Youtube just didn’t want to upload my videos this afternoon but after some persistence, I am finally getting them put up there. In total I have 20 videos to put up so I won’t be finishing it tonight but rest assured that as long as Youtube doesn’t suck tomorrow then I should get them all up by then. I apologize for some of the cracking in a few videos, that’s not something I noticed until I had already filmed most of these and some of it was due to the loud ambient noise.

First off, Sega Racing Classic. What I like: The cabinet and the sound. If you still are fine playing the original Daytona in arcades then this shouldn’t disappoint. What I don’t like: I heard that this is just running modified Daytona code under emulation and while the higher resolution is nice, the game still looks very aged. I’m in the boat that a majority of 3D games don’t age well and next to some sleek racer it’s going to show. It also stinks that they couldn’t add more tracks to the game. Anything else: Price. Sega wasn’t revealing what the price is other than to say it would not be priced at the same level as a normal racer. After some thought I can see why they are taking this route as opposed to giving us a brand new Daytona – look at how incredibly well these re-releases do on services like XBLA. Also older games like Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga are sold new by Namco and you could put this into the same category. Still, I think that a new Daytona (or Sega Racing Classic 2 as it will have to be) would do really well, judging by the response that SRC first received. Overall: Unless they are $2000 a cab (I won’t keep my hopes up) I would pass on this for my arcade. But I do not have a Daytona sitting in my location already; there also are a lot of choices for racers and I can’t say that I’m wanting to just get all the racers I could, so take that for what it’s worth.

Terminator Salvation. What I like: There was little to nitpick about this one, I liked everything about it. Graphically it fits right into the post-apocalyptic theme with just enough shine to look nice but not too much to hurt your retinas. There are a lot of robots to shoot and the game keeps the pace moving along steadily. The clip reloading feature is a nice touch that you get the hang of quickly and the force feedback is balanced well. The levels take a little bit of time to get through, which is also good in my book because there a couple of light-gun games I can think of where it seems like the levels blow by too fast. The cabinet has many details to it and the Terminator topper is just plain awesome. It plays just as well in single player as it does with two players although competing for your rank and score at the end of a mission can be fun. What I didn’t like: Not much really, the only thing I can think of is the secondary weapon button which launches your grenades. As your hand is over the clip most of the time, the grenade button can seem far away when you need it fast but where you have a 60 bullet clip, it’s usually not an issue(I suppose you could say that it’s part of the challenge balance).  Anything else: Where this is not the final build of the game they are bound to change a few things. It would be nice if there was another weapon power-up or two to add but honestly this game is on the right track to be a big hit as it’s a ton of fun and you don’t have to care about the movie at all to enjoy this. Overall: I would get this for my arcade in a heartbeat. I played it multiple times and enjoyed it every time. People will gravitate towards it based on the license alone and beyond that it’s a solid game with replay value.

Tank! Tank! Tank! What I like: I could say that I like this simply because it’s not a racer but there’s much more to it than that. It was designed as a party battle game and it is simply fun, no matter which play mode you choose. A free-for-all or team battle is slightly more fun than the “quest” but I do wonder how it would hold up with just two units as opposed to four. The avatar feature can be hilarious if you play around with it; the force feedback is excellent and quite accurate as well. It’s being billed as having motion (there is even a motion shut off button) but it feels more like in-depth feedback since the motion base doesn’t move side to side (and I’m glad it doesn’t. These motion games where you are a car on a flat street and they tilt you sideways just don’t get it). Everything can be destroyed in the levels and as your enemies fall they will drop a number of power-ups to use. The only one I didn’t like after a while was the squirt gun as it’s more of a stun weapon to be used in team play than a frontal assault cannon. At the end of the day I suppose I’m more into the highly destructive stock than in the more strategic weapons.  What I didn’t like: Other than the squirt gun thing I can only think of something from a small operator perspective and that’s the price. Now I understand that this isn’t going to be a $5000 game or anything (especially since you get two units in one and you have the motion) and it’s actually a little cheaper than some of Namco’s other dual game offerings which in the past have come close to $20,000.  Anything else: I forgot to ask this question but I hope that this one stays arcade exclusive for a long, long time (or forever, like Tokyo Wars).    Overall: I would get this for my arcade in a heartbeat as well. I also played this several times and I think I hogged my unit once or twice so I could stay on longer. Players will enjoy the sheer destruction that you can wreak throughout the game and with co-op and competitive modes it has covered the important bases.

That is all I am able to get to tonight but as promised, I will start uploading more videos tomorrow as soon as I can.

[Discuss on the Forums]

(Click on the image above for a more detailed view)

We first heard about a Terminator Salvation arcade title way back at ASI in March and except for a brief view of the game on a location test in June, there has been little else to say about the game since information surrounding it has been kept under wraps. But thanks to a new press release sent out by Betson today, we have our first proper look at the game, including what should be the final cabinet design. As you can see from the picture above, they have changed the cabinet up quite a bit since the location test (which at the time was using just a Big Buck Safari Deluxe cabinet with different artwork. The size of the guns is positioning this game to compete with titles like Rambo Deluxe or Ghost Squad Deluxe  and I assume we’ll be able to find out how much the game will cost next week.

According to the press release (which is attached after the post break below) they also added a new reloading feature to the game that they are calling Clip action reload. While the press release doesn’t get into any details on how that works, it appears that you will reload by hitting the clip on the bottom of the gun. Where this will be at IAAPA next week I will be getting some more pictures, video and info on this new title, which will be appearing in arcades “soon”. As a side note, this is NOT the same game that graced the consoles earlier this year so no worries in the event that you were disappointed with that game.

UPDATE: Click here to watch a video I took of the game from the IAAPA show floor.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Terminator Salvation Soon to Appear in an Arcade Near You!

Carlstadt, NJ – November 13, 2009 – Play Mechanix devastates the video gaming world with the release of its latest arcade shooter, Terminator Salvation Arcade the latest thrill ride in the legendary Terminator Sci-Fi Franchise.

Inspired by the Halcyon Company/Warner Brothers worldwide release, Terminator Salvation Arcade captures all of the thrills and excitement of the 2009 mega-hit movie and then some. No expense was spared to design a cabinet that captures the essence that is Terminator Salvation. Adorned with glowing neon rifle holders and a life-sized replica T-600 model Terminator marquee topper with glowing red eyes, Play Mechanix has created the ultimate showcase piece. An impressive 42″ HD LCD displays in-game action cinematics of unprecedented realism. The players are thrust into the future and right on the firing line as Terminators of all kinds attempt to squash their resistance. Heavy-duty recoiling rifles, featuring a NEW “Clip” action reload feature, adds a depth of realism unparalleled in any arcade shooter. Players can add to their arsenal of weapons by securing numerous powerups including grenades, shotguns, rocket launchers and devastating miniguns. Full time 2 player play coupled with over 1 hour of cinematic gameplay spectacle maximizes high traffic, high replay and longevity in earnings. This game will surely delight arcade players and fans of all ages.

The sheer presentation value of Terminator Salvation Arcade will help assist operators to secure prime locations and premium real estate within those locations.  The traffic volume created with this exciting new shooter will promote increased earnings and extend players’ stay at the game through compelling and addictive game play. With the continued support of the Terminator franchise, this arcade shooter will be a high earner for years to come.

Please stop by our booth at IAAPA #6432 for a close-up look of this and other product on display. If you have any questions please feel free to call us at 201-438-1300 ext. 3408 or email us at info@betson.com.

Terminator Salvation Arcade is an official licensed product. Licensed from Halcyon Games, LLC.

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

Founded in 1995 by George Petro, a former game designer at Midway Games, Play Mechanix, Inc. has become the leading designer of coin-operated video games. In just under 15 years, Play Mechanix has created over 40 titles for the Arcade, Bar and Casino industries including the best-selling video hunting series Big Buck Hunter, Deal or No Deal Arcade and I Dream of Jeanie for IGT. Play Mechanix recently released Big Buck Hunter Pro Open Season, the long awaited update for Big Buck Hunter Pro. Play Mechanix, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Raw Thrills, Inc.

About Betson Enterprises

Headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey, Betson Enterprises with 11 distribution offices nationwide 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 Betson Enterprises, visit www.betson.com or call 1-800-524-2343.

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).

Another arcade trade show has come along and this time we have pictures (unlike with AMOA ‘09, which I still haven’t seen anything from that one). To see all of the pictures, I’ve placed them after the post break so check it out, there are a couple of new games we haven’t seen previously, like Big Hammer, Robot Football and Challenger. All pics courtesy of Kevin Williams of The Stinger Report.

