Pinball

It’s been said before here on Arcade Heroes, that it’s that time of year again for a look at the newest Golden Tee. We all know it’s coming, it would only be a shocker if for some reason Incredible Technologies decided not to release an annual update. This week IT has been busy releasing the newest screenshots for Golden Tee 2014 (which will be released later this year). The have released the shots on their Livewire website, where you can find more if you so desire. They also will be releasing a few more shots over the next two days. Click on the images below to enlarge. It’s a perfect example of having blue sky in a modern, popular video game. For those who may not follow the progress of Golden Tee, you may be wondering why the game doesn’t look all that amazing for a game coming this year and will be found in locations through most of 2014. As it has to be admitted, it could look much better. The reason why is that the hardware for the game hasn’t really changed in a few years. This is by design to keep costs low for operators. If you look back to Golden Tee 2009 as one example, graphically there are a few improvements but overall it’s not a night-and-day difference like you might see between Big Buck World and Big Buck HD. This has been beneficial to someone who bought the game in 2008 or so and has just done a software upgrade since but as you can see, it’s not doing the GT game itself any favors as far as looks go since it doesn’t appear that the existing hardware can be pushed any better. How much longer they will keep the current hardware base is unknown and without any other golf games on the market coming close to the success of GT, there isn’t a competitive edge to offering the latest in cutting edge graphics. Of course it’s not proper to just obsess over looks – IT has added numerous other features to the game including online features and other play modes to keep the game interesting and fresh. The have also been at the forefront of pushing online features for arcade games, something that the industry is still lagging on for the most part. So far they have not announced which new features will be added to GT2014 but it can be assumed to carry over the best features of the most recent updates while adding some new stuff. It also usually sells in the $3000-$4000 range making it one of the more affordable brand new games on the arcade market. I think the straight hardware upgrade is around half that cost or better. That’s always a bonus, when most new games are around $7500/avg. Based upon past releases, Golden Tee 2014 will probably get a release around September/October this year. The post Golden Tee 2014 Shown Off appeared first on Arcade Heroes.

Among the many points I made in my book about arcades, one was that arcade machines are not limited to being placed just inside of facilities called arcades. Just about any business can find a way to use them as long as they can afford the equipment, have some space dedicated to them and someone to make sure that everything is running correctly. One business in Ludington, MI USA is taking those steps by adding games to their hobby & game store called Backstage Hobby & Games. It is normally dedicated to console and tabletop gaming but the owner, Nate Petersen, has been restoring an arcade machine here and there over the past couple of years.Those restoration efforts have reached critical mass and now they have opened an entire room dedicated to arcade gaming. That part of the business they are calling the Backstage Retro Arcade. Presently there are about 15 games on the floor for patrons to enjoy but they have “more in the wings to rotate in”. Among that game line-up players may find: Galaga, Ms. Pac-Man, Time Soldier, Mortal Kombat, Battletoads, Primal Rage, X-Men (6 player), Soul Calibur 2, Rolling Thunder, Smash TV and even a Data East Laser War pinball machine. Machines are set to take quarters “with pretty generous lives/plays”. We wish them the best of luck in this new part of the business and for those interested in finding out more: [Backstage Hobby & Games Main Facebook Page] [Backstage Retro Arcade Facebook Page] The post Backstage Retro Arcade Now Open in Ludington, MI appeared first on Arcade Heroes.

