The momentous 90th International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA), marking both 2009 and the end of the decade, took place at the Las Vegas Conference Center, Nevada, during November. This, the world's largest conference and trade show for the amusement park and attractions industry, came to Las Vegas for the first time in its near-century of existence. In a major development the IAAPA show and the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) announced a strategic partnership - offering free admission to either show, which in its turn offered a chance to increase attendance as well as returns on investment for exhibitors of both associations
The $24 billion Global Amusement Park industry has seen a definite - if fragile - upswing under the current Global Financial Conditions (GFC), with the 226 parks in North America eager to ensure that the coming season can continue to draw attendance. Meanwhile, an estimated 83 established theme parks in Europe, according to Economics Research Associates, with an estimated attendance of over 101 million, are generating revenue of $2.2b; and international visitation was expected to be high at this year's event. But first, let us look at the vast range of exhibitors that greeted the eager attendance. We have broken the coverage into four key areas of business:
Amusement
It was revealed prior to the show that, of the more than 1,000 exhibitors, 49 of them comprised video game products, while 35 were midway and skill games and 34 were redemption. The IAAPA'09 event was clearly working hard to dominate the fall show season against all competitors.
SEGA America - A big presence by the company with new products aplenty: Sega America showed a clear sign of faith in the international amusement event compared to the American amusement show in September.
Top of the list was 'SEGA Racing Classic', with the new driver apparently personifying the statement previously made in the Stinger: "what's old is New again!" The company's flyers proclaimed "It's Back!", while the inability to use the Daytona USA name did not hinder SEGA USA in giving the game a prominent placement on the booth. The re-presentation of Daytona USA as the new SEGA Racing Classic offered 40 CPU opponents, 3 courses and the famous Hornet racer. The big change, a surprise to some, was the launch of the game on RingWide hardware architecture and the new Hi-Def display presentation. The hint was in the initial flyers: "the most played arcade racer returns in an all new cabinet!" As good as their word, SEGA came to IAAPA with four of the new sleek design cabinets on display at the show.
Stinger sources revealed that the game was an 'emulation' of the original 'Daytona USA' software. (The term 'emulation' refers to the practice of creating a facsimile of the code to run like the original on alternative hardware.) This had to be done because of an extraordinary situation which meant that SEGA did not have the original software code for the game! It was suggested, in a leak close to the company, that in fact the original source code from back in the 90s, had subsequently been lost to the company. The need to create an emulation of the original code, as well as the undertaking to remove the term 'Daytona' from the game and soundtrack, was just the prelude to adapting the game so that it would run on the RingWide architecture and support a Hi-Def display. Though a near-exact replica of the original was on display here, the Stinger did notice some a number of graphical and play glitches; it was reported that this software was still in a pre-production state at the time.
NOTE - Concerning this new release, a clamor was started back in August by the appearance of a leaked flyer from SEGA AM2 regarding the new driving game based on the historic series. The original 'Daytona USA' was launched in 1993, the first game on the Model 2 board with its 300,000 per second polygon performance. The game, called at the time the 'world's best hyper realistic 3-D racing' (in SEGA Japan's then-inimitable poor English), was originally launched in the famous twin type cabinet, as well as the deluxe cabinet with its force-feedback steering.
The game raced into history, becoming the best revenue generator driver of all time; a game that almost literally sucked quarters out of the players' pockets. To this day the game is the Gold Standard in video amusement driving titles that all others are measured by. The popularity - and revenue generation capability of the game - totally overwhelmed SEGA's international representatives. The-then SEGA GameWorks US operation even went as far as creating a single player cab version of the game using locally sourced hardware, called 'Daytona USA: Limited Edition' in 1996. At the same time, SEGA Japan released a mid-size attraction of the game, originally seen as being suitable for the company's Amusement Theme Park (JOYPOLIS) venues. In 1996 the company released 'Daytona USA: Special Edition' - an eight-player deluxe network cabinet with pneumatic motion seats and television cameras showing the reactions of the players in game. This version would find popularity internationally, with a number shipped to America and Europe, and proved equally popular with the players.
