Pachinko? Boring. One of our least favourite types of gaming. A pachinko machine with adorable little Ghostbusters and an official licence, though, well, now we are interested. More »
The Japanese population is shrinking. Birthrates have been dropping for the past two decades, and the country needs more babies. The Japanese government is attempting to push through a national child subsidy program. Enter pachinko. More »
Street Fighter mainstay Chun-Li is getting her own pachislot game, courtesy of manufacturer Enterrise and it’s… well, it’s pachislot, so I’m genetically incapable of being excited about the prospect of such a thing. The game looks to feature Chun-Li in various mission-based situations, presumably all of which can be resolved by kicking fast or faster. Guest appearances from Rose, Cammy, Zangief, Guile and the car from Street Fighter III will be included in the cel-shaded slot machine that we’re presuming is Japan only for now.
The very existence of pachislot may fly right over your heads, even with a Chun-Li starring role. At the very least, Enterrise got a bunch of spokesmodels perfectly lined up for the event, so we consider it a great success.
Chun-Li Pachislot Press Briefing [Pachinko Vista via Majoria's News]
In Japan, it’s pretty common for video games to have pachinko machines. Heck! Movies, anime and manga character even get pachinko machines based on them. It’s not just spinning metal balls! New pachinko machines even feature large LCD-type displays to keep players engaged. Pachinko maker Yamasa’s Resident Evil machine puts poor Jill Valentine through the standard series of scares and shootings — if only for suggestive glances!
In Japan, lots of video games get turned into pachinko or pachislot machines. No biggie! SNK, Sega and Konami have all spun off selected titles into pachinko parlours across the country. So when a rumour popped up that Square Enix was doing the same for Final Fantasy XIII, it did seem possible that, yes, Japan would be getting a FFXIII pachinko machine. No way! says Square Enix. In an official statement, the company says:
That is completely false information. Regarding FF, our company works very hard every day so that everyone can enjoy it as a game. There is currently no development being made [to bring FF to pachinko/pachi-slot machines] .
Good, because Square Enix needs to focus on FFXIII and not other stuff.
『FFXIII』がパチンコ、パチスロに？” [Famitsu]
Corporate confusions! When Harvest Moon developer Natsume decided to found a pachinko company a few years back, it could’ve picked any name for the new company. Natsume didn’t and instead gave the pachinko company a corporate game moniker we all know: Atari. Here’s what the CEO of Atari Inc. says about the company’s name on its English page:
When naming our new company, we desire to maintain these objectives. We also thought of a Japanese word, “atari”, used in the expression such as: A World of Hit business is counted by “How much you earn if you hit atari”; Pachinko is a game to aim “atari”; and thus in such a world by working hard We want to come up with big atari (big hit) machine!!. So, summing all up, we decided a company name, “Atari Inc.” Participating in all the business areas and projects, our top rated development staffs are aiming to reach literally the Biggest Atari by collecting all their wisdoms and ideas.
I know the 2600 was never big in Japan, but don’t these guys know? Or Care? Maybe that’s a good conversation starter. “No, we’re the other Atari.”
Greetings [ATARI Inc via Insert Credit]
