Unit-e Merges Smartphone And Coin-Op Play For Neon FM Game

BALTIMORE -- Unit-e is offering a smartphone link for its Neon FM music game. Company officials say the app is an amusement industry first, allowing players to compete head-to-head on their smartphones and coin-op version of the game.

"You can, while in line at the arcade and waiting to play, just join in and play the person right there in front of you," explained Unit-e engineer Charles Lohr.

The new app is a continuation of the company's push to integrate portable devices into the Neon FM's coin-op gameplay. Released last year, the unit was the first in the industry to offer a portable device link to real-time coin-op play. This link allowed players to change the speed, appearance and skill level of the game via smartphone. The updated link now allows for a full-featured, real-time competition between coin-op and portable device players anywhere in the world.

Introduced last year, Neon FM is a five-panel, hand-based music game featuring music from popular independent artists such as Virtual Riot, Tristam, Pegboard Nerds and Freezepop. The game is currently available in a coin-op version, and the company is planning a mobile platform for release in the spring of 2015.