Dream Authentics Retro Style Gaming Systems
Back in the days before the XBox, Wii and high speed PC graphics cards you had to go to an arcade to enjoy a great game playing experience. What was great about these big boxes were the controllers and how you could get into the game. Some of this experience is lost in today’s sleek game systems. Dream Authentics is trying to recapture this with their retro game systems.
Custom Made Game Cabinets
As you might guess, these babies aren’t cheap. They’re custom made and range in price from about $3500 up to $6000+. A bit expensive for my cheap tastes but hard core gamers should love this system.
The joysticks, trackballs and other controllers are arcade tough. If you’ve broken controllers for regular home systems you know how nice this is. The monitors are large, 30 inches or more, another good point.
I’m not sure about the computing horsepower behind the system but it appears that it must be Windows XP based on what they have on their site. They also apparently allow you to hook an XBox into the system as well, which is kind of neat.
The Games
Dream Authentics game selection is a fully licensed library of 200+ games, including some classic home arcade and commercial arcade games from the 80’s. Games from Atari, CapCom, Namco and Digital Leisure are included. If you go to their site you can read the whole list. There should be plenty to keep you busy for a while without worrying about running out of quarters.
A Product Web Site Design Lesson
A common problem in a flashy, interactive, web design like Dream Authentics has is in getting search results. Often the lack of text on the page prevents Google from indexing the page well. In a clever move, the designer of Dream Authentics site wove a keyword rich article into the site in the left sidebar. Other parts of the site mix graphics and search engine friendly text quite well.
If you’re designing a web sites you should check their’s out because it’s a great example of a product info site for higher end consumer products. Not only does it help you attract customers it also attracts free buzz about your site and product like this article.
Would you buy a game system this expensive, even if you had the cash to do it? What do you think of their web site design? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.
Dream Authentics arcade machines are worth the money. No cheap kit quality here. As always you get what you pay for.
Thanks Scott,
If they’re built anything like the old systems from the 80’s they should hold up good.