Namco’s Nirin and Raw Thrills’ H2Overdrrive had a place next to each other.

Konami’s GTI Club

GlobalVR had Twisted: Nitro Stunt Racing there with the mini-motion configuration.

Guitar Hero Arcade

DDRX

Panic Museum by Taito. This had been formerly called Haunted Museum, it looks like it has gone through a couple of changes however.

Hopping Road by Taito. Interesting pogo stick game that we have discussed before, too bad it looks like Taito isn’t bringing this to the US

Hummer Standard by Sega. I’m not 100% sure when this is going to be released, it was also shown at AMOA recently.

Big Buck Hunter Pro: Open Season by Play Mechanix/Raw Thrills’. First revealed at AMOA, this is the first picture I have seen of a cabinet in such a setting.

Big Hammer. I am not sure who makes this although it looks a lot like Hammer 2 by Andamiro. These hammer games are pretty nice to see actually as they are something different and are accessible for all ages to play.

Robot Football. This is very similar to the MaruBot Football League game we saw some months ago, I think that it is quite exciting to see more developments in this field for coin-op gaming.

Speed Rider by IGS. I didn’t expect to see this in Europe but it apparently is quickly becoming IGS’ showcase title.As you can see from the second pic below, the game uses a card save system, which isn’t anything new to IGS games.

DJ Max Technika by PM Studios.

The Game Gate VU. This is supposed to be available everywhere now but I have not heard much about it since ASI. At least it’s an easy and legal way to get games like FIFA into arcades.

Textminator by LAI Games. This is still one I want to check out, even though I am not a texting buff by any means. I simply appreciate the unique concept.

Challenger. This is one for the kids, I like the cabinet design. I wonder if everyone is going to start going with these kinds of marquees now.

Don’t forget the pins!

UPDATE: I forgot to add Golden Tee 2010 which was also released this week

It’s been a little while since I did a “releases this week” post since news has been a little slow in that regard but this week there are a few titles that you can now start looking for in arcades, depending upon where you find yourself.

First off, GlobalVR has released their newest driving game Twisted: Nitro Stunt Racing. While a mini-motion version had been made available from the company previously, the standard and deluxe versions of the game started shipping this week. According to the press release by GVR, the game is selling better than they expected it to. More info on that title can be found here.

Next up is the new update for Big Buck Hunter, called Big Buck Hunter Pro: Open Season. Betson is reporting that this update is available in both dedicated and kit form although I have not seen a price for this listed yet. More info on that can be found here.

Incredible Technologies has also released the 21st iteration of their popular Golden Tee series, Golden Tee 2010 LIVE. In addition to updated graphics and courses this one also adds skins play, Facebook connectivity and more. It also has a really nice price (below the $3600 range I have seen).

Also of a note, Namco’s Tank! Tank! Tank! has been released in Japan. I have heard that a US release for this title will be “post-IAAPA” so that could mean December.

All of these titles have been moved into the “Already Released” columns on out official Arcade Game Release list for 2009.

[Discuss on the Forums]

It’s been about a year now but last October, we received a tip about an American Idol coin-op game that was being brought to market by Raw Thrills’. Not long after that, the game was seen on location test and a little later it made it’s official appearance at IAAPA 2008. But after that, news on the title grew quiet and we soon found out that the game had in fact been canceled. Details on what happened to the project were scarce but in case you ever wanted to see more about it, one of the guys behind the project has a sort of developer’s diary online where he details the doomed AI project from beginning to end. It looks like this diary has been up since August but I missed it up until today and it’s a rare look at what goes on behind the scenes when it comes to arcade development.

Here is a video of the game in action as found on the page I’m linking to, it’s a pretty interesting use of video technology that they had going there. It’s just too bad they couldn’t do something to enhance people’s voices too (which would have been a plus for me not being much of a singer)

[The Idol Project] [Discuss on the Forums]

While a vast majority of news about new arcade titles has been coming out of Japan lately, AMOA is almost here and that means some game news from outside Japan for a change. This is regarding a software upgrade for one of the biggest arcade hits in recent memory, Big Buck Hunter that will be subtitled “Open Season”. According to the press release by Betson, “…[Big Buck Hunter: Open Season] delivers an astounding 60% more content over the original video shooter. The upgrade includes a wide variety of enhancements and additions over the original version.  Three new animals with 9 new treks giving hunters a total of 8 animals and 24 trek options to choose from. With 45 new picturesque sites to hunt new animals such as Mountain Goat, Mule Deer, and Bison, the total number of hunting sites in Big Buck Hunter Pro Open Season clocks in at a staggering 120. Nine new bonus rounds were also added to this upgrade for a grand total of 24. Play Mechanix even added another 24 new critters to Big Buck Hunter Pro Open Season to enhance the hunting challenge. Last and certainly not least, 2 new full motion big buck girls have been added to this newest edition.”

With all of that the game will be offered in a total of four configurations: a 27″ standard and a 42″ LCD deluxe cabinet and then there will be two different kit options. The game is online enabled to take advantage of RT’s CoinUp network and the game will be shown off at AMOA. For more info on BBH: Open Season, click the link below for the full press release. [Raw Thrills website] [Play Mechanix website] [Discuss on the Forums]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Play Mechanix Declares Open Season

CARLSTADT, NJ – September 16, 2009 – Hunting fans get ready! Good things come to those who wait. For all the Big Buck Hunter Pro fans, hunting on over 10,000 machines worldwide the wait is finally over and it is now time for Big Buck Hunter Pro Open Season!

Big Buck Hunter Pro Open Season, the first full-blown software upgrade for the # 1 hunting game Big Buck Hunter Pro from Play Mechanix, delivers an astounding 60% more content over the original video shooter. The upgrade includes a wide variety of enhancements and additions over the original version.  Three new animals with 9 new treks giving hunters a total of 8 animals and 24 trek options to choose from. With 45 new picturesque sites to hunt new animals such as Mountain Goat, Mule Deer, and Bison, the total number of hunting sites in Big Buck Hunter Pro Open Season clocks in at a staggering 120. Nine new bonus rounds were also added to this upgrade for a grand total of 24. Play Mechanix even added another 24 new critters to Big Buck Hunter Pro Open Season to enhance the hunting challenge. Last and certainly not least, 2 new full motion big buck girls have been added to this newest edition. That is a lot of content!

“I can’t recall a standard video game upgrade offering this much new content in one upgrade,” proclaimed Tony Maniscalco, National Sales Manager Betson Proprietary Products. “If that weren’t enough, operators who connect to the CoinUp Service will get even more content at “No Charge”.

Betson and its Raw Thrills/Play Mechanix Distributor Network will have a lot of ammunition this fall with Big Buck Hunter Pro Open Season, as the game will be offered in four different configurations. A dedicated 42” LCD Deluxe and a 27” Standard model will head up the product line offering. Two kit options are also available. A full conversion kit complete with a Dell PC and two rifles will turn any tired old gun game into a proven earner. For the supporters of the Big Buck Hunter Pro, a simple and inexpensive software upgrade is being offered in appreciation of their loyalty. All four configurations will be release simultaneously for fall placement.

Stop by the Betson Enterprises  (Booth# 313) at AMOA and inquire how to get your Big Buck Hunter Pro, Big Buck Hunter Safari and Now Big Buck Hunter Open Season online.

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.

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 Big Buck Hunter Pro Open Season and other amusement products, please contact us at 800-524-2343 or visit our web site at www.betson.com

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

Hydro Thunder fans, the day you have been waiting for has finally arrived as Raw Thrills’/Specular Interactive’s new take on Hydro Thunder, H2Overdrive is arriving at distributors around the country and then they are going onto various locations around the US. The game was shipped last Friday and I know that a few distributors already have the game on their showroom floors although from what I have heard, those are not sticking around for very long. With this news, you should be able to find the game at certain locations by this weekend – if you don’t find it, ask them about it.

For previous H2Overdrive coverage, click here. Keep in mind, there are no plans for this to come to game consoles at present time so this is an arcade exclusive title.

