more difficult to pull off as it builds. Could be an interesting competitor to LAI’s Speed of Light.

ICE Updates Their Website With Dodgeball

Mentioned in the last Newsbytes, ICE has updated their website with a listing for Dodgeball – Ultimate Arena, which you can find here. They also added this new promo video so you can see how it works:

About the Alleged Death Of Arcades

I’ve tackled this subject many times over the years, but only in text form. With the YouTube channel growing slightly as of late, I decided to take things up a notch and do a video about it. This has generated some discussion in the comments, mainly over what makes an arcade game…I may do a video on that too if anyone cares.

To further back that up, I did a livestream to discuss new arcade openings, which I will start doing from here on out when I publish a Location Watch article. What better way to highlight the health of the arcade scene than to discuss new arcade openings?

Stern Adds Milestone Badges To Their Insider Connected Service

If you use Stern’s Insider Connected to get a deeper gaming experience, they now have “Milestone Badges.” These are a variation of achievements which brings a mobile gaming idea to pinball, incentivizing replay – one of the biggest needs for pinball to earn that money.  I’m curious if any of you out there are using IC and what you think of it so far? I’ve seen a couple of customers use it but most haven’t so far.

Zero Latency VR Adds Far Cry To Their Roster

UPDATE & EDIT: Bob Cooney informed me that this launched this game way back in June of 2021, so this must be a new trailer they used to remind people about it.

I haven’t heard anything from Zero Latency in a little while, a VR company that specializes in open multiplayer arena VR for location-based entertainment and of course, “zero latency.” Their latest software addition brings something licensed to the table and it doesn’t involve shooting zombies or robots. I haven’t played Far Cry in ages, nor the latest one so I don’t know which version of the game this is based on. Assuming that ZL goes to IAAPA 2022, I imagine that this would be there:

Finishing Magic Girl Pinball

If you have 85 minutes to spare (that’s how long the estimated reading time is), then PinballNews.com posted this super detailed history of the pinball design Magic Girl. This game has a tortured history (first time I mentioned it on the blog here was back in 2015 but it goes further back than that) but a team in the Netherlands has taken it upon themselves to finish it and the complete model should find its way to Pinball Expo 2022 this October.

Headlines

The Servers For Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 6 Are Now Shut Down – Players need to xfer to 6RR

Interesting Stats On Recent Consumer Habits, Trends & Spending – Something for operators to pay attention to

Step ManiaX Content Update #31 – 4 more songs added

Andamiro’s Chrono Circle Now At All Round1USA Locations – Pretty sure I mentioned this before but just in case…

Replacement Tail Light Covers For Sega’s OutRun Deluxe Now Available

Can You Run Vector Graphics On A Standard CGA Monitor?

LAI Games’ Podcast Episode #3 Ft. Beth Standlee Of Trainertainment

The JAEPO 2023 Event Is On For February 2023

Cutting Tree Race Promo From Huatai Games

[Console] Lode Runner Is Finally Coming To The Atari 2600 And It’s Even Licensed – The 2600 was one of the only platforms in the world to never get LR (even arcades have had several versions)

[Console] Atari Releases Yars: Recharged – Yars’ Revenge originally started as a port of Star Castle to the 2600

[Console] The Already Hard-To-Find PS5 Just Got A Price Hike In Most Places

[Console] Meta4 Interactive Brings A Transformers VR Game To PSVR (they have primarily been focused on LBE VR)

[Console] PSVR2 Headset Launching Early Next Year

[Console] Chief Of Meta’s Horizon VR Social Space Leaves The Company

[Console] When Is The Best Time To Release Your Game To Market?

That’s all for this edition of Newsbytes. I hope to have some news on Raw Thrills’ Fast & Furious this next week, so stay tuned for that. I’m also hoping that Samurai Shodown V Perfect will finally be released here in the next couple of weeks. Until then, y’all take care now.