Have you heard about the Global Gaming Awards? Well, it’s not surprising if you haven’t. It’s sort of a new convention, and it was held for the very first time at The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas last week.
On September 29, the world’s gaming elite gathered together to congratulate winners, mingle and network, and eat and drink like kings and queens.
This is serious business, though: the jury rates iGaming companies according to twelve different categories, and there’s a panel of fifty industry professionals selecting the winners.
I got to see French poker player Bruno Fittousi sitting on the jury with a wig on his head. He’s a man I have known for many years, but who I stopped talking to when he tried to hit on my girlfriend right in front of me.
There are even two Swedes in the jury.
Per Eriksson is the director of Net Entertainment, the well-known software developer which provides games for network operators. They are one of the leaders in the industry, and even if you haven’t heard of them, you’ve probably heard of, and even played, Starburst, Scarface or Gonzo’s Quest.
Edward Ihre is the second Swede on the jury. He has been a successful consultant for the iGaming industry since the 90s. It seems like a very long time, but I’ve actually known him even for longer.
The award for best land based casino went to the world’s largest iGaming company, MGM Resorts International.
The award for best network operator went to 888.com.
The one for best online game producer went to the Manx outfit, Microgaming. Net Entertainment came away in second place. The Swedish company took revenge, however, by winning the category for best online innovator.
There is always great excitement during these award ceremony-style events. It isn’t a big deal ‘cause they’re basically patting themselves on the back and giving awards for the same games they’ve produced. What would the world be without the glitz, glamor and bling-bling of the slot machines?
The award for best land-based casino game went to Aristocrat for their new video slot The Walking Dead.
The Walking Dead is a TV series that started in 2010, in case you didn’t know that already. So it’s basically about zombies that plague the streets in a post-apocalyptic world. They stumble around and infect people and eat brains, as usual. There’s just a handful of living people, but they fight like maniacs.
The TV series is actually based on a graphic novel of the same name, released back in 2003.
The Walking Dead land-based slot was released almost exactly a year ago, altogether with the launching of the Global Gaming Expo 2013 on the Strip in Las Vegas, where they filled the streets with colorful and happy zombies to promote the new game. It became an instant success.
Next time I go to Vegas I’ll bet a few coins on The Walking Dead and see what makes it so cool.
The jackpot starts at US$500,000, and I hope it has grown really big by the time I show up there. I prefer my zombies big and fat.
The closest thing that resembles an online zombie can be found on Net Ent’s Zombie video slot.
Written by Ken Lennaard.
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