[Discuss on the Forums]

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]

[Thanks to Malovane for sending us these shots]

As arcade location tests are rarely announced in the US, at times savvy gamers who frequent game websites visit their local arcade and just so happen to come across these secret location tests. One player has done this and has come across the Terminator: Salvation arcade game, which is being done by Play Mechanix (who has done both Aliens: Extermination and Big Buck Hunter/Safari) and Raw Thrills. You might recall that we posted about this rumor a little while ago and while we didn’t have many details on it at the time, with this revelation we learn quite a bit about the upcoming title. As you can see, the cabinet is just like the deluxe cabinet for Big Buck Safari, which a large LCD screen. Of course the cabinet could change by the time they release it but I imagine that it would be easier to use these modified cabinets. It is interesting to see how they made a “Sneak Preview” version of the game for the location test, I have not heard of using this technique before but it certainly is a good idea. The artwork on this cab is pretty good although at the moment you can’t really tell how it performs graphically. More information will probably be forthcoming so stay tuned. Click on the thumbnails below for the full view

[Discuss on the Forums]

OK, so I have decided to try ‘podcasting’ – of course I don’t know if you can really consider this a podcast, it’s just an MP3 file to download here where you can listen to me discuss the latest happenings in the arcade industry over the past week that we have posted about here on AH.  I don’t have a lot of technology to work with though so right now it’s pretty plain, but as I become more comfortable with it and get some input from you guys, we can make it better.

For this first episode I discuss E3 and what involvement arcades should have with it; Metal Gear Arcade, H2Overdrive and the many other new games that have come along over the past couple of weeks. If you have any comments – good or bad or you just want to discuss the latest happenings over the past couple of weeks, post the comments here. As a side note, I did record this while on the job at my arcade and I even had a couple of people in playing games while I did it although they didn’t seem to notice what was going on.

Unfortunately I cannot upload the file directly to WordPress as apparently we need an upgrade to store even simple MP3 files on here now (which is a recent change), so you can find the file off-site by clicking here. It is about 37MB in size and it’s an MP3 but please let me know if there are any problems with the recording, I had an awful lot of trouble uploading it on the connection I am using.

Minor update: I just remembered that I forgot to mention a few other contributors, including Phil ver0 (who posts regularly in our forums) and Oga Shi. I apologize for forgetting to mention you both during the recording.

One of the new shots from H2Overdrive via Noe's blog

While it has not been released yet (although I believe that it will be in the next week or so), H2Overdrive is already creating fans and one of them had the lucky chance to visit Specular Interactive’s studios in Southern California where he got a chance to see the latest version of the game and sit down with the staff for some interviews. The game has changed considerably since it was seen at ASI, which was discussed at in my recent interview with Steve Ranck of Specular but here you can really see in great detail how the game differs. They have even changed some of the things on the cabinet, including the addition of an LED speedometer. This game is going to be quite deep and also to dispel some rumors, this is NOT currently being ported over to Xbox Live. For the time being (especially for us operators) this is arcade exclusive.

The site is at 1up.com and while the user, Noe. V. is not a staffer at 1up but he is responsible for uploading the many clips of H2Overdrive that you can find there including the latest trailer that we discussed a few days ago. With this in-depth interview, two video interviews and new screenshots, this should certainly be enough to hold you over until the game starts landing in arcades in the next week or two.

[Noe V.'s Blog with tons of H2Overdrive goodness] [Discuss on the Forum]

Kevin Williams at the Stiger Report has sent us some pics he took from the UK Park Avenue Open Day distributor event and with it we get to take a look at a couple new games coming to Europe. First off and most surprising is Taito’s Hopping Road, a quirky game controlled with a pogo stick that had been seen previously in Japan. Other titles seen at the show include Taito’s D1GP racer, Raw Thrills/Konami’s Guitar Hero and Konami’s DDRX, Sega’s Pigs Might Fly, GlobalVR’s Blazing Angels and Need For Speed Carbon, Namco’s Nirin, the Game Gate VU and more. Click on the thumbnails below to see these games in more detail.

[Discuss on the Forums]

H2Overdrive is soon going to be available – my local distributor says that they should be in shortly and I am trying to find out the exact date we can start expecting to see the game hit the streets. In anticipation of the release, Raw Thrills has released a new trailer to showcase some of the games features, although it does not mention some of the cool features that are in the game that we found out about from that interview I did with Steve Ranck a short time ago, like achievements and ranks. Unfortunately due to the limitations of embedding here on WordPress I am unable to attach the trailer to this post, but you can find it at Gamevideos by clicking here. I noticed that several mainstream gaming blogs have picked up on this trailer so it’s definetly attracting a bit of attention from gamers.

UPDATE:

As I expected would happen quickly, the trailer is now up on youtube

[Specular Interactive] [Discuss on the Forums]

We don’t often get sales numbers for arcade titles but Betson has sent me a press release where they are highlighting the success of one of Raw Thrills’ most recent games, Guitar Hero. With 2000 units sold in three months, it’s nothing to shirk at in the arcade sector – 10,000 units (in total sales over the lifespan of the product)  is generally the magic number in arcade sales and it looks like GH is well on it’s way to reaching that. The release highlights that the game has been a success at Coinstar units in Wal-Mart stores across the country and that many operators have also begun to capitalize on the contests that can be done with the game.  Hit the post break for the release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Guitar Hero™ Arcade

#1 Video Attraction Surpasses 2,000 Units

CARLSTADT, NJ – June 9, 2009 – Raw Thrills and Play Mechanix are thrilled to announce they have shipped over 2,000 units of the mega blockbuster hit “Guitar Hero™ Arcade” since production started 3 months ago.

As reported by Raw Thrills Distribution Network, Guitar Hero™ Arcade is turning in some really big collections in Arcades all across the country. The popularity of Guitar Hero™ Arcade is so strong, that many of the regional and national amusement facilities (movie theaters, FEC’s, LBE’s, bowling centers, amusement parks, big box retailers) have covered all their locations with at least one game and have doubled up in many others. Coinstar, the largest operator in Wal-Mart stated that the game set a benchmark that all other manufacturers are trying to emulate. “Guitar Hero™ Arcade is by far our number 1 collecting video game in all of our Wal-Mart stores.”

Capitalizing on the popularity of the game, operators have been successfully promoting local Guitar Hero™ Arcade Contests with players competing for prizes and top honors as the Best of the Band! Brown University radio station, WBRU, is running weekly Guitar Hero™ Arcade Contests on campus to offer a much needed break from the rigors of collegiate academia. More and more arcade events are beginning to pop up all over North American Amusement Centers.

“The current pipeline of orders for Guitar Hero™ Arcade is growing daily and we have not experienced this type of excitement for a video game in a long time,” said Bob Boals Executive Vice President of Betson Enterprises.

North America is not the only country where Guitar Hero™ Arcade is a success. Spain, Italy, Germany, England, France, Singapore, Philippines, New Zealand, Australia, India, Middle East, Africa, China and Canada are also enjoying tremendous success with this product. Music is truly the universal language.

• • • • Guitar Hero™ Arcade is currently available through a special finance program being offer by Firestone Financial.

• • • • The Raw Thrills / Play Mechanix team would like to thank everyone for their support, not only with this release but with all Raw Thrills and Play Mechanix products. Betson Enterprises would also like to take this opportunity to thank its distributor network for supporting the release of Guitar Hero™ Arcade so wholeheartedly and for helping to drive sales in their individual markets.

• • • • 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.

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 Guitar Hero™ Arcade, please contact at 800-524-2343 or visit our web site at www.betson.com

A few months back Arcade Heroes was privileged to reveal H2Overdrive to the world and now I have done an interview with the man whose company is behind the game’s development, Steve Ranck of Specular Interactive. We go into more, never-before-revealed details on Raw Thrills’/Specular Interactive upcoming boat racer and a few other arcade related things. So without further adieu, let’s get started and remember to click on the link at the bottom to read the full thing.

First, about Steve:

Steve Ranck is the President and founder of Specular Interactive, Inc.  He’s been developing games since age 12, and professionally since 1994.  Prior to Specular, Steve cofounded Swingin’ Ape Studios, Inc. which developed the critically acclaimed Metal Arms: Glitch in the System before the company was purchased by Blizzard Entertainment in 2005.

Q: Tell us a little bit about your company and history in the arcade sector.

Specular Interactive was formed in 2007 to develop great arcade games.  Most of our employees have worked together before at former companies, and a good number of us worked on the original Hydro Thunder arcade game back in 1997-1999.  Collectively, we have a lot of seasoned arcade developers here.  But at the same time, our team members have also worked on a number of console games and so we have a lot of experience with modern engine architecture and graphics hardware.  Our goal is to develop a series of high quality arcade games by combining our arcade design experience with modern graphics technology and hardware, and do it all at a price point that’s affordable for today’s operators.  Our first game which we feel delivers just that is H2Overdrive, a high-action, addictive power boat racing game.

