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May 4, 2007 |
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| WMS on the rise | |||
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Phil Gelber is vice president of game
development for WMS, overseeing production and quality at the
company’s four studios located in Chicago, Las Vegas, Sydney and
London. Casino Journal contributing writer Regina Lafay
recently spoke with Gelber about new WMS technologies and the future
of the company.
WMS has traditionally been seen as a slot manufacturer, yet there seems to be significant movement into systems operations for the company as well. How would you describe the company’s position in the gaming market today? GELBER: With the advent of system-based gaming, obviously WMS had to adapt to the change. The last couple of years we put a lot of effort behind system-based gaming starting about four years ago when we acquired Big Foot Software in Reno. They developed our wide-area progressive system. That was kind of the start of our WMS Network Systems. Since then we’ve just been adding people and technology. About five months ago we launched our first server-based product in the field, which is MONOPOLY™ Big Event Gaming®. This is our communal game product, which is the first of its kind where all the players play and win together, and the bidding is controlled by a server. We are moving into a system based world, but we look at it differently than some of our competitors. We look at it from a game enablement perspective. How can we make a better game with this technology? That’s where we spend a lot of our functionality. How do we make a better game for the player and ultimately a better performing product for the operator? WMS is doing something fairly unique with its MONOPOLY™ Big Event Promotion—letting customers play the games at home for free first before coming to the casino. Describe the thinking behind that concept. GELBER: We feel that customers not only make spontaneous decisions on the casino floor but that they also make a lot of their decisions prior to coming to the casino. They have a fixed budget and many times they decide which games they’re going to play on their way out of the casino, on their way to the casino, or idle times in between. We feel using the Internet (is a great way) for them to connect with these complex games. Community gaming is a deep, rich but complex game, so we want to give them the opportunity to interact with the game in the comfort of their home. We want them to understand the benefits and the advantages to them in the form of enhanced game play, interactive elements, communal bonus rounds, sensory emersion gaming, etc. This gives us the ability to develop a connection with them with our brand—but more importantly to get them educated with the game so that they are not intimidated by it and actually seek it out. And the more comfortable they are with the game, they’re going to sit down and play longer. Where does WMS stand when it comes to downloadable and server-based technology? GELBER: It’s a technology we’re fully embracing. We’re fully interoperable with G2S. Our system has the ability to work with other manufacturer’s systems. But really it’s about the game. Again, we focus on ways to utilize the technology to make the game better. MONOPOLY™ Big Event is just the tip of the iceberg of what we are able to do. This interview in its entirety will run in the June issue of Casino Journal. |
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