If you’ve been sloshing through the work week, it has finally come to an end to begin sloshing through the weekend. Here’s a review of some stories that have taken place this week that I didn’t have the time or really wanted to devote an entire shiny post to as well as a few things that popped up today. It actually grew into a larger post than originally planned, not that such is a bad thing. First, anyone who pays attention to the gaming world knows that this week was the E3 Expo. With that there was plenty of gnashing mingled with rejoicing over which company “won”, which by most standards was Sony. Although I read a good point that Sony didn’t do anything magnificent really – they just did the presentation like it should be done normally. It just appeared to stand out more when compared to the drudgery of what Microsoft or Nintendo thought would be awesome. Now this is a time where we pretty much expect to not really get news of upcoming arcade game releases as this industry likes to save that more for our own trade shows that pretty much no one outside of the industry actually pays attention to. But that didn’t stop a little bit of arcade goodness from happening at E3. Sam Ven of Namco America posted this picture to his Twitter feed showing some of the Namco Bandai booth. From the KLOV forums, some pics of the classic arcade area: Also in news to come out of E3 that will affect some arcade operators, it has been announced that Namco is bringing a collection of games called Pac-Man Museum to various console platforms later this year. Among the games announced: Pac-Man Battle Royale. That’s probably one of the most requested arcade ports to come along in a while so its not too surprising. No idea which version of the game will be on there, the same found in the original release or the prototype version Namco only tested. It would be neat if they release that prototype version just for arcades when this compilation comes around, I guess we’ll have to wait and see. In other news, Stern Pinball released a video today showing the features for their new Metallica Pinball LE model. The game’s designer John Borg walks you through what makes this model different, which is helpful for those who are trying to decide on whether it will be worth the extra cash vs. a Pro model. The audio on this isn’t perfect, you’ll definitely want to watch in HD if your computer can handle it for the higher quality audio as there is a bit of echo that makes some of what he says hard to understand. Overall the game looks great, I’m sure it will be on Stern’s production line for quite a while. Also this afternoon, Play Mechanix released a nice, professionally made video about the Big Buck Hunter World Championships 2012. Why 2012? As a run-up to the 2013 Championships of course. Just like other championships in the past, players will be able to compete on a local machine to qualify for the big event later in the year. It will be held in Chicago this time as opposed to New York. I suppose you could think of this as a ‘get hype’ video for interested competitors. Sega sent out a press release today with a ton of pictures to hype up their brand new videmption game, Pirates of Monster Island. This is not one that will have an amusement only option in mind but those familiar with Dream Raiders may notice a few winks at that game. I almost forgot this, but Jordan Fredrick shared news about a new Cut The Rope videmption game being tested out at a Dave & Buster’s in Kansas City. ICE had tried a prize redemption version of this but the problem was that the machine had nothing to do with the actual Cut The Rope game. This video version will solve that particular problem. It’s been a while since we’ve discussed Sega’s arcade football/soccer game series WCCF but that’s because it gets no love out West anymore. For anyone intere

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A new retrocade type facility has opened their doors in the US, this time in Cincinnati, OH. Called The Place Retro Arcade, they celebrated their grand opening on June 8th (the same date as my own place opened actually) with 25 arcade games and”over 500 console games on 16 different gaming systems” for players to enjoy. For the game selection, here is what they currently have to offer according to the website: Dig Dug, Joust, Centipede, Galaga Upright, Galaga Cocktail, Burger Time, Tempest, Q*Bert, Ms. Pac Man Cocktail, Popeye, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Crazy Taxi, Rally X, Mario Bros., Spy Hunter, Tron, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mortal Kombat 4, Twin Daytona USA, Neo Geo 4 Slot, Tekken 2, Punchout, Space Invaders Cocktail, Wizard of Wor, and Millipede Cocktail. For pinball they have three machines, Mystic,  Gold  Ball, and Firepower. Their website does mention an admission fee so I believe it may be similar to other retro arcades that just charge an entry fee and the games are on free play from there. We wish them the best of luck in the new business! [The Place Retro Arcade Website][Their Facebook Page] The post The Place Retro Arcade Opens In Cincinnati, OH appeared first on Arcade Heroes.

New game news has been spotty for a while and this story will not take exception to the larger stream of news we’ve had coming from regions like Japan, Taiwan and China for the past month. At the recent GTI Asia Taipei Expo 2013 event in Taiwan, Taiwanese company IGS made a big deal about a new racing game called Overtake. Just judging by the pictures it looked like an answer to Western driving games like Dead Heat but now we have video of the game in action to clarify. What I take from the videos is a blending between the more realistic graphics of games like Dead Heat and Speed Driver 4, with unrealistic action movie style elements in the environments like you find with The Fast and The Furious driving series. At the moment it appears that they are marketing this for the Chinese and Taiwanese markets but often IGS likes to offer up an English version too for anyone that wants to import one. They don’t seem to make a big marketing push on those games elsewhere however so I think they get overlooked. Of course pushing a driving game onto the Western market is easier said than done when there is a lot of existing competition to deal with by various big name companies with their own racing games that they are pushing. Here’s the Overtake game being played on the cabinet. I like the screen and the control panel. The LED lighting in the panel makes it look much more interesting than you typically see although in some ways I am reminded of H2Overdrive’s backlit tachometers. Graphically it looks excellent, well-above FnF Super Cars and Dead Heat, although the way it plays reminds me much more of Super Cars. One extra feature found here unique to the game however is the Slow Motion event that occurs 3:26 in. It kind of looks like a QTE although you just pick a path and watch what happens in slo-mo. Here’s a CG movie kind of trailer to get the player pumped up to find an Overtake cabinet at a game center near them And finally for some direct footage from the game, here you go: The post IGS Shows Off Overtake appeared first on Arcade Heroes.

