Gaming

Gordon Brown’s recent leetspeek (mp3 podcast) leading up to the Global Investment Conference (GIC) has sparked renewed calls for tax breaks for the UK computer gaming industry. The PM stated that the UK games industry was “the most important in Europe”, and that UK developers are “by far the biggest producers of computer games in Europe”, going on to promise that there would be “new commitments of investment off the back of [the GIC] conference”. Interesting words, encouraging perhaps for some, but is it just more talk? Considering The Digital Britain report was full of high praise for the industry but so far has yielded few tangible initiatives, and a previous request from the industry for tax breaks failed to get a mention in the Chancellor’s December 2009 pre-Budget report, one could be forgiven for (quite skeptically) thinking “the cake is a lie”. Read more…

“Never try, never fail, those are the words I live by”, or so says Drew Carey’s character Crank in the animated kids film ‘Robots’. I heard these words coming from the back of the car a few days ago as I headed off on holiday with the family for a week in North Devon. You could run a business by that motto but I’m not sure it would last long or be an exciting place to work.

On the contrary,  it is the belief of both my team and I that we must try, that sees Foviance opening for business in China this quarter, with a new office in Shanghai. Read more…

As geographically separate regions of the earth are brought ever closer together by the pervasiveness of the World Wide Web, it is only natural that businesses attempt to extend their reach beyond national boundaries via their online presence.

However, ‘internationalising’ a site is a far more involved process than merely translating it, and without intelligent international research with native users, it is not possible to truly localise a site. Read more…

Foviance’s Mark Blunden will be attending the International Gaming Expo on Wednesday 28th Jan. Consisting of influential gaming industry speakers, featuring at the IGE Gaming Leaders Programme of presentations, seminars and round table discussions. The three day programme, will have 50 sessions with more content being added, will deliver a unique insight and crucial first-mover advantage across a range of important areas.

Rasmus Soejmark spoke to Ronan Tighe to talk about his career in sports betting at Bet Brain and EveryMatrix, and starting up his increasingly popular group ‘Sports Betting Community’. We begin the interview by discussing how Rasmus got into sports betting.

• Episode title: Rasmus Soejmark from EveryMatrix
• Episode number: 14
• Series: Innovations in eGaming
• Duration: 22.40 minutes

Or, Download the Rasmus Soejmark podcast (9mb)

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Interview by Ronan Tighe

Keith McDonnell joins me this week to talk about Bodog Europe’s upcoming plans. I start the podcast by asking Keith about the Bodog brand as they have an innovative licensing model. We then go on to talk about what Bodog can bring to the highly competitive UK market.

• Episode title: Keith McDonnell from Bodog
• Episode number: 13
• Series: Innovations in eGaming
• Duration: 18 minutes

Listen now:

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Podcast by Ronan Tighe

Andy McIver joins me this week to talk about the past innovations of sportsbooks, and the future changes in the industry.

Andy has been extremely successful since becoming Sportingbet CEO in October 2006. At the time, the US had just passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) which resulted in Sportingbet having to offload their US facing businesses which represented 80% of their business. Andy had to refocus the business and target other markets in Europe and Asia. They have been very successful in doing this so I asked Andy what were the key factors in their success. In the podcast we also talked a lot about the future both in terms of the technologic advancements and the likely consequences of regulation and consolidation in the industry.

• Episode title: Andy McIver from Sportingbet on Sportsbook
• Episode number: 12
• Series: Innovations in eGaming
• Duration: 17 minutes

Listen now:

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Reputation Matters is an event hosted by VeriSign on 21st July in central London.

Bringing together technologists, bloggers and online gaming professionals to discuss the critical issue of reputation. What it is, what it means and what to do to protect it.

Foviance consultant, Ronan Tighe will be on the industry panel moderated by Jake Pollard, Editor, eGaming Review, to discuss ‘It could happen to you!’ The importance of reputation in the industry. What happens when it all goes wrong and how to prevent it. And what really makes a difference to your market share.

EGR: Reputation and trust in online gaming
By EGaming Review, July 29, 2009

Event gallery by Reputation Matters, 21 July, 2009