While ICE and G2E remain the industry’s “big” shows, in many ways NIGA is the most meaningful to operators, whether you’re a Native American operator or not. With rare exceptions, the latest innovations, cabinets and themes shown in London and Las Vegas are “works-in-progress.” You can indicate interest and sometimes place orders, but deliveries are generally months and months in the future. The latest slot showings at those events seem aimed at Wall Street investors more than slot director-buyers. A good example is Aristocrat’s unique Edge X cabinet. Articles as early as the summer of 2017 hawked the cabinet and the theme “The Walking Dead III.” Prototypes were on hand at G2E that year. I wrote preview on the box again for CDC Gaming at G2E 2018. They had the cabinet on display there again, but with a different group of themes.
But the NIGA show, like with so many other products, marks the official release of this impressive cabinet. Aristocrat has reached new heights with their cabinets in recent years (literally). Their Behemoth (117.6” tall) and Arc Double (dual vertical 42” screens) have made ceiling heights one of the major concerns in doing floor layouts. But now they’ve stretched the design limits again (literally).
The Edge X has two 43” LCD high def monitors, but instead of stacking them on top of each other vertically, they are landscaped, or placed horizontally atop each other (see photo). And their inward curve is not from top to bottom, but rather longitudinally side-to-side. The joint between these LCDs is nearly seamless, making them resemble a wide-body Arc Single.
While Behemoth’s button deck stretches the cabinet width to 53”, its 84” vertical display is relatively narrow. That gives the Edge X the title of the widest main game monitor at 43”. (Note: Scientific Games “Gamefield” platform also has a horizontal 43” curved LCD, but it serves as the top screen, not the main.) The Edge X’s placement is interesting in that the monitor just about covers your entire peripheral vision field. It provides what Aristocrat calls “true-to-life play action.” The ergonomics of the cabinet were designed for one or two players to comfortably enjoy an entertaining experience.
According to an Aristocrat release, “Adding to the social component is a new dual-player virtual button deck for two-player operation. Further, the virtual button deck allows for virtually unlimited messaging opportunities, while providing the convenience of maintenance-free operation. The sensory experience extends to Edge X’s stereo audio plus ported subwoofer along with individually controlled LED edge lights. What’s more, its ergonomically designed sound bench invites single or dual play, appealing to individual-style or social-style players.”
Speaking of “social style,” the first theme on the Edge X will launch the week after NIGA. “FarmVille®” became a monster hit from Zynga on Facebook beginning in 2009. It hit a peak of 34.5 million players each day. Designer, and Gaming Hall of Fame member, Joe Kaminkow and Gimmie Games studio, are the creative minds behind the first two themes on this new box. “FarmVille” will make its world premiere in April and will be available as a Premium Lease product throughout the country later that month and into May. Kaminkow and Gimmie Games studio also designed the striking “Madonna” theme for the Edge X which will launch end of April.
For those manufacturers hoping to take some floor share away from Aristocrat, the prospects are not good. Along with the Edge X, the flame55 (which launched at G2E 2018) achieved the highest ratings in the latest Eilers & Krejcik “Cabinet Performance Report” in the Premium Video Reels category.
The breakout themes for that platform with its S-shaped 55” vertical LCD are “Game of Thrones™” and “Buffalo Diamond.” The Eilers report has clocked them at a performance index of over 3.0. “Billions™” and an all-new version of “The Big Bang Theory™” are coming to this cabinet later in the year. If that weren’t enough, at NIGA 2019 Aristocrat will launch the third in their top-rated “Lightning Link/Dragon Link” series to be titled “Dollar Storm.”
For the entire Aristocrat team, NIGA is the perfect place to celebrate winning top video reel honors for the last few years in a row.
The Aristocrat booth is #1930 near the center of the show floor of the San Diego convention center. Their location is sandwiched by Scientific Gaming, IGT and Konami who will surely keep a close eye on them.
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