Q: How did the idea for H2Overdrive come about?

In early 2007, Eugene Jarvis, developer of arcade megahits such as Defender, Robotron: 2084, and the Cruis’n series, was receiving feedback from arcade operators that wanted a boat racing game that would succeed Hydro Thunder.  Eugene’s company, Raw Thrills, had already developed a number of very successful arcade games before getting requests for a boat racing game.  Eugene called and proposed the idea of me forming a team to develop the game.  The idea of developing a high-action boat racing game on modern graphics hardware for the arcade sounded like an incredible opportunity.  I formed Specular Interactive shortly after and we began the ground-up development of H2Overdrive.

Q: How long has the game been in development and how large of a team has worked on it?

H2Overdrive’s been in development for 2 years, starting with a team of 3 and growing to 14 developers during the peak of development.

Q: There are several aspects that H2Overdrive shares with Hydro Thunder, what makes H2Overdrive not only different from HT, but better?

Hydro Thunder’s a great game, but had a few issues that we didn’t have time to address.  The boat physics were a lot of fun once you learned how to drive the boats, but we found that it took 3-4 races before an average player would be able to control the boat without zigzagging back and forth throughout the entire race.  This was really frustrating for the Hydro team to watch, but addressing it would have required a significant change to how the boat physics were implemented, and we simply didn’t have that kind of time.  So we endured, and although the game won over a lot of fans, it did turn off some of the more casual gamers.  Since we started H2Overdrive from line 1 of code, we were able to prevent the steering learning curve issue while at the same time have the boats drive like boats.

A problem that Hydro Thunder fans brought up often was that boosting in the air didn’t change your trajectory.  You’d hit a ramp and start heading toward a wall, and although you could turn the boat’s orientation, its velocity couldn’t be changed even if you boosted.  Again, as much as we wanted to address it in Hydro Thunder, we just didn’t have the time.  H2Overdrive’s boat physics model allows the player to have much more precise control over their boat, including trajectory changing in air through boosting.

H2Overdrive is a very deep arcade game with lots of features to discover and use.  For casual players, it’s a simple and fun, action-packed boat racing game.  But for more experienced players, there’s enough depth to keep you coming back for years.  H2Overdrive has a leveling-up feature which allows you to take your boats from L1 to L40.  As your boat levels up, it becomes faster and more powerful.  And at certain levels, your boat will be physically upgraded with a component that introduces a new gameplay mechanic.  The mechanics include things like super boost (a second set of boosters that deploy to give you a burst of insane speed), stunts for bonus boost fuel, HyperSlide for turning corners instantly, and randomly placed crates which when smashed open will give you boost fuel, release surface mines for weary competitors on your tail, and even equip your boat with HullCrusher, an incredibly powerful hull smashing weapon that draws nearby boats into it.  Reaching L40 with your boat unlocks some secrets, too.

H2Overdrive allows you to create your own profile to save the state of your game so you can come back to the arcade later and pick up where you left off.  Once you’ve created a profile, you can start earning achievements.  We have over 50 achievements per track.  As you earn more achievements, you increase in naval rank.  It’ll take a dedicated fan to reach the ultimate rank of Fleet Admiral.  Your ranking is displayed in the leader boards for all to see.

We also have boost fuel stealing.  When you MegaHull an enemy boat, you siphon some of his boost fuel.  This is especially gratifying in multiplayer!  You steal all of your victim’s fuel if you can Super MegaHull him.  Doesn’t happen all that often, but when it does you’ve earned definite bragging rights.

We support 8 linked games which is an insane multiplayer experience, especially when you’ve all leveled up your boats.

There’s a lot more than I have room to describe here, so keep checking www.h2overdrive.com for when it goes live for a ton of additional information!

Q: Are there any other games that have influenced H2Overdrive’s feel?

Not really. We knew from the start how we wanted the game to look and feel, but it took months of iteration and fine tuning to get things just right.  We have a saying around here that you should never get attached to any piece of work you create.  If there’s a better way to go, we need to have the freedom to go that new direction.  One example is that in November 2008 the game’s UI was nearly complete, but it just didn’t have the feel we wanted.  We made the decision to completely redesign the UI, scrapping months of work and rebuilding it all in the two months before the ATEI show.  That was a bit stressful, but in the end it was a huge payoff.

Q: What changes have been made to the game since it was last seen at ASI?

We’ve added a lot to the game since ASI.  Mines, HullCrusher, boost crates, the achievement system, naval rankings, more tracks & boats, new secret boats, improved HUD, 8-player support, leader boards, profile summary screen, improved attract mode, AI improvements, many UI enhancements, some secret stuff, and lots of iteration and polish throughout the entire game.  I think that about covers it.

Q: Are there any cheat codes or easter eggs in the game for people to find?

Not so much cheat codes, but there are definitely lots of secrets for players to find.

Q: Are there any ideas that you wanted to implement in the game that did not make the final cut?

Yes, quite a few.  Some will probably end up in our next game.

Q: Are there any plans for DLC that will add more content to the game in the future?

Not at this time.

Q: What kind of hardware is powering the game?

We’re using a Dell PC running an embedded OS and driving a GeForce 9800 GT graphics card.  The game also has a set of proprietary hardware boards that do various things.

Q: What game engine does the software run on?

We’ve developed our proprietary Spec engine and content creation tools from scratch for H2Overdrive, and will be evolving our technology for our next game.

Q: H2Overdrive has received a bit of press on the internet well before its release, which is sometimes unusual for US-made arcade titles. How do you feel about the player response that has been generated about the game online? What about player response in location tests?

From what we’ve seen, player response on the Internet has been genuinely enthusiastic.  It’s great to see how many Hydro Thunder fans there still are, and that they’re excited about what they’ve seen of H2Overdrive.  We’re all looking forward to hearing from fans once they’ve had a chance to play the game!

We have H2Overdrives out on test in various locations around the U.S. and the input we’ve received has been extremely positive.  The earnings have been strong with both novice and experienced players.  In a nearby Boomers, there was a player who played the game for 4 straight hours, and then came back the next day and played for another few hours.  Watching players having a great time with the game is what it’s all about for us, and the experience has been tremendously rewarding.

Q: How has distributor and operator response been towards the game so far? What would you say to an operator who is hesitant to buy the game, to tip them over the edge?

Distributor and operator response has been incredible, too.  We’ve actually worked closely with Raw Thrills and our distributors and several key operators to get their feedback throughout the development of the game.  It’s been very valuable.

H2Overdrive offers operators an unusually high level of value for the money.  Not only is the game affordable, in the ballpark of other Raw Thrills racers, but it has a beautiful 42” LCD screen with 60Hz HD graphics, a powerful sound system with seat rumble, a beefy boat throttle, a custom seat, a fully animated instrumentation panel, a sleek keypad for code entry, and a ton of high-intensity LED lamps around the entire cabinet, including a lit infinity mirror booster under the seat pedestal.  The cabinet is essentially a deluxe unit for the price of a standard unit.  Hopefully we haven’t given an operator any reason to be hesitant!

Q: What are your thoughts on the current state of the arcade industry? What do you think can be done to improve our industry as a whole?

The state of the industry has changed pretty dramatically since Hydro Thunder’s release 10 years ago.  In fact, the industry was in the middle of a sharp decline just as Hydro hit the arcades, but the game still sold something like 10 to 20 times the number of units than the competition was selling at the time for most of their games.  I attribute Hydro’s success to a number a things.  First and foremost, it was fun and addictive and the complete opposite of a rigid sim.  It was light hearted with tongue-in-cheek humor throughout.  The game’s graphics were ahead of its time, and the cabinet had a cool boat throttle and rumbling seat.  It all added to the fun experience, and players really got it.  From the operator’s point of view, the game earned well, was affordable, and had no violence.

Today, the formula of a fun and addictive game that earns well and is affordable is more critical than ever for success.  In addition, you need to have a name that operators know & trust.  We worked very closely with Eugene Jarvis and his team at Raw Thrills throughout the development of H2Overdrive.  Eugene’s put his logo on the game – his stamp of approval – and that means more than anything to operators because of the trust he’s built up with them over the years with the success of his games.

To improve our industry, we need to continue to bring affordable yet high quality experiences that players of all ages and skill levels will be driven to play.  That may sound fundamental, but it’s a difficult thing to truly achieve and requires more effort than most companies are willing to commit for an arcade game.  This is where Specular steps up to the challenge, and we hope we can ultimately make a positive impact on the industry.

