Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | April 2011 26 in the free games feature and the REMIX feature is triggered, the player receives a random shuffling of reels or symbols, so they have an increased opportunity for different combinations and four of a kind and five of a kind pays, which adds a new level of excitement in game play that the Asian gaming industry hasn’t witnessed in quite a while.” In addition to the new games, Aristocrat’s tried-and-trusted titles are also available on the WS, which makes “the old games look like new games,” says Mr Punter. On those old favourites—which also happen to be Asia’s top performing slot games—including 5 Dragons and 50 Dragons, “we’ve enhanced the sounds and graphics, but kept the same maths and game features,” he explains. Mr Punter points out it was extremely important for Aristocrat to assemble a collection of robust supporting products before launching WS. “In previous years, we’ve launched a new cabinet but without perhaps the right games, so the feeling was that the cabinet hadn’t performed, whereas it had been the content that hadn’t worked. We’ve certainly learnt from the lessons of the past, and when launching the Viridian WS cabinet it was paramount that we had both a strong standalone and linked product portfolio to ensure our continued Asian success. We ensured we had an extremely strong linked product, and developedYellow Dragon, which is working extremely well across Asia and inMacau—with unparalleled performance, in some instances equal to FA FA FA, if not better at times—supported by existing proven performing standalone products, as well as unique new concept gaming products.” The Yellow Dragon link allows existing Viridian 19” cabinets to be linked together with the new 22” WideScreen cabinet. The 19” cabinets are still performing well in the market and Aristocrat will continue to support them. The Viridian WS cabinet features several advances and new features, which should make it the preferred platform for operators and players in the future. In addition to the superior graphics of the 22” display, the Viridian WS features a recessed belly panel and chip tray allowing players more legroom, improved game feature lighting, an upgraded ‘3D’ sound system with speakers on top and subwoofer below, and a brand new button deck designed to support both a standard 13 button configuration as well as a six button option for server based and downloadable gaming, with the future opportunity of a colour LCD button panel. Mr Punter adds “we’ve also made more hand and rest room on the mid-trim, so you can rest your hand and play, rather than just tapping it there, so there’s an extra couple of inches around that, to ensure our players’ entertainment experience is enhanced for longer periods.” Notably, these extra features don’t add up to the Viridian WS occupying a bigger footprint on the slot floor,. “It’s only fractionally wider. Whereas the 19” has a black housing or shrouding around the Aristocrat Seeing the Light The new Viridian WS cabinet features ‘Game controlled edge lighting’ whereby “whenever a feature or a trigger or random pay is awarded, the edge lighting changes to reflect that”, explains David Punter. “The classic example is in Yellow Dragon, when you’re in the feature the edges are lit yellow, and when there’s a big pay it changes colours and combinations of colours. Player recognition is one of the key drivers behind that development. “On our standard games, our game designers have built in the same sort of functionality, so in certain parts of a game the colours of the edge lighting will let the players or other players know that they’re in a feature, they’ve won credits, or there’s some random feature happening at that moment in time. The edge lighting is very subtle, rather than the current neon experience which in most cases is blinding to your eyes.”