There is a trend developing in the console/PC indie gaming world since last year that involves putting these new games into an arcade-style cabinet as a way to help attract attention towards the titles. We’ve covered a few of them previously and GameSetWatch has the rundown on the latest indie arcade cab, the Winnitron NL.
The Winnitron NL was inspired by the other cabinets that were put together by groups promoting their own indie games at a couple of gaming conventions in Canada. It’s purpose is to bring the same focus to indie games developed in the Netherlands, to help developers there in their efforts to grow. Multiple games can be installed on the machine with a GUI to select titles from and arcade quality controls to play them with. It does lack a coin slot, thus depriving it of coin-op arcade status but it’s a positive trend that shows how effective arcade cabinets can be in presenting and promoting new games. I still strongly support the idea of providing an online connected platform where indie developers could release their games into the arcade market, but when we’ll see that idea bloom outside of Japan is a matter of wait-and-see. Then again, there is the upcoming TouchFX platform by Adrenaline Amusements which could be just that.
You can read more about the Winnitron NL @ GameSetWatch. They also have a story on another game I would love to see in an arcade cabinet – Voxatron!
Hopefully this new marketing channel will clue console/PC developers into creating games with arcade controls in mind, which unfortunately isn’t always the case.
Interesting. Would there be a market to sustain it though? I guess the developers aren’t losing anything, but if they wanted to form a business model around it, it could be difficult. I’d really love to see it happen though.