Saturday, May 26, 2012

news.casinolife

news.casinolife

Social game analytics firm Use It Better wins the start-up competition at GiGse in San Francisco

Posted: 25 May 2012 11:58 AM PDT

The winner of the inaugural Start-Up Launchpad at GiGse in San Francisco has been announced along with the addition of the Start-Up Zone at the game industry conference EiG in Barcelona, taking place on 16-18 October 2012 .

Five innovative gaming start-ups presented their latest propositions that leverage new approaches to mobile, internet poker and social gaming at the Start-Up LaunchPad, part of the 12 th Global iGaming Congress & Expo (GiGse), internet gaming conference that took place on 23-26 April in San Francisco, CA. Start-Up LaunchPad was organised in partnership with NVPR.

Joingo, Virtual Gaming Worlds, PopCorn Games, SkillBet and Use It Better were the start-ups pitching in front of an experts' panel that included industry experts and investors such as Sean Ryan of Facebook, Scott Smith of Viant Group, Craig Collar of the Raine group and Dan 'Shoe' Hsu of VentureBeat.   After being quizzed by the judges, the start-ups were also voted on by the GiGse audience, with victory going to Use It Better.

Use It Better, presented by its founder and CEO Lukasz Twardowski, is a SaaS service that enables online game developers to record, analyse and even replay individual player's behaviour in order to improve monetisation or eliminate frauds. Lukasz Twardowski commented right after his LaunchPad victory: "We are thrilled to have had such amazing feedback from both the judges and the GiGse audience and feel that our unique approach can serve both the social gaming and iGaming sectors.   Our attendance and speaking at GiGse has also helped us tremendously to engage with the two industries, now converging and exploring partnership opportunities. We look forward to participating in more events that will bring the two sectors together."

Use It Better has won an opportunity to exhibit at the next event of their choice organised by Clarion, producers of GiGse. Lukasz and his team will be present at the 11 th European iGaming Congress & Expo (EiG) taking place in Barcelona on 16-18 October 2012, and will exhibit in the Start-Up Zone, a new addition to the EiG Expo floor featuring up to 10 start-ups, that will get an opportunity to promote their new innovative products to the 1,700-plus EiG delegates. "EiG has always been open to early stage companies that want to engage with top level iGaming executives in attendance at the event and with the Start-Up Zone we want to offer them an economical way to exhibit their products and thus foster innovation within the growing iGaming sector", said Ewa Bakun, Head of Content at Clarion Events.

EiG will also include the Start-Up LaunchPad as one of its sessions and organisers are now accepting submissions. Eligible start-ups interested in gaining exposure in front of the EiG audience and investors can find out more about the LaunchPad criteria and submission process at www.eigexpo.com

 

QUICKFIRE HOSTS FIRST DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE FOR OPERATORS AND DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS

Posted: 25 May 2012 11:53 AM PDT

ISLE OF MAN – QuickFire, powered by Microgaming (www.quickfiregames.co.uk), has organised a ground breaking conference for operators and development partners. As an industry first, the QuickFire Developers Conference, held last week, set up an open forum to discuss cutting-edge technology and the development of the QuickFire platform.

The two day conference was held at the Fontwell Park Racecourse conference centre in West Sussex from 15 to 16 May. It attracted over 40 operator delegates and 12 development partners. The conference was organised to provide an open forum where development companies could network, gain knowledge from QuickFire technical experts, and contribute to the QuickFire open platform strategy.

Open platform systems and independent software development were key topics of discussion at the event. The highlight of the workshop was undoubtedly the highly anticipated 'Development Partner Software Development Life Cycle' whereby the QuickFire team illustrated the required criteria to make a successful development partner. The QuickFire team explained what they look for from their development partners and the ideal synergy between all the parties involved.

A special operator panel debate was arranged for high profile operators to express first-hand what they require from suppliers, and the ideal operator/supplier relationship.

As well as networking sessions, both days included breakout workshops and classroom presentations. This highly informative and productive conference was heralded a success by the operators, development partners and the QuickFire team.

Henrik Holmgren, Betsson; Richard Swann, Unibet; Stuart McCarthy, BetClic and Gary Wimbridge of Sky Betting & Gaming (all part of the operator panel), jointly agreed: "As panel members at the QuickFire Developers Conference, we found the event to be a refreshing approach to supporting the delivery of innovative new gaming content to the market. QuickFire has clearly taken the lead in bringing together development partners and operators in an open exchange that will undoubtedly lead to the benefit of all players."

Ashley Sandyford-Sykes, QuickFire spokesperson, said: "We are thrilled that our conference was such a success and that QuickFire was unanimously identified as the open platform of choice. The event enlightened all parties as to each other's needs and the outcome is a united belief that a continued focus on the quality and innovation of gaming content is necessary.

"QuickFire believes in breaking barriers and leading the way. This event was an industry first and the level of participation between the operators, development partners and the QuickFire team was fantastic. The success of the event suggests that the appetite for more sessions exists and we look forward to holding similar workshops in the future."