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216TDS_Hot Dog Day Revelations, Taiko Drum Game's U.S. Launch, and Rhythm Arcade Insights
Sponsored by Intercard Inc, www.intercardinc.com
Get ready for an exhilarating ride as we celebrate National Hot Dog Day with a feast of fun facts and quirky trivia! From 7-Eleven's claim to fame as the largest hot dog seller in the U.S. to Joey Chestnut's jaw-dropping record of devouring 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes, we've got the sizzling details. Did you know hot dogs were the first food eaten on the moon? Or that Mickey Mouse's first on-screen words were "hot dog"? Plus, uncover hot dog deals at A&W and 7-Eleven and get my personal pick on the must-watch "Sausage Party" sequel, "Foodtopia." And just when you think the hot dog fun is over, we take a quick detour to explore India's new family entertainment center, Somersault, which promises loads of immersive play for kids.
Switching gears, we dive into the rhythm of the iconic Japanese arcade game, Taiko no Tatsujin, set to make its smashing U.S. debut this November. Discover the game’s cultural significance and draw comparisons to other rhythm legends like DDR. We'll tackle music licensing challenges and Bandai Namco's Passport Network integration, which brings a monthly fee for song updates. Hear the scoop on the manufacturing quality concerns, and how Bandai Namco plans to ensure top-notch standards. Finally, learn about the marketing strategies to captivate Western audiences and the initial limited release phase, as we speculate how Taiko no Tatsujin might stack up against rhythm game giants like Pump It Up. Tune in and stay ahead of the arcade game curve!
Well, hey guys, welcome. Today is Wednesday, july 17th, and oh, first of all, I'm by myself. Brennan's away. He's gone until, oh boy, I think next Tuesday. Actually Lots going on and he's in California with his son and then has a big day next Monday. Any case, welcome to the show today. You're never going to believe what today is.
Speaker 2:It is National Hot Dog Day. Yeah, that's right, national Hot Dog Day. So it is celebrated annually on the third Wednesday of every July. It has its own day. Of course makes sense, considering it is America's most beloved and iconic food. So today's all about savoring and enjoying those satisfying hot dogs which have been a backyard staple for people for so many years. They're great for baseball games and, of course, the iconic street vendor carts have been in play for over a century. I'm very grateful for those guys after a fun night out at the bar when you need to fill your stomach.
Speaker 2:Now I have some fun facts to talk about, hot dogs of all things. So first of all, the largest seller of hot dogs in the US is 7-Eleven, which actually that makes a heck of a lot of sense when you think about it. They're everywhere. So they sell over 100 million dollar hot dogs annually. That's a lot of hot dogs and a lot of hot dog equipment. So I wonder how many steamers and rollers and barbecues that they have that they use for all this fun equipment that they have.
Speaker 2:Also, there is this guy. Oh, I forgot National Hot Dog Day. There you go. This dude, okay, this dude, oh my gosh, this is so gross.
Speaker 2:But he has a record. His name is Joey Chestnut and he has a record for consuming 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Isn't that mind boggling? 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes. I wanted to go look at the packs of hot dogs to see how many that is, but I mean, that's a lot of hot dogs. He has to fit that all into his stomach in 10 minutes. He must have a very big stomach. I'm not sure that that's actually safe. Sounds a little bit dangerous. However, if you do decide to try to beat his record, let me know, because I'd be so curious. Hot dogs were first. They were the first food eaten on the moon. I thought that was also an interesting fact. And also, if you guys recall, I didn't know this, but Mickey Mouse's first words on screen were hot dog. And just to prove this, I have a little video for us to watch. So here I'm going to pull this on screen and we can watch Mickey having his first words. I don't know what's going on here, there you go all right, I'll pull it off there.
Speaker 2:I had no idea that Mickey's first words were hot dogs and I had no idea that Mickey was actually going to sound like that. His voice is weird. That's not how I expected him and actually no, I grew up with a Mickey that had a little squeaky voice. His voice must have evolved over the years and it's changed at this point, so he does sound different and his voice sounds a little bit off.
