UltraCade Brings Feeding Frenzy to Arcade

This article comes from Highwaygames.com

UltraCade Technologies today announced the coin-op release of Feeding Frenzy, an action-packed deep-sea challenge with beautiful undersea graphics and addictive game-play. Originally released by Sprout Games as a consumer PC game, it has been in the top-10 charts since its release. To help bring this game to a wider audience, Sprout licensed it to UltraCade, the experts in classic multi-game machines. The UltraCade team converted the consumer title into a coin-op game and added many new features including a brand new full prize ticket redemption mode and the UltraCade proprietary automated difficulty-tuning system. In the press, the game has been received with enthusiasm. The Wall Street Journal's Lee Gomes singled it out in a recent article, describing it as, "a descendant of the Asteroids-style game from the early days of video games, in an aquarium setting." It has also received numerous positive reviews online from its players where it has been described as "addictive", "brilliant", and "a great game to watch, play, and share." "We grew up playing arcade games as kids, so to see our game turned into a coin-op unit itself is ahuge thrill," said James Gwertzman, managing director of Sprout Games. "UltraCade Technologies did a great job transforming our title; we can't wait to see people playing Feeding Frenzy in arcades around the world." The Feeding Frenzy arcade machine features built-in fish bubbler tanks on both sides of the cabinet with running water and moving artificial fish. The cabinet also features an aquatic theme with wavelike designs covering its exterior. These unique aesthetic features work to attract new players from across the room.

Based on marketing research results, UltraCade designed the traditional 27" cabinet for the mass customers and also designed a new 19" cabinet to fit the average height of a 10 year old. "Our industry has been developing cookie cutter cabinet designs for years, and we feel that in this new day and age, every aspect of the game needs to be evaluated to further enhance the customer's overall experience," said David R. Foley, CEO of UltraCade Technologies. "By taking the time to research our customers and their playing habits, UltraCade is able to hone in our cabinet design to target specific customers. Our beta testers love this new approach to game play." Feeding Frenzy also features UltraCade's proprietary Artificial Intelligence systems, Intelli-Tune and its newest system, Intelli-Ticket. Intelli-Tune follows the machines usage and game play and allows the operator to set desired average play times. The machine will then monitor the player's behavior and adjust the game's difficulty level automatically allowing the machine to tune itself to each unique location, which ultimately meets the operator's desired play time. Intelli-Ticket provides maximum flexibility to the operator by automatically adjusting the way the machine calculates dispensed tickets, this ensure operators a one-time game set up and saves them time. Feeding Frenzy Arcade features three modes of play – all unique to UltraCade's version, including traditional arcade game play, arcade play with redemption tickets and pure redemption mode. Operators now have a more flexible play offering to choose from and appealing to a broader user audience.