Cover Story
(May 2005)Cover Story
(May 2005)With
first shipments last month of Breeders' Cup: Tournament Edition, UltraCade has
propelled itself even further into the limelight of the coin-op industry.
As the company's name suggests, UltraCade Technologies has its roots in developing technology and it began in 1984 with David R. Foley. In his freshman year at Boston's Northeastern University as a Computer Science major Foley discovered a way to help fund his education.
After
reading about various CPU designs for a class, he realized that he could
significantly enhance his personal computer (PC) by swapping out the slow Intel
8088 processor with an NEC V20 and upgrading the computer's internal clock from
4.77MHz to 8.0MHz.
After
a few days of experimenting he knew he had something. Armed with his innovation,
Foley Hi-Tech Systems was born. Foley recognized that to best sell his upgrade
he needed to pair it with software that could help improve the other parts of a
PC that were drastically slowing down his computer.
Foley
began developing utilities that helped speed up his PC beyond his new CPU
upgrade. While monitoring his Bulletin Board System on the FidoNet (a network of
PCs that communicated before the Internet) he stumbled across a program written
by Roger Cross. Eighteen-year-old Foley and Cross, 28, bonded instantly and
pooled their efforts to market a suite of utilities known as HyperDisk SpeedKit
through a company they named HyperWare.
During
the next six years Foley and Cross sold products on BBS systems around the
world. In 1989, Ashton Tate noticed that many loyal dBase customers were
installing HyperDisk to speed up their database. Tate bought the rights for
HyperDisk, which allowed Cross to take a five-year sabbatical and Foley to move
to California to pursue his passion for video games.
The game industry welcomes Foley
Three
months after moving to San Francisco, Foley was working on one of the hottest
Genesis console products in the game industry, Spider-Man vs. Kingpin for Sega,
one of the leading companies in the game industry. After helping with
programming, level design work, and testing for the new product, he worked on
two more projects for Sega before venturing back on his own.
Foley
built a small development studio in San Francisco and before long it had grown
to 30 employees. Reviving HyperWare, he developed games for the Sega Genesis and
Super Nintendo platforms. In 1995 the company struck gold with Urban Strike
published by Electronic Arts, selling over 750,000 copies in the first six
months. Business was going great, but it was about to change.
Founder
and CEO David R. Foley
is showing off one of the company's
latest pieces of
technology.
Foley
and his team had developed significant amounts of technology for the 16-bit
consoles, giving them the ability to quickly turn ideas into products. The
market, however, was turning upside down. Sony had just launched the PlayStation
console, the first in the wave of next generation machines. The development
environment was changing for 16-bit consoles. Transitions were expensive.
Halfway through development of Silver Squadron, Foley's first PlayStation title,
it was cancelled. The team put out six educational titles for Lightspan, but the
development costs were putting the company out of business. It was time for a
radical change.
Welcome
to coin-op
Foley
began searching for a home for the game technology that HyperWare had developed.
He briefly helped develop content for Sega Channel but it didn't take off. The
future didn't look too bright.
The
company's office was full of many classic arcade machines, including Foley's
favorite, Joust. Experimenting with some emulation technology he developed in
college, Foley soon had Joust up and running on his PC. Then various iterations
of the game started to appear, including NetJoust, a version that you play with
multiple people in the same playfield but without servers.
NetJoust
ran by simply loading your game on the Internet. This technology held
significant promise, but development funds were running low. On a trip to
Electronic Arts, Foley toured the fledgling coin-op division, which had recently
started to build an arcade machine using Sega Genesis as the driving engine. At
the time, Sega Genesis did not provide enough horsepower for the machine, but
Foley knew what could power the new machine.
The
ArcadePC, an eventual standard?
In
1996, Foley's former partner, Roger Cross, contacted him about getting back to
work. Foley greeted his call saying, "Great, we are now in the arcade
business; let's get to work!" The two planned to build a PC that would
replace the very expensive dedicated circuit boards that powered every arcade
game from both Japanese and American manufacturers.
Foley
had visited Intel several times to show them his technology and convince them to
provide the much needed technical data on chipsets. HyperWare then scored its
first big coin-op licensing coup, the development deal for Quake and Quake II's
source code. Foley and Cross worked non-stop for months converting the title,
which had been a tremendous hit in home PCs, to code that could be used in
coin-op.
