Plenty of choice in new game releases

If you thought that the last quarter of 2009 was a bumper period for new game releases, you’ll be even more impressed with the wide range of new offerings that online gambling software developers have pushed out since February this year.
Microgaming released Thunderstruck 2, and up-to-the-minute version of its hugely popular orginal launched back in 2003 that includes expanding wilds and improved player features. The Isle of Man company also released CashOccino, a 5 reel 30 payline feature-rich slot with 3 different freespin elements, and a new addition to its superb Gold series of table games in Triple Action Hold ’em Bonus Poker. Five new bingo side games based on some of the firm’s top faves like Hellboy, Dogfather, Age of Discover and Thor Blimey!, along with Premier Blackjack have also been launched.
The latest Reactor series game arrived through the PaddyPower-Orbis channel in Rugy Reactors, a highly entertaining slot based on the Six Nations rugby championships in Europe. Players are reportedly still having a lot of fun matching up major players to win prizes.
Top Game took a trip into fantasy and fairyland with Forest Treasure, a 5 reel 25 pay-line slot with a bonus round, free spins, wilds and scatters galore, whilst BaddaMedia supplied the Beast Gaming network out of Alderney with three networked slots branded Swashbuckler, Robot Revolt and Deep Blue Sea. All three offer the Superbet facility to players.
The UK games developer Mazooma clinched a lucrative deal with online gambling giant Betfair that will see a better variety of games being offered to players, commencing with Snakes ‘n Ladders and Cops ‘n Robbers – both 5 reel fruit machine style slots. Betfair has also announced a games agreement with Playtech which will widen its offering even further.
The prolific Malta scratchcard provider Neogames continued to pump out original and entertaining scratchcard offerings to licensees and white label clients, with Love Birds released in time for Valentines Day, Ocean Pearl the following month and most recently a new seven-games-on-one-card product dubbed The 7th Heaven which gives players 2 chances to win on a single card.
Neogames faces some tough competition from Prime Games in the scratchcard stakes. This month Prime released some interesting games and business information showing that there’s room for growth in the sector. Prime ScratchCards has an inventory of over 40 top quality instant win games and proprietary scratch cards, designed using the latest Flash technology. The firm’s design team has embarked on a schedule of releasing one game a month to maintain interest and momentum in its site. And the operational arm claims it is selling
10 million scratch cards a month!
Players at Vegas Tech licensees are well-served, too with four new games – all slots. City of Gold has an Aztec theme; Vampire Vixen is all about scarey horror stories; Firehawk has an Indian tribal ambience; and Shaaark! is a comical take on the oceans’ top predator.
Virgin Games launched six new games from three different providers – Cryptologic, Dynamite Idea and VS Gaming. The top quality range included Call of Duty, King Kong and Thor from Crypto; Aces High and Spin Win from Dynamite Idea and Sportswheel from VS Gaming. Crypto’s Thor game is a surefire winner, offering the possibility of triple prizes of up to 12 000 times bet during the Free Game Feature, and an added bonus in that the game is connected to the three-level Marvel jackpots with six other Marvel-themed games.
Crypto games will also be seen on Betsson sites following a three year deal that will see at least nine of Cryptologic’s most popular online betting games supplied to Betsson Malta Ltd.
Costa Rica-based Real Time Gaming has also been active with some notable new additions to its gaming suite, including the 5 reel 25 pay-line Golden Lotus slot which features an oriental enchanted garden theme, big multiplier functionality and major and minor jackpots. Triton’s Treasure, a feature-rich game with outstanding graphics and an undersea theme is along the same lines, offering randomly awarded major and minor jackpots, free spins, scatters, wilds and bonus rounds.  The company’s most recent release is Candy Cottage, a 5 reel 20 pay-line slot with a fantastical forest, Hansel and Gretl feel to it.
Casino Club in the Gaming VC group released 7 instant play versions of well established Boss Media standards like Lucky’s Diner, Roman Empire and Maya Gold, whilst the astonishingly fast-growing Costa Bingo added 18 instant play side games to its bingo site.
Rival Gaming’s newest has an Australian hunt for diamonds theme on a 5 reel, 15 pay-line base branded Diamonds Downunder which features free spins, wilds, multipliers and scatters.
Over at the Scandinavian penny-auction site Mr123.com they’ve discovered that a little online gambling entertainment is just the thing to attract more customers, and using three different platforms that’s exactly what they’ve set out to do. Software from Orbis, GTechG2 and Parlay all feature in a slew of games that include Monopoly, Wheel of Fortune, Cluedo, Jeopardy and Mega Jackpot.
Parlay itself has signed up with Wagerworks to expand its range of games via the latter’s rgs facility, and the Belarus software provider Viaden Media has offered an additional 10 new 3 and 5 reel slots with varying features and themes to the market, bringing its games inventory to 35.
888.com – Random Logic released a range of video slot, arcade,card, keno and scratchcard games in February that included a 5 reel 100 payline giant slot dubbed Amazon Wild; a fixed odds puzzle game titled Slotbox; Keno 10; Poker Fives, which features a predictive element; and a bunch of scratchcards titled Monster Maker, Nessies Photo, Find the Bones, Knife Thrower, Love Pond and Girl’s Best friend.
Malta-based B3W Software has enhanced its online casino and scratchcard product range considerably this month with the release of customisable Internet poker and horseracing platforms. All B3W products can be accessed through single account functionality, which will be popular with the players. The horse racing functionality is particularly interesting; members can bet on all the major French races such as the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe , Prix d’Amérique , Quarter Horse and Harness races at higher odds than on the racetracks. This horse racing platform is securely co-mingled into Pari Mutuel Urbaine betting pools guaranteed and operated by Hermes Ltd, a Malta registered company.
It’s been a busy March for other online poker software developers, as well. Following the release of Playtech’s latest v.9.6 software, GTechG2 has launched its 7.3 upgrade. Both new softwares feature mainly player-centric improvements.
Look out for some exciting online bingo developments at Rank plc’s Meccabingo.com – the company has scored a marketing coup, snapping up a deal that will enable it to leverage the widely recognised “Britain’s Got Talent” brand – Britain’s highest rated television talent show last (2009) year with audience ratings of over 13 million viewers, peaking at 18 million for the finals.
The 3 year deal, signed with Freemantle Media Enterprises last week, positions Meccabingo.com as the official online gaming partner of the show, empowering MeccaBingo.com to create a Britain’s Got Talent-branded Internet bingo room. The agreement covers the marketing and promotional use of all branding material, including theme music, logo and imagery, in both online and offline Mecca Bingo operations.

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