Q: What are your plans for the future after H2Overdrive?

We’ve already signed with Raw Thrills to develop our next arcade game.  It’s top secret at this point, but we’re really excited about it.  Stay tuned!

Many thanks to Steve for doing this and be on the look-out for H2Overdrive in arcade within the next few weeks!

The new Guitar Hero Arcade machine has been making the rounds in the US for a few weeks already (in fact every time I have been to my distributor lately, I have seen several going out the door) and now it’s England’s “official” turn to enjoy the same game. I say official as they are stating that Brighton Pier is hosting the first unit to arrive in the UK with ten machines at the Palace of Fun there with a special event taking place on April 25th to officially debut the machine.

Of course we know that there have been some machines in the UK prior to this, notably at the Trocadero and I have heard of the machine already on location at other places as well. But what does make the Brighton Pier thing a little special is the event on the 25th. It is interesting to hear how Activision is taking a role in promoting this game.

It’s great to see any event showcase the release of a new arcade game, I just wish that these sort events would come along more often. All the publicity arcades can get, the better!

[Via CVG] [Discuss on the Forums]

We are not done with our ASI coverage just yet – in addition to this post I still have more videos to upload but I am currently waiting on receiving those from my friend and business partner, then I’ll work on getting those uploaded. We spent more time taking videos than taking pictures so fortunately, Kevin Williams of The Stinger Report was there at the show after us to grab a bunch of shots of what was there. Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge and they are presented in the order that we were sent them.

Andamiro

This is one place where I did not get any video, as most everything at the booth we have seen before, except for the new NX Absolute. Arcana Heart 2 was not at the booth this time unfortunately, from what I have heard they did not bring many AH2 kits over to the US afterall, which is too bad.

PentaVision

I did get a video of this which I’ll get online soon. I didn’t do too great at it but it was a lot of fun and it has some really cool features. I’m still not sure that all those features are worth the price tag of the game but I was impressed with it.

ICE

This is where they had the Game Gate VU (let’s you use an Xbox 360 or PS3 as an arcade cabinet), Ballistics which is the ball throwing game.I didn’t get a chance to play the Photo Finish Racing game at the end although it’s a cool looking cabinet. It almost seemed like skee-ball from what I saw.

Betson/Raw Thrills

Another look at the Betson booth which I showed in a video in a post below. I’d love to have some of those banners. BTW, there’s AH reader Dasbacon playing DDRX.

Stern

Stern had more at the booth than just 24. To be honest I have become less and less impressed with 24 as I have thought about. They didn’t even bother to put in real toys in the cases of the helicopter and the jet and it felt like there was a little too much open space in the game.It was hard to tell at the show but the sound bites didn’t sound like they used the actual actors from the show but I will need to play the game in a better environment to get a better idea of that point. There were constantly quite a few people at the booth however so the interest in pinball is still there.

Fun Company

Here are some of those cabinets we have mentioned previously from Fun Company, you can see the new Sega Bass Fishing Challenge on the left there and it looked pretty good on that cabinet.

Sega

I wonder how the Sega Bass Fishing Challenge tournament went, as you can see here it was in three different cabs, two from Fun Co., one from a very official looking cab instead of just a kit conversion. Pigs Might Fly is Sega’s new video redemption game that reminds me of a flash game I’ve played once but it looked good and it was fun on top of that. Sega also had a new SWP game that is like Shoot This Win This called Code Red on hand; it has nothing to do with Mountain Dew however.

Namco

Razing Storm and Nirin were at the front of the Namco booth as we have mentioned and both games were very loud and garnered quite a bit of attention. In addition to those games they had several titles on hand that we have seen previously, such as MaxiTune 3, Pac-Man, Rockin’ Bowl-A-Rama and Flamin’ Finger. They also had a new crane concept called Barber Cut, where you win prizes by attempting to cut a thread with scissor-like apparatus.

GlobalVR

Justice League was naturally the showcase game for GlobalVR this time around, where they had four cabinets on hand to play, including two deluxe, one standard and one conversion kit. The deluxe cabs are actually the same cabinets used for Aliens: Extermination and Paradise Lost with a few minor changes. They also had Need For Speed: Carbon deluxe, NASCAR Deluxe, Blazing Angels and GlobalVR classics on hand.

Coastal Amusments

All of the versions of the new Sea Wolf were on hand here and they even had a pretty good show special for one of the versions of the game running at about $4000. I have a video of this in action that will be part of my next ASI update.

Mountain Coin

These guys are my local distributor and they had a cool new cotton candy machine on the floor that makes cotton candy without the need for an attendant. I saw this here in Salt Lake prior to the show and it’s pretty cool to watch as it make a production out of creating the snack. One great thing about it is that it only costs the operator 10¢ for every stick sold whereas it costs the customer $2 to purchase. The bad side is that it’s about $9000 for the machine.

TrioTech

They didn’t have much going on this year, with just a couple of their new Typhoon simulators and UFO Stomper.

Virtual Backgrounds

I didn’t play this (although every time I passed by someone was giving it a play) but Kevin says: “Game Theater was a retro-reflected screen system from a start up called Virtual Backgrounds (hardware for displaying video games on a large screen using no more space than a standard arcade cabinet). I played it, was not impressed but the concept was different.”

That should do it for now, until I can get those videos online. I do have one recommendation in the future for ASI/AMOA or other trade events like these – put together a free play arcade of some classics, like they have at various arcade collector expos around the year. It wouldn’t need to be as large but it would be kind of cool to have that in addition to games brought by game companies. Also, kudos for planning to do this with the International Pizza Expo, that should be done every time.

[Thanks to Kevin Williams of The Stinger Report for the pics] [Discuss on the Forum]

Here are some videos I took at ASI 2009 last week – it’s not everything I took so expect more within a few days or so, including Justice League, DJ Max Technika, the new Sea Wolf and more.

I definently suggest going to the direct links so you can watch it in youtube HD where it looks a bit better.  

H2Overdrive:

Here’s the link to see it in HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfJkhEFffpk

Dance Dance Revolution X:

(Thanks for the shout out BTW, I wasn’t expecting that! )

Link so you can see it in HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9E7ujyvyus

Razing Storm

Link to see it in HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsbblO_bEmI

Sega Amusements booth (Harley Davidson, R-Tuned, Sega Challenge Bass Fishing, Brick People, more)

Link to see it in HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Equam05hH10

Betson/Raw Thrills Booth (H2Overdrive, Guitar Hero, DDRX, more)

Link for HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUiqxv7NGzM

[Discuss on the Forum]

Well I’m back from Vegas and I’m ready to show off videos of what I saw there! The only problem is that so far my internet connection has not been co-operating with me and I’ve been getting errors when I try and upload videos, whether it’s for a site like this or Youtube. I will keep trying but I will probably have to find a different connection to use to get all of this stuff online.

As for the show itself, I had a lot of fun, it was great talking to some of you I have met before as well as talk to some who I hadn’t. I do think that the show was better this year than it was last time around – perhaps it’s because there were more games there and the games overall are improved so it wasn’t hard to top ‘08. It also was nice for the pizza expo to be taking place right next to the show, I just wish I had known that I could visit it on the first day we were there.

NOTE: It is looking like I will not be able to get any videos posted until tomorrow (Sunday March 15th) afternoon. Sorry about the delay, I would love to get everything up already!

NAMCO

Namco’s booth was right in front of the show entrance and they were eagerly showing off their two new titles, Razing Storm and Nirin. They had two RS cabs and two linked Nirin cabs on hand.  Both games are impressive – they look great and they were both fun. They also were quite loud, up to the point where I felt like I was leaving a concert after walking away. I think that I missed getting a video on Nirin which is too bad as it’s a great looking game and the monitor was much larger than I thought it would be – I think they may have changed it from previous versions. Nirin also uses System ES1 for the hardware, which I would like to find out more about. Razing Storm is a worthy successor to games like Crisis Zone and Time Crisis. The guns were larger than I expected but comfortable and the graphics were naturally awesome (although I don’t care for DLP monitors personally, I think they make stuff look slightly fuzzy) and they blend perfectly with the physics that the game uses. There were constantly crowds checking out Razing Storm although I was able to jump on to this and play several times. Namco also had MaxiTune 3 there and they showed off some new redemption product and a new crane where you would cut a thread to win a prize.

