I received a couple of e-mails recently asking about details on how the 2009 Big Buck World Championships went down a couple of weeks ago but I hadn’t heard anything about it until today. You might recall that there were two national tournaments that occurred at the same time – one for BBHPro(the night before the tournament it was revealed that this tournament would take place using the new Open Season update) and the other on Big Buck Safari. When all was said and done, two brothers walked away with the $10,000 prize, Nick Berg for BBHPro and Jerad Berg (who also won last year’s national tournament) on Safari. For more details on the event, see the press release after the post break(updated with a corrected press release).

I have mentioned before that we don’t often get sales numbers for arcade titles but Raw Thrills has had a few hits over the past year or so that they reveal such information on and this time we have word on Big Buck Safari. According to the press release they have now sold 5000 standard units and 500 deluxe units of the game to various locations. It still has a way to go before catching up with it’s sister game, Big Buck Hunter, which surpassed 10,000 units sold over it’s lifespan of three years.

It would be great to know what the sales numbers are for all of the coin-op games out there, I’m sure that would help any prospective developers know what they’ll be getting into with a particular type of game although that is probably one of the reasons why we don’t see this information made public too often. Keep in mind that while these numbers would look pretty small compared to console sales figures, for the current arcade industry any game passing 5000 units sold is pretty good.

[Discuss on the Forums]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Big Buck Safari Reaches Two Milestones!

CARLSTADT, NJ – September 1, 2009 – Following an incredibly successful three-year run of the of  #1 hunting game Big Buck Hunter Pro, which sold over 10,000 units, Betson Enterprises is excited to announce another milestone with “Big Buck Safari”. During the month of August Betson shipped its 5,000^th standard 27” unit and its 500^th deluxe 42” version of the PlayMechanix/Raw Thrills smash hit. “The demand for the Safari product is a clear indication that there is no slow down in the video hunting category,” stated Bob Boals, Vice President of Betson Enterprises.

Safari has captured the players attention with its’ highly addictive, highly competitive and highly entertaining game play. Operators were quick to recognize and capitalize on the games ability to generate revenue. Safari standard and deluxe continues to sell at a rate similar to that of the Big Buck Hunter Pro. Both Safari models are ready for tournament play through the CoinUp Tournament Network. Operators with DSL/Broadband Internet access just need to call PlayMechanix to receive a “no charge” Tournament Kit to get their machines online and start enjoying higher earnings through tournament play.

The Raw Thrills / Play Mechanix team would like to thank all the operators who have purchased their games and for their support in reaching these two milestones. Betson Enterprises would also like to take this opportunity to thank its distributor network for supporting the Big Buck Pro and Big Buck Safari product lines.

About Raw Thrills

Former Midway game designer Eugene Jarvis founded Raw Thrills Inc. in 2001 to create the next generation of arcade game entertainment. After creating content for IGT, Raw Thrills has gone on to design and release the best selling titles Target: Terror, The Fast and the Furious, The Fast and the Furious Super Bikes and The Fast and the Furious Drift.

About Play Mechanix

George Petro, a former game designer for Midway Games founded Play Mechanix in 1995. In a little over a decade, Play Mechanix has created over 30 titles for the Arcade, Bar and Casino industries including the best-selling video hunting series Big Buck Hunter, Big Buck Safari, and Deal or No Deal. Play Mechanix is currently creating an on-line tournament system for use with Big Buck Hunter Pro and beyond. Play Mechanix recently merged with Raw Thrills. For no charge CoinUp Tournament kits please contact Play Mechanix at 630-942-1070.

About Betson Enterprises

Headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey, Betson Enterprises is the leading coin operated distributor of amusement and vending equipment, coin operated parts, and service in the United States. With over 75 years of experience and leadership in the coin-operated industry, we will help you make informed decisions that are best for your business.

Betson offers entertainment and vending solutions for your business through our relationships with the operator community. For locations looking for a simple and profitable solution or vendors looking for equipment that fits any situation, Betson Enterprises can help you. Betson Enterprises has an industry proven reputation for quality and customer focus.

