Slot Machine

While I was in Lag Vegas I saw a Star Wars Slot Machine. (Video) The film mini clips/moving icons embedded into it were awesome to say the least. I've never been so excited to get a losing payout... but look it's Han Solo! (It was "New Hope" centric - we won't get into the whole first trilogy whips the butt of the second trilogy deal - but I'll just say I was very happy.)

I of course immediately thought that there should be a WoW Slot Machine. Unfortunately I don't think we'll ever see one. Of the 7 million players I doubt half (a third?) of them would have legal access to a casino (age, proximity, laws, etc..). Plus I found these quotes in my research:

Article about Themed machines:

Generally, slot makers seek a theme that will cut them a wide slice of the market pie. "We use a recognized brand or mark or show ... that has some established familiarity, that can add an additional level of entertainment to a game," Rogich explains. "It brings instant recognizability and a fan base."

but...

"There is no dead-on template, such as 'only recognized stars' " make a viable slot theme, Bone says. He notes that his company's "target market is basically a 55-year-old woman with a certain level of disposable income." For that reason, he says, WMS has not done many games themed to male-oriented interests such as sports. Competitors have, however. One maker, Aristocrat, has a game based on Brazilian soccer superstar Pele.

/sigh. Darn. Ok, so absent a real one, here's my imagination of what the main panel might look like:

Aggro the White Tigers

This picture I did not alter at all (except to crop it). Strangely it is a tribute to Siegfried and Roy.



What is that there beside the heads? Is... is that supposed to be a mithril deposit? Were Siegfried and Roy miners (in addition to being hunters)? Perhaps one would hold aggro while the other did the mining. Hm. I had no idea their conservation efforts included minerals.

S & R were a big deal at the Mirage for many years until the whole "tiger bites Roy" incident. Now if you go to the Mirage, there's no show but there's still a Dolphin and white tiger habitat (20 second video).



By the way, I was sure to use a silver dragon border around the icon above which signifies a "rare spawn" for the white tiger rather than a gold dragon border which signifies "elite." (I only just learned that recently, I have to admit.)

Fountains

For a city in the middle of a desert, there were fountains EVERYWHERE in Las Vegas. My friend told me one night to "meet me by the fountain" but inside Caesar's alone there were about 8 fountains. This one was outside of Caesar's:


But strangely, it just didn't look right. Not until I made it feel more like home:



(For my Horde friends, roll an Alliance alt and put them in Stormwind for about 5 seconds, any time, any day. You'll quickly see what I mean.)

Vegas in Signs

Whenever I go on vacation and see a themepark I think of World of Warcraft. It's just destined to be turned into one. Vegas, however, just didn't have the right feel (imho).

For example, if you're walking along the streets of WoW Vegas might they advertise their big "show" like this?:



Or maybe in WoW Vegas instead of advertising Toni Braxton on the side of the Flamingo Casino, I imagined some Night Elf Magician show would be advertised (NE magician's on the left, Toni's on the right):



Too nutty, I think. More than likely the most WoWish thing would be a nice Pandaren Express. (First time I actually saw one.)

Viva Lag Vegas!

This photo is of the edge of the Mirage Volcano that erupts every hour at night. But let me tell you, the fun fun montage is in no way representative of my trip. It was more like 2,000 people sitting in front of speakers. (Didn't take any shots of that.) So now that I can upload photos again (I was making the files too large) here is the roster:

• Vegas in Signs
• Aggro the White Tiger
• Fountains
• Slot Machines!

Lag Vegas

Well, I'm back. But blogger hates me. Well, actually it's just not letting me load any images (images being the sine qua non of this blog, frankly). And it's not the normal broke, it's a new broke so that's a little scary.

Anyway, Las Vegas was Lag-tacular. Waited for luggage that didn't arrive; snaked for 45 minutes in line for a taxi from the airport (you can't walk anywhere in Vegas in a straight line); waited for everyone to wake up every day (I was 3 hours ahead on East Coast time), etc. etc.. All in all it was fun but I'm happy to be home.

As soon as Blogger let's me load them I'll share the pictures in my own WoW-ish way. They aren't as robust as the ones I had from my last conference (WoW is a Themepark), but I have a few good shots.

Until then I have a few posts I had started before I left that have some pictures in them. If blogger still won't let me load photos tomorrow expect to see them.