Inside Asian Gaming

June 2013 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 35 Perfect 8 was followed in December by two days of frank discussions with key customers from the region, similar to the on-site user conferences Bally employs with great success in the States. “We asked them, what do you like about Bally, what can we do better, that kind of thing,”explains Mr Gissane.“And we sat down and listened.” His pride was evident at G2E Asia last month, where he and Srini Raghavan, senior vice president APAC & Africa and managing director, India, were able to show off the most extensive display of dual-language Asian- and Chinese-themed slots in the company’s history, covering a wide range of denominations and math models—Chinese Zodiac, Perfect 8, Heavenly Empress and Koi Treasures, to name some of the standouts—and highlighted by Zhi Nu, which hasn’t been released yet and is already one of Macau’s most talked-about new titles. “We couldn’t be prouder,” attests Mr Raghavan. Zhi Nu, designed by New York-based High 5 Games, takes as its point of departure a rapidly maturing core of Macau players whose appetite for big wins is growing with their increasing comfort with machine gaming. Installed on Bally’s workhorse Pro Series V32, it’s a five-reel, 50-line linked progressive spiced with four prize levels and three free-game triggers scattered anywhere on the middle three reels. The theme, that of the weaving goddess of the title, daughter of the heavenly Jade Emperor, whose love for a mortal he punishes by separating the ill-fated couple among the stars, is one of the most enduring in Chinese mythology. Three more titles are to follow on the link, similarly drawn from the country’s abundant romantic lore. Interestingly, Zhi Nu is in part the product of those December operator sessions. “What was great was we showed a concept stage of the game, FEATURES