For more information on Safari and other amusement products, please contact us at 800-524-2343 or visit our web site at www.betson.com

This ticks all the boxes for me. Beer, pretty ladies, prizes and Big Buck Hunt. If it ticks all your boxes too, then why not try and get down to one of these Big Buck parties that are taking place in across America.

Big Buck Party Schedule:

Thursday, June 18th at Delta House in Omaha, NE
Friday, June 19th at Jack’s Bar and Grill in Lincoln, NE
Saturday, June 20th at Side Pockets in Omaha, NE

Thursday, July 9th at Grand Avenue Ale House in Bellingham, WA
Friday, July 10th at O’Malley’s in Tacoma, WA
Saturday, July 11th at Bleacher’s in Seatlle, WA

Thursday, July 23rd at Coach’s in Houston, TX
Friday, July 24th at Mulligan’s in San Antonio, TX
Saturday, July 25th at Lavaca St. Bar in Austin, TX

More dates to be announced soon.

For more info visit BigBuckSafariOnline.com or BigBuckHunterProOnline.com.

[via Barcade] [Discuss on the Forum]

Play Mechanix just wanted me to pass along the newest online tournament for Big Buck Safari and once again, 20 people have a chance at winning some cash. They also have simplified the process for claiming your prize, where you go to the Winner’s Circle on BigBuckSafari.com instead of calling a phone number. The tournament is running now on online enabled versions of BBS. Good luck!

[Big Buck Safari website] [Discuss on the Forum]

While the kit to put big Buck Safari online has been available for a little while now, it wasn’t until Dec. 1st that the tournaments began. But Dec. 1st has come (and past – sorry about the delay on this) and so right now online enabled versions of the game allow players to participate in the tournament that is offering a top prize of $250 with a total prize pool of $750. They are promising that as more machines come online, the bigger the prizes will be. The BBS online tournament ends on Dec. 21st.

Even though tournaments have begun on BBS, that isn’t ending the tourneys for Big Buck Hunter Pro. The Reindeer Games tournament is offering a larger prize pool and it fits into a Christmas theme. The BBHPro tournament ends on Dec. 27th. Thanks to the prize pools on both games, you have a good chance at winning a little extra cash for the holidays.

For more details, check out the press release after the jump or discuss on the forum.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Big Buck is Saving the Economy One Digital Hunter at a Time

In these uncertain economic times, one company is offering more ways to put money back in your pocket. Play Mechanix, the company behind Big Buck Hunter Pro Online and Safari Online knows that both the operators and players are looking for a way make more dough. That is why there is a National Tournament for Big Buck Safari as well as Big Buck Hunter Pro this month.

Big Buck Safari has officially gone online with the Big Buck Safari Kickoff Tournament that runs until December 21^st. This tournament has a top prize of $250 and a total prize pool of over $750. As more Big Buck Safari games make the jump to online, the prize pool and individual awards will increase.

“The online Big Buck Hunter Pro units make 27% more than the isolated machines that are off of the grid and in addition to the Monthly National Tournaments that are run by Play Mechanix, the online machines allow for local tournaments, Trophy Club, Hunting Parties and other hidden gems” stated David Snipes, CoinUp Customer Service Manager. He continues, “There are more opportunities for players to win money and have fun with BBH Pro and BBS units that are online and the operators can make more money with all of these features as well”.

The December Tournament for Big Buck Hunter Pro is Reindeer Games where players will be taking aim at the top prize of $500 and a total prize pool of over $2300. Look for Jerad Berg to redeem himself in the December tournament after coming in at 9^th place in the November tournament, which he helped create. Michael Jastrzembski took the top spot in Jerad’s Choice, but newcomer Kyle Sherwin cracked the top 5 to place 4^th.  The top five Jerad’s Choice Tournament winners were:

1 – Michael Jastrzembski

2 – Keenan  Hughes  

3 – Matthew Budzisz

4 – Kyle Sherwin

5 – Daniel Munschau

The Safari Kickoff Tournament is the inaugural Big Buck Safari tournament and it runs from December 1^st to December 21^st. Reindeer Games is the Big Buck Hunter Pro tournament and it runs from December 7th – December 27th.

The only way to participate in these tournaments is on a Big Buck Hunter Pro Online and Big Buck Safari Online game.