The popularity of the game was such that a number of 'unofficial' update releases were created such as 'Daytona USA Turbo' - incorporating faster vehicles - and 'Daytona USA: To The Max' that included the infamous turbo button. There was also a third 'hack' version called 'Daytona USA: GXT 2004 Edition', launched in 2003, that offered a role-playing element to the game. The original saw such great popularity that operators refurbished (rather than replace) their older cabinets. Games in the field would be refurbished after intensive use (in some cases operators have refurbished their machines over 10 times). 1998 saw the first official release of a sequel to the franchise with 'Daytona USA 2: Battle of the Edge'. However, the game proved less than popular and an updated version was rushed to market - 'Daytona USA 2: Power Edition' - the same year but the latest installment did not do the numbers. SEGA America even undertook to create a tournament version of the Daytona USA 2 for the first US network play but even this could not reignite the spark. This was the situation until the November appearance of 'SEGA Racing Classic'; this retro-release hoping to act as a strong driver in a crowded sector.
Returning to IAAPA and the SEGA booth, and 'HUMMER DLX' was one of the other major drivers presented, with three of the deluxe two-player attraction pieces being complemented by the production version of the standard ('HUMMER STD') cabinet fresh from the Chinese production line. One of the other brand new products brought to IAAPA'09 was 'Tetris Giant'. The super-sized two-player giant Dekacon joystick controller (that actually vibrates) offered a unique playing experience for the anniversary puzzle title. The game proved a novelty interest, and it will be interesting to see how many operators consider taking a bite at the system. Also on show were previously releases 'Rambo', 'Harley Davison: King of the Road' and 'SEGA Rally 3'. But an interesting 'no show' was the new release 'Card Gen'. Launched at AMOA'09, the MLB license in the kid vending category was expected with a big presentation by SEGA America, but the machine was not given any space on the IAAPA booth and was surprisingly absent from the sales material handed out on the booth. Questions went unanswered regarding the status of the release.
One of the few third party releases on the SEGA stand was the Xbox consumer arcade platform 'GameGate VU', now under their control. A single cabinet was placed at the back of the SEGA booth running the Fight Night Xbox 360 game title. The news regarding the deployment of this ground-breaking system continued to churn and rumble. As already revealed, SEGA have verbally contracted to take full US and European control, regaining the American distribution opportunity from ICE (who had presented the machine at ASI'09).
Breaking Stinger News - In a major leak it was revealed that development partner and exclusive worldwide distributor American Reload, along with their appointed distributor, had abandoned their involvement with the GameGate VU system. The manufacturer of the system (Quasimoto Interactive) has been linked to leaks that they had attempted to terminate connections with both parties in order to facilitate business directly with SEGA with whom they have a agreement.
Betson Enterprises - The amusement distributor and servicing corporation cut a wide swathe through IAAPA and seemed to cement its leading position in the amusement scene, placing the majority of its support behind its partnership with Raw Thrills and their subsidiaries.
The big presentation was given to the Play Mechanix (a wholly owned subsidiary of Raw Thrills) title 'Terminator Salvation Arcade'. The two-player deluxe cabinet on display incorporated a 42" HD LCD display and an extensive cabinet external theme based on the latest in the motion picture sci-fi franchise. This gun game has one of the larger game interfaces seen recently, about the same size as the Heckler & Koch G36C representation used in 'Ghost Squad' and 'Rambo' by SEGA. 'Terminator' uses a representation of the M4A1 Carbine with an M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System. It also incorporates a unique element in reloading, by shooting not off screen but by pushing a button on the bottom of the magazine – like loading a fresh one in the real gun. The gun also includes a button to fire collected grenades and bombs. The amazingly lavish cabinet design incorporates a Terminator robot head representation on the top. The action on screen is equally lavish, with a strong graphical presentation and intense gun game action, as has become the signature of the Play Mechanix development team. The game was shown in an 80 per cent complete stage, with a view towards March 2010 completion and full production launch
NOTE - At the show Betson had a life size Terminator robot model on display. It was later revealed that this was an actual movie prop from the recent film, an amazing example of how closely Raw Thrills worked with the film production team to create a strong recreation of the motion picture; the closeness of that relationship underlined by being allowed to bring such a valuable item to a trade show. The game was shown to the assorted amusement trade at a private function on the first day of the show, and the Stinger would like to thank all at Betson for their hospitality.
