At this past ASI in March, I finally got to take a look at the Game Gate VU, a coin-operated kiosk that would allow operators to place an Xbox 360 or a PS3 on location and they could legally place certain games in said kiosks. I do not believe that it is available yet but it already has some competition coming along, promising to do virtually the same thing but with a different platform – the PC.
Called the “eSpot Gaming Extreme”, this is a coin-operated cabinet that will allow people to surf the internet and play several licensed PC games from companies like Valve, Ubisoft and more. Initially they plan on having 27 titles available, including Left 4 Dead, Far Cry 2, Hawx, CounterStrike, and others. They have an agreement to include most EA titles on the platform, minus titles like Need For Speed and PGA Golf which are licensed for coin-op amusement with GlobalVR. Right now they are promising to distribute the game in Europe, Russia and the Middle East with the possibility of a release in North/Central/South America and Asia later on.
Get 4 to 8 PCs hooked up with LAN support and that would be great for Left 4 Dead or Counter Strike.
I taked a look on the machine info, and the games list is really impressive.
I even find the FIFA 09 and Guild Wars there.
When did this come to the streets ?
As appealing as the cabinet may look, i’m sure it is way overpriced like all arcades. Especially one that packs a beastly PC. And the idea of MMO games is to have “massive” amounts of people playing together. With that in mind, it would be cheaper to buy multiple PC’s plus games, connect them to a LAN and charge per hour.
I could see this type of “arcade” doing well in an internet cafe environment rather then an actual arcade. Offering tournaments with prizes will definitely give PC gamers incentive to crawl out of their caves and show off some 1337 skillz.
I saw the presentation movie of this machine on youtube, and it looks great.
It seems that it can do more then only play games. It also allow access to the Internet and access to messenger.
Still, I take a look at the included games, and the list is quite impressive.
I also like the arcade controls.
Cool !!!