Sega Amusements displayed a range of innovative games at AmEx, held this week in Dublin, Ireland.
“The Irish market is tough at the moment as the country is having a bad time economically and it needs to be built back up again,” said the company’s Aaron Gilbey. “That is why we have tried to come up with something different to give operators the edge. Also, we have a good customer base here and it is important for us to support them by exhibiting here.”
He said that basketball and bowling games, photo booths and prize games were doing well, although video driving games were less strong. Taking centre stage on the Sega stand was a large cabinet game which has an X-Box as its core. Players can play games by making physical movements in front of the cabinet in the style of a Nintendo Wii. “And content is no problem because new X-Box games are coming out all the time,” said Gilbey.
Gun games have traditionally done well in Ireland and Sega presented Golden Gun, a game with bling-style golden weapons that has been on test in the UK and taken “good money.” It is different in that successful players collect ‘money’ that can be used in a virtual shop.
Another innovation came in the form of Fantasy Entertainment’s Foto Game Zone, which takes pictures of people in print-out fomats novel enough to make sure they are retained. The venue can also put its logo on the print-outs to act as a permanent reminder for the customer.
“This piece is indicative of our aim to appeal to retail venues as well as arcades,” Gilbey told InterGame. “Retailers only like certain products and we believe that Foto Game Zone is one of these. It is also true that retailers want a certain look, so sometimes we have to change things a little to make a product fit in. It is down to us to find the right products for the right operators.”
Sega has a couple of useful partners in Ireland with whom it is developing new ideas. One of these is Sonic Sega Racing, which combines the video driving game and redemption sectors by offering tickets to successful players. “It’s a good game in its own right, but adding ticket gives it a whole new dimension,” said Gilbey. “It comes out in April and the feedback so far has been good, so this could be a breakthrough.”
