New Arcade games in 2023 are AWESOME!

RetroRalph·video·8m 51s·analyzed·Apr 7, 2023

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.025

TL;DR

Retro Ralph highlights cutting-edge arcade and VR tech at 2023 Pinball Expo, praising innovation across multiple manufacturers.

Summary

Retro Ralph tours the Amusement Pinball Expo 2023 show floor, showcasing recent arcade and pinball releases including Raw Thrills' Fast and Furious arcade cabinet with dual 65-inch screens and motion, Stern Pinball's Foo Fighters pinball machine, Arcade1Up's Avian Knights, multiple VR experiences (Hollowgate Ghostbusters VR Academy, HaloVR with force feedback), and novelty arcade machines like an attendant-less cotton candy maker. Ralph emphasizes technological innovations across arcade gaming, particularly in VR, haptic feedback, and motion controls, and expresses optimism about the arcade industry's future.

Key Claims

Fast and Furious arcade game features six tracks, eight cars, dual 65-inch screens, motion, and QR stat tracking
high confidence · Ralph directly describing Raw Thrills' booth display
Foo Fighters pinball just came out a couple weeks ago and hasn't started shipping to everybody yet
high confidence · Ralph at Stern Pinball booth, direct observation of Pro and Premium Edition models
Arcade1Up's Avian Knights is their first entry into the arcade game space
high confidence · Ralph explicitly states 'Arcade1Up made this game' and describes it as their first arcade game entry
The VR motorcycle game from Play Mechanics will come out in summer of 2023
high confidence · Ralph quoting information from Play Mechanics representatives at the show
The attendant-less cotton candy machine retails for $13,000
high confidence · Ralph directly stating the retail price while demonstrating the machine

Notable Quotes

“You get a very happy Retro Ralph”
Retro Ralph@ 0:06 — Opening statement expressing enthusiasm for the Expo experience
“Raw Thrills is bringing the heat”
Retro Ralph@ 0:27 — Positive assessment of Raw Thrills' Fast and Furious arcade offering
“This is super cool. All right, I didn't think much of it when I walked up to it for a second, but this is totally modern... When you hit it, it's almost like this air haptic kind of feedback thing”
Retro Ralph@ 1:14 — Description of discovering haptic feedback technology in an unnamed arcade game
“I have not played a game, an arcade game that's VR, that made me this excited in a long time”
Retro Ralph@ 5:29 — Strong endorsement of the Play Mechanics VR motorcycle experience, indicating standout quality
“I wish the experience was longer. I was having so much fun”
Retro Ralph@ 7:09 — Only criticism of Hollowgate Ghostbusters VR Academy experience—suggests high engagement quality
“I feel like the future is bright for arcade gaming”
Retro Ralph@ 8:14 — Overall sentiment about arcade industry trajectory based on Expo observations

Entities

Retro RalphpersonRaw ThrillscompanyStern PinballcompanyFoo Fightersgame Arcade1UpcompanyAvian KnightsgameEugene JarvispersonPlay MechanicscompanyHalo Fireteam Ravengame

Signals

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business_signal: Arcade1Up expanding from replica cabinet business into original arcade game development with Avian Knights
high · Ralph explicitly identifies Avian Knights as Arcade1Up's 'first entry into the arcade game space' and describes it as 'epic'
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community_signal: Amusement Pinball Expo serving as major showcase venue for new arcade and pinball technology with hundreds of vendors
high · Ralph describes 'hundreds of the latest vendors showing off the newest technology and arcade gaming all in the same place' at the Expo
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announcement: Fast and Furious arcade cabinet by Raw Thrills featuring dual 65-inch screens, motion, and QR stat tracking represents significant innovation in arcade racing cabinet design
high · Ralph provides detailed specifications of Raw Thrills' new game showcased at Expo booth
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product_concern: Foo Fighters pinball experiencing delayed shipping despite recent release announcement
medium · Ralph notes Foo Fighters 'just came out a couple weeks ago' but 'hasn't started shipping to everybody yet' when viewing Pro and Premium models at Stern booth
~
sentiment_shift: Positive industry sentiment regarding arcade gaming's future with emphasis on technological innovation and immersive experiences
high · Ralph concludes with 'I feel like the future is bright for arcade gaming' and recommends finding local arcade venues; expresses awe at Eugene Jarvis meeting and enthusiasm throughout tour