The
first production run of UltraCade
multi-game machines in 2000
under the
Quantum3D ba
While
the software and PC issues were being tackled, it was obvious that they needed
amazing graphics. Foley found Quantum3D, a startup that was developing the most
powerful PC graphics cards on the planet. At Quantum3D, Foley was introduced to
Bob DeKett (UltraCade's current Vice President of Business Development). DeKett
and Foley started working together to integrate the Quantum3D video and I/O
boards into HyperWare's Quake: Arcade Tournament Edition. They encountered
problems with the Quantum3D technology, and rather than wait for the solution
they fixed it themselves. Their proactive and solution-oriented style led
HyperWare to another big change.
HyperWare
was one of the founding members of Intel's Open Arcade Architecture Forum. From
1997 to 1999, Foley traveled with Intel and spoke at many of the industry trade
shows touting the benefits of moving to a PC platform.
Did
somebody say tournament?
A
portion of the underlying technology developed for the Quake arcade product was
a network engine called SparkyNET, which allowed the machines to communicate
without a central server. It also allowed for instant head-to-head competition
and delivered content remotely. Both of these features showed potential for more
than just Quake.
HyperWare
met with the coin-op division of Sega to explore ways to use this technology.
Foley was introduced to Michael Cooper-Hart, then Vice President of Sega (now
UltraCade's Director of Product Development and Quality Assurance). Sega's
Daytona 2 had been out for a year and earnings were starting to decline. Sega
turned to HyperWare for a facelift. Foley's team employed its PC-based
technology, tapped into the Sega Model 2 fiber network, and delivered a system
that converted any Daytona 2 game into a worldwide tournament machine. While a
technical success, the product saw limited distribution in the United States and
United Kingdom because of several management decisions made by Sega.
In
order to launch Quake: Arcade Tournament Edition, HyperWare partnered with
Texas-based LBE Systems, hoping to find a business partner to take care of the
manufacturing and distribution portion of the business so HyperWare could focus
on its strong game development and technology pursuits.
While
technically flawless, Quake: Arcade Tournament Edition was not earning well at
arcades. The biggest installation was at GameWorks and was comprised of four
seats in every Game-Arc station, a giant sit-down setup featuring wrap-around
projection screens.
At
GameWorks Foley met Phil Foley and Brian Matthews (both are currently with
UltraCade). With the large development expenditures and the unsuccessful launch
of its first coin-op product, HyperWare found itself in need of a cash infusion.
Since
HyperWare needed funding and Quantum3D wanted to move into the coin-op
technology market, the pairing was perfect. In 1998 Quantum3D acquired HyperWare,
its technology, and its employees. HyperWare become the Entertainment Systems
Division with the mission of supplying the coin-op market with PC-based
technology.
Foley
and his team wasted no time. They developed the Quicksilver II computer chassis,
a system designed specifically to be placed in an arcade cabinet. Convinced of
this new platform, Midway decided to drive Hydro Thunder's engine with
Quicksilver II, eventually selling over 17,000 units and proving that the PC was
a viable coin-op platform. Foley hit the road selling PC-based coin-op solutions
to companies such as Interactive Light and Global VR.
With
growing success of the coin-op division, Foley's team expanded and brought on
new members including Greg Lima, who was fresh out of college. They soon
developed new products such as Lucky 8. The team took the NetJoust concept and
designed a multi-game arcade machine that would run on the PC-based technology.
DeKett went around the world and landed contracts with arcade legends like
Capcom, Jaleco, and Taito. The UltraCade multi-game system was born.
In
2000, just as the UltraCade multi-game system was being launched, Quantum3D
landed a government contract with Lockhead Martin to develop military simulators
and decided to get out of coin-op.
HyperWare
spun itself out as a separate company and took all of its coin-op technology.
Quantum3D's investors were still interested in the coin-op market and placed
their own management in the newly formed company. Foley and his team found
themselves employees of the company they built!
In
2002, HyperWare found a new use for its embedded PC systems in the digital
signage market. The investors, still feeling the pain of the Internet stock
crash in the Silicon Valley, decided to pursue the digital sign market and
abandon the coin-op market. In October 2002 HyperWare went into bankruptcy as
the investors abandoned the company.
Rising
from the ashes
Not
ready to give up on coin-op, Foley rallied the troops and formed UltraCade
Technologies to continue with their labor of love. Without the financial backing
of investors, Foley consulted during the first year to pay the rent and payroll.
Foley worked for various companies including engineering projects at Global VR.
In the fall of 2003 UltraCade was back on its feet and Foley stopped consulting
to focus full time on UltraCade Technologies' growth.
Foley
gives a lot of credit to his staff: "Our team is the greatest collection of
dedicated and loyal people that you will ever meet," stated Foley.
Earlier
that year, UltraCade Technologies, struggling to regain the confidence of
operators and distributors, took a small 10-foot booth at the spring Amusement
Showcase International (ASI) in Las Vegas, Nev.
