The Gaming Standards Association (GSA) is preparing to release the next version of its Game-to-System Message Protocol, also known as G2S. The international trade group is now inviting members to provide comments on the new version before it is released this Spring.
The deadline for comment is January 31. A draft of the standard is available for review and download at GSA’s website.
“G2S version 3.0 is the result of almost three years of work by our G2S technical committee, based on direct feedback from suppliers and operators, as well as regulators in jurisdictions from around the world,” GSA chairman Adrian Marcu said in a statement.
He added: “The result is a new version of G2S that is not only mature and rich in functionality, but which also simplifies protocol implementation, testing and operation.”
G2S is a communication protocol for networked gaming, supporting information exchanges between electronic gaming devices and back-of-house systems. It enables software download, remote configuration and remote software verification, among other features.
One of the new functionalities of G2S version 3.0 is support for standalone progressive controllers, mystery progressive jackpots and progressive displays. GSA said further improvements to the player user interface have also been made.
The G2S standard has won a number of awards from the casino industry press.
Established in 1998, GSA has around 60 member and affiliate companies and organisations. The trade group has offices in the United States and in Macau, the latter serving the Asia region. The association in June announced the establishment of an office in Europe.
GSA aims to work toward common technical standards for gaming technology across the casino games industry. The trade group claims that is a way of improving the efficiency of research and development spending, thus creating greater value for the supplier companies, casino operators, industry investors and the players.