RAW THRILLS/BETSON

Over to the right of Namco was Raw Thrills, with a large booth showcasing their two big games, H2Overdrive and Guitar Hero. Both games attracted an awful lot of attention and it helped that they had so many GH cabinets on hand. Unfortunately there were only two H2Overdrive cabinets there so on occasion it was tough to get a spot but I was able to play for a bit and I came away impressed. While this game looked great in the pics and videos that were online, it’s much better in person if you can believe that. The version at the show was not final, they still had to add a few things to finish it up but it was fully playable and I was able to level a boat up to level 18 or so. The sound on this was also cranked up quite a bit and it will probably carry a price point of around $7500. Guitar Hero was pretty cool as expected, I had never played the game before the show (yes that’s lame, but I have played Rock Band which is essentially the same thing) and came away happy with the experience. It looks good and where it doesn’t give players a “fail” if they royally screw up, it will probably appeal to players afraid of such a thing. I also saw DDR:X at their booth although I didn’t play it, the game itself looking like it would be fun to play but I didn’t give it a whirl. The most surprising thing about DDR:X was the price tag – it’s actually below $10k (it is somewhere in the upper $9000 range) which is a nice change for a DDR title. There also was a new game there by Chicago Coin called Putt Challenge which combines putting a real golf ball with a video game. This sort of thing could go well with people who have a bit of money and like those putt practicing games in the office, but this is much better.

BTW- I did find out something about American Idol – it appears as though the game was canceled due to some issues, I think with licensing. That would explain why it’s been hard to find – it was never actually released!

STERN

24 was proudly on display at the booth and I got a video of it, even though I wasn’t terribly good at the game. Stern also had a tournament running on Batman, with some players earning some pretty crazy scores.

SEGA

Further up from the Betson booth was Sega – with a much larger and thus better presence this year than last. They had R-Tuned Racing and Harley Davidson there to compliment titles like Rambo, Sega Rally 3 and Bass Fishing Challenge. They also had Brick People there and a new video redemption game called When Pigs Fly, which was an amusing little game where you shoot a pig up into the sky to hit a UFO along with other targets for a ticket payout.  R-Tuned Racing is certainly the best looking Lindbergh game I have seen yet and the game itself is fun although I wasn’t really sure about the unlimited boost feature – that makes it feel a little cheap when racing. Still, drifting was easy and against another player it can be fun, it’s just too bad they didn’t have more R-Tuned cabinets there to show off. They also had the deluxe Harley Davidson game there to enjoy and it has been such a long time since I played the original HD game that I can’t tell you how they compare but I thought it was cool that they had a number of 70’s rock songs to choose from each round and the motorcycle controller is really cool to use thanks to the feedback they built into the bike. I would have prefered to see an LCD monitor instead of a DLP but that’s my personal preference (as I mentioned above) and it still looks just fine. They probably used DLP to get deeper color from the game and it is quite colorful as you will see later when I can manage to get the video online.I did ask about Ringedge games coming to the States but at the moment I don’t have anything to pass along.

GLOBAL VR

A little ways to the left of Sega was Global VR, showcasing their newest title Justice League. Like TwistedSupreme and HeavyElectricity mentioned in their ATEI coverage, this game looks better in person than in still screenshots and it’s a fun game to boot thanks to the several levels and characters you can pick from. It also has a few secrets throughout the levels although I wasn’t lucky enough to uncover any. As TS and HE mentioned the game could use a greater variety of enemies and I think it would be cool to have more obstacles to face in the levels I played but who knows if we’ll see an update in the future to fix these minor problems.  I love brawlers so it’s great to see this in arcades again and at the price point they are selling this at, I imagine that a lot of operators will be tempted to pick it up. They also were demonstrating a conversion kit of the game in a Dynamo cabinet and it looked great even on that – kits will go for around $2400 so it should be even more tempting to buy. Beyond that, they had deluxe versions of titles like NASCAR and Need For Speed there, along with a Blazing Angels cabinet to round out the mix.

PENTAVISION

These guys were at the show demonstrating their bemani-killer DJ Max Technicka. I only got to play through one song but I was impressed – it’s a fun game with a ton of features including online stuff and the cabinet is quite attractive.They did say that we can expect to see more from Pentavision in the US in the future, so I look forward to seeing what they will bring to us and honestly I think that this is a great start.

ICE

While the main focus of the ICE booth was redemption product, they also had the Game Gate VU (the new cabinet that allows you to legally install an Xbox 360 on location) and a ball throwing video game there (the name escapes me right now). The Game Gate is pretty cool but I can’t say that I care for the price tag – asking $6000-$7000 seems to be a bit steep for this even though it’s using licensed games but we’ll have to wait and see how people take to it.  The ball throwing game was fun, I have seen these before and with all of the mini-games it has a bit of replay value. It did have an occasional problem with recognizing a ball hit but otherwise it seemed to work fine.

Coastal Amusements

I got a chance to play the new Sea Wolf (and I got some video of it in action) and the new version is definently a much better game, thanks to the extra depth they gave to it. They also added some voice to it and they had a really good price on it at the show for less than $4000. More coming with the video later.

I think that this pretty much finishes it for now, as I said I will be getting a number of videos posted soon, but I need my connection to co-operate with me first. I’ve also got some more pictures to upload but they are on a camera that isn’t with me at the moment but I will try and get that taken care of tomorrow or Sunday. So stay tuned for more!

[Discuss on the Forum]

We saw Raw Thrills’ and Specuilar Interactive’s new H2Overdrive at ATEI a few weeks ago (and we even captured some video of the game in action) but it’s hard not to want to see more of the game. Fortunately, the game’s developer Specular has updated their website to include more information on the game itself, along with more screenshots to drool over.

As far as details goes, the game will include 7 tracks, 9 boats (each with different hull designs you can upgrade to

One of the levels

of course), up to 8-players when linked and more. There are two kinds of attacks you can use against other players called “MegaHull” and “HullCrusher” although how they work exactly I am not sure.  They also say that the game will be available in May of this year so mark your calendars and if you want an arcade near you to pick it up, start bugging them now (which we should all do for every game we want them to get ).

More to see over at Specular Interactive.

[Discuss on the Forums]

For those who have been eagerly awaiting the release of Raw Thrills’/Konami’s Guitar Hero Arcade, the wait is finally over as models are shipping out to distributors across the country. My own local distributor received some yesterday and those were going to be heading out to locations that had already purchased the game so maybe if you’re lucky you might find a location where this is at this weekend, or at least by next weekend.

It should be interesting to see how this does for arcades, I know that it has tested quite well and as long as locations that grab one take advantage of the popularity of the game and hold tournaments for it, it should remain a high earning game for a while. Of course if it does really well as expected, I then wonder if we’ll see another explosion of music games for the coin-op industry in the US.

Guitar Hero Arcade is now in the “Already Released” column on our Arcade Game Release List for 2009.

[Raw Thrills] [Discuss on the Forums]

Following TwistedSupreme’s initial report yesterday, I got my chance to attend ATEI today. And, armed with a camera, a keen eye for games and a beard that makes small children cry, I decided to capture as much of the show as was practical in order to relay it to loyal readers such as yourself. Here follows a lengthy post with lots of pictures!

Sega

The first stand I took an in-depth look at was the Sega stand, with many thanks due to Patrick Michael for showing me around. The line-up showcased by Sega this year certainly leans on the conservative side of video games, following market demand. The showcase games were Harley Davidson, Hummer and R-Tuned, all of which are racing games catering to slightly different audiences. The other games shown were mainly of the lightgun genre.

Harley Davidson is very much as you might expect – the legendary motorcycles race on a variety of circuits. It’s aimed at the more casual end of the market, though it attracted a wide audience at the show and was popular throughout the day. Collecting tokens to get your bike to maximum performance is the key to the game (a concept familiar to Mario Kart Arcade GP players). The game looks good and is running on the Lindbergh board, with the version show being a deluxe motion model. This meant some excellent “engine” vibrations and leaning action. At this time, it’s uncertain as to whether a standard model will be produced. Licensed music is in from bands such as Deep Purple and Steppenwolf, in order to really get your motor running (You’re fired – Ed.).

Hummer is based on the well known gas-guzzling vehicles, as you might have guessed. Wanton destruction plays a major role in the game – you smash objects to get boost power, meaning that the typical racing line might not always be the best route. Additionally, the pair game mechanic from OutRun 2 SP SDX has returned – for those unfamiliar with it, this is where two drivers alternate control of a single vehicle, switching when the current player either reaches a checkpoint or crashes. It’s another good-looking Lindbergh game, and uses a motion platform similar to the OutRun setup mentioned above.

