G2E ASIA 2010
G2E ASIA 2010 I
A smaller show, fewer visitors – and still a success, said attendees and exhibitors. Perhaps this smaller-scale event is just right for Asia.
n conversation with one of G2E Asia’s organisers, it was confirmed the event was around 15 per cent smaller than in 2009, but it really did not suffer as a result. If anything the exhibition – held once again in Macau’s palatial Venetian –
thrived as a result. Previous events have sometimes felt unnecessarily bloated, where a cut-down, leaner model would suit – and so it turned out. Product-wise, there were few surprises, but also
Giorgio Abbiati amidst his company’s products
some real treats for those willing to spend time searching out exciting product. A brand new card game called Racing Card Derby stood out, for example, but guests might have needed binoculars to find their stand. Regardless, they had a great G2E Asia, as did the other exhibitors. As with G2E Las Vegas, it’s not the number of visitors that counts, it is the quality. Atronic’s John Lancaster summed it up nicely: “This show [G2E Asia] is unique. While Macau is a huge market in revenue terms, the number of operators is relatively small – they’re big operators, but there are not many of them – so there are only so many people you can talk to. But what we have seen is that there are more visitors coming in from the region, which is very useful.”
Atronic exhibited, as in previous years, on the
stand of regional distributor RGB, and leading the line was their new Diversity Multigame product, debuting in Asia. Lancaster said, “We’re showing Diversity Multigame here to test the water because multigames traditionally do not work so well in this market. However, we have been really pleasantly surprised by the reaction. We’ve had a lot of operators who really like the game. Two or three major operators in the region have said they’re interested in trying the product out. Atronic’s new linked gaming title, Magic 5s, also
made its first appearance in Asia after a successful international debut at ELA in Mexico earlier this year. It’s an eight-level progressive designed to appeal through its simplicity to players, who don’t have to enter any bonus game to qualify to win a progressive jackpot.
Aristocrat, rallying after their management shake-
up of recent times, have one of the most recognisable licenses in entertainment with JAWS, and they’re making the most of it. The cabinets are gorgeous, with the movie’s dominant colour scheme and even a novel buoy on top, which chimes when the player is in a bonus feature. Adding to the success of this title – which had its first release into the Asian market
32 JULY/AUGUST 2010
with a bank of six at City of Dreams – a second JAWS game is on the way, which should have earned approval by the time you read this; Jaws: Night Hunter. Aristocrat’s General manager, Asia Pacific, David Punter explains: “We’ve put a great deal of effort into translating every aspect of the game, all the features and symbols, to give it every chance of success in this market. Not all of the company’s focus is on JAWS, of
course. Punter added: “Beijing Bonanza is currently getting approval for the US market, and it will be our first foray into the community or tournament-style game. We’re trying to break away from traditional links and create highly interactive gaming products. The extremely successful Fa Fa Fa also made an
appearance, alongside its sister title Yellow Dragon, which uses the same mathematic model and can be linked to Fa Fa Fa or operate as a standalone. Aristocrat seems determined to hang on to its
dominant market share in Macau, as Punter confirmed: “We’re really trying to work with operators here. We’ve got a large market share that we want to maintain and grow, and that’s hard. We have to keep pushing forward, we can’t sit still.”
Aruze had a lot of product on show, including the
exciting and incredibly energetic Jackpot Battle Royal, which has up to ten players battling it out for the big bucks. It fits in with a selection of the company’s core slot products. But the key message from Aruze, underlined by Steve Walther, is diversity. Walther told us: “We’re showing that we are not a niche provider, we run the gamut of a casino operator’s needs; especially here in the Asian market, these multi-terminal devices [G-Station] like Lucky Sic Bo, Blackjack and Baccarat, serve a purpose because they allow the operator to handle more customers without needing staff for additional tables. You have a table-oriented clientele that may not want to sit among the tables, they might want a break from that environment, and we have some side bets and the like built in to our games that might not be offered on a traditional casino table.” Other innovation from the company include Title
Match, a boxing-themed four-level Mystery Progressive.
As mentioned earlier, one of the real highlights of
the exhibition was discovering Racing Card Derby, a new card game where each card drawn moves one of four horses along in a race on the monitor near the
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50