G2E Preview 10 - Konami

The keyword used to describe Konami Gaming is diversity...new hardware, new software, and new product categories.  In the past 12 months Konami has released 70 new games. Their offerings include progressives, new formats like Reeleven and Roku Reels, and innovative bonus setups on the signature Rapid Revolver cabinet, new stepper games, and more.  There have been so many different Konami games displayed in our local casinos lately that we hardly know which are new releases and which have not been released and are just being tested on the floor. There are so many Konami games we can't keep up with them all.

Konami Gaming

Booths 1054 and 1154

As a player I don't pay much attention to what cabinet a game is being housed in. But to the company,  this is of prime importance. At G2E last year, Konami showed players its new Concerto cabinet - complete with new music. This year the Concerto family will grow to 5 individual cabinets. The first is called Concerto Slant, which features a relaxed angle posture for player comfort. According to Global Gaming Business Magazine, Concerto Slant is compatible with the full library of KP3 and K3P+ video slots. It will be featured at G2E with Jester's Mirror, a new game in the Xtra Reward series centered around the company's mirroring wild reels...any full-reel wilds appearing anywhere but the center reel are mirrored to replace symbols across the central axis: 1 - 5, 2 - 4. Several YouTubers have posted their play on this game.  Here's a demonstration of Jester's Mirror played by Shinobi Slots.

Konami will also be showing its popular multi-game product, Concerto Selexion, with quicker near instant transition between games. The old version contained 8 games; the new one is able to give players up to 10 choices of games to play. It will have the ability to to support a stand-alone progressive if the casino wishes. A third Concerto offering will  be Concerto Crescent with a curved 43 inch monitor with all the special features of the series: the black background, the holographic side lighting, the digital topper, and dynamic buttons. Konami envisions progressive games for the Concerto Crescent and Concerto Stack sometime next year.

Among the highlights of in the KP3+ core video category is Jackpot Ball, a unique four-level progressive game featuring a pinball/pachinko-style bonus game.The company was seeking something similar to Jackpot Streams, the pusher-style extra feature on many Konami games--something to give the games a midway, arcade feel, and they came up with the physical pinball-style game.  The bonus features pinballs launching and falling through a pachinko-style board toward prize buckets at the bottom. Press releases say the pachinko ball-drop, a mystery event, uses true odds to determine the prize with a one-in-weven chance at a progressive. Shinobi has posted Jackpot Ball for viewers here.

What else is new that we can expect to see at G2E this year?  How about a four level progressive version of China Shores, a game featuring free spins that can go into the hundreds. The progressive trigger is three or more ying/yang symbols each awarding a random number of spins for the progressive prize. Each spin is a guaranteed progressive award so theoretically you could get a string of Maxi progressives or any combination of Mini, Major, Mega, and Maxi jackpots.  

Remember the Titan 360 from past years? The game featured a large physical wheel. Balls are launched into the display falling into one of several slots to award a bonus prize or progressive. The theme of the new release will be Dragon's Orb Jackpots. In the bonus of the new game, a dragon spins an orb which ends up being a silver-bar ball or a gold-bar ball, which goes into one of the prize holes. In the same spirit they are releasing another multi-station development called Crystal Cyclone. Several balls can be released from the stacked device so several players can participate in the bonus game at the same time. 

Another new multi-station game coming to G2E is Fortune Cup, a multi-station horse-racing game on a central miniature track that incorporates both the amusement game and video-game skills of the parent company.  Fortune Cup drew a lot of attention when it was shown at G2E Asia 2016 a few months ago at Macao. A lot of attention was given to detail in creating the track and the horses. Each horse is fully articulated - legs, rider.  They actually move around the track, in either direction, allowing for different length races .

Fortune Cup can be set up in a stadium configuration, with multiple betting terminals around the physical racetrack, and with video of the race being shown on an overhead projection stream. Several betting structures replicating trifectas, quenelle, and other race-book wagers will be possible.  The game is still a prototype and no release date has been set, but Konami is betting players will enjoy watching the horses physically run around the track.

There's more of course, but only a few days remain before we leave for G2E to see all this live.  One more preview is probably all I'll be able to give you, so stay tuned for a final G2E 2016 report on Everi (Multimedia).  Tell your friends to check out these posts to see what's in store next week.

G2E Preview - Part 7: Konami

When I first started playing slots, I didn’t pay any attention at all to who produced the game I was playing. I had my favorites, but I didn’t know who made any of them. Over the past year, however, I have become more aware of game manufacturers, and have found many of the games I enjoyed playing then and many of the games I enjoy playing now all come from the same company, the one you either love or hate -  Konami.

Konami Gaming

gaming.konami.com

G2E Booth #1154

Konami was founded in Japan in 1969. It began its business life as a company that rented and repaired jukeboxes. In 1973, the company began making arcade machines, also called amusement machines. It was not until 1978 that they released their first product, expanding to the US within a year. Possibly the best known title of this early era was Frogger, a game we all played, first in arcades and later on home gaming machines. This year at G2E, Konami Gaming will preview their historic favorite at the company’s 11,000 square ft Exhibit Booth #1154 on its tall-top Podium Monument Cabinet. Don’t miss it.

Frogger has remained a favorite of game players for over 30 years. Players can now experience their favorite frogger features with a real money casino spin. The primary game consists of modernized character art paired with Konami’s proven video slot features and innovative math. But the game’s mystery Frogger Bonus allows players to relive the classic road and river crossing course in retro-pixelated glory. Arcade animated tractors push away the reel strips, and players are awarded three “lives” as they watch the frog hop its way to increasing bonus awards across the lower screen and up into the cabinet’s upper top box.  This game can’t help but be a nostalgic favorite of forty-something gamers.

Last year Dungeons and Dragons made its debut with two video slots titled Fortunes of the Forgotten Realms and Dwellers of the Dungeon Keep. This year they are following up with two new titles: Enchanted Riches and Conquests and Treasures. The new games include dungeon maze adventures and monster battle bonuses.  

Company descriptions of the new D&D games report that players get to increase their chance for a higher progressive jackpot prize by rolling a 20-sided die and battling unique monsters from random difficulty levels. They can navigate a darkened dungeon cavern encountering monsters, traps, and credit prize treasurers. The company describes the artwork and animation as unique and memorable. Regardless of your familiarity with D&D, these games will grab you and envelop you in the rhythm of the adventure.

In 2000 Konami was licensed to sell casino games in Nevada, the first step to getting into the casino gaming market. In 2004 they were granted licenses for manufacture and sales of casino machines in a number of other states and Canadian provinces. Since 2005 they have been generating new titles and new technology like no other company in the industry. Their goal is to be at the top of the pack in technology while still delivering on all other levels as the small fish in the big pond.

Konami’s award-winning SYNKROS Casino Management System will be on display as a live environment for G2E guests to test and explore the latest tools and features. One of the latest releases is the industry’s first player-on-demand multi-game tournament. The casinos can either run synchronized slot tournaments or player on-demand tournaments, with entries that players can redeem from any enabled slot machine at their convenience.

Here's a final fact for those of you in Southern California who gamble at Barona, the resort recently voted our area’s favorite casino. The June 12 news release from Konami reports that Barona Resort and Casino has selected SYNKROS  to manage its floor containing 2,000 slots and 90 gaming tables. CEO and Executive Vice president Steve Southerland at Konami also tells us that Barona was Konami’s first customer in North America. No wonder we have so many Konami machines in our California Native American casinos. No wonder we like their games so much. 

Life is all about fun and games according to Konami literature. Have some FUN viewing the new GAMES at G2E next week. Maybe I’ll meet you there.