Speaker 2:Now, if you really love your hot dogs and you want to pick up with some free ones today, just Google free hot dogs. I mean, there's some big deals going on everywhere. I guess A&W here in Canada has a buy one whistle dog and get the second one for a buck, which sounds like a great deal. And of course, 7-elevens. If you're a 7-Eleven reward member, you can get a $2 Big Bite hot dog through the mobile app and honestly, I don't think I've ever had one of those, but they sound spectacular and I think 7-Eleven would be an amazing place to get a hot dog. Obviously, they have all the toppings right. Yeah, anyway, and you know, if you really felt like it today, you could Google. Oh my gosh, the new, the new movie, the new sausage party movie here. Let's bring this up the new sausage party movie called Foodtopia. Grab yourself a hot dog and a brewski Sit down, kick up, pull up your prime and watch this movie. I heard it's a real pun. Anyway, give it a watch and let me know what you think. Now, okay, onto some more serious business here.
Speaker 2:I came across this place today and it's called Somersault. It's this new FEC that's opened its doors in India Now. It's about 7,000 square feet. It's a full family entertainment center, so really more geared towards the younger kids, with, like these, really interesting attractions some indoor playgrounds, some different walls and I'll get to some pictures here in a second. But what they're trying to do is they're catering to kids age two to 12. And they put a mix of kind of immersive play immersive is so overused now play areas together with creative workshops, and kind of created a bit of a fitness facility out of it, making it really a versatile, fun way to kind of get some activity in. Now, this place had designs I have never seen before, so that's why I'm bringing it up. I have a couple of videos that I thought we could watch on Instagram here and just take a quick peek at what they have going on and then just point out some observations I had. Okay, so let's switch to this tab here and let's pull it onto the stage. Okay, so I'm going to see if I can make this a bit bigger for you guys. All right, so this is Somersault.
Speaker 2:First of all, just looking at this picture, I think it's really neat how they've got this. The lights kind of in the hallway and this is the entranceway coming into the facility. You can see some glass over there. I would be on your left as you're walking in, so you can kind of see and scope out what's happening before you even get there. All right, and I'm not going to turn the sound on.
Speaker 2:So there's this neat kids obviously coming in having a fun time with their little cute socks on. But here this is this really cool wall that they've created and it's got a bouncing kind of trampoline on the bottom, but then all these little objects that you can climb on. They go up and down and they move and they try to knock you off, kind of like what's the wipeout walls, I think, when you do the obstacle course and they have to go through it and avoid it. I thought this was super cool. I'd never seen this before. Then here you can see some of the other attractions which are somewhat common the spinning super rhino wall, this ball blowing machine, which looked super fun and cool, everyone having fun this I've never seen before. They've incorporated some activities for the kids to paint, do some pottery. Here Looks like all the moms are having a good time. But this wall, I thought, was super fascinating and, of course, great place to get your food and beverage and enjoy with all the moms.
Speaker 2:Anyway, I'm going to stop it there. I don't know what you guys think, but I have never seen a wall like that before and I thought it was a really super cool thing to incorporate into an entertainment center. Now, the one fear I guess I have is how often does that thing break down and is it really a pain in the butt for maintenance? But boy, for enjoyability. I think that that would be a super cool piece that the kids would really get a lot out of and really, actually truly enjoy. Anyway, that was Somersault in India. Okay, now, before we move on, I just want to have a little word from our sponsor, intercard, here. One second.
Speaker 1:Intercard is the only cashless system designed, developed and manufactured all under one roof. They introduced cashless technology to the amusement industry and have been leading the Thank you.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Thank you, intercard. Okay, now today is Wednesday and we're going to be bringing on Adam Pratt from Arcade Heroes to do our Arcade Corner. But before we bring him on, I've got a few more minutes here and I just wanted to show something really fun that I found on the internet. So has it been a cruel summer for you. Did you miss out on some T-Swift tickets and you're a little disappointed because the tour is almost going to be over Well, I should say at the end of this year, in any case.
