Slot Manager - January 2009 - (Page 22)

G2E SLOT REPORT last year to get it to market, but now we’ve really done true justice to the product with in the video display,” said Sean Evans, vice president of sales. “By putting the Sopranos in the Gen7 for the first time, we’ll be able to run clips from the show. So in our interactive second-screen features you’ll actually be talking to Tony Soprano or hearing about Chrissy or Walnuts. For sufficient power we needed that Gen7 platform.” Another Aristocrat highlight is its Hit the Heights game, designed around a Chinese fireworks theme. It’s a game of big sights and big sounds, with a 40-inch topper above the LCD top box to bring multiple levels to the bonus round as the fireworks take the players around a prize wheel and up a prize ladder. “We’ve created four unique base games, and each base game has its own feature that incorporates free games, making symbols wild, dice and/or wheels,” Fallon said. “So there’s a lot of interactivity there. And they all share this Hit the Heights feature. When you trigger that feature, you get to choose your own fireworks and create a prize wheel, and as the fireworks go round the edge of the prize wheel, the prizes increment. If you happen to land on that ladder, you get a fireworks jackpot sequence where you sit back and relax and enjoy your wins as they explode in the top box and you gather your points and your prizes.” Players World by Demand gives Aristocrat a multigame, multidenomination product line for the first time, with low line counts for 25-cent, 50-cent and dollar video games on four popular Aristocrat themes – Big Red, Super Bucks IV, Fa Fa Fa and Black Panther. “It’s a four-game multipack where players can choose between 25, 50 cents and a dollar, four different math models, four different game plays,” Fallon said. “It really targets in that video high-denom sort of player. You can play as little as 75 cents on it or as much as $15. “We’ve taken that and introduced it in a brand extension of Millioni$er called MegaMillioni$er. That product now is going to be a million dollar jackpot start up in GLI, and it’ll be a $2 million jackpot in Nevada. We’re putting that out there with a fourgame multigame package, and what’s also really unique is that we’re integrating that package with our new RFX stepper product. Under that same link you can have our video product or the RFX stepper.” Jackpot Royale, with a two-level progressive jackpot, has its own little multigame, multidenomination spin for nickel, dime and quarter players. When you choose a denomination, you’re also choosing a number of pay lines, with more pay lines at lower denoms. Two games, Flight of Fancy and Polynesian Pearl, give a video take on nudge features, incorporating rising balloons or falling pearls into free games. mos with Stargate SG-1, both in video and on its new Passion Plus five-reel format. The video Stargate, based on the longrunning science-fiction television series, uses a large display of the space-jumping gate over three game themes. Each theme is based on a character from the show —Jack O’Neill, Samantha Carter and Daniel Jackson. There’s a five-level progressive jackpot, and a side bet on a chance to go to the Stargate. In the TV series, the metal-ring Stargates are have nine “chevrons” placed equally around the circumference. In the video slot, the chevrons are the keys to the five bonus events. “We’re real excited about Stargate,” said Atronic’s Mike Brennan. “We had a little focus group and we realized that only about half the people in the focus group had heard of the brand, but they still wanted to play because it’s a brand that’s real conducive to bringing out the creative juices of our design team. The Stargate itself, how many things can you do with it, the whole science fiction, escapism theme?” The reel-stepper version is one of initial themes on Passion Plus 5. “It’s got five full-sized reels, a big user interface below the reels, a 32-inch top box that is self-merchandised,” Brennan said. “Two titles are available right away and two will be in first quarter of ’09. Stargate, Deal or No Deal, Game of Life and Xanadu, which is a strong internal brand. They’ll have different features, with stacked symbols on Xanadu, for a more time-on-device friendly game.” Atronic also offered new variations on the successful Deal or No Deal themed products. One is Deal or No Deal the Experience, where the player has the option of settling for a middle offer instead of risking getting a low jackpot amount instead of the high one. Another is an all-bonus round game on the newly redesigned jumbo Titan cabinet. No spinning your reels here – the whole game is based on suitcase amounts. And then there’s the Deal or No Deal community-style game, in which players go to the bonus round together, choose different suitcases, and see who winds up with the best deal. “Deal or No Deal is almost the perfect community game title, because we have all this excitement going on,” Brennan said. “Unlike the other community games, to become eligible, there’s the bonus guarantee countdown,” he said. “…to qualify, you have to collect a prize, you have to collect enough cases during regular play.” new crop of games debuted in November at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, giving slot executives a closer look at the latest and greatest slot machines and technologies available. What follows are highlights from the major slot manufacturers who exhibited gaming machines at the annual G2E: A Aristocrat Technologies: Throughout G2E, slot executives could be seen circling the Jaws game that was the centerpiece of Aristocrat’s offerings. Based on the sharkattack film classic, the Jaws base game is a five-reel video slot with a free spin feature. The game also features the distinctive bass line from the “Jaws” movie’s theme. Bonus features are Jaws-themed – Golden Jaws, Shark Hunter and Feeding Time. Players get a chance at a four-level progressive jackpot through a Jaws dice feature, which is a trip around a video game board, with your boat trying to land on the same space as Jaws. If you catch the shark, you can win a progressive. “Bringing that anticipation sound [of the Jaws theme] obviously translates well into a gaming product,” said Doug Fallon, Aristocrat marketing director. “What we did was actually really look at our product packaging for that particular product, take the unique steps, the small things like the physical button has an embossed Jaws tooth on it. Water with a buoy sitting on top of the machine glows blue. And when you hit the feature round it changes to red, the buoy moves and goes off, and the bells ring and everybody knows you’re in the feature.” To offer such a feature-rich game, Aristocrat needed the power of the Gen7 platform introduced last year, Fallon noted. Gen 7 also allowed Aristocrat to bring out a highly interactive video version of the Sopranos. “We did the Sopranos quickly as a stepper Atronic: Deal or No Deal is always a star at the Atronic booth, but this year the company also went for a further push into the cos- Bally Technologies: One of the most intriguing innovations at G2E was the Blazing 7s Multi-Slot, and it’s fitting that it should be Bally bringing it out. Bally gave the casino industry its first multigame video units with the original Game Maker in 1992. Now it’s found a way to put reel-stepper games in a multigame format. “It’s similar to a Game Maker, where you 22 SLOT MANAGER ❘ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009 ❘ www.slotmanager.net http://www.slotmanager.net

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Slot Manager - January 2009

Slot Manager - January 2009 Contents Editor's Note Quick Hits New Games Cover Story: Going Strong At 30 Game Changer: IGT's REELdepth Operations: Where There's a Will, There's a Way Games: G2E 2008 Slot Report Common Ground Marketing Inside Edge Advertiser Index Forum

Slot Manager - January 2009

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