Bandai Namco reveals Star Wars: Battle Pod VR arcade machine

by Mark Tyson on 9 October 2014, 14:05

Tags: Bandai Games

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Bandai Namco Games Inc has unveiled the ultimate Star Wars arcade machine in the shape of the Star Wars: Battle Pod. The cabinet features a vastly updated take on the classic Star Wars arcade machine, offering an almost VR experience while you speed along in your X-Wing, snowspeeder, speederbike, the Millennium Falcon and TIE Advanced fighter.

Looking first at the cabinet hardware, this arcade exclusive game offers a highly immersive experience thanks to:

  • its graphics, displayed via a 180-degree panoramic dome projection screen
  • 5.1-channel surround sound
  • seat and controller vibration motors
  • cockpit air blasts in your face

The domed screen is said to encompass "your entire area of sight," while the visual experience is augmented by the sounds, vibrations and air gusts. Overall the new arcade system "delivers an authentic flying experience," we are told.

The game includes five stages during which you take control of the speeding vehicles mentioned in the intro. These stages "recreate the fiercest battle scenes from the original Star Wars trilogy," says the Star Wars blog. Satoshi Oshita, president and CEO, Bandai Namco Games Inc. said that "Players can jump right in to true-to-film battles on Endor, Hoth, Death Star II, Yavin, and more". He promised that a Star Wars: Battle Pod experience would be memorable, fun and epic.

The new Star Wars game cabinet was unveiled yesterday at an event in New York. The arcade machine will become available in the USA in January 2015 with a global rollout to follow.



HEXUS Forums :: 9 Comments

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I played on one of these games a few month back also by Namco Bandai, it is a fighter plane with scenarios taken from Ace Combat Assault Horizon.

I can honestly say it was truly amazing but can be a little disorientating giving you motion sickness.
Ferral
I played on one of these games a few month back also by Namco Bandai, it is a fighter plane with scenarios taken from Ace Combat Assault Horizon.

I can honestly say it was truly amazing but can be a little disorientating giving you motion sickness.

I still want one…. May have to sell a lung….
Looks like the same hardware that runs a few Gundam arcade games too. I wonder if they've kept the card system (which allows you to carry around a common ‘profile’ between machines)?
Wow, I don't recall the last time an arcade game news being reported on an western tech site. Arcades are still immensely popular in Japan, and you can find anyone from school kids to men and suits frequenting those places in Tokyo, but I really feel like they are a dying breed in most countries.
edzieba
Looks like the same hardware that runs a few Gundam arcade games too. I wonder if they've kept the card system (which allows you to carry around a common ‘profile’ between machines)?
I still have mine from when I went to Japan five years ago! I agree, the pods do look very similar.