Exclusive Sega News from London’s Arcade Show
Sega Amusements Europe unveils secret project
The big videogame news from London’s ATEI show at Earl’s Court this week, aside from our first look at Virtua Tennis 3 which we reported on last night, is the announcement from Sega Amusements Europe and Empire Interactive of ‘Ford Racing Full Blown’.
Ford Racing Full Blown is a project that sees Sega premier a game that is fruition of a partnership between Sega and Britsoft publisher Empire Interactive’s leading game development studio Razorworks. Check out our pics of the beast here, along with some stunning screens. We’ve also thrown in a few other tasty pics from our trip to ATEI, as we finally managed to pin down that snapper from yesterday! Check out, amongst other arcade goodness, Tekken 5, Pro Evolution Soccer 2006 (scheduled for Q3 2006 release in Europe) and House of the Dead 4.
Ford Racing Full Blown has been a highly secretive project that has never been seen on the secret tests sites, not been shown or mentioned at any trade previews or mentioned in any press releases. SPOnG is first to bring you this great arcade news.
This project marks a significant step for Sega Amusements Europe Ltd, as it’s the first time it has developed an arcade game in Europe. “Since the Sega Sammy merger there has been a desire to localise games and this is the first example of this ideology. Ford Racing Full Blown is the first time a game has been specifically designed to appeal to European tastes,” commented Sega Chief Paul Williams.
SPOnG managed to grab a few quick laps on FRFB at ATEI earlier today and can report that the game has all the hallmarks of a great arcade racer. Like Empire/Xplosiv’s popular console series it features a range of beautifully designed Ford vehicles and allows the player to drive on loads of different terrain – enabling you to power round beaches, lost villages, the deep south in all kinds of weather, choosing from a classic ’78 Ford Capri, the Ford GT concept, an off-road vehicle or the latest Focus Rally car.
The game also boasts a very unique in-built upgrade feature - on a certain date after launch, every cabinet across Europe will automatically upgrade itself by adding eight replacement cars and 12 replacement tracks.
“This allows the game to get a new boost of life, and advertising screens will promote this fact in the days leading up to the software drop – it really is a new and unique feature” said Head of Research and Development for Sega, Patrick Michael, speaking exclusively to SPOnG this morning from the show floor.
“As well as being a huge attraction to the operators, who don’t have to shell out any more cash to keep upgrading machines every year, its also a great encouragement to groups of six drivers to keep coming back to try out the new content in multiplayer mode.”
“This project is a first for Sega Amusements Europe and opens up the future for our product output. Sega are very proud to work with Empire and Hollywood Gaming on this project” added Mr Michael.
Mr Michael confirmed with SPOnG that the game marks a significant new step in Sega’s approach to developing for the arcade market. He also confirmed that Sega Amusements Europe is ‘in discussions’ with a number of companies regarding future localised Arcade development for Europe, though would not confirm any specifics.
SPOnG is just happy to see that Sega is still a forward-thinking force in the arcade videogame arena, and we’ll be sure to bring you any more Sega Amusements Europe news as we get it.
Ford Street Racing from Xplosiv will also be out on PS2 in February. Watch this space for the review.
Ford Racing Full Blown is a project that sees Sega premier a game that is fruition of a partnership between Sega and Britsoft publisher Empire Interactive’s leading game development studio Razorworks. Check out our pics of the beast here, along with some stunning screens. We’ve also thrown in a few other tasty pics from our trip to ATEI, as we finally managed to pin down that snapper from yesterday! Check out, amongst other arcade goodness, Tekken 5, Pro Evolution Soccer 2006 (scheduled for Q3 2006 release in Europe) and House of the Dead 4.
Ford Racing Full Blown has been a highly secretive project that has never been seen on the secret tests sites, not been shown or mentioned at any trade previews or mentioned in any press releases. SPOnG is first to bring you this great arcade news.
