BANDAI NAMCO, one of the main draws for any show, had its work cut out with the amount of popular titles it had to display at IAAPA this week.
But of course the games giant handled its plethora of big games with the usual competence. “The show’s been great, very well attended,” said commercial and sales director, James Anderson. “We split the stand into two sections, one for our own developed products for the US market and the other for our distribution side.”
“We have a new partner, The Really Big Crane Company and their cranes have been developed by operators in the US with numbers in the field in excess of around 800 so we’re really excited to have them on board.” Find a Key has a unique feature that allows the player to grab a key with the claw and then open a locker on the front of the machine to retrieve a prize. A second model, The Really Big Machine is as its name suggests, a huge crane that holds inflatable balls with a ticket value inside so it offers a redemption angle.
Raw Thrills’ new Superbikes 3 title received a lot of attention with Anderson commenting that the reaction to it has been “unbelievable in such a short time.” The new two-player variant of Halo Fireteam Raven was present and received similar praise. “The four-player version is red-hot but the new, smaller version fits perfectly into almost any location. It’s the same size as other Raw Thrills products such as Walking Dead and Jurassic Park, so its dimensions are familiar to operators. We’re expecting it to ship in Q1,” added Anderson.
Adrenaline Amusements were well represented with the smaller size Tomb Raider and Rabbids Hollywood that too are compact versions of highly successful and high revenue earning titles. The Canadian manufacturer’s redemption piece Block Breaker was also busy with its skill-based ball toss gameplay against a video screen.
The rollout of the company's recently acquired global license for Halo plush and prizes took place at the show with the line complementing the game. Additionaly, DC Comics licences were represented by the new two-player pusher and the first official showing of the Joker vs Batman Laughing Madness air hockey table.
Anderson concluded: “The US market is so strong at the moment. Testament to this is Mario Kart, which is still the strongest driving game out there. We can’t build them quick enough. A thousand units produced in a year for a four year old game is just incredible.”
Image one: (L-R) Steve Ignarski, national sales manger, Bandai Namco Amusement America with James Anderson.
Image two: Darrell Simmonds, EMEA sales manager with the new range of Halo plush.
