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COMMUNITY GAMING
of Cyberview, for instance, is a pointer in that current level of player interaction in the current
direction, although for now, Quartier will only say so generation community games is limited, although
much: “There is potential for community gaming to opportunities for interaction beyond making basic
evolve in that direction, without giving too much choices and towards actually having input into the
away…” he says, a little wryly. outcome are there.
Bally, of course has struck a deal for rights to early “Getting skill approved through compliance is
Atari videogame titles and aims to bring skill-based extremely difficult,” says Bally’s Savage. “They all have
gaming to the general slot floor. “There are very few to be random generators… we have got our first two
skill-based games in the world unless you go to Japan, skill-based games approved through compliance, and
where you get Pachinko. North America has zero to we will put those in the field second quarter. We are
no skill-based games in a true live casino,” says Dan going to see how that works.”
Savage, Bally Technologies’ Vice President of Skill-based gaming may first start appearing on
Marketing.
“From a strategic, demographic level, we are trying
to bring skill-based games into the North American
“WMS started Community
marketplace. Pong and Breakout are the first two we
Gaming three years ago.
are launching; we’ll put them in the field in the
second quarter this year, and we’ll follow them up
Now we are at Version 2.0 –
with Centipede and Asteroids.” community gaming that has
That said, skill-based gaming is not where Bally
is starting its foray into Community Gaming – or
a competitive twist. It’s that
‘Communitive Gaming’ as Savage describes it. competitive twist between
Instead, Bally Technologies is seeking to open up a
players that makes V2.0
new niche with its DualVision system (see the
panel out). unique.”
Introducing skill elements into gaming,
Candace Lucas, Executive Director,
particularly in the North American market comes
with a significant regulatory overhead, so the
Marketing Operations, WMS
casino floors outside North America, reckons WMS’
Gelber: “Skill-based things get zipped closed with
regulatory issues – you get a lot of problems in North
America. Internationally, it is much easier. WMS
partner Orion’s Treasure the World has player
interaction for the community game. That’s the first
time we have done that, because Orion goes into less
regulated markets,” he says.
“Whatever decisions the Lucky Player makes in
Treasure the World affects the outcome of the bonus
for the whole bank. The Lucky Player Feature is a first
step in the direction of getting player interaction into
the community event. One player has more influence
on the destiny of the bonus over the other players.”
The networked, server-based future
It is still comparatively early days for community
gaming on the slot floor, with only a fraction of the
potential yet achieved – mainly because the casino
floor itself is still evolving. In the shorter term,
technology is more likely to deliver accessibility to
community gaming facilities to players and new
marketing opportunities to operators than it is to
deliver truly interactive, skill-based gaming to the
generation raised on interactive console and
computer games.
The networked floor and server-based management
of machines are poised to present major
Power Ball Power Seat, brings in a new element - the Power
opportunities to operators, opportunities that might
Seat. When the community event triggers, one player on the
bank gets the Power Seat, and goes in at a higher multiplier. It
have seemed unattainable in the early days of
adds a new level of anticipation – everyone is going to go into
community gaming and the mechanical configuration
the event together, but one player is going to go in at an
of slot tournaments.
advantage. It creates a little extra anticipation.
As Quartier recalls, the original slot tournaments,
32 APRIL 2009
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