Speaker 2:Well, if you're anywhere near Kenobi Lake Park in Salem, new Hampshire, you might want to pop by this summer and check out the little Eris Tour Tribute Show that they put on. Now this concert is held in a little wooden amphitheater instead of a big football stadium, but they have created this nicely integrated, um kind of stage and set where they get a fake taylor swift to come on, totally done up in these amazing costumes, with the whole vegas train backdrop, dancers there, to make it feel like she did a real stop in her tour at this kenobi lake park in salem. I have a little sneak peek to show you because I just think it's so fun and this this young lady did such a great job of impersonating Taylor, so let's pull her on the stage and have a little watch of her show. Okay, so here we have songs and I am just going to leave this up for a second.
Speaker 2:Now, at the center of all this is June Baker. She is the impersonator, who is Taylor Swift, and she says over the course of the show she goes through multiple different outfits three, apparently and at the end of the show she even does a post-show meet and greet with her fans. She says she she only thing that she has to do to get into kind of the Taylor Swift character is she pops in some blue contacts to make sure that her eyes are the same color, but that this is really kind of her jam and it sounds like she's been doing this for a long time and, from the looks of it, she's doing a fantastic job. So again, if you haven't had a chance to see a Taylor Swift show or you felt like you're missing out because you can't get tickets, you can pop into Kenobi Lake Park in Salem, new Hampshire, and you can hit that show up there. All right, guys, and with that we are going to dive into our arcade corner. Let's get adam onto the show, all righty? Hey, adam, how are you doing today?
Speaker 3:how are you doing, Christine?
Speaker 2:Good Lazy days of summer.
Speaker 3:I'm just yep, yeah, yeah. It's surprising that it's already this far along. In July, it feels like it was cold and spring or whatever for the longest time, and then then all of a sudden, it's hot and summery and it's like geez, it'll be over before we know it.
Speaker 2:I know, I know, are you guys like is July that last month of summer for you, or is August?
Speaker 3:Uh, august, or I guess technically September. So uh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, I think there's. We have a lot of friends that, uh, july's the end of summer for them. Their kids are going back here soon, in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 3:So oh right, for school. Um, so yeah, it's actually August. And it's weird because I remember as a kid I would go to school up until the very end of August or beginning of September. I'd be out of school until the last week of August or first week of September, and, you know, after labor day, then you went back to school. But now they're like almost the beginning of August is when they're starting school here and it's like OK, it seems weird.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know it's too hot. They shouldn't be in school yet.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Anyway, all right, ok, well, what do you have for us today?
Speaker 3:So there was a big piece of news that hit the wires.
Speaker 3:I mean, aside from I mentioned last week that I had some news on a game from a company called Marvelous, and this is Naruto Emblem Battle, which is very Japanese, and I think we played the video to that.
Speaker 3:I published a post on that, which also included some information that another Arcade Heroes writer his name's Ted had gathered about a Pokemon card game that's launching from the same company over in Japan, and the thinking is that if Naruto does really well, then Pokemon would be an easy one that could also do well here in the States. It's just I never heard back from any of these people there, so I guess I'll keep my eye out for any of them walking around I app it's just I never heard back from any of these people there, so I I guess I'll keep my eye out for any of them walking around iapa. It's like I hope they know enough to go to iapa to uh, you know, actually promote their game to the industry, because it seems like they're handling it like they would a console game, where they're not talking to anybody in the industry and it's like that's not going to work for you.
Speaker 3:If you want sales, I would think. But, um, the other thing is kind of japanese related and so, um, here on um, we got the screen share here. Another thing, uh, from arcade heroes would be taiko no tatsujin is launching in us arcades in november, and so if you've not never heard of this one, I mean it's possible you've. You know about it kind of through the ether, so to speak, uh, through us cultural osmosis. Uh, if you've ever pulled up a video on YouTube where they are, you see people playing this Japanese drum, traditional Japanese drum game. They call them Taikos, and it's an arcade machine. That's exactly what this is, and so this has been around since 2001, 2002, somewhere around there, but it's mainly existed overseas, in Asia, particularly Japan, but they did just launch this in China last year, but for official support in the United States it's not been given that treatment until now, and it is through Bandai Namco.
Speaker 3:The characters have become somewhat popular too, because there are some console versions of this. You can get Takenotatsu Gen on your Nintendo Switch switch and, um, it's kind of like ddr with drums, where there's just these notes with the characters faces on them. One's called don chan. That's the one in the uh, the kind of the orangey one. I guess I should try and zoom in here a little bit so, like the the orangey guy here on the left there yeah, and then there's the blue one.
