Is Microgaming Software Good Enough? Heavy Downloads And New Games Updates

Microgaming (MG) is the most popular online gaming software that is offered by dozens online casinos today. It's likely that the top end quad core machines will shortly become the MINIMUM requirement to have an all round fun experience at MG casinos. You can simultaneously update three MG casinos, four causes problems My Dual Core machine has far less trouble running a game while updating, indeed it can handle three simultaneously playing MicroGaming casinos, with slight wobbles evident at four. Once updated, MG casino software tend to run OK because the PC is doing only the one thing, running the games.

Multiple casinos on a single PC


I've always been of the mind that you should find one good casino per software type and be loyal to it, and it will be loyal to you! Assume you have ten MG casinos loaded.. That's why you're running out of disc space! And downloading the casino the "normal way" can take two to four hours! Somebody can download a full install for an MG casino in 15 to 20 minutes, with a further 10 mins for the whole install process. The full install insists on loading itself entirely into RAM to self extract, far too big a mouthful when it gets to around 300+ MB. The CD does the same, but is even more out of date and requires updates.

Heavy Updates


Unfortunately, they don't keep it up to date, and it often lags several months behind on the update cycle. A few groups provide a download for the full install. And when when it comes to updates, download and install a couple of games can take 2 (or more) hours on 1.5 mbp DSL. Everything else on the net zooms along, but the MG casino downloads still chug along, spitting and sputtering and grinding

I presumed casino downloads would then be a breeze. Only the new games will not be available, everything else will work in the state it was in the month prior. In such a case, the casino behaves as though it has yet to be issued, no spluttery games etc. It's not possible to alter the system environment to prevent an MG casino from "seeing" the monthly update.

Slow downloads


The common package PKZIP extracts files and puts them in a tree of directories beneath the main directory, which can be chosen by the player. What is wrong with being able to download the entire compressed 350Mbyte casino package in a single go (a download manager would be useful here), and install everything locally in one operation. However, the download managers cause problems in themselves on many systems, as they attempt to manage the download as though the system was on dial-up. As to speed, the full casino is 600+ MB, large, but not 4 hours worth! Many have fast broadband, and it would be simpler to directly download the casino file.

Software bugs


There is also an old bug in the AutoPlay of Thunderstruck slots, another where the first two reels stop and 3-5 just keep on spinning away, until you crash out of the game. It has nothing to do with connections, as the result has reached the client and displayed on first two reels. Although online casino where I played are looking into this, it seems they are getting nowhere once they have to refer the problem onwards, presumably to MG. Even a complete clean out and reinstall from scratch has not helped, despite taking nearly 10 hours in total for the pair. What on Earth, Harvey's and some of the other variable multiplier slots have software bugs too.

New games
What do we have now – something like 200 games? With about 50-60 games released each year?

I would recommend that Microgaming developers take a month or two off from churning out yet more new games which players are hardly crying out for, and spend it reviewing and finding ways to improve the overall software package to make it more user-friendly. Either give players the choice to only download the games they want, or download just one "package" of games per computer which can be accessed and used by ALL Microgaming casinos.

Monthly Upgrades
When Microgaming releases new games each month, it seems they update all the existing games also. Why do they do this? When players download a casino for the first time it takes 3-4 hours for the full package to install. Imagine a new online gambler downloading a MG casino for the first ever time to try it in practice mode – what is their initial impression going to be? Moreover, during this time the games are subject to slow play and long connection delays, particularly noticeable on slots when the reels can spin for up to a minute or even more!

In conclusion I would say that although MG online casinos offer the largest number of top-quality, feature-rich state-of-the-art games, the players have to either play at only a few MG casinos (loosing exciting bonus opportunities) or play reduced no-download Flash version of the casino software. Moreover, modern MG games are only suitable for those who have broadband Internet connection.

Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com

Kevin Osvald is an independent professional online gambler living in Florida, USA. He wrote hundreds of strategy, review and gambling news articles and online casino reviews. See the list of reputable eCOGRA-approved Microgaming online casinos.

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