If you have any questions about the CoinUp network, contact Dave Snipes at dsnipes@playmechanix.com or by phone at 630-942-1070 ext-131. Add the Big Buck Hunter® Pro Online gadget to your iGoogle page by following this link http://www.google.com/ig/adde?moduleurl=http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/102704908103543895663/bbh-online-gadget.xml&source=imag

About Play Mechanix

George Petro, a former game designer for Midway Games founded Play Mechanix™ in 1995. In a little over a decade, Play Mechanix™ has created over 30 titles for the Arcade, Bar and Casino industries including the best-selling video hunting series Big Buck Hunter®, Big Buck Safari®, and Deal or No Deal®. Play Mechanix™ is currently producing an on-line tournament system for use with Big Buck Hunter® Pro, Big Buck Safari® and beyond. Play Mechanix™ recently merged with Raw Thrills™.

We’ve received a final batch of pictures from the IAAPA show in Florida (thanks again to Kevin Williams of The Stinger Report)and it’s only fitting to ‘finalize’ our coverage of the event. Overall I think that it was a great show, in terms of new games and what we can look forward to coming into 2009. While there isn’t any new game seem here, we do get a better look at a few games.

Slambot was at the show – I know that they have been to previous IAAPA events and I’m glad to see that they were there. In case you have missed previous coverage of Slambot, it’s an arcade game that uses robots inside of an enclosure as they slam into each other and colored buttons around the edges. I almost got one for my arcade but there was a few month waiting list so I wasn’t able to get it at the time. (Videos of previous Slambot versions here and here)

Here is a new game, Xball by Unis (or Universal Space). It is similar to a couple of games we’ve seen in Asia that came up with the ‘throw a ball at the screen’ concept. I’m just waiting for someone to make one of these games where it’s a virtual snowball fight, which could be a lot of fun without the need of getting pegged with iceballs.  While Universal Space’s website doesn’t list Xball on it yet, I noticed that they do have IGS’s Pirate Revenge game there, which I had thought would not come over to the US.

For another video redemption title we have Jungle Drummer. It says that it’s part of the Percussion Master series so I wonder if this has something to do with Pump It Up Jump (which was not at the show but I talked with Andamiro about it at AMOA). I like the cabinet design, very eye-catching for kids.

Similar to what you see above is a DDR clone called Boogie Down. The dance pad is simplified and with the brighter color scheme this also should attract kids pretty well.

Here’s a couple more shots of Brick People. I heard that when the game is finished, the game clears the bricks itself but at the moment it sounds like that feature is sort of clunky with how it works and may not clear it properly every time. They still have time to figure that out though.

Big Buck Safari Deluxe was at the show and from what I heard it was working better than it was at AMOA and ASI. I’m still not sure when we’ll see it though.

Here’s a little more on Textminator by LAI Games. Here is a picture of the promotional flyer for the game where you get a look at what it’s about and notice that there is a pad on this much like DDR but no foot controls of course. I wonder if it’s DDR meets texting. It probably won’t be my cup of tea but for it’s target audience it will probably do really well, especially where it has ticket payout.

Here’s a variation of the new pedestal cabinet from the Fun Company for Incredible Technologies. I like the lit up version on the right better than the standard ones.

These racing simulators are cool. I’m not sure what racing game they are playing but they would be quite attractive at any amusement park.

And finally, what post would be complete without more pictures of girls playing Guitar Hero?

As for release dates – Guitar Hero has been given a date of February and I hear the price tag is around $7000. The game will also include a hook-up for a separate TV so more players can see what’s going on. American Idol is scheduled to come along in January and while I haven’t heard a price, it’s going to use the CoinUp network extensively. Also according to some distributor sources of ours, Namco is planning to release Razing Storm and Nirin in March, just in time for ASI/AMOA. R-Tuned Racing is set for January, Hummer for March and Harley Davidson for “1st quarter 2009″.

So where does that leave us off? I counted at least 24 new games if you count video game redemption titles and I know there was more for just regular redemption. Still, for the video sector that’s pretty good and not what I’d call a dead and buried industry. Of course we will have to see how operators take to all of these games next year. 

