Commentary

Street racing, immersion and more, Asia’s on the move

Asian entertainment innovation continues on many fronts, with a continued emphasis on VR.

Image: Adobe Stock.

June 5, 2023 by Kevin Williams

Street racer themes, in tandem with immersive entertainment, are not driving all the Asian amusement innovation of late (no pun intended), but there's certainly no shortage.

Wahlap Technology released for the Asian market, specifically China, "Initial D The Arcade" through a partnership with Sega, building on the popularity of the street racer and supporting the player QR code mode and popular tournament feature.

Wahlap also released "Asphalt 9 Legend Arcade," in both the new DX motion cockpit version and the new VR version — soon to be rolled out by LAI Games in the West.

The Wahlap operation also runs its own China-based amusement facility operation, including the Funloop Land chain, an unsung powerhouse in the amusement trade.

Asian innovation knows no bounds

Beyond racer themes, Yuto Games released "Tank Superiority" — a two-player deluxe tank simulator with driver and gunner blasting enemy tanks. The game borrows from an Injoy Motion release called "Allied Tank Attack," seen back in 2013.

On the AR front, the company released its version of "AR Commando Sniper 3" — with four players using sniper rifles with scopes, blasting the enemy.

Arccer Amusement released the latest version of its "Dance Battle" system — what it calls a "somatosensory dance game machine," which uses an illuminated dance stage to track the players' movements along with the music game.

Redemption innovation

Prize and redemption machines aren't standing still.

The "neon" style of cabinet for these machines, especially the new look cranes, is also permeating the Asian amusement scene, seen in several new style arcades in the territory.

It will be interesting to see how quickly this new style of cabinet will be deployed in the Western market, and how their adoption will force operators to update their offerings in the face of looking outdated if they do not.

Tecway released several redemption and amusement pieces, including "Star Raider" — a two-player ball launching game, but incorporating a translucent overlay display, adding scoring and game elements to the physical action.

Unis Technology intro'd "Emoji Frenzy" — a four-player game developed in partnership with The emoji Co., the latest game based on the popular brand, following on from last year's launch of "Emoji Party" and "Emoji Roller."

Andamiro released its "Pump It Up: Phoenix" — the latest in the 20th anniversary releases of the game, and a release in a new cabinet. This cabinet has incorporated the modern trends of the market with LED corner lighting, along with new speakers and subwoofers to, as the marketing stated, "unleash the wall of sound."

Along with this, the cabinet uses a 55-inch HD 4k display — with the machine featuring an extensive library of music, many of which are popular songs across the series' history. This was all supported by the Pass card system, logging into the online PIU tournament service.

The Pump It Up players community has been ripe with information on the future of the series. Now, with confirmation that the game series is continuing, the only thing left is to hear details of its Western placement.

VR doesn't let up

Asian VR manufacturers are still heavily promoting "VR Arcade" or "VR Park" opportunities to retail venues. Mall operators are installing an off-the-shelf "VR venue" comprising a selection of the most popular Asian-built VR systems. These still ride high on the novelty factor of VR with the audience.

Movie Power released a lineup including "VR Super Agent Simulator," with the upright kiosk featuring a tethered gun visor system, as seen from other VR kiosks. The system was deployed in a twin kiosks configuration.

The company also released its "Sky Ride" theater enclosure — with four guests sitting on special motion seats within an enclosure, experiencing a flying theater style VR ride with 5D effects.

FunInVR Gaming released "VR Magic UFO," a five-seat motion VR simulator with a 360-degree rotational motion envelope. With over 10 experiences available for the platform, riders wear DPVR headsets and are blasted by 5D effects during the ride. The popular "VR Racing Moto" features a futuristic motorcycle VR game system, with motion and effects while riding the cycle.

Empower VR's "VR Space Planet" 12-rider simulator looks like a giant UFO, along with a six-seater bench ride, "VR Flying Theater."

Leke VR launched its VR simulator range, with a six-rider VR motion simulator, an updated version of the Leke VR Corps Pro upright VR kiosk, as well as its "Leke VR X-Space" free-roaming arena for up-to-six players, and its "Leke VR 360 Cinema," a two-rider 360-degree motion platform experience.

Var VR released its interpretation of the popular upright kiosk tethered gun visor system, with "VART VR Shooter," another interpretation of the visor and gun combination, with a design for the kiosk to have three players taking part in the game.

VR standardization?

In light of the continuing VR innovation, AAMA has formed a sub-committee of board members advised by Bob Cooney, who has been retained for the VR Summit and to assist in crafting the survey to collect actionable data. This is then shared with the membership towards standardization of VR hardware and to address those issues. The questionnaire was scheduled to roll out to operators and location owners to supply information for the survey which will need to be completed by June.

This standardization approach is hoped to build on what was last seen from the AAMA on its standardization of card payment — and even earlier still, the work the AAMA undertook with the adoption of the JAMMA Standard that changed the face of the video amusement scene back in 1985. This VR standardization initiative builds on the previous VR Collective educational group formed by Cooney last year.

(Editor's note: Extracts from this blog are from recent coverage in The Stinger Report, published by Spider Entertainment 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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