AM Press: NEOWAVE in Chicago

Issue August 1, 2004
Last updated on July 27, 2004

Special news

Many new games were unveiled at the AAMA annual meeting.

SCE has decided to unveil the next generation PS2 at E3 in May 2005.

Overseas

Casino operations in Las Vegas are becoming larger due to M&A.

The scheduled opening of Universal Studios Shanghai is expected to be postponed.

Domestic

The “Video Game and Digital Science Exhibition” is being held at the National Museum of Nature and Science.

Arisaka's first quarter saw a significant increase in sales and profits.

News digest of August 1, 2004 issue

The photo shows Dotonbori Minami Koban on the 5th floor of Dotonbori Gokuraku Shopping Street, which Sammy opened on July 2nd.

Main news from 10 years ago

Mr. Shozo Irie was elected as AOU president, and former president Akio Nakanishi and former president Yasuzou Umehara became honorary advisors. Namco has integrated its gaming arcade operating company in the United States as Namco Cybertainment, Inc. NSA conducted a tour of the Chinese AM market in May. Sega introduced “Wingwar” and other works at an exhibition of new works. Mexico's president, Keiichiro Yoshimura, has passed away. (August 1, 1994 issue)

Main news from 20 years ago

The bill to revise the Entertainment Business Act, which would include the establishment of entertainment venues for game arcades, was debated for a long time by the House of Councilors and Local Government Committee, as a series of contradictions and questions arose. Mr. Masuyasu, who was summarily indicted, resigned as NAO's director. Atari's home division was sold to former Commodore president Tramiel. IREM held a 10th anniversary ceremony. (August 1, 1984 issue)

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[News Digest]

1. The American AM Machine Manufacturers/Distributors Association, AAMA, held its annual general meeting in Chicago from July 22nd to 24th, and many new products were unveiled at the mini-exhibition “Distributor Gala” held in conjunction with the meeting, drawing attention. The exhibition was held at the Wyndham Hotel from 7pm on the 23rd, with 22 companies introducing over 50 products and 210 members in attendance. New works unveiled here include Lowthrills' TV drive game machine “The First & The Furious”, Namco's “Tekken 5”, Sega's “Ghost Squad”, and Sammy's “King of Fighters NEOWAVE” for Atomiswave. Chairman Mike Ludowitz, who is currently undergoing surgery following surgery, also appeared at this first event where they relaxed and talked about the product. The annual general meeting itself was held on the morning of the 24th, and business plans were decided upon, as well as the election of some executives, with Frank Cosentino of Namco America continuing to serve as chairman.

2. SCE President Ken Kutaraki announced on July 12th at the “PlayStation Awards 2004” held in Tokyo that the next system after the “PS2” will be unveiled at “E3” next May. The company plans to introduce the development tools in the spring of 2005, with several titles playable at the Tokyo Game Show in the fall. Since the release of PS in December 1994, the number of units shipped worldwide, including PSone, exceeded 100 million units in May of this year, and in the fifth year since its release, PS2 has been enriched with content, and will be released at the end of this year. SCE is the most ambitious company in the field of home video game consoles, with the company preparing to release the handheld PSP, and this year's “Awards 2004” has become an event that symbolizes this attitude. SCE is developing the next-generation general-purpose MPU “Cell” with IBM and Toshiba, and plans to complete a prototype workstation using this by December of this year, which is expected to be installed in the next generation of “PS2.”

3. Namco's autostereoscopic CG video work “Re: Anjyu” has been selected and will be exhibited at the American CG exhibition “Siegraph 2004” (August 8-12, Los Angeles) at the art gallery. This work is based on the CG work “Anjyu,” which was selected for “Sigraph” in 2001 and won the grand prize in the interactive category at the “Japan Media Arts Festival” in the same year, and was made available for viewing in three dimensions using an “autoscopic stereoscopic display” developed by Sanyo Electric. The work was produced by Yasuo Oba of Namco CT Company, and Tomoko Tatsuda was in charge of the music. The autostereoscopic display was announced in September 2002 as a technology that uses a diagonal barrier system in the front of the PDP to generate four viewpoints, allowing stereoscopic viewing from any position. According to Mr. Oba, the work to show “Anjyu” on an “autoscopic stereoscopic display” required “more delicate work than I imagined,” but the finished version gave “the feeling of jumping into the video.”

