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Branded Slots Games At Online Casinos

Branded Slots Games At Online Casinos

Added: May 15, 2013

Branded online slots games are played in the same manner as normal slot machines. The player places his wager, spins the reels and receives payouts if pay table combinations appear. But they are different from normal slots in some respects. Normal slots are the sole creation of the software developer. Branded slots are developed under license from the owner of a “brand”. In this context the brand could be a video game, comic book, film or television series. The branded slots incorporate graphics, video clips and audio from the brand to enhance the value of the game. The popularity of the brand leads to increased traffic on the slot game.

The software provider Microgaming was a pioneer in the concept of branded slots. In 2004 it released three video slots under license from Eidos based on two extremely popular video game brands. One was the adventuress Lara Croft. The two Microgaming slot games based on this brand were Tomb Raider and Secret of the Sword. The other branded slot game was Hitman. These slot games featured exact likenesses of the characters from the Eidos video games and also the animations. All three slot games were an instant hit. Tomb Raider remains a favorite at Microgaming online casinos even nine years after its release. Later Microgaming released the branded slot game Hellboy featuring the unusual super hero from Dark Horse Comics and several other characters as well. It, however, did not attain the same popularity.

In 2010 Microgaming captured the best possible brand, The Lord of the Rings trilogy produced by Warner Bros. The first slot game based on the first of the three movies was The Fellowship of the Ring. After two years of drawing amazing traffic at Microgaming online casinos, this branded slot was withdrawn. It was replaced by another Warner Bros brand, The Dark Knight, the hit movie based on Batman. This slot game had features very similar to The Fellowship of the Ring. The most interesting was Cinematic Spins, which showed popular clips from the movie while the reels spun in the background.

The software developer Cryptologic popularized branded slots through its agreement with Marvel Comics. From 2007 it released 17 branded slot games based on Marvel super heroes like Spider Man, Iron Man, The Hulk, Elektra and Captain America. These branded slots incorporated features from the super heroes legends so intricately created in Marvel Comics. They included as symbols on the reels the super heroes, their alter egos, their source of power, their weapons and their enemies. After its agreement with Marvel Comics expired Cryptologic arranged a deal with DC Comics and released branded slots based on Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. Cryptologic also offers branded slots based on Paramount movies like Braveheart and Forrest Gump. The Cryptologic branded slots are linked to multi-tier randomly triggered progressive jackpots.

Playtech entered the branded slot niche market much later but today is exploiting it with prolific releases. Its first lie-up was with Marvel Movies. These were slicker than the earlier Cryptologic online slots partly due the special effects in the movies. Playtech also offers branded slots based on popular movies that include Rocky, Pink Panther, Kong and The Mummy. The latest Playtech branded slot game is The Sopranos based on the popular television series. Playtech also releases scratch cards based on many of its branded slots.