The evolution of the digital games and entertainment industry over the last three decades has been incredibly rapid. There is now a Digital Games Museum in San Francisco, commemorating and collecting some of the much-loved games of the 1980s and 90s (Mega Man 2 anyone?!), alongside the latest incredibly realistic game offerings. It’s quite startling how things have developed.
Nowhere is this digital evolution more evident than in the world of the virtual casino, where designers are constantly challenged to create faster, more navigable and more realistic simulations to recreate the real casino environment. Players too have become more discerning in what they expect from a virtual casino, whether they are playing for real money or taking part in one of the many free games on offer.
Live casinos are the latest online gaming sensation, with live games available to gamers 24/7 on smart phones, tablets as well as on their PC. Exploring an established real live gaming site such as Supercasino, reviewed on roulette.co.uk, gives an idea of the level of choice available; from live TV games to presenter-free games streamed live online.
Jeff Karp of GSN Digital (a branch of the Game Show Network that’s become a leader in social casino games) described in a recent interview how GSN are working on reinventing virtual casino games to keep players engaged, and that means inventing new storylines, narratives and mini-games. With well over 2,000 online casinos competing for players, the pressure is on to keep loyalty by offering new versions of the most popular slots and casino games. Whether hyper realism is the key to sustaining this engagement remains to be seen, but with many popular games now based on popular TV shows, classic myths and fairytales, the secret could be getting the balance right between realism and fantasy.
