21/11/06

“London 2007 Trail Blazer – Part 1.” (#520)

Stinger REPORT Skinny!

(15/10/06) The Stinger Report gathers in a London hotel for the pivotal Preview'07 marking a two-day snapshot of the amusement scene and what we can expect for the ATEI and 2007. In this first part of a two-part feature, coverage is given of Deith Sales, Cosmic Video, and SEGA’s attendance and their lineup of hot new titles to wow the crowds and prove life in the old dog, if not under more trying conditions.

Main REPORT:

The UK amusement sector gathered in London for Preview'07, the harbinger to the January ATEI event and 2007 season, an event that proved some home truths about operational difficulties, but also demonstrated an underlying resilience in the market.

Those who survived the torrential rain outside of the venue on the first day were greeted after registration by a smaller ground-floor exhibitor attendance than last year, but some real quality products. The increase in overseas guests an anomaly to ponder while walking the aisles.

The event clashed with the ‘Visitor Attraction Conference’ (VAC) in London, and with the ‘Dream Toys 2006’. The latter being the equivalent 'preview' for toy trade and media to the Christmas build-up and an instructive comparison with a healthier sector. Another clash of dates was with the ATE-Clarion event ‘European i-gaming Congress and Expo’ in Barcelona. This double booking proved suspicious to some who felt that ATE may have allowed this to happen as Preview'07 had its own gaming conference session on the Tuesday arranged by InterGame.

The ground floor revealed Deith Group distribution continuing to support the market following their merger with PHI, and with some very interesting developments. Along with their new driver cab version of ‘Wasteland Racer’, TrioTech Amusement presented ‘Jett Rider’ (PC Hardware).

A very nattily designed production prototype two-rider system mixing the worlds of the ride movie motion seat set-up seen with the company’s Mad Wave, but in a package for the 4-14 age group kiddie ride sector. The Jett Rider film offering a mixture of three adventures to experience (and one bonus level), the ride film was originally developed as a XD experience for a theme park opportunity, but when this was shelved it become the first of the films from TrioTech’s 3D animation studios to be released for amusement.

Building on know-how that Deith and the kiddy ride sister operation Jolly Roger brings to the table, TrioTech are sure to benefit, a production version expected for ATEI. TrioTech have continued to build up their range of titles with a gun game in the works for 2007 marking a growth in development.

Continuing on the ground floor: Merit Entertainment through their UK wing Games Warehouse showed their ‘Megatouch ION’ touchscreen - one of a few such systems at Preview, one of only two touchscreen companies at Preview, an example of sector changes. While the success of the SWP sector was illustrated by GW's ‘Paragon3’ connected platform and a growing stable of titles.

The exhibition was noticeably smaller downstairs, though the top floor attempted to make up for this. Upstairs, we were greeted with influential distributor Cosmic Video Amusement, along with a varied mix of products including their continuing Merit position; they showed the latest Global VR range.

The first European viewing of 'Aliens: Extermination' (PC Hardware), the Play Mechanix-developed mounted shooter reminiscent of LA Machinegunners. Testing highly positively on site in the UK, the game offered a big brand package. Observations on the current system looked at the fast-moving action and multi-functional weapon. Representatives on the CVA booth revealed that along with the demonstrated standard cabinet the company had big plans for the game. GVR have a busy Q4 scheduled with a third new release ‘Far Cry’ (Proprietary Hardware) to be shown at IAAPA’06 – one of three new titles that will straddle 2006/2007.

Also on booth was ‘Need for Speed: Underground DX’ (PC Hardware), the motion deluxe cabinet created for GVR by Tsunami. Similar to the Betson Fast and the Furious motion platform launched in 2004, this version includes a big screen all offered at a lower price point building on GVR's closer involvement with Tsunami - the completion of the merger expected 2006. How Betson will handle selling a nearly identical motion driver to their own was the subject of some conversation during AMOA.

At CVA's booth the latest golf upgrade was presented. ‘EA Sports PGA Tour Golf: Team Challenge’ (PC Hardware) offered new course and game features in this update with the team challenge element.

An aspect of the Global VR presence at Preview’07 that may have been missed by some observers was the appearance of the ‘Plus Points’ player loyalty scheme that is run with connected machines. From the operator’s point of view all they have to do is plug in their machines, but what GVR are running is an online loyalty scheme with prizes to be redeemed for the more the player plays – with gift certificates to major brands.

