Main REPORT:
As the summer heat started to take hold, the last major events before the pause of industry holiday-making took place in London. Though other distributor events took place in America and Asia during May/June, the two London events offer a perfect counterpoint to the major developments shaping the video industry.

Park Avenue Open Day
The well-respected North London gathering of the UK amusement scene, in what has now become the compacted buying period of the operation sector. The event was graced again by hot weather, and a smattering of the industry. The event held at the distribution centers for Electrocoin Sales and United Distribution Company – a one-day gathering that attracted a vast number of AWP, SWP, Redemption, Cane and video products.

Of the videos at the event, the special relationship between Electrocoin and Incredible Technologies was in evidence with ‘Golden Tee Live!’ (Proprietary Hardware) latest software version and the new venue advertising feature applied to European sites. The Orange connectivity also received some coverage, hoping to encourage more venues to establish links to the tournament capability of the system. Electrocoin also continued to sell the older version of the hardware with the ‘Golden Tee Complete’ (Proprietary Hardware) version. Along with the golf 'Big Buck Hunter 2006: Call of the Wild' (Proprietary Hardware) was on display, hoping to capture those operators not fond of golf.

The Electrocoin venues of the Open Day played host to a number of the leading distributors, Deith Sales representing their own and SEGA range, ‘House of the Dead 4’ (LindBergh) took space alongside ‘Ford Racing Full Blown’ (PC Hardware). The HotD4 shooter will soon be joined by a new shooter in Japan as news broke during the week - following the breaking of the new development news by SEGA AM of the game tentatively called ‘Let’s Go Jungle’ (LindBergh). Regarding Ford Racing; it was a shame that of the twin cabinet brought to Open Day, only one driving position was working, so the final production release of twin mode shown in a 60 per cent complete state at ATEI could not be viewed, though sources state that the cost-effective driver is pulling in credits.

Sources close to the game spoke of a second PC title coming from SEGA Amusement Europe. It was hinted at that the game may be a second Empire Interactive title (possibly an arcade version of their successful consumer title ‘FlatOut’). This is a difficult time for the UK consumer studio developed the original ‘Ford Racing’ and who have been in discussion with SEGA Europe. The company was dumped by a possible suitor at the last minute (home game publisher Sci). And more recently reported pre-tax losses of over £2million in face of collapsing income. Sources hint that if a new suitor cannot be found, the prospects for Empire look grim – which would place future amusement title projects in jeopardy.

The most important aspect of the changing European market reared its head again during Open Day – the issue, covered exclusively by the Stinger last year, about the European Unions ruling on the suspension of electronic components that contain certain materials, linked also to the need to address disposable of such items. The impact that certain materials cannot be used impacted a large number of amusement items, though how many manufacturers have actually made the move to alternatives seems woefully low as the June 30th 2006 cut-off period was crossed.

SEGA has been one of the companies to address this issue – as was reported recently (Stinger #456) – the re-evaluation of the Disco Dream system was impacted by this. But sources revealed that the CHIHIRO board used in a number of popular videos from the company has had to be retired due to this restriction on its material components. Stepping into the fray the LindBergh has now become the architecture of choice and it was revealed that a replacement to the 'OutRun 2: Special Tours' (CHIHIRO) driving kit was being created and that ‘OutRun 2 SP SDX’ (LindBergh) would hope to fill the gap. It was unsure at this juncture if this new release would be a straight port of the CHIHIRO game or if additional (new) material and levels would be added – let’s hope.

The EU rulings impact on other video products and new releases has proven incredibly difficult to judge, and how much assistance the industry is receiving from trade associations was also a difficult factor to calculate – a wall of silence becoming increasingly common.

Back to the distributors at Open Day and Brent Sales represented its range and supported that of their owner, Namco Bandai Games. The Namco coin-pusher range found much interest in the UK market and represented a strong showing for the Japanese company as well as their own bowling game. From the Brent distributor agreements the Raw Thrills ‘The Fast and the Furious: Super Bikes’ (Proprietary Hardware) made a UK showing in a completed (red) production cabinet. The popularity of the cabinet of FatF Super Bikes system unique riding position helped establish the game with the players.

Breaking Stinger New – Just after the heat of the Open Day and hot news came from the developers of FatF. Raw Thrills was linked to negotiation to merge the talents of Play Mechanix (developer of Big Buck and Ranger Mission) into the Chicago operation. The Stinger Report was given exclusive news of the success in creating an agreement to join the resources of the two groups – though the final structure of the relationship is yet to be revealed, it will mean that following the completion of their current project, Raw Thrills and Play Mechanix will be joined in a exclusive agreement that sees Betson Enterprises handling marketing and sales. Global VR’s agreement announced at ASI’06 to develop the Twentieth Century Fox movie franchise Aliens with Play Mechanix will continue. The concept for an amusement shooter based on the popular sci-fi game was originated by the Play Mechanix team, and this game will mark the last independent project for the Play Mechanix crew.

