This was my first visit to
EAG Expo, the annual trade show for the amusement industry, held at the ExCel
London Exhibition Centre. The show
encompasses all aspects of the industry, including gambling and
redemption. But it was the video games I came here for, and there was a decent selection of new releases on display. Best of all, all the games were set to free play.
Daytona Championship USA
Without doubt the game I was
most excited about. The cabinet itself
is very striking, with its 47” LED screen, video billboard marquee, engine
under the seat and cool lighting effects.
The game was great fun and
proved popular throughout the show. The
music is a slightly reworked version of the original and just as catchy!
The game has six tracks - two
beginner, two advanced and two expert.
The two expert tracks were not available for play at the show. This build was 75% complete.
Below is some game footage.
Daytona International Speedway
The game currently uses an
‘up / down’ gear shifter.
Whilst the game feels more
like a reboot and doesn’t stray too far from the original, I can’t wait to see
Daytona back in the arcades. I hope it’s
a success and paves the way for the return of more Sega franchises.
The Walking Dead – Play Mechanix / Raw Thrills
The game was great fun and
proved very popular. I’m not familiar
with the show, but this didn’t hamper my enjoyment. The cross bow controller complete with reload
feature is very cool and worked well. As
the player progressed, there was a selection of weapons that could be picked
up, including hammer, nail gun and stilson.
I liked the mixture of being inundated by zombies and the relentless
shooting, and ‘bullet time’ action events requiring precision shots.
Cruis ‘n Blast – Raw Thrills / Nintendo
This is definitely more of a
fantasy racer. Pressing the tunes button
reveals the ‘hidden’ vehicles, which include a London London
Space Invaders Frenzy – Raw Thrills
Whilst the game keeps the
Space Invaders theme, the gameplay of the original is exchanged for relentless
shooting.
Ghost Busters – ICE / Play Mechanix / Raw Thrills
Shoot ping pong balls at ghosts
and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
Mario & Sonic At The Rio 2016 Olympic Games Arcade Edition – Nintendo / Sega
A bit like track and field,
but were you actually have to run!
Electrocoin
Sadly there were no
videogames on the Electrocoin stand, but they did have some nice new pinball
releases on display.
Heighway Pinball
I was looking forward to
playing Alien pinball, but unfortunately it had some teething problems.
The show even had a couple of
classics.
Please Zoltar, I’m really
happy to see a new Daytona, but can we have OutRun3?
There seems to be a boom in
gaming aimed at the really young.
I’m
sure my four year old daughter would have loved it here and kind of regret not
bringing her along. One such game was
‘Let’s Go Safari’, by Sega. The player
drives and learns about animals, and even had a button to set off fireworks!
Some freebies I managed to
grab. Check out that Daytona water!
Some more pics of the show.