[Discuss on the Forums]

Continuing with our AMOA ‘08 coverage we’ll start with the first video game booth I saw at the show, Betson/Raw Thrills’. They had a spacious booth that was spearheaded by six Nicktoons Nitro games as you’ll see in the video below. I do like the game – it captures the kart racing feel perfectly, it has a subtle sense of humor, the graphics are pretty good (once again I did film the game with my HD camcorder but you wouldn’t know it after it goes through the Youtube filter) and I love the sound. They also had a number of Big Buck cabinets about – two Safari Deluxe cabs (currently scheduled for release on Oct. 1st), a couple of Hunter Pro Online cabs and eight BBSafari Online cabs. The Online upgrade is available now although the first tournament won’t be until November. Also thanks to Ryan at Betson I got some ’schwag’ in the form of Big Buck Safari T-Shirts. I’ll be giving some of these away in some form (probably a competition) at my arcade, they are professionally done though. I had some great conversations with Ryan and he also introduced me to a number of people including Eugene Jarvis! We had a great conversation for a little while where we talked about arcade gaming in general as well as what RT is up to for the future. I look forward to talking with him more in the future.

I also talked with the people at Betson about finding a way to add a keypad to my Tokyo Drift’s. Since I got Crusin’ USA cabinets that don’t have that feature, I’d like to find a way to add it to the cabinets so players can keep track of their cars. I don’t have anything figured out yet but I’m going to be looking into it further. They also had a few cabinets with an LCD screen in the cabinet, which looked pretty nice. I noticed more LCD stuff at the show and I am thinking of getting one or two, if I can afford it.

Anyways, enough blabbling, here’s some video! First is Nicktoons Nitro, second is BBS Online.

[Discuss on the Forums]

Here is some brief news about the Big Buck Hunter tournaments currently going on. The Regional Qualifiers began yesterday and as a reminder are going until Sep. 7th. To enter one simply needs to make an account on a BBHPro Online machine and play. They also have announced the winners for the RamJam competition, the top 5 of which are from Texas. The BBHPro Regional tourney will lead to the World Championship which has $10k up for grabs, all of which is good news for locations carrying these games. More details are located in the press release after the jump.

[Play Mechanix] [Discuss on the Forum]

BIG BUCK HUNTER® PRO REGIONAL ONLINE QUALIFYING TOURNAMENTS BEGIN FRIDAY, AUGUST 8^TH

The road to the Big Buck Hunter® Pro World Championships starts today at a Big Buck Hunter Pro Online machine near you. Ram Jam, the July tournament for Big Buck Hunter® Pro Online is in the record books and the players are now preparing for the Regional Qualifying Online Tournaments. The Regional Qualifiers are the first step for the 2008 Big Buck Hunter® Pro World Championship, where the winner will take home the World Championship title and $10,000.00.

The Texas crew took home the top 5 spots in the Ram Jam contest, which ended July 27^th. Keenan Hughes from Houston, prevented Steven Guenther from winning his third monthly Big Buck Hunter® Pro Online tournament. “With this much talent in Texas, the Southern Regional in San Antonio on September 19^th will be an old fashioned barn burner” stated Dave Snipes, CoinUp™

The Big Buck Hunter® Pro Regional Online Tournaments run from August 8^th through September 7^th. For full tournament details and rules, visit www.bigbuckhunter.com. Contact Dave Snipes at dsnipes@playmechanix.com with any questions.

About Play Mechanix

George Petro, a former game designer for Midway Games founded Play Mechanix™ in 1995. In a little over a decade, Play Mechanix™ has created over 30 titles for the Arcade, Bar and Casino industries including the best-selling video hunting series Big Buck Hunter®, Big Buck Safari®, and Deal or No Deal®. Play Mechanix™ is currently producing an on-line tournament system for use with Big Buck Hunter® Pro and beyond. Play Mechanix™ recently merged with Raw Thrills™.

It’s been a while since I was able to sit down and write a review for a game but now with my arcade open I am going to go along and make video reviews of each game. As such I’ll be mentioning my arcade in each one (I need to get my name out, hopefully these get watched locally) but you get to see the game in action. If I find the time I’ll upload these to Vimeo as well so they can be seen in better quality but youtube has more viewers so I’ll be going with that for the moment.