Foley
recalled that show: "We had only three people officially on the payroll
while the entire development team was working without pay to help rebuild the
business. We showed up at ASI with one 27-inch dedicated game and one universal
kit. The development team traveled to Las Vegas to help sell products and
rebuild the company. These guys worked for several months without a paycheck;
that is how much they believed in our company." Foley added, "Without
their passion and dedication, we never would have made it."
Capturing
the Atari magic
When
UltraCade needed to assemble a team to develop Breeders' Cup Foley turned to
Charlie Grisafi and his development team from GFX Construction. Charlie, Leif
Terry, Dave Shepperd, Aaron Hightower, Mike Hally, and Jeff Shears have all
joined the Breeders' Cup team and have a combined list of games that reads like
the history of Atari: Area 51, Maximum Force, Road Burners, Rush 2049, Rush
Wavenet, Gauntlet Dark Legacy, Gauntlet Legends, All Points Bulletin (A.P.B.),
Blasteroids, Stun Runner, Moto Frenzy, Gravitar, Star Wars, Night Driver, and
Asteroids Deluxe.
Other
Atari veterans include Vice President of Domestic Sales Elaine Shirley, Engineer
Cris Drobny, and receptionist Evelyn Perez. "It's a lot like the old Atari
days with the energy and enthusiasm around this company," boasted Shirley.
"Everyone here loves the environment. We work hard but we love what we
do."
Other
industry veterans joining UltraCade Technologies include Vice President of
Manufacturing Fred Abadi, who previously worked for Interactive Light and Global
VR; and Michael Cooper-Hart, who held positions with Sega and Namco.
UltraCade
Technologies went back to its content partners and re-secured content licenses
for many games, including more titles from Midway. A proven platform, the
UltraCade multi-game system re-established its dominance in the retro gaming
movement. Expanding the line with a growing lineup of cabinet offerings,
UltraCade also found itself with a new strategic partner that lead the way back
into selling products for the home.
Supplying
the industry
UltraCade
Technologies continued to expand its intellectual property portfolio developing
many different I/O cards and adapters. UltraCade now supplies many of its
competitors with technology components to drive their games.
"This
industry is a small tight knit family, said Foley. "It seems that
practically everyone has worked together at one time or another. To keep the
marketplace healthy, we need new and fresh ideas all the time. We realize that
we won't always have them and that sometimes our competitors will have a winning
product. We want to cultivate and share as much of that success as possible. So
we have decided to offer our technology components to other companies. If they
have a successful product it increases the success of our technology, then we
all win."
UltraCade
Technologies products can be found in machines from Betson, Tsunami, Global VR,
Roxor, and others. Products such as the Universal Video Card (UVC) allow any VGA
output game to drive any coin-op-type monitor, low or medium resolution, which
provides the missing link for universal kit upgrades to modern platforms.
Customers can buy the UVC off the shelf exclusively distributed by Happ
Controls.
Back
to the consumer market
As
UltraCade grew its cabinet offerings, Foley met up with Doug Duba of Churchill
Mfg./Chicago Gaming, a long-time cabinet manufacturer. The two companies worked
together to leverage the multi-game platform that UltraCade had perfected and
create a consumer-only version, Arcade Legends.
Seven
years after exiting the consumer market, UltraCade Technologies was once again
selling to the home market. "Arcade Legends has become a staple in our
product offering. We sell these units nationwide at retailers such as Costco and
Fry's and in Hammacher Schlemmer and FrontGate catalogs. Arcade Legends is also
available at several of the leading game room suppliers like Automated Services
and PinballSales.com. "We are
expanding our consumer line and will have two new products for this Christmas'
buying season," said Foley.
An
idea's time has come
In
2003 Foley and DeKett started playing Sega's Derby Owners Club (DOC) and began
designing the next-generation horse racing game. While DOC was earning amazing
results, the per game cost was more than what 95 percent of players were willing
to spend to play it in the U.S. market. Foley informed, "We believed we
could design a next-generation game using our PC-based technology and target an
affordable price that would get great market penetration."
UltraCade
developed several technical demonstrations and designed a new horse racing game,
Thoroughbred Racing Club. The goal was to leverage the multiple years of
technology development in PCs and tournaments to build an affordable and
networkable game. Foley and DeKett made multiple trips to Japan trying to sell
the idea to publishers and looking for the funding necessary to develop this
caliber of game.
According
to Foley, in February 2004 UltraCade Technologies entered into a non-binding
agreement with Sega to negotiate the development of the product. During the next
few months contract terms were negotiated between the two companies.
