Everest Poker have taken a step ahead of many other online토토사이트sites by becoming multi-lingual. Grand Virtual Inc’ the software provider for Everest Poker can currently serve eight different language markets; Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portugese and Spanish. This should pave the way for millions of potential new poker players to join in the online action.
Jennifer Joyce, from Grand Virtual says “We decided to go multi-lingual because the software is powered by Grand Virtual, Inc, which has always been a leader in online gaming software that is localized by language market. We were one of the first to launch multi-lingual Casino software in 1997. Currently, our casino product supports 16 languages and we have in-house translation, marketing, and 24/7 customer support for all those language markets. We believe that by localizing the poker product we can bring the game of poker to more people. Professional poker players in most markets know how to play in English, but the game can be complex & intimidating for many casual or new players so we believe that by offering the software in more players’ native languages we will open up the excitement and thrill of poker to the general population. That is why we also offer a tutorial and training room for new players.”
Everest Poker won’t be stopping there either! They have plans for many more languages in 2005, they will be adding Traditional Chinese, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian. Later in the year there are plans to introduce more complex languages such as Chinese, Greek, Korean and Hebrew.
Grand Virtual are making great progress in becoming one of the few truly worldwide poker sites and with a signup bonus of $100 at Everest Poker they could become of the most popular poker sites around.
The Future of Mobile Gaming
Ban sees the future of real money gaming as an opportunity for him, and his company. “That [real money mobile gaming] is something that we are always looking to do. Obviously, right now from a legal perspective, in the US its just not doable, but as we branch out internationally, its an angle for the game that we would love to get into, its something that we could do very easily.”
The question becomes what about the good ol US of A? Obviously, the issue of internet gaming has been a sticky one these past couple years. The mobile arena, however, seems a little more cut and dried, as carriers are subject to local laws and regulations. What about a mobile service offering some kind of offshore gaming application – Is this possible? “In the US, it is illegal to be running any type of interstate gaming””We’re not in that space, and we have no plans today to be in that space”. “I don’t think the carriers are going to touch it, because it is illegal, and they are a highly regulated industry” says Babbs. Ban tends to agree “Gambling is a sensitive subject…not only to carriers, but to device manufacturers and to large networks…it’s a little tricky to get around sometimes”.
Infospace has come up with a value solution where cash does not change hands, but the more skilled players can be rewarded with prizes that are donated via sponsors. Prizes range from T-shirts to gift cards, which spend like cash. Holdem plus for prizes is Infospace’s primary poker offering. “First of all, we wanted to create something that didn’t exist in the mobile realm at all, which is a mobile multi player tournament environment where people compete against each other for prizes.” Thus far, Babbs is pleased with the results. “We went live late 2003 on Verizon and Alltel and we’ve just passed 12 million total games played”.
The Hellmuth Holdem game has a ranking system, where players can go to the games dedicated website, and see how they match up to the other subscribers on the system. Thus far, Gary Ban is pleased with the results “We launched Hellmuth Holdem in May of 2004, and given the limited distribution capability of the game thus far, we are very please with the amount of subscriptions.”
Both of these companies see mobile gaming as a big growth industry, and are continuing to develop new applications for consumers. “We have a number of games in the pipeline, most of them are of the multi player nature. Some are casino games, some action, some strategy, etc” Says Ban “We focus on trying to build a community around our games, and tie in the multi player aspect”
It remains to be seen if the ever-growing poker community will embrace mobile gaming. If these mobile applications are embraced, the real question will be when or if we take each other’s money over our cell phones?
Nowadays, if you are stuck in an airport, your thinking is probably something like “Damn it. My flight is delayed.” Could we see a day where your thinking becomes something like “Yes! Another delay. I can get a few dozen more hands in!”? Stay Tuned.
