New technology platform with attractive games and strong online competency.

funworld, Europe’s market leader for linked touchscreen terminals is continuing its remarkable success strategy with the new PHOTO PLAY 2009. The new SYSTEM is however far more than a game update. It corresponds much more to an innovative technology platform, which successfully supports funworld’s innovative concepts for usage optimisation, such as online linking, the Master’s tournament system, the Multiplayer Cup and profitable game cooperations.

PHOTO PLAY 2009 includes a total of 14 new games, four of which are the well-known and exciting Yetisports games. In addition it contains a wealth of innovations in game management as well as the tournament and online segment. PHOTO PLAY 2009 is not only available as a DVD but also through funworld’s advanced technology also ONLINE, which significantly increases the distribution speed and saves hosts’ service and logistics costs.

The innovations
In addition to the four Yetisports games: Pingu Throw, Orca Slap, Icicle Climb and Flamingo Drive, there are also 10 brand new games on PHOTO PLAY 2009: Aviator, Bloxxy, Duo, Pengu Flip, Shanghai Pro, Concentration, Super Sonic, Tutti Frutti, Football Fever and Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture. Find it also scores points with fresh images and Solitaire AM can now be played in duel mode as well.

“To further increase the PHOTO PLAY 2009 games’ attractiveness and hence increase game figures, a new tournament series, Masters PRO, is also being issued in the framework of this year’s anniversary, ‘10 years of Masters’. PHOTO PLAY Masters is the most successful touchscreen-based tournament system in Europe and a highly effective game loyalty tool, which will receive an added boost with Masters PRO,” according to Josef Öhlinger, funworld ag CEO.

As pioneer and innovative leader in the multiplayer segment funworld has also further developed and expanded this through the two newly formatted successful games of Kniffler Pro and TP Genus Ed. The multiplayer area of PHOTO PLAY 2009 consequently not only enables players to play live every day against one another around the globe, they can now chat with each other via the messaging function.

“The new multiplayer area moreover includes an innovative tournament ranking system, which makes it possible for players to take tournament play beyond the encounter at hand. The new multiplayer ranking system increases the attractiveness once again of the PHOTO PLAY 2009 multiplayer area, which meanwhile includes a total of 14 games and accounts for 40% of all PHOTO PLAY network game played,” emphasises Öhlinger.

PHOTO PLAY 2009 moreover has an optimised user interface as well as an appealing demomode, which dynamically puts classic games and current casual games in a gallery with a light background.

Furthermore, PHOTO PLAY 2009 has an additional game category in “FUN”, which in addition to the three existing categories of “cards”, “quiz” and “skill” includes all casual games offered, such as the game of the year, Kick the Fish, or the previously most successful net.game Pengu Flip.

The main menu of PHOTO PLAY 2009 is displayed in a fresh design and with an innovative “full screen teaser tool”, which enables strong branding via creative promotions based on game content or current events. In addition, the set-up is accompanied by innovations and extra game settings.

Yetisports for the first time and exclusively on touchscreen
Yetisports games Pingu Throw, Orca Slap, Icicle Climb and Flamingo Drive crown the broad PHOTO PLAY 2009 game offer. They are within an entire series of Yetisports games and, in addition to the grouse game, are among the most successful casual games on the Internet in recent years. All four are exciting games revolving around Yeti and his fascinating world full of penguins, whales and flamingos.

The Yetisports games were optimised to be touchscreen compatible in close cooperation with the manufacturing company Root9 MediaLAB GmbH to offer their community of fans a unique game experience, which is clearly better than game playing on a PC, due to the interactive touchscreen technology.

“Through the cooperation with Root9 funworld is launching the unique Yetisports games for the entertainment machines branch and is bringing these exclusively on PHOTO PLAY 2009 for the first time in the restaurant/bar/arcade segment. Hosts can thereby profit from the major brand recognition and the high affinity of the Yetisports games. Players, who are already familiar with Yetisports, will intensely enjoy the new touchscreen option and the accompanying game experience. Newcomers will in turn be attracted by this magic and guarantee hefty increases in profits,” explains Öhlinger with confidence.