R-Tuned is a street racing game from AM2, going into direct competition with older games Need for Speed Underground and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. It’s another Lindbergh game (in my opinion, the best-looking of the three) and runs in the same cabinet as Sega RaceTV. In this game, players race heavily modified cars from real manufacturers around Hong Kong, New York and Tokyo (specifically, the Shibuya and Shinjuku districts). Taunts constantly come in from other drivers during the race, which is a neat atmospheric touch if you like that sort of thing. The game isn’t as hardcore as you might expect – boost is unlimited and drifting is done automatically, which gives the game a quirky handling model. However, this accessibility works for the game, allowing multiplayer games to get competitive quickly. The game has just started filtering into real locations – I saw a four cabinet linked set-up in the Trocadero after the show.

Other video games on display included:

- Sega Bass Fishing Challenge, which appears to be the old game reworked for trackball controls (and thus available as an upgrade kit for Golden Tee and Silver Strike Bowling).

- Sega Clay Challenge, a sports shooting game which seems pitched mainly in kit form, either as a full conversion or as an upgrade for the Atomiswave shooting games.

- Previous hits Sega Rally 3, Rambo, Primeval Hunt and Ghost Squad Evolution.

Moving onto other things, the Game Gate VU (distributed for Quasimoto Interactive) was on display, as it seems that at last there is a legal pay-per-play solution for console games. The machines themselves were of a high build quality and all seemed to be working well, with specific problems such as dashboard access having been considered. Operators running these cabinets will pay a small licensing fee each month (if I remember correctly, this was $8) and are restricted to the use of licensed titles only. However, those games can be bought off the shelf by the operator as any consumer would. Despite my photo of a photo of a wall in Halo 3 being distinctly uninteresting, this could well be an exciting bit of kit.

Brick People was one of the most inventive games of the show. As we’ve seen before, the concept revolves around placing bricks to allow the little people to move about and grab items. Additionally, minigames between stages require you to build a certain shape within a time limit. The game dispenses tickets for each play. I learned that the technology utilised in the game is surprisingly simple – a rear projection display with brick recognition handled by an infra-red sensor. This caught a lot of interest, and is my pick of redemption games from the show.

Missfits is a brand new redemption title developed by Sega Amusements Europe. It’s a simple ticket vending game, with players attempting to match various parts of a person by stopping rotating reels at the right time. Additionally, there is a jackpot which can be achieved if all possible parts have come up in recent play. Missfits is a low-cost game and could be one of those redemption concepts which catches on.

Other redemption games and rides included:

- UFO Stomper (distributed for Triotech), which appears to be a neat piece of technology. It certainly looks a great deal more accurate than floor panels I’ve seen elsewhere!

- Spongebob Ticket Boom, a simple timing-based redemption game featuring one of my least favourite characters ever. I’m pretty sure I’m not in the demographic this game is aimed at, mind you…

- Shoot This Win This, a lovely prize-o-tron.

- UFO Catcher, the ever-popular skill based crane game. Prize items being promoted were the newly-licensed Hello Kitty plush toys, Sonic X plush toys, Paddington Bear plush toys and Sega Vision portable media devices.

- Mini Rider 2, a small motion ride, XD Theater (Triotech), a larger one with wind, lightning flashes and such, and Typhoon (Triotech), a sequel to the Mad Wave motion ride.

Konami

A highly impressive showing from the Japanese company, with a fairly diverse range of games that should capture the hearts of both casual and core gamers. As well as having the largest line-up of rhythm games at the show, the company had a strong racing game, a non-traditional “lightgun” game, and a unique redemption game. Thanks to James Anderson for taking some time to talk to us in what appeared to be a very busy day.

Guitar Hero Arcade took pride of place on the stand, and clearly showed massive earnings potential – I had some real trouble getting to play the game, and then more in getting pictures. Unfortunately, in what I could only assume to be a calibration error of some sort, the game seemed to be about half a second off the timing shown on screen. Once I had adjusted my play to compensate, the game was the Guitar Hero that players worldwide know and love. The song list featured most of the songs that players of the console series have come to expect, though it should be noted that certain songs weren’t included (a friend of mine at the show noted that they seemed to be harder songs, by bands such as Slayer and Dragonforce). However, as Shaggy has mentioned on the forums, exclusive songs and free downloadable content are on the horizon, so we will have to wait to realise the game’s potential – it could go on for years. For those wondering about the arcade game’s guitar, click here to see it.

UBeat was on show, and is still the eye-catching and highly enjoyable game that it was while on test at the Trocadero. The distinctive cabinet design was certainly alluring, and it seemed to interest a number of visitors. For those who haven’t yet gotten a chance to play or read about the game, it’s a rhythm game, controlled by 16 buttons with individual screens. With such a relatively large play area, following the beat around the playfield becomes as much of a challenge as timing. The licensed songs are weighted towards the mainstream end of the market, with Scatman, Take On Me and YMCA likely to become the soundtrack to any arcade with this machine.

Dance Dance Revolution X is the final game in Konami’s rhythm line-up and celebrates ten years since the release of the original DDR (Dancing Stage here in Europe). The game seemed to attract a number of players over the course of the day, due in no small part to an impressive new cabinet. An impressive song list makes the game still more attractive. However, during the course of the day I had a chance to meet up with some cool guys from DDR:UK, who were left unconvinced, complaining of screen lag amongst other issues. As someone who hasn’t been able to regularly play a dancing game since Dancing Stage Euromix, I’ll defer to the judgement of hardcore players who know their game inside out.

GTI Club was housed in the most unusual and striking cabinet of the entire exhibition – between this and UBeat, it looks Konami has a real talent for this right now. The original GTI Club was a very enjoyable game in the mid-90s, and this new version carries on the tradition of zippy little cars battling for supremacy. The racing component of the game takes place on the city streets of the UK, France, Italy and the USA, and has a distinct quirk. The higher your difficulty level, the more freedom you have to choose a route, which is essential to avoiding traffic jams and other hazards. The game also has some additional play modes such as “bomb tag” and “car football”, giving the game some variety and increasing casual appeal.

Castlevania was the aforementioned “lightgun” game on show, and being hidden on the reverse side of the booth with its screen covered didn’t seem to do the game any favours with visitors. This is a real shame, as the game is actually quite cool. In a complete departure from the console games, you choose one of two characters and head off on your first-person way. Each character has a standard projectile weapon, but the catch is that it has limited ammunition and thus you would be advised to conserve it in favour of your main weapon, the whip. However, this only hits at close range and swinging the controller is slower than pressing a button, so you’ll constantly be weighing up your ammunition, the enemy’s distance and the urgency of the situation. Give this one a look, it’s a pleasant surprise.

Byon Byon is Konami’s redemption entry for the show, and takes a curious idea to a mad conclusion. You know in old cartoons, where a character would open something only to be knocked out by a boxing glove on a spring? It’s that sort of thing. You take control of an odd pointer with two handles, which you pull in to trigger the on-screen glove. The games themselves are a collection of minigames in the style of the old lightgun favourite Point Blank, with things such as picking the odd one out from a line-up of animals. At the end of the game, tickets are dispensed.

Namco

This brightly lit stand was an interesting mash-up of styles. As Namco Brent, the company has a diverse portfolio of games, taking in Namco’s own Japanese games, the American-developed wares of Raw Thrills and many redemption titles developed in (or adapted for) Europe. Namco’s product manager John Brennan was particularly keen to emphasise the latter and felt that at least some people were failing to given them the attention they deserved, favouring video games.

H2Overdrive (Raw Thrills) has clearly been getting you guys excited, with many thousands of hits for our recent coverage of the game. I am pleased to report that having spent some time getting to grips with the game, it is a real winner. Everything that made Hydro Thunder great is back – the varied and inventive courses, the ability to smash other boats out of the water, and the simple throttle control. No matter if you’re playing in single player or multiplayer mode, you’ll gain an upgrade on the boat you used after each race. Players are able to store their progress with the PIN keypad, as in previous Raw Thrills games. H2Overdrive looks astounding, running at a solid 60fps on a nice HD monitor. As I’m a sucker for good water effects anyway, I was very impressed. I’d recommend that everyone try this game out should they get the chance.