Speaker 3:I I know it has a name too, but I can't remember what it is. I'm sure I get crucified over that, for not knowing.
Speaker 3:But so all you do is you hit the drums with these drumsticks to the beat. When the little notes cross over overlap on the other note, the fixed note at the end. That's when you hit them. It also depends on which side of the drum that you're hitting on. It has a lot of songs from Japanese culture.
Speaker 3:From my understanding, this version has a lot of anime songs on it. That's one reason why Namco decided hey, we think it's time to really start bringing this over to the States, just because of how popular manga and anime has become in the US, and so now is the perfect time for it, they feel. But it started testing out in the States last year in February, the states last year in february. It's just been a little strange where you know, we've had two amusement expos, two bowl expos in iapa, and it's not appeared at any of those at all. And I did ask frank costantino of namco about it at the last amusement expo and there are issues because it's a music zone with licensing and things like that. I mean, I don't think it has anything like, uh, us current us pop stuff like taylor, swift or anything, but still, with some of the anime there's some licensing issues that they have to sort out there. But also, this game is going to be using Bandai Namco's Passport Network, which they haven't used a lot Right now.
Speaker 3:The only other game that they have this for in the States is called Maximum Toon 5 DX+, which is a racing game, but that does unfortunately mean that there's going to be a monthly fee associated with it. I don't know mean that there's going to be a monthly fee associated with it. I don't know how much that's going to be. But if namco lives up to what they promised, then it should mean constant song updates and you know that's something that other music games out there, like andamira, has pump it up.
Speaker 3:And there's step maniacs, which is doing very, very well on the market, um, but they, they will release songs semi-frequently, or at least step maniacs they release five songs a month, which is very impressive, and they do it for free, uh, which is nice. I have one of those machines and it does pretty well. Um, I think it also showed up on replays charts this past month. But yeah, we'll have to see how much Bandai Namco wants. I heard something I haven't confirmed this yet that it's going to actually be a fee that's charged per game, which I don't know how operators feel about. I don't really feel comfortable with that. I mean, maybe if it's a cent, uh to be okay, but it's like that's. It seems easy to abuse.
Speaker 2:And so why? Why are they doing that? Is that just because of the licensing fee then for that song? Is that the idea?
Speaker 3:I think so. Um, uh, I mean I haven't gotten an official explanation on exactly what that is, at least in the past with maximum tune is uh, oh, it's to cover the fees of operating servers and such it's like. I understand that isn't free, but I guess the thing that's been a little disappointing with uh, maximum tune is it hasn't had a lot of content updates. In fact, when they did a major content update I had, I had to pay $6,000 for the kit to upgrade it, so it's like Whoa, like you're getting a new game almost.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, basically Because it was $12,000, because you had two machines and so, granted, the game has been my number one for a long time, so in that regard, I've been fine with it. But at the same time, when I look at the monthly fee, it's just like you know, why are we not getting something more other than a tournament, like actually, today, which is okay. Today's the 17th, so tomorrow they are launching a nationwide tournament on maximum tune. So at least they do that. But they don't do that every month, they do it like once a season. Um, so I'm sure, with taika no tatsujin, they'll be able to do that.
Speaker 3:Um, because don't do that every month, they do it like once a season. Um, so I'm sure with taika no tatsujin, they'll be able to do that. Um, because there there are a lot of people that just play rhythm games for arcades and they are very excited about this. Um, it's just. There is one little caveat. There was a rumor that started popping up, uh, yesterday that, uh, these cabinets were being built right by raw thrills, or the implication was oh, these are terrible raw thrills quality, because years ago there was a release of konami's dance dance revolution ddrx, which I think was like 2009 or 2010, something somewhere around there.
Speaker 3:Raw thrills was involved. They weren't the only ones involved, but since they were involved, they get all the blame because that cabinet was very poorly built. It used wood in places where it should have had metal, and so it's just for ddr fans.
