Although the company has dabbled in the mobile market, testing the waters (successfully) with games like Pokémon Go, Nintendo has been reluctant to enter the mobile world of video games. Until now, that is, as news broke yesterday (Sept. 7) that Nintendo and Apple will be teaming up to get Mario on an iPhone by next year. Many experts believe that the wild success of Pokémon Go (which is lauded as the most successful mobile game ever) fast-tracked Nintendo’s plan to move into the mobile market, which makes up a significant and growing chunk of revenue for video game companies…
Author: Casey Minter
Embed, a sponsor of both Birthday University and Foundations Entertainment University, is offering a limited number of full scholarships to the next FEU event, which will take place on Oct. 18-20 in Phoenix. The company reports fantastic turnout to their two recently sponsored industry educational events, FEU and Birthday U, which took place in August in Atlanta. Embed encourages anyone interested in attending future sessions and benefitting from their scholarship to contact them at [email protected]. For more information about FEU, click here, for more on Birthday U, click here.
Foundations Entertainment University and the AMOA’s fourth Road Scholar Program will be conducted one after the other next month at the Sheraton Phoenix Airport Hotel in Tempe, Ariz. FEU will host its focused, information-filled programs Oct. 18-20, while the AMOA’s Road Scholar Program will be held immediately after from Oct. 21-23. Attendees of the FEU program will get discounted pricing for the Road Scholar Program that directly follows, but the deadline to sign up – Sept. 12 – is rapidly approaching. For more information on registration, visit www.amoa.com or www.foundationsuniversity.com.
Last week, Maggie Kapinos re-joined AMOA as a full-time member of the association’s five-person professional staff. Kapinos’ tenure with the organization started back in April 2006, and has continued most of the past decade. Over the years, she has worked in virtually all areas of AMOA. Most recently, in a part-time capacity, she was instrumental in transitioning the office to a new association management software system. As reported in AMOA’s Off the Top newsletter, Kapinos will be taking on new responsibilities as AMOA’s manager of communications/marketing and membership. She will focus on all facets of engagement with current and potential…
As of Sept. 6, American Vending Sales will have a new home for its Milwaukee area office, moving it from Jackson, Wis., to 1667 Independence Ave. in Hartford (zip: 53027). This 10,000-square-foot facility will serve as a warehouse for amusement equipment and offer a greater level of service to customers, according to AVS VP of Vending, Tom Vogt. “A wider variety of equipment will be stocked, our repair shop has doubled and a new delivery truck will help AVS be more responsive to our customers’ needs,” Vogt said. Customers can get in touch with AVS at the new Hartford office…
Two members of Redemption Plus’ customer support team – Eric Tyrell and Josh Gedminas – attended the recent Birthday University hosted by Frank Price in Atlanta. Both Tyrell and Gedminas participated as Redemption Plus’ sponsors, as well as registered attendees, and both returned from the two-day conference with new insight and appreciation for the amusement industry. F”Frank helped me understand that the entire family entertainment center industry and all its offerings are an interwoven web that needs to be looked at holistically in order to provide the best guest experience and allow for profitability,” Tyrell said. “Businesses need to learn to…
In 1998, when Konami took the risk of releasing a completely new concept arcade game, there were plenty of critics who couldn’t believe that you could successfully create a game you played with your feet that was based around dancing. 18 years later, after Dance Dance Revolution exploded worldwide, those critics have eaten their words. VICE released an eight minute long documentary chronicling that rise and exploring the competitive DDR scene that is still alive and well in the heart of Tokyo, where the game originated. The doc explores the professionals who spend every day playing and training on the…
Incredible Technologies has excitedly announced that the 2017 Golden Tee World Championship will take place in Las Vegas on May 19-21, 2017. 64 of the world’s best Golden Tee players will square off for over $70,000 in prize money and Golden Tee notoriety. Online qualifying will take place on GT 2017 machines starting this November and are set to include opportunities in every game format through March 2017. Competitors will be selected from the new “Freaky Friday” daily contests, Prize Play, Money Shot and even a special contest for non-prize states. “Our goal this year is to include as many…
Apple Industries has started hosting its own version of this year’s raucous and heated presidential election. As of yesterday (Sept. 1), customers in Apple’s numerous photo booths are able to “vote” for a presidential candidate by taking a photo with them. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will both have specialized templates that customers can choose which include the presidential candidate of their choice in several poses. Apple plans on tallying the votes their customers around the country cast and releasing the results before the general election. It may not be as official as a Pew Research Poll, but it seems…
Dave & Buster’s is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the seminal sci-fi television series Star Trek by offering a limited edition collectable card, featuring images of the classic Enterprise NCC-1701 and the ship’s original crew. This one-of-a-kind card will be available in the new, D&B exclusive Star Trek Arcade, and uses lenticular imagery, which creates a movement effect as the image is viewed from different angles. Fans have a short window of opportunity to get the special card, which will be in D&B’s Star Trek Arcade games only from Sept. 8 (the anniversary date) to 11. “Our Star Trek Arcade…