Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming September 2014 72 Tech Talk Crowd Pullers SEGA SAMMY CREATION’s debut products are attention-grabbers imbued with fun and excitement Y ou’d expect nothing short of seamless game play and graphics from a company with SEGA SAMMY CREATION’s heritage, and that’s exactly what the throngs of visitors to its stand at the recent G2E Asia expo in Macau were treated to. On display were the company’s first three products, all of which come in an extra-large format. There’s a new spin on the classic big- wheel game, a sic bo game with floating dice and video baccarat featuring a bevy of sultry female dealer options. SEGA SAMMY CREATION is headed by legendary video and arcade game developer Hisao Oguchi. His mission is to bring back fun and excitement to gaming machines, which have generally been failing to appeal to younger generations. Mr Oguchi has a 30-year track record of creating various forms of successful entertainment products. His first job after graduation, in 1984, was with SEGA, where he led the development of some of the company’s most popular video and arcade games and rose up the ranks to the position of president. In 2003, Japan’s largest pachinko machine manufacturer, Sammy Corporation, bought a controlling interest in SEGA, leading to the formation of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS, which in addition to producing pachinko and pachislot machines and video games is also involved in creating animation and toys. Mr Oguchi held various posts within the new entity and was eventually appointed chief creative officer in 2008, charged with overseeing all the game development endeavors of the group. When SEGA SAMMY CREATION was established last June as a new division to make electronic gaming machines for casinos, he was the obvious choice to lead it. At Mr Oguchi’s disposal are many of the talented game developers he worked with at SEGA, and he’s instructed them to throw out all the established concepts and come up with entirely new ones while incorporating his basic development principles: “Game rules should be simple. In the simplicity of the games there should be a dream of winning big and also fun and excitement in the anticipation of the outcomes.” The massive big-wheel game demands attention on even the most crowded casino floor and encapsulates those development principles. It consists of three concentric rings with numbered positions around which a ball spins. The first and second rings feature black positions marked “Go” that allow the ball to progress to the next ring. As the ball moves to each successive ring