In fact, the new prize levels illustrate perfectly the muddle that UK manufacturers face at the moment, and the damned if I do/damned if I don’t situation facing operators. For this announcement of a larger prize, coming as it does before the Budget, effectively places the AWP into Category A – leading to an increase in amusement-machine licence duty of £1,000 per year.

The show was once again brilliantly organised by Howard & Wikberg, spilling out into the lobby of the Novotel West Hotel in London’s Hammersmith. The exhibition is spread over two floors, with a number of exhibitors taking private rooms on the mezzanine level – notably Games Warehouse, which took its largest ever space this year.

There were a number of overseas visitors to this year’s Preview but perhaps fewer than in previous years, and the casino fraternity was also represented, despite the fact that the product on show is mostly for the amusement and AWP sectors.

On the amusement side, video looked livelier than it has done for a while. Sega, in particular, had a wide range of exciting product, which had only previously been shown in its distributor meeting covered in last month’s Euroslot. The two-player shooter Let’s Go Jungle is a real centrepiece and the unveiling of a deluxe version of the Ford Fully Blown racer, shows that Sega must have a winner on its hands. A ubiquitous red dinosaur roamed the aisles of the show, symbolising the Sega children’s game Dinosaur King, which has been doing very well in Butlins and Haven camps over the summer. Other products worth a mention are Love & Berry (a dressing-up game for little girls); After Burner Climax on the Lindbergh platform – a flying-simulation game endorsed by Boeing; and the first view of Fantasy Arena in prototype form for Europe, which could be Sega’s first pusher into the market.

Highlights on the Namco/Brent stand included Raptor Captor, a funbased, ticket-payout skill game where players buy between one and five balls, which they ‘shoot’ at the on-field dinosaur-themed targets in order to accumulate points. Time Crisis 4 was also present and still proving popular with buyers and visitors alike.

Cosmic Video Amusements showed an interesting two-player upright shooter called Aliens Extermination, based on the classic Ridley Scott movies, which are apparently on their way back to the big screen next year with a new cast. The concept is simple and effective – blast the aliens using tools such as the alien “radar” featured in the film. The graphics are very true to the sets in the movies, giving the piece a bit of a “retro” feel.

Harry Levy Amusements showed an extensive range of amusement products this year including some new pushers and redemption pieces that have not been shown before. These included a round eight-player pusher called Fun Park with innovative top sign feature that uses spinning neon lights to provide a moving display and images on a glass globe. On the redemption front, Dog Pounder was shown for the first time in Europe. This machine has been going great guns in the USA and the samples shipped in this year have far exceeded expectations. Players pound the “paw” with the mallet and aim to fill the dog’s belly with balls in order to win tickets.

Gordon Crompton reappeared at this year’s Preview with a new company called Game Concepts and showed four innovative pusher machines, developed in association with Ben Wilson and built by Harry Levy.

On the Electrocoin stand, Gary Stern was showing his latest pinball, named Pirates of the Caribbean. This received a thorough testing from pinball wizard Gary Flower, who appeared to approve of the gameplay. The licence is certainly of the moment, with the latest film in the series about to reach cinemas in Europe. “This is the first showing in Europe,” said Stern. “We are expecting it could be as big as The Lord of the Rings, which was our best-selling pinball in recent years.”

Electrocoin also showed two new AWPs with a £35 jackpot called Bar X Diamond and Magic Bar 7, and Kevin Weir reported that initial reaction from operators was favourable. “In these uncertain times, a tried and tested formula such as Bar X is especially comforting to operators,” he said. Weir also claimed that Electrocoin had noticed a trend in requests for sit-down gaming cabinets from major UK retailers in recent months.

Astra’s centrepiece was House of Fortune, an oriental-themed threeplayer. “This is the only three-player configured to the new jackpot here,” said Neil Chinn, who said the company was returning to traditional AWP product as sequential had “failed to perform” and Section 16 had peaked.

Mazooma was present on the RLMS stand in the Champagne Suite. The company’s effervescent Andrew Murden was concerned about the AMLD situation with the new stakes and prizes, but believed the answer lay in offering the player multi-stake options. Hats off to Bell-Fruit for snagging Deal Or No Deal – clearly the licence of the moment.

Reflex Gaming also utilised a classic licence with its trio of Thunderbirds products for Club, AWP and multiplayer. Quentin Stott said of the new stakes and prizes, “We have to be realistic about the situation. The 50p stake gives us the opportunity for multi-stake options while the £35 jackpot is long overdue but will give us new ideas to explore. The proof will be in the cashbox.”

Preview 2007 proved to be an extremely exciting show for Games Media, with much interest on and off the stand in both the latest digital and analogue product ranges. The main focus of the show for Games Media was the showcasing of Juice and Indego, together with the latest analogue AWP and club machines.

Juice, the cutting-edge digital gaming and betting terminal, was last seen at Amuse earlier this year, when it was starting its technical trial. Preview 2007 gave everyone the opportunity to catch up with the latest developments in its performance trial, which is proving very successful. Current sited test machines are delivering strong cash box performance and exceeding stringent success criteria.

“Preview 2007 has been a huge success for us, with a strong multimedia emphasis,” commented Andrew Ludlow, Chief Executive Officer of Games Media. “The show was very well organised as ever, and we recorded good sales across our digital and analogue products particularly in light of the timing on the stakes and prizes announcement.”

The music sector was definitely upbeat at this year’s Preview. NSM Music showed its new jukebox, Icon, which is a slimline jukebox featuring a 19” through-glass touchscreen alongside built-in sound-tolight panels, which can be set to a static colour to suit a location.

NSM claims it is the only jukebox manufacturer to currently offer as standard on the Icon, a true 600W rms output amplifier, and, if required, fit a second amp for four zone locations, offering an incredibly 1,200W of output controlled by newly designed infrared or hardware remote volume control.

Topping the bill on Sound Leisure’s stand was the Milestones in Music (MIM) digital jukebox, housed in the branded Top of the Pops cabinet and endorsed by the Official UK Top 40 Company. It features every Top 40 chart hit since 1952. Milestones in Music digital holds in excess of 30,000 tracks internally, without the need for a broadband connection, but can still be fully profiled to suite a site’s requirements. MIM has shown an average increase in cashbox over existing digital jukeboxes of between 40 to 60 per cent – even during some of the most difficult trading conditions over the summer.

Soundnet, the partnership between Sound Leisure and audio/video supplier DT Productions, had a special offer during the show. For the first time, operators were able to buy a Digitracks video jukebox featuring 1000 profiled WM9 videos, previously only available on the top of the range Browser and Music Express models. The Digitracks video offer incorporated the box, with attractive modern styling and the 1,000 video starter pack for under £3,000.

Existing customers buying a new video jukebox from Soundnet during the Preview show also benefited from a “double discount”, as the price of the fortnightly video update was slashed from £42.50 to £36.50 for 13 tracks on every new jukebox, matching that reduction on an old subscription, one new for one old.

To conclude, an upbeat show, despite difficult times, with some interesting new product to be found, well organised in pleasant surroundings.

Please note: it is impossible to mention everybody’s products in one report. If you have not been included, please send details of your product/service to s.norbury@btconnect.com and we will publish your details in a future issue.

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