A few things I forgot to/didn’t get to show in the video: Big Buck girls and bonus games, which are fun mini games that you play after each round.

[Discuss on the Forum]

Raw Thrills and Play Mechanix continue to make the rounds with Big Buck Hunter Pro Online and Big Buck Safari by showing it to the media. The latest event in San Francisco brought in representatives from MTV, 1UP and Gamasutra and more to try out BBS. I haven’t seen any articles written by these organizations yet although 1UP’s Gamevideos site has a Big Buck Safari debut trailer that I hadn’t seen before. Either way it’s great that Raw Thrills is reaching out to media outlets to bring more attention to new arcade titles.

Speaking of Big Buck Safari, it looks like it is doing incredibly well in bars, earning around $400 a week average which is excellent as far as earnings go.

Hit the post break for the press release [via Betson]

Media in San Francisco Goes Wild On Safari

San Francisco, CA, May 14th, 2008 – The Bigfoot Lodge in San Francisco, CA was the site of a Safari on May 1^st. Big Buck Safari and Big Buck Hunter Pro Online were the stars of the night as Betson Enterprises hosted another event that allowed press from all over the San Francisco area to come in and see the most talked about games in the Coin-Operated Industry.

Representatives from MTV, 1UP, Gamasutra and more bellied up to Safari and took their best shot at the latest title from Play Mechanix. As the press ventured deeper into the wilds of Africa, they experienced the thrill of the hunt as they tried to bring down Buffalo, Wildebeest, critters and of course the elusive trophy animals. Big Buck Hunter Pro Online was also featured to showcase all of the online additions, including Caribou, local and national tournaments and the groundbreaking Trophy Club.

“Everyone had a great time and since this was the second event in as many years, the press is starting to become dead-eye shots,” joked Betson’s Ryan Cravens. “It is great that we are able to get these great games in front of the gamer-centric media and in turn it gets people out of their homes and into their local watering holes”.

For more information on Betson products visit our web site at www.betson.com, email us at info@betson.com or you can reach us by phone at 1-800-524-2343.

About Betson Enterprises

Headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey, Betson Enterprises is the leading coin operated distributor of amusement and vending equipment, coin operated parts, and service in the United States. With over 70 years of experience and leadership in the coin-operated industry, we will help you make informed decisions that are best for your business.

Betson offers entertainment and vending solutions for your business through our relationships with the operator community. For locations looking for a simple and profitable solution or vendors looking for equipment that fits any situation, Betson Enterprises can help you. Betson Enterprises has an industry proven reputation for quality and customer focus. For more information on Betson Enterprises, visit www.betson.com or call 1-800-524-2343

Big Buck Safari at Birmingham Vending

The number one hunting game has just gone wild!

From the imaginations at Play Mechanix and Raw Thrills comes Safari – an all new, action packed hunting game that brings new and exciting challenges to players and increased earning potential to operators.

Safari puts players on a Big-Game Hunting Safari across the dark continent of Africa. Players will experience 15 unique hunting treks stretching from desert dunes through grassy savannas to the lush jungles in search of Big Game. Big Buck Safari takes you across the entire continent of Africa as you hunt Gemsbok, Kudu, Sable, Cape Buffalo, Wildebeest and countless critters. The Trophy Animal adds a new twist to the game play by challenging the player to go after the elusive animals like Elephants, Giraffes, Rhinos and more.

Big Buck Safari is not the sister game to Big Buck Hunter Pro, it is the eclectic uncle that always brought you cool gifts from his travels. In Big Buck Safari, you travel to Africa to take on some of the biggest game on the planet and the action is non-stop. Big Buck Safari brings a different tone and feel to the Big Buck franchise, however the same great game play that players have come to love is the cornerstone of the game.

[Via The Stinger Report and Betson]

About a week and a half ago, Betson held a media event in New York City they called the “New York Media Night” where they showcased the new Raw Thrills/Play Mechanix game Big Buck Safari and the latest version of BBHPro Online. Writers from AOL, CNet and the AP attended the event and played the games as Betson sought to bring some mainstream media attention to the latest arcade offerings.