The Yetisports games are characterised by unique creativity, strong emotionality and high affinity levels. With their distinctive brand philosophy they will also guarantee major game pleasure, new players and high playing figures in restaurants/bars and arcades. “In a field test of all linked PHOTO PLAY terminals Flamingo Drive, for example, has set benchmarks as a net.game throughout Europe within a very brief period of time reaching Number One on the most popular game charts, and has achieved 22,000 games played per day,” Öhlinger reports with enthusiasm.

Following the successful cooperation with Hasbro, funworld is continuing the proven strategy of license partnerships with Yetisports, whereby this extends far beyond the mere provision of the four Yetisports games. funworld has thus also developed a twelve-month action programme, based on the Yetisports games for linked PHOTO PLAY terminals. Online machines receive monthly game updates via the link so that within a year the entire Yetisports series of 11 games will be available on the terminals.

Moreover, a yearlong Yetisports tournaments will be held, a special competition, which will captivate players for the entire year. Select merchandising materials for optimised POS marketing rounds out funworld’s sophisticated Yetisports concept, which is entirely oriented to optimum usage of the attractive contents.

Internet shapes PHOTO PLAY 2009
“Innovation is when you do it!” is the proven axiom of Josef Öhlinger, funworld ag CEO, which is also manifested in PHOTO PLAY 2009 via the strong integration of the Internet. Funworld’s innovative leadership is shown, among other ways, in the complete online distribution of PHOTO PLAY 2009 and in the regular Yetisports games updates at terminals linked online. Öhlinger discusses this:

“PHOTO PLAY 2009 is particularly shaped by the integration of the Internet, whereby individual divisions are particularly strongly determined, such as the PHOTO PLAY Masters or the multiplayer segment, which has only become possible to begin with through online linking. ‘Embedded Internet’ is the innovative core of what makes PHOTO PLAY 2009 unique.”

A further dimension is being experienced via integration of the Internet in PHOTO PLAY 2009, through the new content management system. The aim of this is to custom tailor promising touchscreen optimised game content in the broadest sense to users and market circumstances, as has already been realised, for example, in the new “DSAB-Login” cooperative project between funworld and DSAB/VFS. German dart players can thereby enter and call up information on PHOTO PLAY 2009 about the German dart league at any time. 

Further similar types of cooperative projects with strong Internet affinity are currently being tested (e.g. You Tube) and are soon to follow, as funworld will in future even more intensively promote integration of the Internet in PHOTO PLAY 2009 through the expansion of the progressive online technology.

Madagascar Escape 2 Africa is the upcoming 2008 sequel to the 2005 film.

This Dreamworks animation is scheduled to be released Nov 7th, 2008.

A story about animals escaping Madagascar on a plane, as the animals plan to return to New York things start going wrong and they crash land in Africa. Initially all the animals are delighted to finally be among their own kind in the wild, however life in Africa turns out to be different than what they anticipated. Now Allstar brings this movie to life with a great series of colorful, die cut and prismatic stickers. This series of 12 features the main characters Alex/ the Lion, Gloria/ the Hippopotamus, Marty/the Zebra, Melman/the Giraffe and many others. The stickers are large in size measuring roughly 3” by 4”. Also available are double sided display cards to refresh machine appearance when vending the stickers.

Great for boys and girls for a suggested 1 Euro vend.

Additional information can be had by contacting Allstar’s customer service line at (800) 685-7066 or by viewing its website at allstarvending.com

Back by popular demand Pokemon is an undeniable force in not only gaming, but in pop culture as well. What started as a simple video game series has inspired movies, television shows, children’s toys, books, trading cards and more.  Allstar now has a sticker collection that consists of 12 colorful, die cut, prismatic stickers, also available at Allstar Vending a tattoo series of 10, each card has multiple tattoos. Kids can collect their Pikachu, Squirtle, Jigglypuff and many other Pokemon characters.

It is very interesting to look back on the 10 years since Pokemon first made a splash in the USA, it has proven that it is not going anywhere, its here to stay.

Great for kids under 12 years of age. For a suggested 1 Euro vend.

For more information or to view all products you can visit our website at www.allstarvending.com or you can call one of our Allstar Girls at (800) 685-7066.