UltraCade
started development and investing in the project, hoping for the funding to
arrive from Japan any day to keep the company moving on the project. Foley
recalls, "Then at the last moment, we had the rug pulled out from under
us."
Foley
recalls that day in July 2005 when during a trip to UltraCade's brand-new
corporate headquarters Sega and Sammy management announced that they would not
be licensing the technology that UltraCade had developed and also would not be
funding the completion of UltraCade's horse racing game.
"It
was a severe blow to morale and put us in a panic financially," recalled
DeKett, who had invested almost two years of work at that point. "Now the
scramble was on to figure out how to finish the game and, more importantly, how
to brand it without major backing to really make it stand out."
What
a difference a partner makes
Foley
and DeKett approached the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), the
organizing body for horse racing in North America, looking for a partner to help
brand their game. "We showed them our technology and our business plan,
which highlighted the potential of a horse racing game that featured recurring
tournaments," stated DeKett. "We listened to their needs and crafted a
plan that could benefit both companies. They were already looking to move into
the consumer and cell phone markets and needed a partner for the coin-op market.
It was synergy from the first meeting."
An
enthusiastic partner, NTRA representatives were in the UltraCade booth at the
most recent ASI show. "The NTRA is providing us with much more than just a
logo or a name. We are working together on international sponsors for our
tournaments, co-branding, marketing deals, television advertising, and much
more," stated Foley. "UltraCade has entered into a multi-year,
exclusive license with the NTRA for the coin-op product line."
UltraCade
had another hurdle to overcome: how to develop and build the next generation
video game. For that, they turned to the industry for help and advice.
Partnering with companies such as Happ Controls, Betson, Churchill Mfg.,
Automated Services, and Wells-Gardner, UltraCade was able to leverage the help
of the industry's well-respected veterans. "We have been very fortunate to
have many of the industry's experts give us a hand in many different ways,"
said Foley. "This industry is a very small one and we all need to work
together to keep it strong. The support shown to us has been amazing and it
shows in the quality of our new product."
The
next golf
Breeders'
Cup: Tournament Edition began shipping last month. With a strong debut at ASI,
excitement about the product just continues to grow with every post show event
and every player forum. UltraCade Technologies has been proactive in courting
tournament arcade players, as well as designing the game to capture the casual
players. Many operators have commented that this game has the potential to be as
big as coin-op golf has been for the past eight years.
UltraCade
Technologies is supporting a strong tournament schedule, kicking off in June
with tournaments held every weekend throughout the summer and fall. "There
will be weekly tournaments with prize pools as high as $10,000," stated
DeKett. "Then we have five Super Saturday events with prize pools as high
as $25,000." The season will culminate at the end of October with the top
14 players from around the world being flown to Belmont in New York for the
Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championship. The day before the real world
horse races, UltraCade Technologies and the NTRA will hold it's Coin-Op
Championship with a $100,000 prize pool and the winner will take home a Dodge
Viper.
Go
baby go!
With
a strong foothold in the ever growing consumer game room market, leading the
retro gaming movement, and the launch of the Breeders' Cup: Tournament Edition
game, UltraCade Technologies is on a pace second to none. Named to Entrepreneur
Magazine's Top 100 Hottest Companies List for 2005, Foley and his team plan to
continue to lead the way in keeping the coin-op industry strong.
The
East Coast team, (l-r): Tom Ducharme,
Phil Foley, Brad Lima, and
Greg Lima
sitting on top of the
Fall River, Mass., office building.
Industry
veterans
Lou Rudolph and Elaine Shirley
head up the sales organization.
From
left: familiar faces Mike Hally,
Aaron Hightower, Charlie Grisafi, and
Leif
Terry are the core members of the
Breeders' Cup development and former Atarians.
Sales
experts Anita Ochoa (inside sales)
and Liz Breen (sales manager)
round out the
sales team.
From
left: manufacturing team members
Jason Matthews, Thanh Tran, Toan Nguyen,
Ha
Nguyen, and Jesse Leandro with a batch of
Street Fighter Anniversary Edition
machines.
The
stars come out! Dave Navarro and
Carmen Electra are two of many stars
that have
UltraCade multi-game systems in their homes.
Finance
team members,
(l-r): Jaclyn Davis,
Rose Ramirez and
Cristina Matthews.
From
left: Hardware and Test Board Designer
Daniel Tate with Quality Control team
members
Jim Hernandez, Michael Cooper-Hart, and Jayson Ayran.
Need
help? Sunny Cadaos and
Derek Mau man the customer support lines.