Computers, eh? Where would we be without them? The entertainment and gambling industries in particular have a lot to thank this particular technological boom for, as it helped them reach the stratospheric heights they are at today. Can you believe that it has only been about three decades since the invention of video games, for example, or just two decades in the case of the first commercially available online slot? This latter fact is even more surprising when you consider the rampant popularity of online slots today. It can seem pretty ludicrous; but there are at least ten times more gamblers spinning the reels of their favourite online slots as oppose to land-based slots these days. Oh yes, the 21st century is the century of the online slot, and popular developers such as NetEnt, Microgaming or Yggdrasil are taking huge steps to ensure that this remains the case for years to come – find out more.
If you were to play one of the first online slots, let’s take the Eyecon classic Temples Of Isis as an example, and compare it to the crème-de-la-crème of the modern day, like Inspired Gaming’s Centurion, the main thing you would realise is that the improvements in graphics has been nothing short of superb. This is one area in which the online slot industry has seen almost constant improvement, something that has subsequently attracted even more keen slot gamblers to the online slot universe. And here’s the thing: the more gamblers that are playing online slots, the more money that the developers have to pour back into their games, meaning that the graphics keep getting better and better. It is one of the most important areas of improvement for online slots, read ahead for several reasons why it is the online slot graphics that have come to define the overall industry.
The technology is there, why not use it?
For a very long time online slots were incredibly fun examples of gambling games, but you couldn’t really compare them to the dedicated video games one can play on the Xbox or Playstation, and the main reason was due to their vastly inferior graphics. Developers have long known that the technology is there to make their slots good better, so why not use it?
This fact is especially resonant after advances in HTML coding and technology meant that the internet could handle higher graphics as a platform. By this point developers simply had no choice but to up the aesthetic detail in their online slots, and it has proved a smash hit ever since. Ceasing this opportunity was important for the online slot industry in another way too, because it proved how successful making use of new technology could be.
The online slot explosion and the correlation with better graphics
Don’t get us wrong, the online slot industry wasn’t exactly struggling in those early stages where the graphics weren’t quite under scratch, people were still going nuts for the ability to spin the reels online after all. However, the market did experience a profound period of growth that correlates directly with developers upping the ante when it comes to the quality of graphics in their slots.
This isn’t exactly surprising either – of course more people are going to start playing online slots if they look better. This fact is another clear reason why improvements in online slot graphics have been massively important.
Improved graphics are tons better to look at
One of the main reasons why the improvement in online slot graphics has been so well received is really quite simple: it just means that the games themselves are way nice to look at. Have you seen the heavily pixelated online slots that first starting coming out in the early 200s? They’re not very pretty, and we could imagine one could get some quite severe eye pain after playing one of the earliest online slots.
Having improved graphics dramatically increases the amount of time that people are willing to sit on an online slot, hence bringing in more revenue for the developers. Everybody wins!
Super HD online slots can compare to console games
We would imagine that Charles D. Fey, inventor of the world’s first slot machine back in the late 1800s, would have been shocked if he could see the high HD online slots of today. In many cases games like Centurion by Inspired Gaming can genuinely resemble real video games played on Playstation or Xbox.
And you know what that means, don’t you? The amount of people flocking to the online slot industry is only going to continue, because online slots can look as good as genuine console video games, and you can win money on them too!
Better graphics can mean bigger jackpots
In a way better graphics can also mean bigger jackpots, mainly because the developers have more revenue to pour back into their prizes as a result of the increased exposure that good graphics has brought to the table. The online slot industry is very cyclic in this regard, meaning that developers almost always get as much back as what they put in.
If you think about it on a practical level things will get ever clearer. A game we have mentioned a few times now, Centurion by Inspired Gaming, has incredibly clear graphics and bonus features that can result on huge pay outs. On the contrary a game like Irish Eyes, with its mediocre graphics, can only pay out a tenth of what Centurion can.
Paves the way for virtual reality online slots
Impeccable HD online slot graphics also pave the way for a very exciting evolution in the online slot industry, one that will almost certainly be spearheaded by advanced virtual reality technology. That’s right; you could soon be playing your favourite online slots in virtual reality, who would have thought it?
A key factor in this is being able to have graphics that can support virtual reality technology, and it must be said that developers like NetEnt are almost there on this one.