Taito Jamma '06 Report

Taito Jamma '06 Report

The company had the most prominent display of new hardware than for many years – the first signs of the Square Enix investment into the company's development. The latest version of the popular driver brand ‘Battle Gear 4: Tuned' (TypeX+) was on show. Having been on test for the last few weeks, the ‘Tuned' version of the original BG4 offers a major update in courses vehicles and an expansive tournament capability. The company has updated the memory card (Smart Key) elements and has also increased the player connectivity with the use of QuickCode barcodes feature for players to use their WAP phones to jump to a web-based statistics page.

From an international perspective, no Taito executive was prepared to confirm or deny if the new Tuned version would be made available to the international scene. A large number of European and American operators took the plunge and brought the latest driver. The game also showing support of their new Japanese tournament linked to major sports racing team.

Taito used their stage space at AM'44 to announce the latest version of their TypeX hardware, with a big launch of a series of new titles and new partnerships to use what has become the independent architecture of choice. The appearance of the new Windows XP Embedded enhanced Taito TypeX hardware -- TypeX2. The new system sees enhanced graphics performance and a much more flexible development environment – all this in order to ensure that Taito can compete against the inroads made by SEGA with their LindBergh architecture.

News from the Square Enix president in recent interviews that SQE was directly involved in developing the next generation hardware for Taito (TypeX2) showed the investment in AM that SQE is supporting.

Taito had on show at the event the final version of their new cabinet configuration to support the new TypeX2. The previously seen ‘Concept-E' cabinet hopes to usher in a new era in cabinet gaming – the Taito domination of the cabinet business an evolving market. The new ‘VEWLIX' cabinet includes the latest screen technology, a sleek JAMMA and TypeX capable cabinet, with capability for RFID and remote connection, for the 21st century amusement market.

One of the first games on the VEWLIX cabinet was ‘Raiden IV' (TypeX+) developed by MOSS, licensed by Seibukaihatsu. One of a handful of vertical shooters at a show in previous years would have been littered with the generic style of play; there was still a strong support from players for this style. But it was the TypeX2 that received the big presentation

Taito showed ‘Aquarian Age Alternative' (TypeX2) on the new architecture, their latest Satellite Terminal game, with IC Card Reader. Similar to the style seen with Quest for D and Monster Gate, the Taito title offers more D&D style action, but with the added feature of card recognition – players collecting cards, and placing them on the photo-recognition tablet able to change battle attack plans by their placement on the tablet. The game will be supported by the NESYS network service with full online and mobile phone game features. Deploying the same recognition hardware as has been seen from SEGA, NBG and Banpresto, the eight or four terminals and the central card dispensing station, the machine supplies a vast number of player cards.

Famous for the big announcement, JAMMA'06 did not disappoint. Taito gathered SNK-Playmore on their stage and announced the latest developer on their TypeX hardware. The two companies announced that ‘The King of Fighters Maximum Impact: Alternative' (TypeX2) was being developed by SNK-Playmore for the PC hardware. This marks the official announcement of news that TSR hinted at (Stinger #304) that SNK-P would be abandoning their short lived relationship with Sammy / SEGA's A-Wave and would revert to a PC hardware platform. Fan's of SNK-P content were also buoyed by the news that both ‘The King of Fighters XII' and ‘Samurai Showdown Hirameku' (TypeX2), in development of the Tenchu series by K2, were also in development.

Though launched last year, ‘Half Life Survivor' (TypeX+) in its full production colors was on display. Also receiving its production presentation was that of the other satellite terminal mahjong game ‘Usagi Online DD' (TypeX+) based on the Warashi license.

News Story with thanks to Kevin Williams, please visit www.thestingerreport.com for the full story and others.