Allstar vending known for its licensed products is happy to bring you SpongeBob #7

A licensed sticker series based on Nickelodeon most popular show for kids and adults.

SpongeBob sticker series #7 are now available at Allstar. This Emmy nominated American animated television series is currently the most watched show on Nickelodeon and is now broadcast across the world.  It’s the only Cartoon to consistently make the top 10 list in the Nielsen ratings. The series is set in the Pacific Ocean, in the fictional city of Bikini Bottom and on the surrounding lagoon floor. Spongebob the main character is a sea sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea, his best friend is a pink starfish named Patrick Star and he lives under a rock.  Kids can continue to collect this new series of 12 stickers which focuses mainly on Spongebob and his friend Patrick. In this sticker series you will find Spongebob riding a wave on his surfboard and SpongeBob exercising and many other posses made famous from Spongebob.

SpongeBob is designed to appeal to children as well as adults. Suggested vend 1 Euro.

For more information on this product you can visit our website at www.allstarvending.com or contact one of our Allstar girls at (800) 685-7066.

The newest and fastest Kontron COM ExpressTM module graphics engine built around high-end embedded chipset - the Kontron ETXexpress®-690 Computer-on-Module - is now available for evaluation so that developers can immediately begin platform and application testing as well as implementation into application- specific custom carrier board designs.

The Kontron ETXexpress®-690 COM Express™ Computer-on-Module is based on the latest AMD M690E and SB600 embedded chipset with the integrated Radeon™ X1200 graphics core and has been tested for DirectX® 9, OpenGL as well as hardware accelerated MPEG and WMV9 decoding capabilities using the newest range of benchmarking tools. Up to 256 MBytes of graphics memory, anti-aliasing and 3D texture come together to make the Kontron ETXexpress®-690 Computer-on-Module number one on the list of the relevant benchmarks, i.e. 3D Mark 05 and Maxton Cinebench 10.0.

The Kontron ETXexpress®-690 is especially designed for graphic-intensive applications requiring a well-balanced Computer-on-Module that combines comprehensive high-performance 2D and 3D graphics with adequate processing performance. Such applications also benefit from the relatively low thermal design power of 10W to 35W making possible designs with fully-sealed and rugged housings with passive conduction cooling. Therefore, the Kontron ETXexpress®-690 Computer-on-Module is ideal for a wide range of embedded solutions, including medical, industrial and security imaging applications, powerful HMIs for process visualization, CAD and digital mock-up systems as well as POS/POI, gaming and multimedia solutions.

The highly-scalable and cost-effective Kontron ETXexpress®-690 Computer-on-Module offers processing performance ranging from the single core 1.0 GHz Mobile AMD Sempron™ 2100+ processor up to the dual-core AMD Turion™ 64 X2 TL-52 with 1.6 GHz. Performance is further boosted by 800 MHz FSB, 256 MByte shared memory and up to 4Gbyte dual channel DDR2-800 SO-DIMM memory. The two banks of DDR2 memory ensure extremely fast graphics processing performance.

The Kontron ETXexpress®-690 Computer-on-Module is 100 percent COM Express™ compliant and comes with a host of interfaces that conform to the PICMG® COM.0 specification’s Type 2 pin-out. By conforming to the COM Express™ specification, Kontron’s latest Computer-on-Module also supports TDMS for applications requiring DVI or HDMI graphics. Extensive I/O options ensure application flexibility and include PCI Express 3x1 lanes + PEG 1x8, 10/100/1000 Mbit Ethernet, eight USB 2.0 ports and dual video streaming capabilities to mention just a few. For enhanced data safety, the Kontron ETXexpress®-690 offers a RAID 0,1,10 subsystem along with AHCI and 4 x SerialATA 300 ports for quick hard drive access. The Kontron ETXexpress®-690 Computer-on-Module also offers continued support for applications requiring PCI and IDE interfaces.

The COM Express™ compliant Kontron ETXexpress®-690 Computer-on-Module supports Windows® XP, Windows® XPe, Windows® CE, Windows Vista® and Linux.

The Kontron ETXexpress®-690 Computer-on-Module is available for ordering now.