Topics

VR and immersive arcade technologyprimaryPinball machine releases and gameplayprimaryArcade gaming innovation and hardwareprimaryForce feedback and haptic technologysecondaryArcade1Up expansion into original game developmentsecondaryIndustry sentiment and future outlooksecondary

Sentiment

positive(0.88)— Ralph expresses consistent enthusiasm throughout the Expo tour. High praise for VR experiences, haptic feedback technology, and overall arcade innovation. Only minor criticism is length of Ghostbusters VR experience. Strong optimism about arcade industry future.

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.027

What do you get when you have hundreds of the latest vendors showing off the newest technology in arcade gaming all in the same place? You get a very happy Retro Ralph. So let's check out the Amusement Expo International show floor and see what gems are hiding around each corner. First up, Raw Thrills' new Fast and the Furious arcade game. This thing is sick. It's got six tracks, eight awesome cars to choose from, QR stat tracking, not one screen, but two 65-inch HD screens for the ultimate immersion. And to top it off, it's got motion too. Raw Thrills is bringing the heat. Alright, let's see what else the expo has to offer. Some games that they have are on consoles or PC, but they will always try to specify something unique so that if you're playing it in an arcade, you're getting a unique arcade experience. Dude, no, dude, hold on. This is super cool. All right, I didn't think much of it when I walked up to it for a second, but this is totally modern Silent Scope. But like, this is cool, man. When you hit it, it's almost like this air haptic kind of feedback thing. This is super cool, and I only shot like two people. It's super expensive too, but this is badass. The VR this year is next level. I heard the new Hologate Ghostbusters VR Academy is here, so I can't wait to check that out. But we need to keep moving for now, so let's see what else we can find. Avian Knights provides a revival of classic arcade gameplay and competition. Are you ready to claim the title of Grand World Champion with some crazy mounted mayhem combat? Battle it out for rank via multiplayer, arcade mode, and top the leaderboards. What makes this even more crazy is the fact that Aladdin made this game. Yeah the dudes that made that awesome Aladdin replica Star Wars yoke. Those guys' first entry into the arcade game space and this is epic. It seems like what old is new again everywhere I look. Everything from Hungry Hungry Hippos to Skee-Ball. This is hitting me with the nostalgic feelings pretty hard, but right now this is exactly where I want to be. All right so I'm at the Stern booth. This is Foo Fighters. It just came out a couple weeks ago. It hasn't started shipping to everybody yet, but here's the pro model and here's the premium model. So you'll see like there's definitely some differences in the play field. This is my first time playing it. I haven't turned, I haven't even shot one ball yet, so I'm really, I'm really interested to check it out. Don't film that. That was terrible. So you can kind of save yourself with this little post that pops up. I don't know exactly what that's called, but it'll pop up and you can save your ball. Like you basically move that flipper up and it'll bounce off that. I haven't actually been able to try it yet. So it locked one of the balls where I have no idea how to play this yet, but it locked one of the balls up by that little alien dude. Looks great. We actually came in to the conference with only like four hours to spare, so I haven't had like really a lot of time with this, but in the couple of minutes I played it, it's super fun. It's got a really neat element. I don't know how I got up to the upper play field, but I did. That was cool. The alien locked one of the balls, but I only got one ball locked. But this is beautiful looking. It seems like it's fun to play so far. I'm going to have to have more time with it, but I'm getting one myself, so I'll have more information on it once I receive it, but pretty cool. I'm having fun with it so far. Just got a chance to meet Eugene Jarvis. I am like, I wish I had it on camera. I was in awe, we talked about, I geeked out. I was like, oh my gosh, I love Robotron. I was like, by the way, I own a NARC, and then we started geeking out on that. This is Halo Fireteam Raven. If you remember, I had