Vol. 3, No. 5, May 2007
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Spin, Spin Revolution
Advances in slot technology are more than cosmetic
The move towards server-based systems, in which each individual machine is a terminal in a larger system controlled by a single server is just part of the new slot technologies. There is also a trend towards machines that combine several functions, including serving as a platform for targeted advertising, a station to collect player rewards and even a place where you can bet on the ponies while you play video poker or blackjack.
Rob Bone, senior vice president of marketing for WMS, said there are three major trends in slot machines on which his company is focusing.
“We are experiencing great demand for our two newest gaming categories: our community gaming category, with the launch of Monopoly Big Event, and our sensory immersion gaming category, with the debut of Top Gun,” Bone said. “Within the next 90 days we will also be launching the third of our tri-innovation of products with transmissive reels gaming.”
With each of these categories, WMS has taken proven technology and unique intellectual property and packaged it to create a unique player experience.
The community gaming category uses server technology to provide a “table game experience in the form of a slot” by providing a communal bonus mechanic where all eligible players play and win together.
WMS’s sensory immersion gaming category utilizes their new CPU NXT2 processor, which has 10 times the processing power of an average desktop computer.
Through real-time 3D graphics and WMS’s exclusive Bose 3Space gaming chair, the sensory immersion gaming products literally bring the players into the game with multi-sensory aspects of audio and visuals, that are, says Bone “unlike anything that players have played before.”
The transmissive reels gaming category of products combines the best of mechanical reels and video reels in one product. “Through the use of a 3D graphical display, these products allow for full animations to occur around and over the mechanical reels which allows for infinite mathematical outcomes and game mechanics,” says Bone.
In the server-based gaming department, WMS has introduced its WAGE-NET (Wide Area Game Enhanced Network) product. While this product allows individual games to be configured and downloaded remotely, Bones says WMS ultimately sees the technology as a way to “enhance the overall gaming experience.”
WMS will also soon launch its adaptive gaming suite of products coupled with WAGE-NET capabilities to provide customized game play that “adapts” to the individual player’s gaming habits.
Rick Sorensen, manager of public relations for IGT, says that his company’s new technologies focus on server-based products, group-play concepts like Wheel of Fortune Super Spin, and innovative “player packaging” approaches like guaranteed play.
“Server-based gaming will ultimately change the way gaming is done by shifting the focus and game choices to the player,” Sorensen said. “The group-play products are introducing social interaction among players that has always been present in table-game play but only marginally in slot play.”
Sorensen calls guaranteed play the first step in “packaging” the entire casino experience—gaming, food and entertainment—to the player. IGT’s new multi-player gaming experience, the M-P Series, will feature community play action at individual M-P Series slant-top stations. These will be linked together and will surround an M-P Series game console or centerpiece, such as an animated roulette wheel.
IGT has also unveiled the sleeker TrimLine machine cabinet to house its AVP (Advanced Video Platform) technology. They’ve followed that up with a slant-top AVP machine cabinet with a 23-inch LCD in the top box and a flat screen LCD in the base game. It also allows for future expansion to server-based products.
Bally Technologies Inc. is also about to release an updated version of its GameMaker multi-game platform, according to marketing communications manager George Stamos. The new GameMaker HD will feature two 20-inch widescreen, high-definition LCD displays stacked on top of one another. Players will be able to select from a variety of games, including several poker variations and several video slot variations, by touching the screen. They can also change denominations, adjust the speed of the game and the sound volume on screen.
Many of these games feature technical enhancements designed to improve how much time the player spends at the game, and to give the casino flexibility in terms of multi-coin, multi-line and multi-denomination configurations.
In the area of server gaming, Bally is developing a new generation of gaming platforms that will be able to exploit the future of downloadable gaming.
According to Stamos, “Our award-winning iVIEW display, which is a small, rectangular display built into the cabinet, centered just above the button deck, offers casino operators a wide array of customizable marketing opportunities.”
The iVIEW touch-screen display permits player interaction, allowing players to check on their slot-club point totals, order beverages and play secondary bonus games that are part of Bally LIVE Rewards, a new server-based game technology that is the company’s first entry into the downloadable gaming arena.
Bally has also introduced a new line of cabinets called the ALPHA Elite series. They give casinos increased flexibility in converting a game from a reel-spinning slot to a video slot and back again.
Bally’s CineVision is yet another example of manufacturers introducing “immersive” games. According to Stamos, “CineVision’s revolutionary 25-inch LCD video display is inset into an ergonomically designed cabinet, providing a virtually cinematic gaming experience for the player unlike anything previously developed. Studio-quality surround sound audio further enhances the gaming environment, creating a zone of comfort and privacy for players designed to maximize time on device.”
Aristocrat Technologies’s newest entries include Jackpot Deluxe, Cashman Tonight, Outback Jack, Bank Buster and 100 Lions.
These are all improvements on existing successful games.
According to Brad Johnson, former vice president of marketing for Aristocrat Technologies, “These games are the next generation to existing games already in casinos. When we find a game or a linked system that is popular with players, we then try to capitalize on that with a series of similar products.”
For instance, Outback Jack takes players to six Australian locales, randomly generated. Jack surfs or digs as the size of the prizes increases and players are awarded new games.
Jackpot Deluxe is the next generation of the company’s Hyperlink technology, which connects multiple banks of slots to a progressive four-level jackpot. The new variation allows players to win the entire jackpot in a single bonus play. The technology is available for Dolphin Treasure, Flame of Olympus and Geisha.
Johnson adds, “By the end of the year we will be showing the next versions of our downloadable and server based gaming technology.”
Aristocrat also has a whole game team dedicated to the development of “community” games. “We are currently selling a line of multi-terminal table products, such as poker and roulette,” Johnson says.
Aristocrat’s multiplayer roulette was developed in cooperation with Interblock.
It gives players the feel of a live roulette wheel, but without the need of a human operator. The same is true of PokerPro, Aristocrat’s totally electronic poker table. Here again we see a hybrid between a slot machine and a table game, further blurring the definition of what is a slot game.
The company also plans to introduce a new cabinet and platform by the next G2E (Global Gaming Expo).
The definition of what a slot machine is and what it does is in constant flux, with boundaries between slot machine, ATM, advertisement and sports book blurring and shifting.
Where these new innovations will lead is anyone’s guess, but it’s a fair prediction that tomorrow’s machines will be as big a surprise as today’s machines would be to Howard Hughes.
