Wednesday, May 9, 2012

news.casinolife

news.casinolife

SOCIALMEDIATION COM LAUNCH WHITE PAPER TO HELP INDUSTRY STAY AHEAD OF THE GAME

Posted: 08 May 2012 01:50 PM PDT

 

Date: April 2012 Social media consultancy SocialMediation com has issued a stark warning to the online gaming community this week. Managing Director Phil Shaw believes that a new world is developing right under the noses of traditional online gaming operators, risking them being left behind.

As legislation, regulation and tax policy develop daily across many new markets including, at last, the US, a whole new battle is occurring within the new internet world of social network platforms.

SocialMediation.com offer strategic and operational advice for gaming brands looking to explore the new markets of social network platforms. Recognising a need for change within the industry, the company has published a new free White Paper on 'Social Apps and the Gaming Industry'. It covers key areas including: Social Apps – the basics, Consumer Engagement, Competitive Differentiation, Retention and Real-Time Value, ROI, The Legalities and Policies relevant to the gaming sector and Mobile Social Gaming.

SocialMediation.com Director Phil Shaw explains: "We speak to gaming companies every day that do not have any form of serious social media strategy.  This is a concern in these fast-moving times, particularly with the huge volumes of traffic involved and social platforms creating their own currencies and plans for gambling.

"In order to stay one step ahead, the industry needs to be far more creative than they have been in the past. The White Paper will increase awareness of how social media and social apps are impacting on the gaming industry, giving the traditional online operators a starting point for doing this".

With new markets, trends and changing consumer attitudes shaping the gaming industry in 2011, it is now possible to see how a social media strategy can work for all types of gaming organisations.

According to eGaming Review, Facebook are reportedly considering opening up their platform to online gambling apps, even as soon as Q1 2012. It is rumoured that Facebook are looking at handing out eight licenses, two per vertical, to online gambling operators in regulated markets such as the UK. Gamesys and 888 are reportedly first in line.

Launching a play-for-fun social app has been the only way to penetrate Facebook and other social platforms such as Google+ to date, leading to some significant progress over the last six months, mainly by the big operators. The White Paper by SocialMediation.com will be the first step in assisting the small and medium sized operators to move into this sector.

Phil Shaw said "At a cost of $80m-$90m many questioned Caesars Entertainment's acquisition of Playtika, the creators of apps such as Slotomania and Farkle Pro, however considering these products enjoy 3 million monthly users, perhaps now it's possible to think this was a great deal."

The White Paper can be downloaded at ttp://www.socialmediation.com/whitepaper

 

WMS TO UNVEIL PLAYER ENGAGING RESULTS DRIVEN GAMING CONTENT AT ELA 2012

Posted: 08 May 2012 12:18 PM PDT

WMS is looking forward to ELA May 16-17, where they will be bringing the latest innovations for the Mexican market to the show floor. Visit us at Zitro's booth (# 55) to experience the latest game-play mechanics, diverse math models and innovative reel arrays designed to appeal to both old and new players on your casino floor.

WMS will unveil some of their premium products for the first time in Mexico, including the PIRATE BATTLE™ theme designed under the portal application technology and THE WIZARD OF OZ™ Journey to Oz™ theme.

The Pirate Battle theme offers players a truly competitive gaming experience. Joining four special 32-inch overhead monitors is formed a massive, singular screen on which competitive Team Compete to Win™ bonus rounds play out a bank-wide level with assistance from emotive lighting and Experience Design technologies.

THE WIZARD OF OZ JOURNEY TO OZ theme is the largest gaming-adventure yet for THE WIZARD OF OZ brand, offering for the first time for THE WIZARD OF OZ brand, a spinning wheel — one of the most player-popular game mechanics in the industry. This exciting game is packed with exciting technologies, including Collaborative Gaming™ technology, surround sound gaming chairs, a wide-area progressive, a base game mini-wheel and a large community video spinning wheel on dual 52" overhead screens for unique Bigger Event™ bonus round action.

WMS will also have a number of new For Sale products on display, including the Colossal Reels™ and Royal series families.

ü  COLOSSAL REELS :  New to the WMS Innovation Series™ category, the Colossal Reels series utilizes the full widescreen power of the Bluebird™2 and Bluebird xD™ cabinets to feature two sets of reels – traditional and oversized – that transfer wild symbols between reels. The Colossal Reels series launched with four themes and is currently performing, on average, up to 120% above house average in the United States*.

ü  ROYAL SERIES:  The Royal series games feature simplified interfaces and enhanced math models designed for the pure gambling slot player. These games also feature three progressive awards with multiple configuration options that give you the flexibility you need for your slot floor.

THE WIZARD OF OZ and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Turner Entertainment Co. (s12)  Judy Garland as Dorothy from THE WIZARD OF OZ.  (s12)

* Based on 90 units across 12 casinos in Nevada and the Midwestern United States, with an average of 64 days on the floor from November 2011 – April 2012.

 

Quixant to preview AMD Next Generation APU technology at the ELA show 2012

Posted: 08 May 2012 12:11 PM PDT

Cambridge UK May 8th 2012 Quixant the world's leading designer and manufacturer of computer solutions for the gaming and slot machine industry are pleased to announce that they will be participating at the ELA show in Mexico DF (stand 46). The trade show will take place from the 16th – 17th May 2012 at the Banamex centre.