Nirin (Namco) is a fast-paced motorbike racer, set in a Japanese environment (thus contrasting it with Sega’s US-centric Harley Davidson). The game was in an unifinished cabinet, with a sign assuring showgoers that the final version would have 42″ monitors. The game itself has a simple but effective mechanic. Your boost gauge is built up by leaning the bike in turns, and automatically utilised when you return to an upright position. However,  hitting walls or cars will drop the gauge, so adjusting the throttle to get through is the order of the day. The game is running on Namco’s System ESI board and looks good, though the bike doesn’t have the force feedback of Sega’s Harley Davidson model.

Big Buck Safari was there in Super Deluxe form, with an absolutely massive display. Other than that, it seems to be very much the same as the regular game, but I gather that the regular game has been doing quite well anyway. According to Namco’s product catalogue, tournament play is “coming soon” to the UK – can anyone shed some light on this?

Razing Storm was also at the show, though I didn’t actually have a chance to play it. This is sad, as it looks quite good and attracted a lot of attention.

Elsewhere on the Namco stand:

- The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, which is still popular for whatever reason.

- Nicktoons Nitro, tucked into a little corner with other kid-focused products.

- Pump It Up Jump, in that same corner – a kiddified version of the popular dancing series.

- Pac-Man, in countertop form with an LCD display. It also included Galaxian and Ms. Pac-Man.

- A variety of redemption games, including the European-developed Knock Out Punch, the football-themed Hat Trick (adapted from a baseball-themed game, of all things), Deal or No Deal and others.

- The popular crane game Clena-Flex, which is in direct competition with Sega’s UFO Catcher line due to being a skill-based game. Right now, the Clena-Flex machines in the marketplace have been used in some pretty innovative ways – the idea isn’t always to use the crane to pick up the prize, but to push or apply leverage.

- A Doctor Who photo booth, based on the immensely popular and long-lived British sci-fi series. You can frame your photos with Daleks, Cybermen and the like.

Global VR

Global VR’s stand was largely focused around showing off the company’s existing product line, with NASCAR, Need for Speed Carbon, Paradise Lost and Aliens: Extermination all floating about. However, there was one new game up for play, which was Justice League: Heroes United. The game is attractive to operators thanks to a low cost, recognisable characters and decent technology – the LCD monitor was undoubtedly very nice. However, players have been critical of the graphics shown in screenshots. I’ll agree with TwistedSupreme in that the graphics have come under some undue fire – the game runs at 60 frames per second in HD, and the character models don’t look bad. However, the environments really don’t look great, and the enemies lack variety. The game is similarly not so bad, but there are noticeable problems – the lack of enemy variety (again), very few combo possibilities and some pretty ineffective specials. The game is okay, but it could have been a lot better.

Elsewhere at the show

Highway Games was showing two of the most popular games of last year, in the absence of official representation. Street Fighter IV and Tekken 6 were given their own low-key showings at this booth, and attracted a hell of a lot of attention. One run by the stand saw a number of non-trade visitors being turned away from the Street Fighter machine. Talking to one company representative, I discovered that both games are very popular and they’re doing a roaring trade due to the lack of official distribution. As the only fighters at the show (save for a BlazBlue I apparently missed), they represented a good boost for Highway Games. Despite my longing, I’m still going to have to wait to play either of these games.

As well as a number of purikura photo booths and other such things, Daeseung Intercom were showing off DJ Max Technika (Pentavision). This touchscreen rhythm game is quite impressive! I’d not had a chance to read up on the game, so I was pleasantly surprised by the ease of play and high quality of songs and patterns. I was mainly confused by the line switching between the top and bottom of the screen. The unforgiving nature of the previous DJ Max games is most definitely there, too. It was also by this game that I had a chance encounter with a friend from another website, so a big shout to him!

This friend was heavily interested in Pump It Up NX Absolute (Andamiro). Watching him and some other high level players from across the UK, I was amazed at the level of skill on show. The game itself is as high quality as players have come to expect, but Andamiro have take the concept one step further with some insane additions to the game. The “brain trial” mode has players solving sums, memorising number sequences and counting objects in the middle of songs, adding another level of difficulty to the game. It seems that in the opinion of the hardcore players, the Pump It Up series is forging the way ahead in dancing games and competitors have some work to do in catching up. The machine was tagged with a notice that said it had been sold to the Trocadero, so watch out for it!

Lastly, Electrocoin was showing the newest games from Stern Pinball, CSI and Batman. These appeared to attract a lot of interest too, as you can see from the problems I had getting a decent picture of them. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get a go on these either.

That’s going to be all for this show report, clocking in as it does at over 3100 words! Tomorrow, I’ll be back with some gossip and impressions from the show floor. Until then, enjoy!

Now I know round ups are usually reserved for after the  shows, but I only have time to do a quick little in depth round up this evening. All my videos and photos plus further impressions will be coming at the weekend when I have the chance to put it all together. Also Heavy Electricity will be attending the show tomorrow so you should be getting some impressions from him as well.

In the short time that I had at the show I managed to play quite a lot of the games I wanted to. The layout of the show has changed some what since last year. All of the amusements has moved upstairs, leaving downstairs to be filled with fruit machines and a like.

Sega

So lets break it down by developers; Sega, now on a bigger stand than last year, had a lot to entertain me with. With regards to new games they had thier new special attraction; Hummer which makes much better use of the motion base than Outrun did. Mainly because of  all the crazy jumps and the off road nature of the game. Also on the driver front was R Tuned. Obviously we have had our fair share of street racers in the last few years but I really like this one. It’s a fast paced racer with unlimited boosts (I think) and the force feedback is insane but can be a bit brutal a times. The latest Harley game from Sega has taken a more extreme take on the biker genre. Using a boost mechanic that is built up by collecting coins(?) and overtaking other bikers. Track wise the game is typical Sega. My favourite being an airport where you have to dodge planes taking off and landing! Also I saw Brick People which we’ve seen at other shows.

Konami

Definitely a better showing this year from the kings of rhythm games. Thier were plenty of Guitar Hero Arcades to play. For anyone that’s played any of the console versions before there’s not much to report. But I can’t knock it! I play this game & Rock Band all the time at home but it won’t stop me slipping a few nuggets in to it when I see it at the arcades. Staying with rhythm based games, Konami also had Ubeat. For a game that is just essential tapping buttons to the beat of the music, it is pleasantly satisfying. You really have to be play to appreciate how cool it is. Castlevania was also present, which I had a chance to play a few months ago when I caught it on locatin test.  But by far my favourite game on thier stand was the new GTI Club. What won me over were the game modes available. There was the classic traffic dodging street races, car football (Top Gear fans will now how fun this is!) and a great pass the bomb mode. Which is absolute manic, crazy arcade perfection! I highly recommend it.

Namco

New games on show were Razing Storm which is the perfect next step in Namco’s great line of  pedal ducking shoot em ups (just made that genre up myself). The game looks fantastic and really makes good use of that PS3 based hardware. The game is non stop action. If your not taking out multiple grunts coming at you from all angles, you are taking out massive walking tanks. Be warned; this game is relentless! Nirin was on show also and although I’m not particularly good at bike games, I did enjoy this one, great cab, great graphics and flat out game play.

Global VR

Along with the the latest NFS, which has a fantastic cab, was the Justice League brawl em up. Loving the graphics but I found it all a little bit repetitive. I guess that’s how brawl em ups have always played and maybe I’ve played a few to many in my time but this didn’t really do anything for me.

Raw Thrills

The new games from the ever impressive US developer was the newly announced H2 Overdrive which was great fun and is a nice change from the usual racers out there. Bring on more aquatic racers I say. Also there was Guitar Hero Arcade which I’ve already mentioned. There was also a sweet BBH Safari special attraction. This was basically a purpose built room with projector displaying what had to be a about a 100 inch version of Raw Thrills’ popular shooter.

Capcom

Wasn’t expecting to see this at ATEI! But low and behold it was thier on Highway’s stand. Suffice to say there was a massive crowd around it and I got my arse kicked when it was finally my turn.  But it was great to finally play this highly regarded beat em up. Lets hope we see more of these sexy cabs over here!

Nanotech

The second newly announced title was Xtreme Rally from Nanotech. I liked the different approach this game took, with a free roaming style point to point racing, along with traditional style rally driving. I also got the impression this game had a few kinks to iron out before release. So I will look forward to any future improvements this game gets.

Blimey! There it is. Wasn’t expecting to get that much info out there. Hope you enjoyed it. Apologies if I missed anything, but it was some what of a flying visit but stayed tuned to Arcade Heroes for Heavy’s ATEI report, picture and videos from myself, as well as the opinions of the Stinger and any other ATEI news we can get our sweaty palms on

[ATEI 2009 Discussion]