23/7/06

1. TITLE “The Return of the Theater Cabinet!” (#491)

Stinger REPORT Skinny!
(5/06/06) The development of the market for the changing player-scape, with the possibility of proven concepts from the industry’s past making a happy return. Some 80 years after their first implementation the Booth or Kiosk, Enclosure Systems is deployed in the international scene initially as a launch pad for the Second-generation sticker machines, but also for a new sweep of Karaoke booths and even more advanced Interactive gaming booths. The implications of enclosure placed in new venues rather than the conventional amusement hall drives even the prominent Japanese arcade factories looking at enclosure systems – SEGA’s ‘House of the Dead 4: Special’ and ‘Lets Go Jungle’ an example of the return of ‘Theater Cabinet’ thinking.

Main REPORT:
As TSR continues to champion to move towards ‘Unachievable@Home’, some old (tried and tested) ideas are given their head again. One such concept that seems to be experiencing a resurgence is the booth or enclosed Kiosk amusement system. The concept of the photo booth is one of the oldest coin-operated systems – celebrating its 85th anniversary this year. The photo booth has evolved into the sticker enclosure popular in Asia.

Derivation of the Photo Sticker machine business has seen an evolution of the market, the enclosure concept building in interest. Photo booths have evolved into new digital delivery systems as mobile phone cameras and digital cameras took hold in the market. One such example is the ‘DigiBox’, by Daeseung Intercom Co., Lt. The next generation Sticker Machines, now resemble complete booth enclosures with high quality lenses and the utilization of special photo manipulation tricks. Systems seen in a recent Korea visit included not just simple photo booth manipulation but also the inclusion of a light-pen image manipulation suite at the rear of the booth

Sticker machines still find a strong market in Asia, with such systems as the ‘CRASH!’ by Make Software, in Japan. Based on the girl pop band, the system offers enhanced features. The enclosure offers more than just a photo booth, the curtained area includes the light pen picture manipulation terminal, and now along with the photo and sticker the system will send the image created to the users mobile phone via Internet connection. As the market in Japan expands the increase in the development of Second Generation Photo Sticker machine enclosures has expanded, and looks towards international application.

The Korean developer Fusence also has eyes on the application of second-generation systems that take the usual sticker or photo booth market and offer a new twist on a proven application. Their 'Photo Keyring' has just received international presentation, and offers a new medium to present the recorded image. As more and more photo both machines interact with the plethora of digital image storage system in consumers’ hands, the need to offer new packages has driven development.

The concept of the conventional photo booth was turned on its head in recent years by the collaboration of Polaroid, and the Face Place Photo booth company. The eye-catching design offers the conventional photo booth concept and brings it up to date with their ‘Face Place Booth’. The product offers something that Face Place has dubbed ‘photo entertainment’ that is seen as embracing many of the features of the photo sticker machine but within the booth concept for a more international audience. 

The application of new technology in the amusement style photo booth – in other words the application of an experience to the booth photo system – has gained momentum. This is best illustrated by the ‘My Memory Maker’, described by the manufacturer (Canadian Take 1 Technologies) as a “Multimedia Entertainment Communication Kiosk”.  The company offering not just conventional still images but the application of special ‘Photo-Movies’, the system dispensing stylized CD’s containing the capture action, able to be specially designed by the user, offering a element beyond a conventional sticker or photo booth.

Not all the enclosure systems being developed are sticker machines. The ‘New Zzang – Karaoke Booth’ (PC Hardware) again by Daeseung Intercom Co., Ltd., is a major development of the company’s karaoke business – the company seen as one of the fastest growing manufacturers in the field. The Power Music Studio unit comprises a 17’’ LCD Monitor and offers the ability of recording function with tape. Another system in this genre is ‘Let Me Dance’ (PC Hardware) by Photo-Me USA; the application of a Photo Sticker machine and a dance machine; the guest is able to record a music video of their performance within the booth style system. The machine actually cutting a DVD, and the software allowing the addition of cartoon characters into the experience; the machine is based on much of the thinking that has shaped the Second Generation Photo Sticker machines that are being deployed in Japan.

Taking enclosures into another direction is ‘Charm Detector’ (Proprietary Hardware) by Rolling Koncept Innovation. Player to ascertain their qualities through three aspects of the charm level calculated based on ‘Attractiveness’ (achieved by the taking of the players posed image and calculated), ‘ Intelligence’ (based on a quick trivia round) and ‘Luck of Love’ (with the player having to match patterns). At the end of this the game evaluates the players score and then asks if their details are to be displayed (score and image), then prints out a picture card the system first seen at AMOA’05.

Not all booth enclosures need to be for photo or music application. A number of video amusement companies have created enclosures for the playing of games. Ranging from the TrioTech ‘MadWave’ system, the Atlus ‘4D Theater’ and more recently the SEGA ‘House of the Dead 4: Special’ and Namco Bandai Gaming ‘GunDam POD’ system – all these units offer enclosed and specialized entertainment. One of the best examples of this is ‘Let’s Go Jungle: Lost on the Island of the Spice’ (LindBergh), the Jeep enclosure builds off of lessons learned from House of the Dead Special enclosure, and originally the Theatre Cabinet enclosure originated for ‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park’.

SEGA’s Theatre Cabinet enclosure system was applied in 1997, and now some ten years one and SEGA have tried again to establish the concept – the ‘Leg’s Go Jungle’ system offers a gun blazing two-player enclosure for fun gaming, and is expected to be the first of a number of amusement game systems Theater Cabinets.

Main REPORT:
The development of booths offers both an enclosure experience for the user, which adds to the enjoyment but also offers the ability for the systems to be located in venues that would normally not be thought of as suitable for amusement systems. A number of amusement manufacturers are looking at building on the initial development to create booth based interactive amusement systems that can become mini-attractions in their own right.