Another of the distributors at Open Day was Cosmic Video Amusement with their range and the support of the Global VR product. The company with a ‘Need For Speed Underground’ (PC Hardware) twin cabinet on the workshop floor. The news regarding Play Mechanix came at the same time as Global VR consolidated their empire. Sources confirmed rumors that GVR was buying two companies – one in North America, one in Europe. The acquisition process between GVR and Tsunami Visual Technologies is far along…well past the due diligence phase…and the principals are scheduled to sign the final papers before AMOA. The shape of the deal has GVR exclusively representing the TVT line and, of course having first crack at using any new items developed by TVT. At the same time the European developer Gaelco was also in the last stages of signing an agreement that will make GVR one of the largest North American amusement operations.

The UltraCade agreement with GVR also was completed this month. The industry scuttlebutt was that the relationship had become more of a stripping of assets that GVR feel are essential to giving them a strong firmware resource, valuable library, and home systems capability (the UltraCade and UltraPin range), while the Breeders Cup concept may be shelved for the time being. With the completion of this drawn-out process, the liquidation of the UltraCade name took place and so marked the end of an inspired but troubled attempt to prove amusements viability in the American scene.

Also on the Electrocoin factory floor was Stern pinball systems and the successful and popular Simpson redemption coin-roller system, proving that Stern are in a strong position to maximize their mechanical pinball experience in the redemption market.

One of the other interesting appearances at the Electrocoin portion was that of Taito. The Japanese company working on improving their GM business internationally are good friends with the executives at Electrocoin and so were able to place at Open Day. The company brought one of their Japanese Cranes over from Japanese, and though a little temperamental was able to show an interesting new opportunity of the increasingly reserved European sector. Even with the special relationship, Taito had gone with Deith for their video interests (see next feature).

In additional breaking Stinger News – The first tangible effects of the new Taito owners SQE was announced during June, with the release that Taito CEO Yasuo Nishigaki will move to the chair of the company's board of directors. Replacing him is Square Enix CEO Youichi Wada, also was previously the Taito chairman. He will retain his Square Enix chief position – but has been linked to statements that in his new role will start the move to develop the arcade assets of Taito and look at building network play.

The vote of support has invigorated the Taito GM team, though how much of this excitement in a strong future may see a change in the staffing of the group was yet to unfold. The development schedule was demonstrated with a new upgrade version of the ‘Battle Gear 4: Tuned’ (TypeX+) – linked to a new upgrade version of the architecture, coming at the same time as the new cabinet concept was announced. The expansion of the network gaming component of the amusement division was also linked to the ‘Half-Life: Survivor’ (TypeX+) and planned ‘War of the Grail’ (TypeX) launch by Capcom.

Additional breaking Stinger News – While the Asian amusement market starts a decisive fight back from the explosion of popularity in the home market, some of the old wreckage of the Japanese factories started to be cleared. The SNK-Playmore story seems to have filled more lines in the Stinger of previous years than announcement of new titles. The move from SNK to SNK-Aruze to SNK-Playmore has been matched by the 2003 agreement with Sammy that resulted in the A-Wave support. Recent fan based disclosures on the Internet (such as Neo-Geo.com forum), linked to sources inside the remaining SNK-P structure reveals that the time supporting the A-Wave has ended. The company’s five coin-op title deal suspended with a closure of all amusement development from this point.

It would be best to judge SNK-P along with Jaleco, Data East and Universal, as an amusement company now taken-over and focused wholly on consumer titles. SNK-P announcing on their website the launch of PSP, Nintendo Wii and XB360 games – while looking at raiding their back catalogue for the Microsoft ‘Xbox Live! Arcade’ network service. The announcement of one of their previous development studios moving towards a Taito Type-X project is no surprise, sources suggesting that the coming JAMMA’06 event will see an announcement by the corporation on their final future in amusement.

The move by SNK-P marks the final nail in the A-Wave, with sources revealing that previous speculation of the new SEGA USA title ‘Extreme Hunting 2’ (PC Hardware) is not in fact an A-Wave enhanced platform, but resembles more a port of A-Wave infrastructure  (including the ALL.Net / AW.Net) to a PC based system. The A-Wave now abandoned as a viable platform for future support – though the Sammy name has been retired, the AtomisWave experiment seems to have served its purpose.

Often missed as the second part of the Open Day, United Distribution Company (UDC) also hosted hospitality and informative discussion. UDC showed a sign of the future of the stumbling European (UK) amusement sector with an extensive range of new look pushers from the US operation Benchmark in redemption format at their factory presentation. The company that has a background in refurbishment, distribution and gaming scene was keen to see their relationship with Benchmark as a new step in the development of the flagging market.

Tucked away at the back was an interesting glimpse of a possible new direction ‘Zzang Studio Karaoke Booth.’ Though the system was disassembled, it offers a glimpse of the new thinking in imports – be ready for a Stinger Report exclusive on this subject in the coming weeks.

For the first time Park Avenue fellow inhabitant Avolites decided to support the activities. The company a specialist in the audio public space and live-performance hardware support scene decided to advertise their wares on the street, a street that played an important part to the hospitality of the event, with tables, chairs, a excellent Greek BBQ and libations, the bar sponsored by trade publication Coinslot (thank you).

Brent Sales raised £600, operating a charity shooting match on their new ICE amusement system ‘Striker Pro’ (PC Hardware), feeding off of the World Cup frenzy sweeping Europe, supporting the BIBIC (British Institute for Brain Injured Children) charity supporting the BACTA association. The machine was placed at the door and generated some fun in the sun.