I think it’s great for companies to reach out to more media outlets and drum up some rapport with them. I still believe that one of the greatest weaknesses of the coin-op industry is in marketing. Just compare it to the game console industry and it’s not hard to see the differences. Of course one thing is that console developers hype their games up leading up to a release whereas arcade developers seem to focus on bringing it up after the game is on the streets. Anyways, hit the post break for the full press release.

[Discuss on the Forum]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Betson NY Media Event Enjoys Strong Support

CARLSTADT, NJ, April 29, 2008 – Betson Enterprises a complete source for new and used coin-op amusement and vending equipment held it’s second “New York Media Night” on April 17, at the Black Bear Lodge in New York City.

The media event was an invitation only event hosted by Betson Enterprises with over 20 major media journalists in attendance. Writers from publications such as AOL, CNet and Associated Press spent the evening playing Big Buck Safari. Big Buck Safari is the newest release from Play Mechanix, the design team that brought us the Big Buck series of games.

“It’s great to experience the growing support for the for the Big Buck Hunter series. It is truly amazing how realistic the designers have made this game” said Bob Boals VP of Betson Enterprises. Black Bear Lodge manager Belle Caplis said that “much of the bar’s income is generated due to the popularity of the Buck Hunter games. We use the games and their competitive themes to our advantage, hosting tournaments.”

Many of the guests were already familiar with the games and were excited to play against their industry counterparts. The event was a great time to create and stimulate interest among the players by demonstrating the latest features of Big Buck Safari and the on-line competition features of Big Buck Hunter Pro Online..

Players were amazed at how challenging Big Buck Safari was. The most exciting installment yet of the high earning, action-packed “Big Buck” series! This new action packed hunting game offers players exciting challenges, and places “man against wild beast.”

The new online tournament play option shown on Big Buck Hunter Pro Online allows players to enter tournaments and play against other players in regional or national tournaments.

We are looking forward to and already planning next year’s New York media night. For more information on Betson products and financing visit our web site at www.betson.com, email us at info@betson.com or just call us at 1-800-524-2343.

About Betson Enterprises

Headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey, Betson Enterprises is the leading coin operated distributor of amusement and vending equipment, coin operated parts, and service in the United States. With over 70 years of experience and leadership in the coin-operated industry, we will help you make informed decisions that are best for your business.

Betson offers entertainment and vending solutions for your business through our relationships with the operator community. For locations looking for a simple and profitable solution or vendors looking for equipment that fits any situation, Betson Enterprises can help you. Betson Enterprises has an industry proven reputation for quality and customer focus.

About Play Mechanix

George Petro, a former game designer for Midway Games founded Play Mechanix in 1995. In a little over a decade, Play Mechanix has created over 30 titles for the Arcade, Bar and Casino industries including the best-selling video hunting series Big Buck Hunter, Big Buck Safari, and Deal or No Deal. Play Mechanix is currently creating an on-line tournament system for use with Big Buck Hunter Pro and beyond. Play Mechanix recently merged with Raw Thrills.

[Via Betson Enterprises]

US Distributor Betson recently held an open house at their headquarters in Carlstadt, NJ and from their press release, it looks like it was a success. I think it’s a good idea for distributors to hold events like this from time to time – I know that some distributors allow the public to come into their showrooms at any time in the week, marketing an open house event like this is a great way to drum up some local attention for arcades and arcade games and let’s people come in and see that there are a number of great games coming out. At this particular Betson event they showcased similar titles to what was seen at ASI, including Big Buck Safari, Big Buck Hunter Pro Online, NASCAR Racing, Sea Wolf, Hollywood Reels and more. Hit the post break for the full press release or discuss it on the forums.

Betson Enterprises Annual Open House a Tremendous Success

CARLSTADT, NJ, April 18, 2008 – Betson Enterprises, a complete source for new and used coin-op amusement and vending equipment, recently held its annual “spotlight” open house on April 9^th at their corporate headquarters in Carlstadt, New Jersey.

The open house was a free event attended by more than 100 guests who were offered the opportunity to tour the corporate showroom to view the newest vending equipment and play the latest amusement games available while enjoying a full buffet lunch. Salesman as well as company executives were available throughout the day to meet and greet the guests while answering questions on the new products being offered and competitive financing plans available.