The last of the GVR titles on the booth was ‘UltraPin’ (PC Hardware). Promoted since ATEI'06, the production machine offered all the aspiration of the first prototype, but now graced a nearly identical pin table cabinet with back-glass and LED display. A perfect companion for bar and club application - the first table selection of 12 classic pinball tables housed on the hardware to be announced soon. The divesting of UltraCade assets to GVR means that ElectroCoin will not be presenting this system as suggested at ATEI initially.

Continuing upstairs, FX Simulation showed off the successful deployment of their ‘X2’ redesign, with its 32-inch high definition screen. With suggestions of adding some 4D effects theatre styling to the motion capsule.

The big SEGA Amusement booth was located upstairs this year with their all-encompassing lineup. The first European appearance of ‘Let’s Go Jungle: Lost on the Island of the Spice’ (LindBergh) was a pleasant surprise for those attending - the holiday island mutant insects (and frogs and plant) blaster showed a level of polish not seen previously from SEGA blasters since Ghost Squad. Reminiscent in cabinet interior of Ocean Hunter (but with a better gun interface), the game offers players a mixture of frantic button pounding, wild shooting and fast-paced chases.

The unusual storyline includes strong two-player cooperation as a couple regains their relationship as a holiday vacation descends into a battle for survival on an island gone mad by a toxic spill. Beyond some characteristically bad character acting - the game offers a good team play experience.

The trade got to grips with the deluxe 'Ford Racing: Full Blown DX' (PC Hardware) cabinet, allaying fears over the game’s future appeal; definitely a product that has to be played at least once to gain respect. Big at the booth was the first appearance of 'Afterburner Climax SDX' (LindBergh), with its production version of the SimuLine motion seat.

Again a promised view of the important Dual Corroborative play version (linking two cabinets into the same game) was not able to be played on the machines on the show floor - no reason given why such an influential feature has yet to be demonstrated to possible buyers?

Continuing with Big Cabinets, ‘SEGA World Club Champion Football European Clubs 2005-2006’ (Naomi 2) was present in a six-cabinet configuration, the new 388 player cards lineup and new players sure to see more machine placement; hints of strong revenue a factor in recent revenue-sharing installations in the UK.

More conventional cabinetry was presented with ‘Virtua Tennis 3’ (LindBergh). The first of three sports shooting games at Preview was ‘Extreme Hunting 2 – Tournament Edition’ (PC Hardware), the American kit offering unique gun butt speakers. To the question of ALL.NET support in Europe for the shooter no answer was available, but expectations are high.

Continuing the shooting theme was the first appearance of a new smaller 'House of the Dead 4’ (LindBergh) standard cabinet (called a Mini-Deluxe by SEGA?). The Ghost Squad and HotD3 standard cabinet an admittance of a need for that price point of gun game, no matter aspirations to encourage purchase of the deluxe; the presentation at Preview marred by a broken gun on the cabinet. SEGA's investment into Kid Vending was demonstrated by their KidZone area on the booth - while a new Asian pusher got some play.

SEGA however choose Preview to unwrap a new direction at the show (hinted about last month). The 'SEGA Total Solution' offers operators a finite route for servicing and spares; the one-stop support service removes the need for other spares hardware support. This was part in-order to support the self-operation route, but also to address complaints regarding operator spares needs and lead times to repair. With Brent Spares, it looks that the Japanese factories have taken control of this market - SEGA Europe having headhunted a Brent player for their team

Leaflets of the company’s new ‘SEGA Total Solutions’ spares and components division; operators now buying only from this resource; a mixture of machine control and an inability to get the remaining spares operation to support machines in the field in time.

One source at Preview stated that certain distributors were now abandoning their rapid spares policy – instead  asking operators to return the broken component for its replacement. This totally making it impracticable for the smaller operator (sub 20 machines) to viably deal with failure in the field. A mixture of recent mergers of spares companies and pressure from the big thousand machine distributors applying pressure to monopolize the spares structure at the determent of the smaller venues - a dangerous precedent that will have major ramification in the UK if not European sector.

Adjacent to SEGA, Crown Direct supported the SEGA relationship (as did Deith downstairs). On their booth the 'House of the Dead 4 Special’ (LindBergh) theatre enclosure took prominent space along with a smattering of other titles. On other supported hardware Crown showed ‘REALSOCCER’ (PC Hardware), one of two similar systems at the event – the Canadian developer expanding their technology into the field. Crown also had on another booth the ‘Virtual Pinball’ (PC Hardware) they distribute for TAB Austria – with the appearance of the completed Ultra Pin system, TAB’s installed base in Europe of over 4,000 units linked to a tournament environment will now go head-to-head with the GVR system.