Despite all of the new coin-op arcade releases that have been coming at us lately, we haven’t forgotten about the indie game that is out there known as Get Outta My Face by Snow Runner Productions. While the game has not yet been released to the public at this time, Snow Runner tells us that distribution for the game in the US (and possibly even in the UK) is being worked on and we should expect to know more on that front soon. If you want to check out the game prior to release, there are a couple of events that it has either appeared at or it will appear at very soon where the game will be available to play 
for the public.
First off the game was on display at Ctrl+Alt+Del’s 4th annual Digital Overload event this past weekend. As Snow Runner tells us, “Over 700 people attended the event and the game was played constantly throughout the weekend. [Overall] reaction to the game was great!”
Next up the game will be at the ScreenBurn Arcade at SWSX Interactive which takes place in Austin, TX March 13th-15th. The Screenburn Arcade is the only part of the SXSW show which is free for the public to enter so if you live in the arcade and you would like to check out this original arcade title, then here is your chance to do so before it’s general release.
Snow Runner *might* be at ASI and if so, I will be sure to pass along anything I can from that event on the game as well.If you missed previous AH coverage on Get Outta My Face, you can catch up by clicking here, here and here.
I do have to say that it is quite refreshing to see this sort of exposure being given to any arcade game outside of general arcade trade circles and it makes me wonder – if an independent developer is getting his title into events like those mentioned above, why on earth are other arcade companies not doing the same thing? This subject has been on my mind lately and I think that this is one area where we need to make a shift in thinking. The only shows where we are seeing new coin-op games at are primarily intended for people within our trade – not so much the players. But I fully believe that if a greater effort were made to market coin-op games to players and not just operators/distributors, then naturally operators/distributors will find out plenty on the games and be more comfortable in purchasing such games because players will be excited about them and coming to those operators asking about them. Trust me, as an operator myself I would feel far more comfortable plunking down several thousand dollars for a new game if I had people coming into my store constantly bringing that game up, inquiring if we were going to get it than I would just hearing that the game did pretty well on location test for a few weekends at some far off place I had never heard of. I’m not suggesting that we ditch trade shows but I am suggesting that if an indie arcade developer can drum up interest in their game by putting it in the same place as other common console video games, then so can larger developers who have a lot more income at their disposal to make it to such events. Don’t underestimate the power that players can bring to the table in this industry – we have been ignoring it for far too long and it has held us back from real growth and prosperity.
EDIT: just a quick addendum to this. As I was thinking about this last night I wanted to bring up that I know that player outreach has not been completely ignored by everyone in the industry and we certainly have seen improvements in this area over the past year or two, especially when it comes to online arcade gaming. Kudos to those who have been doing what they can already to get players interested in the games they make more so than trying to interest just operators/distributors.