a clip of this from Castles and Coasters, and at Castles and Coasters, they had that big enclosed one, but this is a brand new sort of way experience that game. If you remember the other one had like mounted guns but this is like a replica of the actual gun from Halo. It's got multiple solenoids in it so you can hear it's got like some killer force feedback. It's got some LED lighting effects. This thing is awesome and it tracks really good. So the technology they're using is proprietary technology that they developed. This is super cool. I think if you're a Halo fan, you're definitely gonna want to check this out. If you look up, they even have a spectator monitor. I didn't even notice that earlier, which is really cool so you can see what everyone's doing. We've checked out some really cool things so far, but let's see if Raw Thrills has anything new in store for 2023. First place. This is so much fun, man. This is awesome. It's hard to describe how cool this is because obviously I'm seeing what's in the headset, you're seeing what's on the spectator screen, but there are a couple things that are just super awesome about this. Number one, the VR is really smooth. I don't have any headache. I don't feel weird. And, you know, we were talking to one of the people that works for Play Mechanics, and they're kind of saying, well, the bike isn't moving by itself. You're moving the bike. So you're—I don't know like it just feels a lot more natural but when you hit the throttle I don't know what they have in this thing for speakers or whatnot but it's crazy it feels like I'm on a real motorcycle I have not played a game, an arcade game that's VR that got me this excited in a long time. Maybe, maybe VR Agent, but this kind of like this is amazing. It's just it's not out yet. It's going to come out. I think they said in the June July so be on the lookout for this in like your local arcade and you do not want to pass this one by. What if I told you there was an arcade machine but instead of playing games it made cotton candy? We for sure got to check this out. You remember last time I was at Amusement Expo there was a Skittles machine and now there's a cotton candy machine? Yeah this machine makes cotton candy. Oh shoot, I broke my cotton candy. This company also makes an ice cream machine, a tendentless. This is really, this is super cool. I'm gonna show you it making it in a second, but I'm really glad we stumbled upon this because we've been, come on dude. It's an attendantless cotton candy machine, retails for $13,000. Super cool for like any kind of arcade or family entertainment center kind of place. You select the color and you select the design and it makes like different flower designs but they also happen to have an ice cream machine too. This is the Hologate Arena. It's one of the coolest turnkey VR platforms on the market. They pride themselves on unique experiences and their newest experience is Ghostbusters VR Academy. I got a chance to check it out and trust me it did not disappoint. I literally felt like I was a Ghostbuster, using a proton pack and trapping ghosts. It was absolutely awesome. You even have a boss battle fight at the end with the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. My only criticism is I wish the experience was longer. I was having so much fun. There's also a new product called Hologate Blitz. This is a full motion simulator to experience what it would be like to drive Ecto-1, but sadly, they didn't bring it to the show. Companies like Hologate have been around for some time now, but they keep pushing the limits of VR. And what makes this so exciting is that they're just getting started. I feel like the technology is constantly evolving, so it will be really interesting to see how far these companies can take it. As you can see, it's VRpalooza here, but check this game out. I don't know the title, but I got to play it, and it literally feels just like VR, but without the VR. Where? Where? Oh. They're all over the place. Oh, whoa, that's weird. Oh, that felt weird. Oh. Oh, there's a boss, I think, coming up. Oh, oh, oh. Uh-oh. Well, that about wraps up my time at Amusement Expo 2023. I only had four hours to spend on the show floor, but man, so many cool things to see. I feel like the future is bright for arcade gaming so go out there find your local arcade bar family entertainment center and enjoy yourself and i will see you on the next one.