Here’s the Ticket!
I do not know the reason why today’s entire amusement industry doesn’t focuse harder on adapting new technologies ahead of our other competitive industries. History shows us that the public loves to see, touch, feel, hear, and smell new innovative products such as the jukebox, pinball, skee-ball, video game, and the modern merchandisers that have been some of the main reasons our industry grew so rapidly. Technology is our best friend and not the enemy. Below are some new products and new technologies that caught my attention these past two months:
A Game with a Smartphone Interface. As reported in Vending Times, Unit-e Technologies has created a music-themed game (including a redemption model) called Neon FM. The unique aspect is the smartphone interface. A player can connect his/her smartphone to the game by scanning a QR code on the monitor and logging in to a wireless internet connection. Initially this would allow a player to save their scores and compare them with other players. What is entirely new is that a player can input their own settings for the game including ‘…colors, speed, and note modifications’. A player or anyone using the player’s smartphone can make changes during the game in real time to take advantage of a player’s skills or ‘your friends could mess with you while you’re playing’. In other words, this means that players can not only challenge each other traditionally, but can each use the other’s smartphone to change key features of the game while their opponent is playing.
What this could mean? This could be a major breakthrough for coin-op games. What our industry has been missing is a direct connection between our games and the public’s smartphones that goes beyond mobile payment and mobile reward and advertising capabilities. People have become so addicted to their smartphones that they want to use them as a part of their everyday experiences and that includes out-of-home game play. This technology gives the player the ability to unlock features of a game after completing a series of challenges or missions over a period of multiple game plays, similar to achievements in laser tag.
Taken a step further, this could be a great application to adding more skill dimensions to video and video-redemption games. These challenges and changes would not need to be random or programmed by the game, but are skillfully inputted directly by the player’s smartphone during real time game play. This technology can keep the players coming back more often to further develop their skills.
This is just the beginning and the uses are limitless. I have not yet seen or played Neon FM, but for those who are interested in learning more, Unit-e is located in Timonium, MD, phone 858 848 6483.
