Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | January 2008 Vendor Profile 38 different products. I don’t think there’s go- ing to be a scramble for these sorts of deals, but we would certainly be willing to negotiate something that’s good for the customer and good for us. Our Transmissive Reel™ Bruce Lee game for example would certainly stand out on any floor as some- thing different. Dragons enter “The Bruce Lee game is going to be our leading theme at G2E Asia in June 2008. It is an iconic game for the Asian market. This new Transmissive Reels™ gaming product marries the best of video and mechanical reels utilizing Lava Technology,a thin filmprocess. The graphics are really strong.Bruce Lee actually comes out across the TFT screen in front of the mechanical reels and does kung fu kicks. It makes the game unbelievably graphic rich,” says Mr Gribble. “As a 3 level progressive prod- uct with wide area capabilities, I think there are only two or three operators in Macau that could effectively use the Bruce Lee game from an exclusivity point of view,”he adds. He suggests though that as more gaming licensees in Macau become op- erators of multiple sites, the opportuni- ties for exclusive deals could increase. “Even on the single large site where the space is so big, one could install a number of machines around the floor to draw in customers to that cluster. Smaller operators with only one or two sites wouldn’t really look at exclusivity deals—unless perhaps they were pre- pared to pour a lot of money into it.” Pragmatism Mr Gribble stresses that although WMS embraces innovation, the ultimate test is what works with operators and their players. “I don’t think anymanufacturer will move away from the traditional offering of the five reel video with free games. The bottom line is that I don’t focus toomuch on things I can’t sell. I love selling what players want. “For WMS in Asia, 2008 is about opening our new offices in Macau to fully support our customers and our distributor RGB,and pres- ent our complete product range for the Asian market. Purely and sim- ply, that’s our goal.” exclusive deals be- tween slot machine makers and operators. “The challenge in Asia is that at the mo- ment everyone’s got similar floors in terms of slot product. At the recent G2E (Global Gaming Expo) show in Las Vegas the main question from customers was: ‘What have you got that’s different?’ “At WMS we have a good offer in terms of point of difference products. We now offer Community Gaming, Sensory Im- mersion, Transmissive Reels and Adaptive Gaming. In 2008 we will be placing these throughout Asia. “What I mean by point of difference is something other than your traditional five- reel video slot machine. It means something that can grab a player’s attention and allow them to feel the brand rather than just expe- rience the ‘same old same old’available from every manufacturer. “We have point of difference products like Top Gun—a Sensory Immersion game where the player feels that they’re flying a jet fighter.We also have Community Gaming with products such as Monopoly Big Event & Press Your Luck Big Event. They’re all about getting away from traditional mystery jack- pot machines,”he explains. Technology Another innovation on show at G2E and soon to be introduced to the market is ‘Adaptive Gaming’ says Mr Gribble. “Players can earn medals to unlock new, unique Star Trek ‘episodes’ and save their state so they can pick up where they left off during their next visit.” Top guns Another new Sensory Immersion release is a shoot ‘em up-style game based on the Clint Eastwood movie character ‘Dirty Harry’. “I think it would definitely work very well.” says Mr Gribble.“It’s a real guys’ game. It will do well in slot lounges throughout Asia which have quite a young demographic and customers who like time-on-device en- tertainment. “We have enough products in the range to offer exclusivity to different sites with