Neo Summit In Canada

Well I got back from Canada late last Night. It was a awesome trip and I wish I could have stayed longer. Unfortunitly though I had to come back to work today.

So here is a summary

I arrived Late Friday evening. After spending 2 hours going through Customs and getting my lugage. I meet Ray and Jason from !Arcade!. I apoligized for making them wait so long and they then took me to my Hotel and we got something to eat. That was pretty much Friday since I arrived so Late. I was beat so went back to the hotel after dinner and went to sleep.

Saturday I woke up around 7:30 then went out to see Toronto. The hotel was located right downtown so I went out walking. Toronto is a awesome city. Shops everywhere a lot of historic buildings and people. I changed my money did some shopping and went back to my hotel . I called Neo Bomberman (Jonathan) and told him I was going to be tied up today and will meet with him sometime Sunday. Then I called !Arcade! and they came by and picked me up. We got something to eat then went to meet one of SNK representatives. He told me about some of the history of SNK and Mr. Kawasaki who used to be a boxer. after talking !Arcade! then took me to where the Neo development is worked on. There were mvs carts, electronic equipment, boards, homesystems, mvs boards, prototypes scattered around, computers cables...... what anyone who went into a developement area would expect to see. in there I talked hours with Jason about the neo system and related topics. we talked about the different revision mother boards and what was corrected on each version (I did not know NEC made the first boards, but I saw one there). He also talked about the Strikers cart and the problems that came about in making it. The insert alone was a 27 hour RIP before print, then that was scraped because it did not look right and another was done after a redesign. He told me the first batch of stickers for the cart did not come out right on the machine that was being used and they transfered that job to another printer. which required a new template to be used along with different sticker stock. For those who own the cart you can look at the picture on shawns site and compare it to the sticker on the homecart to see the difference. the red outline around the strikers 1945 did not show up along with the DPI on the second sticker was cranked up. aside from dinner that was pretty much Saturday.

Sunday I got up around the same time and after another trip around town I gave Neo bomberman a call. He meet me at the Hotel and we then went around tronoto. We ate lunch then went to the only downtown arcade left. They had several neos in there, one of which had Sengoku 3 in it.

I do not know what everyone is talking about but I though it was a pretty fun game. Sure it is a sidescroller with not much replayabilty but it is still very good. after about $20 between the both of us (me spending more money of course) we finished the game. Then went to play some magical drop III. I rode the subway back where I biffed it on the stairs (payback for laughing at neo bomberman's Ketchup incident at lunch) and then went back up to the hotel room. Neo bomberman went back home after I showed him the Pocket and one of the HK games I got.

I called !arcade! later on and they came by to get me. We Went back to the Neo room and talked about the Zen Master <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0"> art of converting carts and then they let me convert a Metal slug to NGH format. That was a blast. We talked about how carts are converted and how to do it. It is not a hard process As I think most everyone who does it will agree. I used the USC (Universal Sac Cart) for the conversion. took me a little while but the tools made it easy, I even did a Surface mount chip <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

they then showed me the AES II. I saw the case that was to be used. it had a Svhs port, a composit port. the stereo out ports. The standard 8 pin din port, a port for the Irratating maze controller. There was the Jamma connection and RGB adjustments in the front. I saw the pc board which had the NGM and NGH slots on top. it would play in either home or MVS mode. There were also plans to put the Samurai Shodown chipset on the board so out of the box you could play a game on it. It looked like a awesome system. But to go to the form it is in now to the final production form would have taken a large investimate on !Arcade! part. The demand does not seem to be there for it. I told them right Away if It came out I would buy one. but can I say that 100, 500 or 1,000 people would say the same thing. After seeing the reponse to the Neo summit and discussion on the unit I can not say they would. The last thing I want is !Arcade! to invest tons of money in getting a system produced and made only to have them sit somewhere in a warehouse becuase the demend for them at the price it would take to put them out and be profitable or even break even is not there. Maybe in the future if a SNK vs Capcom is release on the Neo or another game that everyone is wanting to play the surge for people wanting to own a neo will increase and the demand for a new system will be there. I can only hope.

we wraped it up by them showing me the IM trackball controller for the Neo. and I headback to the hotel. Of course there was some ribbing on the Big Bruno Customized Neo stick I brought but we will not talk about that <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0">

Monday I got up and went around the city again. !Arcade! came by to pick me up to go to the airport. on the way there they took me by thier PC board Manfacturing Location. I meet Mike there who went over the process of making boards and pressing them. I saw the equipment used to make the strikers cart and all the people there seemed real dedicated and busy. From there we went to get something to eat and I caught the plane going back to Houston. Almost missed it <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">


It was a great trip and !Arcade! Was a great group of people. I am just glad they showed some interest in the Neo to come out with the products I was able to see. But there does not seem to be a lot of support for some of them which is unfortunite. Hopefully sometime soon I will be able to make another trip out there.

(I reread this twice so hopefull it is not full with my usual spelling a grammer problems <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0">)

It is nice to finally hear some news from the Neo Summit. I am surprised with the lack of interest in the summit and news of the AES II. So do you think the AES II will be released anytime soon--Did Arcade elude to approximately how much the console would be priced at if/when released? Were there still plans to have the AES II sold in retail stores? How many systems would have to be sold or what would have to occur to convince Arcade to release the system on even a limited basis? Thanks for the info.