The highlight of the booth will be the QX-40, a new platform based on next generation APU technology. The QX-40 sets new standards for a PC based gaming platform.

The QX-40 includes all the features that the industry has come to expect from a Quixant product, such as very fast SRAM/MRAM, lower power consumption, single 12V power input, smarter cooling and enclosures.

Also on show will be the QXi-200, the first "all-in-one" gaming controller to utilize AMD’s APU technology. The QXi-200 features the AMD Embedded G-Series APU, with either a 1.65 GHz dual-core or 1.5GHz single-core processor. The AMD Radeon™ HD 6320 graphics engine on the APU features support for the latest DirectX® 11, OpenGL 4.1 and OpenCL™ 1.1. It brings outstanding graphics performance, lower power consumption, higher reliability and lower cost than other products available on the market.

Sales director of Quixant, Gary Mullins commented "Our wide range of all-in-one gaming boards for slot machines provide the right set of features for customers developing new slot machines.. Also, our complete package of gaming protocols, including SAS6.02, device drivers and BIOS extensions clearly give Quixant a powerful competitive advantage over other typical industrial computer manufacturers that do not have such gaming specific software available for their industrial motherboards."

Also, on show will be our new Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) that has been specifically designed for slot machines in order to protect machines against unexpected power disruption. It is suitable to use with our QXi all-in-one gaming boards range of products and provides 7 minutes hold up time in the event of power failure.

About Quixant Ltd Quixant designs and manufactures the world's most sophisticated computer platforms for slot machines. Uniquely, Quixant supplies complete solutions, combining advanced hardware together with integrated operating software, gaming libraries and communication protocols. Quixant supports its systems with powerful game development and debugging software tools, dramatically reducing development timescales for new games.

Quixant  UK Contact: Gary Mullins +44 (0) 7971 968465 gary.mullins@quixant.com www.quixant.com

Quixant UK Contact: Patricia Souto Rial +44 (0) 7857 125369 patricia.soutorial@quixant.com www.quixant.com

 

Badbeat.com Presents Next Genting Poker Series Freeroll Thursday

Posted: 08 May 2012 05:09 AM PDT

8 MAY 2012 (LONDON, UK) Badbeat.com, the original and leading online poker staking and training business, will run a Genting Poker Series Freeroll each month with at least 5 seats to a Genting Poker Series £400 + £30 Main Event of the player's choice up for grabs.

The Genting Poker Series is the only UK tour where one of the legs is being held online, so no matter where the player lives, they'll be able to participate.

Poker players must be registered with www.Badbeat.com and meet certain criteria throughout the calendar month to qualify for the Freeroll taking place the following month.

This month's Genting Poker Series Freeroll with Badbeat.com is taking place on Thursday 10th May 2012 at 19:30 BST (terms and conditions apply) and more information is available at www.badbeatpro.com and Select Play Live Poker

About Badbeat.com (http://www.badbeat.com) Founded in 2005, Badbeat.com is the original and leading online poker staking business. It is an organisation created to win at poker through the funding and comprehensive support of winning online players. Winning at poker is harder today than it was just a few years ago, and every Badbeat.com player has access to cutting-edge software tools, a structured development path with advanced learning aides coupled with the knowledge, expertise and support of a pool of world-class mentors and support staff. Badbeat.com's MyGame is a free online poker training system based on its mentoring program.

 

IGT Secures Best of Breed Supply Deal with Ladbrokes

Posted: 08 May 2012 12:16 AM PDT

(LAS VEGAS – May 7, 2012) – International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT) announced today an agreement to supply Ladbrokes, one of the world's leading betting and gaming companies, with its best of breed online gaming products.

As a result of the new agreement Ladbrokes will automatically have the right to offer all new content released by IGT going forward.  As a first step it will integrate IGT's Remote Gaming Server (rgs™) giving it  access to more than 100 of the world's best performing casino and  slot games, via one single integration.  The agreement will see Ladbrokes.com expand its range of games with at least 30 new games set to launch between now and the end of the year including leading titles such as DaVinci Diamonds, Wolf Run, Monopoly and 100k Pyramid.

Ladbrokes plc Director of Product Richard Ames commented:  "Ladbrokes is committed to working with the best games suppliers in the industry to ensure its customers have access to the broadest and best range of games. We are pleased that in the coming weeks our customers will have access to even more of the most popular games in the marketplace and that we will have the option to offer all new IGT content to customers in the future."

"The agreement with Ladbrokes joins two of the world's most successful gaming companies," said Robert Melendres, IGT executive vice president, Emerging Businesses. "IGT is delighted to be supplying our premium online casino games to Ladbrokes, and anticipate a long and successful partnership of delivering entertaining gaming experiences for their players.

About IGT International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT) is a global leader in the design, development and manufacture of gaming machines and systems products, as well as online and mobile gaming solutions for regulated markets. More information about IGT is available at www.IGT.com or follow IGT on Twitter at @IGTNews or Facebook at www.facebook.com/IGT.