“The open house was a huge success, and a great day to establish new customers while visiting with current clients and friends” said Bob Boals VP of Betson Enterprises. Guests were excited to learn about the latest games and upgrades that were available such as Big Buck Safari Deluxe, Big Buck Hunter Pro Online, and Hollywood Reels.   We are looking forward to and already planning next year’s event.  For more information on Betson products and financing visit our web site at www.betson.com, email us at info@betson.com or just call us at 1-800-524-2343

About Betson Enterprises

Headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey, Betson Enterprises is the leading coin operated distributor of amusement and vending equipment, coin operated parts, and service in the United States. With over 70 years of experience and leadership in the coin-operated industry, we will help you make informed decisions that are best for your business.

Betson offers entertainment and vending solutions for your business through our relationships with the operator community. For locations looking for a simple and profitable solution or vendors looking for equipment that fits any situation, Betson Enterprises can help you. Betson Enterprises has an industry proven reputation for quality and customer focus. For more information on Betson Enterprises, visit www.betson.com or call 1-800-524-2343

Pretty brief update here but at ASI one game that I got a chance to play that I enjoyed was Big Buck Safari. While it had been announced before the show, it was still good to get a chance to play it. Personally I enjoyed it more than BBH but I haven’t tried out the online version of BBH yet.

One thing they had at ASI was a deluxe version of BBS which features the same game but with a larger screen. The version at the show was not 100% complete (they said about 60%-70% complete) which was shown by the fact that the guns didn’t register all of the shots but that was what they were primarily working on getting fixed prior to the full release. The price has now been revealed through one distributor and it looks to stand around $7699. This actually surprises me a little bit because we’re so used to seeing the ‘deluxe’ version of an arcade game costing above $10k more towards $15k or $20k.  So kudos go out to Raw Thrills’ for releasing a fun game in a deluxe version with a more affordable price tag than what is considered “normal” these days. Now if Japanese arcade manufacturers could follow the same trend that American studios are setting we’d be in a better position as an industry.

[Via BHMVending] [Discuss on the Forum]

ASI ends today and with it of course we have updates from what has happened at the show. First, here is a look at the show from The Stinger Report’s point of view, then I’ll go on in the next post or two describing my experience.

ASI opened to a greatly reduced show floor and major departures from leading corporations as Namco and Sega see executives move on.

Sega had a vastly reduced presence with only two videos to show: RaceTV’s latest build with password, and Primeval Hunt. The latest software release for both – and that was it! Their booth was hard to find off the show floor with no large banners up for display to help attendees locate them.

Namco also had a limited video showing, with no new releases – redemption reigning king on their booth. The operation spoke off the record with The Stinger
Report about the Tekken 6 situation (not shown) and promised an official statement at the end of the show.

Global VR was a example of good video presence, with a large network
line-up of NASCAR, and the new Blazing Angels WWII flyer all getting major coverage in the video desert of the show.

Betson / Raw Thrills another major video winner – crowds flocking to blast the wild animals of Africa on Big Buck Safari – along with the launch of the kit from DRIFT, Raw Thrills rocked the show. Betson did confirm that they were still supporting Konami with one Dance Dance SuperNova2 machine on booth hidden away to one corner.

Andamiro had their latest Pump It Up Pro, and a new screen basher game (more to come on that later).

Finally in this brief run down of the video on the show floor TrioTech had their UFO Stomper, showing off the latest of the mini-games and drawing happy crowds to the physical stomper action.

Big anticipation to the public four hour session on Saturday, rumors thick on what can be expected.

[Discuss on the Forum]

(click to enlarge)

Play Mechanix has updated their website with a cool picture that shows the production of their latest effort, Big Buck Safari. The team visited the production floor and snapped a picture – it’s quite an impressive thing to see all of those games in one place, ready to go out to arcades and bars all over the world. The site says that the game is supposed to be released by the end of March which we had a hint of already so at this point those machines will probably be heading out to distributors this week or next. We still don’t know the price point of the game but it’s safe to assume that it won’t be far off from Big Buck Hunter Pro.