Also on show was 'Guitar Hero Arcade' - it was revealed that major upgrade to the first-time-player element of the game was in the works and that the game is about to receive a software update for Q2 2010, though the actual appearance of a CoinUP enabled version was not revealed at this time. Pressure was on to maximize the 'Guitar Hero' franchise in public-space entertainment with the appearance on the show floor of an official (legal) competitor from the equally popular 13m selling franchise 'Rock Band' - see later Stinger IAAPA'09 coverage for full information.
Breaking Stinger News - Just as the final touches were being put on this report, news reached the Stinger of the accusation that the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) had approached at least one operator of the 'Guitar Hero Arcade' machine and demanded $800 in a yearly license to operate the system. Apparently, the demand claims that the operation was similar to that of a jukebox and required the same level of license fee. This momentous news will be covered in detail in a coming Stinger special feature but is bound to rock the amusement trade - watch this space.
Returning to the IAAPA'09 booth and the company has a selection of 'H2Overdrive' cabinets - but a surprise addition to the lineup came from the Betson booth (see Stinger IAAPA'09 coverage on Universal). Also shown were 'Big Buck: Open Season' and 'Big Buck Safari'. Along with some of the other third party titles that did make on the booth were a number of redemption games, although one of the new launches was a working production prototype of 'GalacTrix'. From Betson development partner Chicago Gaming, this top down projected display game has six player stations round the side; players shoot missiles to hit the central space station and avoid hitting the circling space ships, with player-inserted tokens triggering the launch. In a pre-production form the unique design of cabinet and impressive display element meant that this game received some interest from visitors to the booth.
One of the big surprises at this year's IAAPA was the 'no show' of Konami. Sources close to the various parties involved stated that, as Betson had deemed that Terminator would be the big release for the show, there was no room to show 'Dance Dance Revolution X' (especially after recent issues – see Stinger #729) or any other Konami titles. It was too early to link this to rumors of other changes expected in the way that KDE-US presents itself in the American scene (Konami Gaming did however make a big showing on the G2E'09 exhibition floor - catch coverage in an upcoming Stinger report).
Breaking Stinger News - While KDE had no IAAPA presence, sources to the Stinger revealed that America did see a loctest of the re-worked 'JuBeat' title at a Betson test facility. The new game was renamed 'JukeBeat' and incorporated the same design as the original, but with the updated software of 'JuBeat RIPPLE' (already launched in Japan). The machine is expected to also build on a connected jukebox element, still being developed. As we went to the wire KDE in Japan had the first loctest versions of 'Dance Dance Revolution X2', the sequel to the popular anniversary release; as yet there is no news on the international presentation. While this was taking place the finals of the 'Dance Dance Revolution US Championships' were coming to an end. These championships marked a stellar first effort for KDE in the US, and a learning process in how to run an event. However concerns regarding the third party tasked by KDE to organize the event continued to rumble on the BEMANI fan forums, with claims of penny pinching on the travel expenses for some of the finalists for the December finale in Las Vegas; the Stinger will be running a summation of the tournament events in forthcoming coverage.
One of the major developments, that seems to have been missed by many in the trade, was the culmination of the 'Dance Dance Revolution National Championships' after heats the final took place at GameWorks Las Vegas on December 5th. Despite taking place some time after IAAPA in November, the importance of this public tournament was still vital. After a series of play-offs across the country, the winners were gathered for a playoff to find the champions and award prizes. The event took place with a mixture of good nature and confusion. The marketing and organizational company B2B had been hired by Konami USA to run the event and had been the victim of some management changes as the DDR specialist left the company after the first heats. This left the management with little knowledge of the workings of the DDR community, which they tried to address. However it became clear that the players themselves had a better handle on what was needed; to date coverage of the final had been only from the fan sites. The final saw the National Champions crowned, and it was reported that KDR and B2B felt that this 'Beta' event was a success with another event planned for 2010. However those that attended felt that the KDE team needs to be aware that there were some serious shortcomings with the organizational structure and player relationships this year - issues they need to address if they are to avoid eroding the player support the event was created to build (some suggested a leaf should be taken from previous Andamiro events).
News Story with thanks to Kevin Williams. Please visit
www.thestingerreport.com for others.
