New Games From IAAPA 2012

[Shaggy the Atarian]

I'm a little late at sharing this but I went to the IAAPA 2012 trade show about a week and a half ago and got some hands on time with the newest arcade games that are destined for the market. Popular ones were Namco's Dark Escape 4D (which I only got a couple of minutes on as time was limited and there was always a line; excellent game but super pricey for the arcade op to buy), Pac-Man Smash, Snocross and Wizard of OZ Pinball. Here are more details as I put up on my site (shameless plug!).

 

Pictures:

 

http://arcadeheroes....-floor-batch-1/

 

http://arcadeheroes....ctures-batch-2/

 

http://arcadeheroes....ctures-batch-3/

 

Videos:

 

http://arcadeheroes....-videos-part-1/

 

http://arcadeheroes....-videos-part-2/

 

Some of the game are already out there to play (Snocross is at many Dave & Busters locations), others will be out before too long. I would happily get a Wizard of Oz pinball although I don't really have the cash for that right now.

Edited November 26, 2012 by Shaggy the Atarian

[Albert]

Fantastic photos, thanks for sharing! Having managed the largest arcade in Texas for a year and a half, I have a big interest in the arcade industry, but haven't yet been to the IAAPA show. Maybe I'll try to get out there next year, would be fun. Let me know if you need someone to tag along.

 

Love the photo of the Wizard of Oz machine interior--that is amazingly clean for a machine this complex. Looking forward to seeing it in action, especially once the software is complete.

 

Will watch the videos in a bit.

 

..Al

[number six]

Was at IAPPA as well. Took some video of everything will post later.

 

The WOZ pinball is extremely impressive. I haven't seen a pin with that many gimmicks since Twilight Zone. Will be nice when the code is done and it ships out. Wish it didn't cost $8,000 lol.

 

Was a bit underwhelmed with the new namco stuff. The 'battle pac-man' is an interesting idea but I'd imagine that will only be fun with 4 players and even then.. its over kinda quick.

 

The newest iteration of the Namco Reunion was kinda cheesy. It now sports about 20 (?) games instead of just offering Ms Pac/Galaga and variants thereof. With the LCD it gave off a cheap multicade feel. I'll stick with the reunion.

 

Fun show though if you live in Florida its worth going to at least once. Cheap day tickets.

[Shaggy the Atarian]

Yeah I was stoked to see the technical features of WOZ - they have really taken to heart that fixing a pinball machine shouldn't have to be a nightmare. I know Stern takes pride in bragging about having a half mile's worth of wire in their machines - as an op myself I just cringe as I have a Shrek which has had issues and they tell me to comb through all the wiring to figure out a problem. Not very fun. But the LCD screen makes it easier to trouble shoot as well.

 

It's a great show to attend, well worth it. The Vegas show isn't as spectacular but passable usually.

 

On Namco, I think that they intentionally set the timer to be short, same reason they had people shuffling you out of Dark Escape after a min. I think the auto reloading system on it was pretty cool and the Pac-Man theme means people will automatically play the game just because of that. But like Dark Escape, I'm not excited about the price on the Smash but if capital wasn't an issue, I'd replace my current air hockey table in a heartbeat with this.

 

The Pac-Man's Arcade Party they've had since last year. To me the most baffling idea with the coin-op version is that it lacks Ms. Pac-Man but the non-coin/19" model has MsPac on it. If they did a coin version with that I would probably go for it, but also because I want Dragon Spirit

[Albert]

Yeah I was stoked to see the technical features of WOZ - they have really taken to heart that fixing a pinball machine shouldn't have to be a nightmare. I know Stern takes pride in bragging about having a half mile's worth of wire in their machines - as an op myself I just cringe as I have a Shrek which has had issues and they tell me to comb through all the wiring to figure out a problem. Not very fun. But the LCD screen makes it easier to trouble shoot as well.

 

Yeah, Stern really needs to change their game, so to speak. Their build quality has been going downhill the past several years, and they've been making questionable changes to their tables. Such as the new double latch system they are using to remove the lockbar. Every one of their new tables we had (two Tron tables, Iron Man, Avatar, Transformers, etc) developed repeated problems with the ball trough not recognizing balls. Both Tron tables ended up with broken ramps due to a poor design. The silver spotlamps they use on the tables are terrible and break all the time. And Transformers had constant issues with the multiball kicker. The screened artwork on some of the cabinets is atrocious in terms of low-resolution prints. And now they are using LED-based DMDs which just look horrible as you can see a grid of lines in the display (the displays are comprised of many LED panels) -- I believe X-Men was the first game to use this new DMD.

 

Here's a video that shows the new LED DMD (ignore the rolling, that's not visible to the naked eye):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThHx-mQkYO0

 

Also, they've gotten a bit carried away with all the different flavors of their machines. I don't mind cosmetic differences between versions, but when you remove major playfield toys and elements and have different software, I feel like I'm not playing the "full game" when playing the "Pro" dumbed-down version of the game.

 

The LCD panel in the Oz machine is a great step forward. I'm sure it will take getting used to, but I'm glad to see Jersey Jack taking chances of this nature. I look forward to their Hobbit pinball machine.

 

..Al

[neotokeo2001]

How did I miss this? I will make sure to go next year if this is an annual thing.

[Shaggy the Atarian]

I also have an Indiana Jones pinball at my place. I had a plastic piece that broke on it recently that I was a little baffled as to how it broke exactly but it's had more serious issues with the lighting across the table going out that I need to figure out. Shrek also has had random problems. I have heard some things about TRON as well, which is too bad. Being that the name of my place is the Game Grid, I really want to get some Tron games in here but have never had the capital. Tron pinball certainly was tempting but between capital and hearing that it was not great technically have kept me away.

 

One thing I noticed at IAAPA was that both AC.DC and X-Men use red DMDs as well. I wasn't aware they had switched to LED. I guess the rumor is that Avengers will use a color DMD. But as you said, WOZ is something I think people will get used to. The resolution on the monitor and artwork are very high making it look great. The display inside of the crystal ball is also a nice touch.

 

@Neotokeo - yes it is an annual event. They used to move it around the country a little but back in '10 they made a deal with the city of Orlando to keep it there until 2020 so expect it to happen every November the week before Thanksgiving.