[Play Mechanix Website] [Discuss on the Forum]

We first saw the latest installment of Big Buck Safari at ATEI this year and we even had some video and a picture or two of the game in action. As this is Raw Thrills’ first release outside of the US, it is already up on Namco Bandai Europe/Brent Sales website and with it comes the flyer for the game. We also have another image of the deluxe cabinet (Twisted took a picture of the DX model at ATEI) in case you can’t get enough. The flyer summarizes up what the game is all about and what new features this title touts over Big Buck Hunter Pro (a few new play modes, different animals, more trophies and it now shows you which critters you blasted). It’s expected that Raw Thrills’ will reveal the US release of the game at ASI in March.

[Big Buck Safari Flyer (PDF)]

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(More pictures after the break)Next up in the ATEi 2008 round up is the Namco Brent stand, and of course as all of you will know they had two sequels to two of the most popular games.

Now don’t get me wrong but I was a little pissed off as there was only one Tekken 6 cabinet at the show. Now I know I should be grateful, but it was nigh on impossible to get on it, and when I did I got my ass handed to me on a plate. Granted the later was more to do with me sucking at Namco’s latest beat ‘em up, but surely they could of mustered up more than one cabinet. Or is this just a sign of how unimportant beat ‘em ups are to Europe. Saying that, the ATEi is supposed to be an international show. Who knows what the reason is, so back to the game itself (sorry rant over).

The game itself looks fantastic, the cabinet looks sweet as too. Note that the cabinet present had a two player set up, as apposed to the ones we’ve seen in Japanese location tests. These were single player cabs but network linked for Vs matches. Game play wise, from what I got to play that is, it had nice solid combat and what looked like some neat combos (note again –  I received these fore mentioned combos!). Also, as most of you will have seen from videos, the game has a monster character selection which gives the game a great amount of depth if you wish to learn more than one fighter, not that this is the case as most people have their favourites. Please take in to consideration also I’m not a huge Tekken fan, so please excuse my obvious lack of knowledge of the game. I’m more of a Street Fighter man, and anyone that wants to send me to AOU to check out number 4 in the series feel free to email me!

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(More pictures after the break)

The other big game on the Namco Brent stand was Raw Thrills Big Buck Safari. I love BBH to bits, as some of you may already know. However I found it hard to get too excited about this latest version. From what I can tell it’s essentially a safari skinned BBH Pro. Maybe I expected too much and should look at this as an add on to the popular hunting series as apposed to a true sequel. Also please bear in mind that I had a limited amount of time to play it, so maybe there’s stuff in there that I missed. At the end of the day it’s still a great game, and you know it will be a massive seller…… and you know I’m going to sink all my pound coins in to it when I see it in the WILD (sorry couldn’t help it).

Other videogames to note on their ATEi stand were Maximum Tune 3 as well as Tokyo Drift which also now comes in a deluxe flavour. With regards to prize and redemption games they had a couple of neat gems tucked away. Firstly there was an American football game, in the vein of the a classic style arcade basketball game, where you have to throw the American footballs at targets. If these have been around for a while let me know, but I’ve never seen one. There were also three cranes style machines on the stand as well. Namco’s Clena-Flex, similar to Sega’s UFO, Barber Cut which involves you lining up scissors to cut strings that have prizes hanging on them and lastly a cool candy scooping game, but maybe I just liked that one because of the free candy! Mmmmm Candy.

Tekken 6

Big Buck Safari

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[Via Barcade.com and The Stinger Report]

We first learned about Raw Thrills’ latest game in a press release for ATEI and we now have a look at what the cabinet will look like. Labeled ‘Big Buck Safari’, this new game features a very eye-catching cabinet that may very well end up on a list of cool arcade cabinets one of these days. Also with this new image we learn that it’s part of the “Big Buck” series, so we will likely see similar game play to Big Buck Hunter but in a jungle setting. Whether or not it will support online via the new Coin-Up system is a mystery although it is another thing we may be able to safely assume is part of the game since the latest version of BBH supports it. Either way if the game plays well, it could live up to BBH in popularity. More details on Big Buck Safari should surface soon, so stay tuned. (Click on the image to the right to enlarge)

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