Exhibition G2E LAS VEGAS 2013
of the WMS stand, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was permanently thronged with players and is due to launch as this magazine goes to print (the licence for Willy Wonka actually took WMS seven years to obtain the rights, with Gene Wilder finally giving his personal permission for the game to go-ahead). Massive wins from the Umpa- lumpa feature root players to their seats, while the unveiling of Ferris Buellers Day Off is one of Mr. Littleworth's only games that has journeyed from concept to production with no changes along the way. "The licence was great to work with and Universal Studios have been really supportive of this game, which is the first in this space to utilise Colossal Reels,” he said. “It's a simple, but compelling mechanic and we've had a great response from it already as it launched during G2E week at the Tropicana."
Pushing the star power on the WMS stand was Iron Man, with the character-triggered Jericho Missile bonus a huge amount of fun, not to mention the use of original CGI from the movie that has been tinkered with by WMS to incorporate play mechanics and gameplay elements. The Wizard of Oz’s Ruby Slippers 2 with both a Glinda feature and Wicked Witch feature employs the motion-chair to great effect as players travel down the yellow brick road, while Lord of the Rings - Return of the King and Monopoly - Wheel of Fortune both employ enormous screens to display the action; beaten only by Beetlejuice, with its lenticular top-box and amazing game mechanics on the Gamefield XD cabinet providing the sleeper hit of the show for WMS.
Taking only the games that WMS plans to sell by June of next year meant that at this year's G2E and for the first time in recent years, the company didn't have a vault of 'coming soon' product. Everything on the WMS stand was due out of the doors within eight months and was all the more spectacular as a result.
FLYING HIGH IN THE USA
Since its float earlier this year, Quixant has gone from strength to strength in international markets, especially the US
Quixant's share price has doubled since its IPO earlier this year, a shift in ownership that has not only changed the operation of the company, but also its perception in the industry, both internally and externally. "There's a significant comfort level that the bigger players in the gaming industry feel when they're working with a listed, not private, company," explained Quixant's Jon Jayal at the G2E show in Las Vegas. "Our OEM partners put their faith and trust in our products for the long-term and need a reliable, stable company with which to do business. Our float has brought a great deal of interest not only from investors in a UK-based technology company, but also from the OEMs that want to work with a transparent company that has the financial stability to support their new projects for the next five years."
At the G2E show, Quixant exhibited its latest gaming board, the new QXi-300, offering not only longevity, but matching the price of the previous QXi-200 board with 50 per cent more performance. Plus, it's form factor compatible with the 200, allowing developers on the QXi- 200 to switch to the new board at their convenience, with all software compatible too. This new addition to Quixant's platform range is based on the AMD Embedded G-Series SoC
with integrated AMD Radeon HD8000 Series graphics and also includes Quixant's latest PCI Express based gaming logic and non-volatile memory. It is available in Dual-Core or Quad- Core configurations clocked at up to 2.0Ghz.
QXi-300 brings a new level of performance at the price point and is capable of running two independent HD screens from a single DisplayPort 1.2 interface through the use of Multi-Stream Transport (MST) technology. Housed in a compact, fan-less case, the QXi- 300 is, as aforementioned, form factor compatible mechanically with the QXi-200 and QXi-400.
Quixant is also progressing quickly with its expansion in the US market, moving to new 1,000sq.ft offices, providing a huge facility for warehousing of stock, ensuring shorter lead times for US orders. "We've also increased our meeting facilities and increased our capabilities to add more people to the team in the US too," said Mr. Jayal. "This time last year we were a 44-strong team; now we're 64 and looking to expand further. We've had amazing interest from the US market and we're supporting the OEMs as they look to develop their games with the latest Quixant platforms."
The new facility is headed up by Amit Sharma, VP Sales of Quixant USA and is located in Las Vegas with convenient access to Las Vegas International airport.
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