Maybe an SNK style preorder, where if they get enough, they will sell?

more then replied to this post that's for sure <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

The magic number they were hoping for to start the release was 1,000. Price would be between the price of thier Strikers cart release but less then the NGF version of strikers. Well of course it will not be that High <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0">


at anyrate though it would require more interest being showned by retailers like an NCS or a city chain of game stores like game stop here In order to reach a number that high in orders.

I know there are people out there that think the price point is to high. But what it boils down to is the price can not get to a $199 or less. that would not even cover the cost of involved with getting the system design to print on a circuit board and the cost of the chips and parts involved. let alone the case designed and manfactured.

I wish I won the power ball and I would pay them to make the system then give the extra away.

<IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> GOD BLESS TORONTO, CANADA <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

I believe Arcade dug their own whole with the AES2. I for example, was very exicted about the idea when it was announced and would have bought one asap. The lack of info and response from Arcade was what turned me and many other AES2 hopefulls from it I believe. How can we be hyped up about something that the company will release no info about? Everytime a thread would pop on neo-geo.com about, everyone except arcade would respond to it.

I don't really care if they do release it now or not. If they do, good, I might buy one if the price is right. If they dont, life goes on.

Phil, I used to lived in greater Toronto areas, and I miss Canada even today, once a while I go back to vist and last year I met Neo Bomberman in person, the city used to be more lively than now, especially downtown Toronto.

Vince,

Yeah NeoBomberman told me he meet you up there last year. I Loved the city. seems like a follow you where ever you go. Houston, Tronoto <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0">

on the AES 2 hype. Really can you blame them. They take an ad in Gamego in hopes to generate interest and sales. The last thing they want to do is come over here and get in a Flame war over price and people saying it is not official SNK. Would you?

The Neo is a project being taken on by !Arcade!. There are many ideas involved in that project which the AES2 was/is one. There is also the strikers cart that came out, the convertor and the USC. They tried the answering of questions when the convertor came out, but what did it get them. I song "Ding Dong the convertor is Dead" sung to them by the Supposedly 2 biggest fan of the Neo in a thread. Along with complaints about the price.

There is one main guy who is working on all the tech and ideas geared towards the neo. He is busy figuring out how the neo works and what each chip does along with the games. When he needs something done he will go to the group to assists with designing boards or doing artwork etc. everyone else is busy running a business.

Unfortunitly the Neo is not a mainstream system and truthfully I am surprised it even draws the interest of a group like !Arcade!. The people I meet were all great and dedicated to the work they were doing. When I saw the people in the board manafacturing plant they were all hard at work. I tell you one thing though they were not running AES2's or USC or any neo products off the line. Becuase they run a business and not a neo only workshop.

Damn Bruno,
I envy ya for being there. It sounds like you had a serious blast and I would have enjoyed seeing the place myself.

Maybe sometime in the future, I'll finally break down and do some serious travelling again.

Thanks Bruno for posting this. It was a very good read. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

Dammit!!! I really, really, really wanted to go to the Summit. I even talked to Ray about it a couple times, but my schedule here at work just didn't make it possible...

I hope you enjoyed it enough for the rest of us that wanted to make it and couldn't, and thanks for letting us know what it was like!

Jeff

I understand that Arcade is working so hard on several projects including AES2. It's sad to hear that AES2 might get canned but I have few questions.

1) There is one guy in Arcade's company to work and figure how Neo works. Why doesn't Arcade just talk to SNK and get technology from them directly instead?

2) Arcade did put an ad in Gamego mag to show us the AES2 console. But the problem is that it doesn't tell anything. If he really wants to promote his product, why doesnt' he put an ad in EGM, Next Gen or other mags so it'll attract more attention?
And all I see from the ad is so empty and I have no idea what it says if I'm not a Neo gamer.

Well, just my opinions. I do hope AES2 comes out so I can get one and start collecting MVS <IMG SRC="smilies/frown.gif" border="0">

Originally posted by Liquid Snake:
<STRONG>I understand that Arcade is working so hard on several projects including AES2. It's sad to hear that AES2 might get canned but I have few questions.

1) There is one guy in Arcade's company to work and figure how Neo works. Why doesn't Arcade just talk to SNK and get technology from them directly instead?

2) Arcade did put an ad in Gamego mag to show us the AES2 console. But the problem is that it doesn't tell anything. If he really wants to promote his product, why doesnt' he put an ad in EGM, Next Gen or other mags so it'll attract more attention?
And all I see from the ad is so empty and I have no idea what it says if I'm not a Neo gamer.

Well, just my opinions. I do hope AES2 comes out so I can get one and start collecting MVS <IMG SRC="smilies/frown.gif" border="0"></STRONG>

Click to expand...

1. That's easy. One it's cheaper and two it is more challenging to try to figure the stuff out. I do not think there is a set document anyway. what they look at is the difference between carts amoung other things. Even though SNK is bought out and bankrupt they still charge alot for info.

2. I think the ad in gamego was more of a teaser to get people to email questions and inquires. It did lack some info but this is a ongoing system in developement as well. the case pictured along with the specs were do to change.

seems to me that we might not see AES2 in the near future........

There is no way that parents will spend $600 more or less to get just a "video game system". They want "multimedia" system.

I can hardly see 1000 order here...... <IMG SRC="smilies/frown.gif" border="0">

Sigh.......