Tag Archives: Marvel

Top 3 DC Slots That Need To Exist

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As most of you should know by now, Playtech – the awesome people responsible for some of the best online slots ever, such as “Avengers” and “Spider-Man”, recently lost the license to create any more slots based on Marvel properties. And, as I pointed out in my last article, I’m not entirely sure why, since accounts tend to vary and sometimes even contradict themselves. Still, Playtech aren’t letting something like losing a license or two get in the way of their superhero slots! No, instead they took their loss in stride and decided that if Marvel aren’t going to be providing them with their characters, they’re just gonna go play for the opposing team instead! Fast-forward to the present day, and we find Playtech working with Warner Bros to produce a series of DC-themed slots featuring Batman, Superman and other iconic characters. The problem is… The originally announced line-up of slots isn’t particularly exciting. I don’t know about you, but I don’t personally want to play a slot based on the 1966 “Batman” TV show, or the 2011 “Green Lantern” movie, or “Man of Steel”. None of these are any good! Why scoop the bottom of the barrel when the DC universe has SO MUCH more to it? You could make slots based on…

3. Batman

Yes, yes, I know, there’s already a Batman slot by NextGen gaming, and “The Dark Knight” slot by Microgaming is pretty famous, but honestly? I think Playtech can do better. I mean, let’s face it, the NextGen Batman slot isn’t really that great, and “The Dark Knight” is mostly famous because it shares a jackpot with “Mega Moolah”, also known as the slot with the biggest jackpot of all time. Playtech, on the other hand, has the skills and abilities to create a truly amazing Batman slot that stands on its own two feet! It wouldn’t be based on anything – much like their Spider-Man slot, it’d just be a celebration of the character and his extremely long history. The set-up? While being taken back to Arkham Asylum after his defeat, the Joker manages to break free and incite a riot within the prison, freeing all of the Caped Crusader’s biggest enemies. Each enemy represents a different bonus – Clayface turns into expanding wilds, Two-Face allows you to bet your winnings on the flip of a coin, Poison Ivy holds various prizes within her plants, etc. With every enemy you take down, you get one step closer to getting the Joker, as well as the jackpot. Seriously, how awesome would THAT be?

2. Arrow-verse

It’s funny how, while Marvel seems to have AMAZING movies and mediocre TV (pretty much any TV show that Marvel has which isn’t on Netflix is ‘eeeh’ in quality), the exact opposite is true for DC, who have managed to build an entire universe across their various superhero TV shows. While at first this only started out with “Arrow”, it has since grown to encompass “The Flash”, “Legends of Tomorrow” and “Supergirl” (which is set on another Earth than “Arrow”, “Flash” and “Legends”, but is part of the same universe and joins in on the regular crossovers). It has reached the point where certain actors, like the absolutely stunning, amazing and wonderful John Barrowman (please marry me) have signed contracts to appear as regulars not just on one show, but on ALL shows connected to that universe! That’s pretty amazing! Honestly, it’d be pretty foolish not to make a slot based on one or more of the “Arrow-verse” shows. Playtech could easily just take, say, “Arrow”, “The Flash” or “Supergirl” and turn them into their own slots, but imagine how fun it’d be if they’re all mashed up together into a single slot, “Avengers”-style? Okay, fine, that’s never going to happen, but I still want at least individual slots based on these shows, guys! Come on!

1. Justice League

Before 2012, if you asked anyone who knew even a little bit about superheroes what the best superhero team was, the answer would undoubtedly be the Justice League! I mean, sure, the Avengers may be more popular now thanks to their awesome movies, but dear lord, if we’re comparing teams, they don’t even COMPARE to the League! We’ve got a team with Superman – the world’s first superhero; Batman – arguably the world’s most popular superhero; the Flash and Green Lantern – the heroes that jump-started the Silver Age of comic books after people stopped buying superhero comics anymore, thus saving the entire industry from going the way of the romance comic; Wonder Woman – the first lady of comics and a symbol of feminism from its earliest day, back when feminism meant “fighting for equal rights” and not “bitching and moaning about literally everything”; Aquaman, who, um… Can do this? But yeah, Iron Man doesn’t really hold a candle to these guys, especially considering the fact that they were the stars of two of the greatest cartoons of all time, “Justice League” and “Justice League Unlimited”. And with an (undoubtedly to-be terrible) live-action movie coming out, what better time to finally commemorate literally the greatest superhero team of all time with their very own slot? Just… You can use the movie visuals and team if you really need to, but please don’t include a “Batman murder bonus”, okay? You can do better than that, Playtech!

Marvel

Why Are We No Longer Getting Marvel Slots?

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Show of hands – who here saw “Captain America: Civil War”? Considering the fact that the movie has already made close to a billion dollars less than a month after release, I’m guessing quite a few of you have! That airport scene was awesome, right! I’m actually fairly certain that it broke the Guinness World Record for most superheroes fighting each other at the same time! I bet it’d make a FANTASTIC bonus game when the inevitable “Civil War” slot by Playtech rolls around, right? Huh? What do you mean it’s never coming out? It has to!!! IT’S NOT FAIR!!!

For those of you who are confused about what I’m referring to, popular casino games provider Playtech (responsible for popular slots such as “Gladiator” or “Pink Panther”) has had a deal with Marvel for many years to make slot adaptations based on their properties. The deal has been in place pretty much since Marvel’s properties have been turned into theatrical movies (after all, one of Playtech’s first Marvel slots is “Blade”, followed by “Daredevil”, “Elektra” and “The Punisher”), and some slots aren’t even based on movies at all, like Spider-Man and Wolverine. But while those were successful, they, much like Marvel movies in general, didn’t really become a major thing until the Marvel Cinematic Universe started in 2008 with the release of “Iron Man”. That’s when all of a sudden everyone and their mother began playing the Marvel slots, which forced Playtech to step up their game!

Subsequently, every single one of the “Phase 1” Marvel movies (both “Iron Man” films, “Thor”, “Captain America”, “The Incredible Hulk” and “The Avengers”) got a slot adaptation, and they were all pretty good! The Spider-Man slot also came out around this time, and I swear, it and “The Avengers” are among the best slots I’ve ever played in my life! And while Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe started out divisively with the commercially successful but critically divisive “Iron Man 3”, Playtech were right on track with their own slot adaptation based on it! And after that… Nothing. No slots based on “Guardians of the Galaxy”, “Thor: The Dark World”, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” or even “Ant-Man”. Just silence.

I don’t really know what happened, considering the fact that Marvel and Playtech have had a partnership for about 15 years now. I know that the slots were successful (first of all, they’re all over the Web, and second, if they weren’t, why would Playtech make so many of them), so maybe Marvel wasn’t happy with its share of the pie and pulled the license? Who knows. All I know is that, with Playtech moving on to making slots based on DC’s movies, chances are we’re never going to see another Marvel slot again. And that’s a shame!