This project marks a significant step for Sega Amusements Europe Ltd, as it’s the first time it has developed an arcade game in Europe. “Since the Sega Sammy merger there has been a desire to localise games and this is the first example of this ideology. Ford Racing Full Blown is the first time a game has been specifically designed to appeal to European tastes,” commented Sega Chief Paul Williams.
SPOnG managed to grab a few quick laps on FRFB at ATEI earlier today and can report that the game has all the hallmarks of a great arcade racer. Like Empire/Xplosiv’s popular console series it features a range of beautifully designed Ford vehicles and allows the player to drive on loads of different terrain – enabling you to power round beaches, lost villages, the deep south in all kinds of weather, choosing from a classic ’78 Ford Capri, the Ford GT concept, an off-road vehicle or the latest Focus Rally car.
The game also boasts a very unique in-built upgrade feature - on a certain date after launch, every cabinet across Europe will automatically upgrade itself by adding eight replacement cars and 12 replacement tracks.
“This allows the game to get a new boost of life, and advertising screens will promote this fact in the days leading up to the software drop – it really is a new and unique feature” said Head of Research and Development for Sega, Patrick Michael, speaking exclusively to SPOnG this morning from the show floor.
“As well as being a huge attraction to the operators, who don’t have to shell out any more cash to keep upgrading machines every year, its also a great encouragement to groups of six drivers to keep coming back to try out the new content in multiplayer mode.”
“This project is a first for Sega Amusements Europe and opens up the future for our product output. Sega are very proud to work with Empire and Hollywood Gaming on this project” added Mr Michael.
Mr Michael confirmed with SPOnG that the game marks a significant new step in Sega’s approach to developing for the arcade market. He also confirmed that Sega Amusements Europe is ‘in discussions’ with a number of companies regarding future localised Arcade development for Europe, though would not confirm any specifics.
SPOnG is just happy to see that Sega is still a forward-thinking force in the arcade videogame arena, and we’ll be sure to bring you any more Sega Amusements Europe news as we get it.
Ford Street Racing from Xplosiv will also be out on PS2 in February. Watch this space for the review.
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Comments
LUPOS 26 Jan 2006 14:53
1/2
tis kind of sadening that the greatest arcade hardware ever made doesnt seem to even outclass the 360. let alone the ps3 (probably) :/
one of the biggest draws of the arcade was playing awsoem clooking games that your home console could never pull off. sure i hade street fighter 2 on gen/snes but it was not as good... wasnt till the ps2 came out that we got arcade perfect conversions like mk3... but by then the hardware mk3 was on had been out a while. the reason no one careas about arcades is cause they games they have at home look just as good or better. (although the screen ssega has on those are probably very nice)
at any rate... i want to have arcade games that make my eyes bleed... i want house of the dead that looks real... with a vr head set... and motion tracking gun... and sitt in racing games where every window has video on it! make arcades absurd again! pro evo soccer arcade?!?! am i the only oen who thinsk thats retarded? course beign surroudn by euopeans i may well be ;)
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one of the biggest draws of the arcade was playing awsoem clooking games that your home console could never pull off. sure i hade street fighter 2 on gen/snes but it was not as good... wasnt till the ps2 came out that we got arcade perfect conversions like mk3... but by then the hardware mk3 was on had been out a while. the reason no one careas about arcades is cause they games they have at home look just as good or better. (although the screen ssega has on those are probably very nice)
at any rate... i want to have arcade games that make my eyes bleed... i want house of the dead that looks real... with a vr head set... and motion tracking gun... and sitt in racing games where every window has video on it! make arcades absurd again! pro evo soccer arcade?!?! am i the only oen who thinsk thats retarded? course beign surroudn by euopeans i may well be ;)
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Coxy 26 Jan 2006 22:16
2/2
Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection looks so cool, that'll definately drag me back to the arcades, I hope it gets a PS2 conversion at some point in time. (alough i'm fully aware it kind of defeats the object of having it in arcades in the first place.)