Commentary

China takes the lead in amusement reinvestment

The 2021 Asia Amusements & Attractions Expo marked the largest amusement industry event, revealing numerous trends that will impact the West.

Image courtesy of 3MindWave.

August 23, 2021 by Kevin Williams

The Chinese market has been one of the first amusement markets to attempt to relaunch and return to business, with many facilities now operational, and the amusement trade once again holding full physical events — rather than their brief dalliance with virtual events. Marking this move was the holding of the 2021 Asia Amusements & Attractions Expo in Guangzhou, China. This was seen by many as the largest amusement and attraction products event, by sheer scale of exhibition coverage — and this year's event had a lot to catch up on and revealed many of the key new trends that will play a part in shaping Western amusement business.

Amusement powerhouse Wahlap Technology, known in the West but a much more powerful force in its home territory, showed original releases alongside amusement pieces manufactured under license. One of the new releases was the arcade-street-racer called "Asphalt 9 Legends – Arcade DX," a four-player network racer, with a 43-inch display racing illuminated cab with motion base, wind vents and player camera. The game was, in fact, developed by Spanish studio Gameloft in 2018 as a consumer release, and then updated for amusement deployment by IGS, with a host of licensed vehicles.

Wahlap steps forward

The appearance of a new racer from Wahlap also marked the launch of a new initiative within the corporation, with the debut of the Wahlap E-Sports Championship. The company had its previous racer, 'Speed Driver 5," hooked up to the new tournament championship platform that will encourage e-sports competition between connected machines and will culminate in a live streamed championship event with prizes. This marks the latest amusement manufacturer to delve into the lucrative waters of e-sports amusement-based platforms.

Following the more physical play path, Wahlap showed "Crazy Rafting" — a reimagining of the concept inspired by the 1997 Namco classic "Rapid River." Two players take control of the oars interface of their little boat as it is swept down a river, attempting to avoid dangers and obstructions. The bench seating cabinet sits on a rudimentary motion base.

Continuing the water theme, the company also had the latest outing for "Jet Blaster." First launched and then vanished in the build-up to the global health crisis, the jet ski racing game was wheeled out again for a proper presentation, now with four-player network action, heavily inspired by the 1996 Sega classic "Wave Runner."

Physical gaming was also seen with the new release "Skip Time" — the players run on the spot on the special floor sensor, while controlling their character on screen. Like the treadmill video games, this latest interpretation offered more features.

The Wahlap booth also included third party releases from Raw Thrills "Nitro Truck" as well as a circular touchscreen rhythm game from Sega and "Pokemon Ga-Ole," a battling game with card vending, partnered with Takara Tomy.

The new virtual reality concept "VR Agent" was also shown on the Wahlap booth — the concept, rather than being a conventional VR deployment, places the 3Glasses Blubur S2 VR headset goggles mounted on the weapon the player wields, rather than worn as a headset, which is automatically tethered in a self-service kiosk design, with the ability to link four cabinets together.

The game itself was developed by 3MindWave, and previously presented at last year's AAA, but has now been taken up by IGS/Wahlap. This is an unusual approach, turning the VR system more as a mounted scope rather than an immersive viewing experience.

One element of the Wahlap booth was the presentation of the SaaS amusement business management platform, which is moving to becoming a standard infrastructure, and the company, in China, is an operator of amusement venues under the "Funloop Land" brand.

Self-service VR kiosks arrive

Another major exhibitor was Unis Technology, its VR represented by the previous success story of "Ultra Moto VR" — but Unis also showed the self-service VR kiosks system.

Also, Leke VR had a self-service VR system on display — along with a selection of their previous releases.

Other exhibitors showed VR kiosk approaches. On the joint NetVios/Sanm Technology/Movie Power booth were the new VR upright kiosks, "NetVios Mini," incorporating an automated tether system and incorporating the HP G3 headset. This platform was running the Western game "Raw Data," developed by Survios and offering a network cabinet capability based on the NetVios tournament/e-sport platform. While the hardware for this system has been manufactured by Movie Power, it was revealed that the platform will also support the Wahlap SaaS management system, offering a combined library of popular western VR games to choose from.

NetVios is a joint venture between Chinese NetEase, a Chinese online service and gaming provider, and U.S. consumer game studio Survios. The new operation, launched last year, hopes to bring American game content to the Chinese market. The business is hoping that the VR self-service kiosks will prove a strong ecosystem, supporting an e-sports and management platform.

Survios has previously attempted to enter the VR arcade scene, launching a site and installing a VR installation at the Las Vegas Linq Hotel, as well as a partnership with Immotion previously in this field.

The booth also showed the "NetVios Mini," running "Raw Data" along with "Beat Saber" — the popular VR music beat game.

Chinese developer Arccer Amusement revealed its platform, "Dance Battle," which not only tracks the players' feet on their illuminated dance floor, but also the arm movements of the two players as they dance to the game.

Ace Amusement steps forward

Ace Amusement has been gaining Western recognition through its representation by UDC, and the company was on the AAA'21 show floor with its latest games, including a two-player game where the players roll their character on screen to push out their competitor.

The game uses a large trackball-style interface to control the characters and two cabinets are able to be connected for four-player action. This is a genre of game that has been seen from other manufacturers.

Ace also had a plethora of its water splash shooting screen games for younger players. One of the perennial trends of the show was the popularity of crane games, with hordes of different designs as seen on the vast Season Amusement booth — interest in the skill merch dispensers is seeming to not diminish.

Along with the VR and amusement, other new technologies made a showing on the expansive show floor. The deployment of projection mapping and mixed reality experiences were seen, with exhibitors such as Sindrax Technology showing its "kidtainment" based interactive floor and wall projection systems.

Several other exhibitors also promoted this approach, with the deployment of several new facilities using large interactive wall projections, demonstrating how the genre is growing in popularity.

Augmented reality has also revived. One such example on the AAA'21 show floor was "Kun," a multi-player AR karting experience. The players sit in electronic buggies and steer around the space, blasting their fellow players — the action is represented through the AR glasses system.

'Vendertainment' emerges

One additional element incorporated into AAA'21 was the inclusion of the Self-Service Technology & Vending Summit. Along with more traditional vending business, several examples of robot vending systems and robotic serving systems were seen — illustrating the growth of interest in machine learning platforms.

Another interesting trend in "vendertainment" was the appearance of 3D printer vending stations, allowing users to insert their designs to be rendered by the 3D printer inside, with examples seen from manufacturers such as Miniwow.

As the economy slowly recovers from the pandemic, Asia has taken a lead role in the amusement sector.

(Editor's note: Extracts from this blog are from recent coverage in The Stinger Report, published by KWP and its director, Kevin Williams, the leading interactive out-of-home entertainment news service covering the immersive frontier and beyond.)

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About Kevin Williams

Along with advisory positions with other entrants into the market he is founder and publisher of the Stinger Report, “a-must-read” e-zine for those working or investing in the amusement, attractions and entertainment industry. He is a prolific writer and provides regular news columns for main trade publications. He also travels the globe as a keynote speaker, moderator and panelist at numerous industry conferences and events. Author of “The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities,” the only book on this aspect of the market, with the second edition scheduled for a 2023 release.

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