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It’s been a busy weekend for me as I’ve been handling 5th anniversary dealings with my arcade, The Game Grid Arcade. According to the conventional wisdom, the business should not even exist, much less be busy enough to stay open and keep adding more games.  I like to think that reaching such a milestone with a video arcade in today’s age is good sign although it is only one of many locations out there. There are many places that have been around much longer however, which are even better testaments in the industry. (Thanks to Adam Coate for the tips on the Polygon stories) Among the accumulating stories in the Arcade Heroes inbox are a couple of stories by game site Polygon. Their interest is increasing in arcade related stories as they have a few of them on their plate. First is a story about an XCOM Arcade cabinet, the other is a look at some of the prototype sketches for the original Gauntlet arcade cabinet. On the XCOM story, a pair of cabinets were made for an even in the UK and they now reside with the developer, Firaxis. The artwork on them is nice although once the cabinet reaches the monitor it leaves something to be desired (could use a marquee and something to hide the bezel of the monitor). The story at Polygon also interviews the developer who goes over some of the challenges in long game development, particularly when a developer has a family to take care of. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of untold stories out there behind each video game. In the arcade industry I have spoke with a few where I have learned that we are no exception. On the Gauntlet cabinet, the story at Polygon gets into some of the post-mortem on the development of that game at Atari and the issues found with creating a 4 player cabinet for a co-operative type game. As a compliment to that, recall this video that features Ed Logg giving his  excellent and detailed post-mortem about the game. There are two games, one is a new cabinet for an already released videmption title by UNIS called Fruit Mania Extreme Single, a standard version of their virtual coin pusher type game. Also, Andamiro has come up with some new titles, aside from pure redempition they also have a new music game for kids called Hit The Beat. Without a video it’s difficult to say how this one will work exactly but it is being setup to replace their Pump It Up Jump game. On the Eastern side of the Pacific, it was unveiled today that Namco’s Sonic Storm is being tested out there as well. This game was first seen here in the USA on location test somewhere in Illinois not long ago. After the US test ended we have not heard anything else about the game, hopefully it will see a release sooner than later as it looks pretty awesome given the little we have seen. [Source via Twitter] The post Newsblend Today: XCOM Arcade Cab; Gauntlet Design; New Videmption; Sonic Storm In Japan appeared first on Arcade Heroes.

On June 6th 1964, Sega began selling arcade games. They had been in business prior to that dealing with vending machines but they recognized the value of electromechanical amusements at the time. This path set the company up for what they would become and given that was 49 years ago today, let’s take a look at various games that have dealt with simulation. Why simulators? Simulation games stand out more-so than run-o-the-mill games, offering a particular experience that is very difficult to reproduce at home without spending a lot of money. They are often unique, just like Sega has been. Thus I feel that they are a fitting game type to look over. What defines a simulator can be broadly set at trying to reproduce a realistic experience though the combination of hardware and software. The software side can be where a lot of the gray area comes in so in that instance it will be looking at the hardware. Also, motion simulators are easy enough to recognize but when they are non-motion it can be harder. The two will be separated out using the tabs below. Due to a time constraint I could not list absolutely everything Sega has done that could be considered a simulator, which I would say is a testament to their long history of making unique entertainment. Also, you may need to give a few moments for the content under the tabs to load, due to the large amount of media found there-in. Flyers via Arcadeflyers.com. Non-Motion Motion Based Bullet Mark – While Sega was a powerhouse at making EM games, it took them a few years to get the hang of making original video games. Bullet Mark was their first truly original video title, other titles such as Pong Tron just being derivatives of Atari’s Pong (which was common practice at the time by everyone, even Atari themselves to a degree).  This came at the time when manufacturers would often use real (but hollowed out) guns to adorn their games instead of cheap plastic shells. This aspect of EM games was part of what made them interesting and it had a similar effect for video arcades too.  These days I’m sure there would be some sort of regulation making it next to impossible to use hollowed out guns, not to mention the cost of doing so but it was an early step in the idea of letting someone make simulated use of a real world object for virtual entertainment. Heavyweight Champ (1976 and 1988) – Following Bullet Mark, a few other Sega video games followed the same pattern of a shooting gallery type game but this game took a risk as it was a boxing game. This is one of the first video games to use large on-screen characters and also the first known attempt at a one-on-one fighting game. But like Bullet Mark the controls also stood out. Instead of a joystick and button to strike the blows it used sliding boxing glove like controllers. It wasn’t the type of simulation we would see today but given how early this was it gets a pass. Sega would release another game by the same name 12 years later with a similar, albeit enhanced control mechanism and more modern play. VS. KO Punch (1981) – Five years later, Sega decided to innovate in the boxing world again with KO Punch. This machine may look familiar as today there are many boxing games out there made by companies like Kriss Sport and Kalkomat which pretty much do the same thing – slam a real punching bag as hard as you can and see what score you get. Funny enough, Sega’s example from 1981 is more technically advanced by using a color screen with animation as opposed to some modern boxing machines that only use a simple red LED counter. Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator (1982) – In Sega’s game that was even more action-packed than the recent Into Darkness, there were two cabinet models for this – the upright that most would be familiar with and the Captain’s Chair sitdown model that took it up a notch. All you needed was a Star Trek uniform and not a care abou

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