Inside Asian Gaming

January 2015 inside asian gaming 7 Slant Super Screen, to accommodate any size floor, and each is distinguished by clean, curved lines finished with customizable edge and pinstripe lighting around a champagne-hued exterior that’s both elegant and reassuring. And players will instantly respond to the comfort that’s built into it, the culmination of some industry-leading ergonomic research that factors a range of male and female heights into ensuring that sight lines are effortless, that leg room is ample and the interactive LCD button deck is within easy reach, well-padded and just the right elevation from the floor. “Players have told us in research, ‘Yes, yes, yes,’ but it’s when they have the opportunity to go into their favorite venue and play it, then we’ll know,” says Mr Kelly. “And, as I say, so far so good. In Australia, where it’s on the floor, it’s doing very nicely for us. And going through into the Americas, we’ll get the numbers from there, and we’re pretty confident we will see the same. And certainly the feedback from our customers … when they say to us, ‘Yep, this is good,’ it carries a lot of weight.” The strategic thinking is no less exciting, for Helix™ not only solidifies Aristocrat’s status as a premier innovator in an intensely competitive industry rich with innovation, it provides the Australia- based slots and systems giant with one of its most compelling opportunities yet for injecting new energy into proven performers. Given the lead it enjoys across most of Asia, the approach to game development, particularly in Macau, where Aristocrat has the market leading position, relies heavily on leveraging the core portfolio and its vaunted math models, the formula that struck a chord that still resounds with China’s gambling-minded players and largely started machine gaming in Macau on the road to the US$1.7 billion-plus business it is today. The Legends series—5 Dragons Deluxe, 50 Dragons Deluxe, 5 Koi Legends and Fortune King Deluxe—is a potent example. At G2E Asia last May we saw the addition of 5 Dragons GOLD with its improved graphical interface and mix of multipliers (up to 40 times in the base game) and enhanced Reel Power layout in which increased bets In Focus >> Making legends — 5 Dragons Gold combines proven maths with an enhanced graphics package. Helix’s screens are frameless, infinity-edged, so the action appear to float away from the cabinet surface in planes and proportions that are seamless, continuous, almost three- dimensional. Combined with quad sound and rear-surface ambient lighting, the total effect is marvelous, completely enveloping from where the player sits. “In Australia it’s doing very nicely for us,” says Vincent Kelly, managing director–Asia Pacific. “And going through into the Americas, we’re pretty confident we will see the same. And certainly the feedback from our customers … when they say to us, ‘Yep, this is good,’ it carries a lot of weight.”