Tag Archives: expansion
Internet Bingo Continues Phenomenal Growth
Internet bingo continues its phenomenal growth in the UK and Europe. Recent industry expansions into Sweden and Spain have been very successful and the internet bingo industry continues to grow. In the UK the rapid growth of internet bingo has been driven by the national smoking ban which sent thousands of land based players online and high taxation which has closed many bingo halls throughout the country. Although the modern version of the game was introduced in the United States bingo became immensely popular in the UK following World War Two. Almost every English hamlet had its High Street bingo hall and industry giants such as Mecca and Gala Bingo added a touch of glamour to the game.
Internet bingo has attracted a new demographic and now the typical internet bingo player is a female 20 to 40 years old. Rapid industry expansion has created a competitive atmosphere which has benefitted players in many ways. Internet bingo websites are offering larger than ever jackpots and unprecedented player perks. Most bingo sites offer either a bingo sign up bonus or a deposit bonus and players can now easily double, or even triple, the size of their deposits. In Europe ewallet Paypal has re entered the gaming market and players can now use this highly reputable service for both deposits and payouts. In addition to traditional 75 ball bingo most European bingo websites offer 90 ball bingo which is popular in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
The Internet bingo now has its own industry associations and holds annual meetings in London for industry representatives. Bullet Business, which hosts the annual bingo summit, reports that the internet bingo industry has “grown phenomenally.” In 2006 the first online bingo summit attracted 80 companies but just 12 months later had 180 companies attending. In 2009 the internet bingo summit attracted 350 participants and the numbers keep growing. According to Ravi Virpal, director of Bullet Business, online bingo has “grown in the national conscience” and says the annual bingo summit is “the pivotal point” for the industry.
The expansion of the internet bingo industry into Scandinavia has been well received among Swedish, Norwegian and Danish bingo players. Lars Bakken Elvsveen, an employee of Norsk Bingo AS said that Norwegians “have a great love for bingo.” In Sweden internet bingo has achieved instant popularity. Industry insider Dominic Mansour said that Sweden is a “key market” for internet bingo. He said the popularity is because of “the high internet penetration and propensity to play bingo” in Sweden. Industry experts expect continued growth and predict more expansion into European markets soon.
Glyphs Go "Medium" Size in Cataclysm
When glyphs first arrived in World of Warcraft, players had the best of both worlds. They would stock up on “Major” glyphs picked straight from an Elitist Jerks must-have list while enhancing their favorite skillsthose they liked to use without care for raid or PvP performancewith “Minor” glyphs.
But in the upcoming Cataclysm expansion, toons will have to make room for “Medium” glyphs which Blizzard said will provide “fun alterations” to abilities. Thats a bit broad given the many definitions of fun in Azeroth, from raiding to role-playing.
So lets take a trip down memory lane and the latest Blizzard press conference to see how this middle-child glyph can bring the right amount of pizzazz to character enhancement.
Glyphs: A History Glyphs were first introduced in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion along with the inscription profession, which can create glyphs exclusively and sell them at the auction house. Inscribers use the innate skill called milling to transform herbs to base materials for crafting glyphs.
Throughout that expansion, glyphs became an essential part of character customization. Raid leaders and arena captains would look up their teammates armory data to check whether glyphs have been optimized. Casual players and role-playing fans, meanwhile, broke away from the mold by equipping glyphs that best suited their style of play, Recount be damned.
But when Blizzard announced the Path of the Titans, a character advancement system that would see characters worshipping a titan and receiving their blessing via character bonuses, the glyph system suddenly felt flat. Why depend on glyphs when you can a titan and bask in his
The Path of the Titans seemed set to push glyphs to the waysideuntil Blizzard pulled scrapped the new system and promised instead Medium glyphs as some sort of compensation.
Cosmetic and Non-combat perks? While Blizzard has finalized the exact focus of Medium glyphs, my guess is it will probably offer a mix of cosmetic and non-combat perks. This prediction is based on a simple analysis of how Major and Minor glyphs currently work in game.
Major glyphs are focused on giving combat boosts such as increased healing or damage. Whole specs are defined by their use of Major glyphs so Blizzard will most likely keep them battle and role-oriented.
Minor glyphs, on the other hand, provide convenient improvements like a small reduction in a spell’s activation costs. Characters who forget to equip minor glyphs can still perform as well as their glyphed counterparts in most raids or battlegrounds. But customized specs with carefully tuned minor glyphs have been known to lessen trips to the reagent store and make adventuring easier all around.
Given the current set-up, Medium glyphs could specialize in altering appearances and providing game world perks. This can range from extending the Moonkin form of druids (which will be no longer be made permanent in Cataclysm) to tweaking the glow of shaman totems. Some Major glyphs could also be transferred to Medium glyphs, freeing up valuable glyph space following the talent tree revamp in the next expansion.
And with all glyphs becoming permanent in Cataclysm (yes, no more re-purchasing after changing specs!), Medium glyphs will surely spice up the character customization options while exploring the revamped Azeroth. Its not as mind-blowing as the originally planned Path of the Titans, but hey, it could fill us up quite nicelyjust like a medium-sized, fully garnished burger.