Speaker 3:They absolutely hated that cabinet, but they all blame it as rothrills and they all keep this thing in their mind that rothrills equals a terrible quality. But it's like you guys, they've improved a lot on a lot of things and again they I don't think they should be getting all the blame for that anyways, but they were claiming that somebody was claiming that this same thing was going to be happening with taika no tatsujin and I contacted bandai namco and asked them and they're like no, we're doing this the same way. We do it. We do it with all our games. The most of the parts, like the computer and the Taiko drums and things like that, come from Japan and then they use a subcontractor here. They didn't say who, but I would assume somebody like fun company. We'll put them together and then they'll ship them out.
Speaker 3:But everything I've spoke to Namco about on this, it's like part of the reason for the delay is they want to get it right and that's a specific quote. They understand how much passion exists behind this series and if there is any rhythm gamer that watches this, it's like they want to sell these. You know they don't want to lose money on this because they're throwing millions of dollars behind it. They know if they put out a subpar quality product then it's not going to sell, and so they they obviously want to make sure that it's, you know, same kind of quality that you would expect from a game that was imported from Japan.
Speaker 2:So I'm curious. I don't know if I would put this in my facility only because if it's not going to have some popular tunes in it, I just don't know if it would appeal to the crowd that I would see in my facility. I'm curious if it's something like do you see that as a big barrier to not having the you know, traditional music or not traditional, but Americanized or Canadianized music inside?
Speaker 3:Right, I mean it could be. I think that might be part of what's held it back for the longest time from Namco's point of view. And now I guess one little caveat is we don't know yet what songs are going to be available for the US version. I know it has been tested in both Round One USA and Dave Busters, and from what I hear is, both tests were successful, but I haven't heard anything about what the songs were, and I also know that the songs in the test versions were not exactly what you might see on the production models here in November, but my assumption is that all the songs that were in the test versions would still be there.
Speaker 3:Just, you'll have a lot more to choose from, and so my guess, though, is that, if you in the right venue, if you attract, or something around you attracts, people who are into anime, or you can use that for marketing. Be like, hey, we've got this taika no tatsujin game maybe you've heard of it and it has music from, you know, demon slayer or naruto or whatever else and you know something that might be popular at the moment that people would want to come and play on. I know for Round 1 USA, they have a bunch of different rhythm games, where that does very well, but at least for me as an operator where I have a Round 1 USA about 10, 15 minutes away from me, it does discourage me from picking up a lot of these Japanese rhythm games, just because it's like I can't compete. I can't afford to buy all those games that they do, and people that are really into those games already go there because they know that. You know, they have an entire section of those types of games to appeal to them, and so it's a interesting question. But I think it would help if Namco did put out the song lists and was able to show it's like here's maybe highlights the most popular stuff. That would be easy to advertise for that.
Speaker 3:But another thing too, is that this is going to be a very limited release. They didn't say exactly how many units, but it's sounding like maybe under 100 will be available in November and then they'll do a wider release sometime in 2025, assuming that they sell through their entire production run, although something Frank said in a text almost made it sound like they might have already done that, even though, as far as I know, it's not even's. One thing with pump it up is. It seems to me uh, I don't have a confirmation of this, but it seems to me that pump it up just has a ceiling where they just don't go into a lot of facilities because they're like, I just don't think any of this music will appeal to my customers because, you know, it's like a lot of k-pop stuff, right.
Speaker 3:So it's like, yeah, you can say you have 500 songs, but that becomes a little confusing, you know, for your normal person just walking through the arcade, they don't want to spend, you know, 30 minutes browsing through a song list to try and find something that they maybe, like you know, they just want something that's right there. It's like, oh, I know that and go for it instantly. But your rhythm game community, they want tons and tons of songs because they'll play through those and everything, and so it's trying to find that balance between the two, and so I I would hope that this wouldn't end up being, you know, like pump it up, where it seems to get limited, um, by that. But I guess that's up to Bandai Namco's marketing to get a hang of.
Speaker 2:Yep, and okay, we will see. All right, and on that note we're going to wrap today. Thank you for being here with us, adam, we're going to do things a little different. We're just going to close out with Adam on screen today. If you guys enjoyed this episode, join us again tomorrow. Thanks for being here here and please remember to like this show, like and subscribe. We love it when you like and subscribe and and with that, uh, we'll see you guys all later. Bye.