4. The “Video Games and Digital Science Exhibition” will be held at the National Museum of Nature and Science in Ueno, Tokyo from July 17th, and the earliest TV games on display include Higginbotham's “Tennis for Two”, Steve Russell's “Space War!”, Nolan Bushnell's “Computer Space”, and Atari's “Pong”. Also on display are historical hit arcade TV game machines such as Taito's Speed ​​Race, Western Gun, Space Invaders, and Namco's Pac-Man. However, the main exhibit at this event is a home video game console, and the content includes an explanation of how it works. The event runs until October 11th, and the admission fee is 1,300 yen for adults. The sponsors include ACCS and CESA, but there are no professional trade associations. Commercial manufacturers included Sega, Taito, and Namco.

5. The casino operation in Las Vegas, USA is set to grow in size. This is because on June 14th, major MGM Mirage agreed to acquire Mandalay Bay Resort for $7.9 billion, including assuming debt, and on July 14th, Harrah's Entertainment agreed to acquire Caesars Entertainment for $9.4 billion. However, M&A (mergers and acquisitions) involving casino operating companies requires approval from the Nevada Gaming Control Board and Gaming Commission in addition to approval from the general meeting of shareholders, so it is not expected to take place until next year. For example, Colony Capital agreed to purchase the Las Vegas Hilton from Caesars Entertainment in June 2003, but it wasn't until a year later, in June of this year, that the company was expected to obtain a casino license, and the purchase was realized (the Hilton name will not be changed).

6. Arisaka announced its first quarter (April-June period) results on July 27th, with sales increasing 27% year-on-year to 1,428 million yen, ordinary income increasing 98% to 38 million yen, and net income increasing 94% to 20 million yen, resulting in significant increases in sales and profits. During the period, “Urban Square Kusatsu Ekimae Store” was opened in April, and the number of stores remains at 35, but existing stores such as “Urban Square Daiei Harborland Store”, which opened in the previous fiscal year, are doing well, and game halls had the best growth by 30% by business. However, borrowings related to store openings have increased, and long-term notes payable have decreased by more than 600 million yen, but corporate bonds have increased by 200 million yen, long-term loans payable have increased by about 800 million yen, and fixed liabilities have increased by more than 500 million yen. However, the company said that these were within the planned range, and there has been no change to its earnings forecast for the September interim period.

7. Universal Studios Shanghai, scheduled to be built in Shanghai, China, is scheduled to open in 2006, but it is expected to be postponed. In December 2002, U.S. company Universal Parks & Resorts had reached an agreement with China's Shanghai Waigaoqiao-related companies and the Jinjiang Group to begin construction, but approval from the Chinese central government was required before construction could begin. However, it has recently been revealed that the central government is effectively delaying approval in order to curb the overheating of the Chinese economy. However, the truth appears to be that the Chinese government has not decided to cancel or postpone the project, but is still under review, and as a result, is prolonging the approval process. For this reason, Universal is preparing to start construction at any time while patiently awaiting official approval from the central government, but says that its preparations for this are being scaled back.

8. At the Tokyo Game Show 2004 (September 24-26, Makuhari Messe), a home video game software exhibition sponsored by CESA, 114 companies are scheduled to exhibit in 1,458 booths, slightly more than the previous year's 111 companies and 1,426 booths. In addition to the main general exhibition, the exhibition hall has three corners: game school, product sales, and development tools and middleware.Along with the exhibition, the “TGS Forum” will be held at the international conference hall. Home-use manufacturers that also serve as commercial-use manufacturers exhibiting at the “General Exhibition” include Sega, Sammy, Namco, Taito, Konami, Atlas, SNK Playmore, Capcom, and Tecmo.

◎ Since 1974, the industry magazine "Game Machine" has been reporting industry news on commercial amusement machines, including TV game machines, amusement facilities, etc. twice a month, but the print publication was discontinued at the end of June 2002.