Disturbing and detailed NYT Magazine piece about the design of the slot-machine user experience.
Still, to maintain a sense of suspense in games that are over the moment they start, to increase what Baerlocher and his fellow game designers call ”time on device,” I.G.T. spends $120 million each year and employs more than 800 designers, graphic artists, script writers and video engineers to find ways to surround the unromantic chips with a colorful matrix of sounds, chrome, garishly-painted glass and video effects, which include the soothing images of famous people, from Bob Denver (the actor who played Gilligan) to Elizabeth Taylor, many of whom receive hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars to lend their identities to the machines. The traditional pull-handle, if it exists at all, is nothing more than a vestigial limb; most players now press a button to start the reels, often virtual, spinning. Many slot machines don’t even pay out coins but issue ”credits” on a paper receipt to be redeemed at the cashier’s cage. Slot makers have found that their customers don’t miss handling money — coins are heavy and dirty, after all — and stereo speakers can project the simulated yet satisfying ping and clink of cascading cash. ”We basically mixed several recordings of quarters falling on a metal tray and then fattened up the sound with the sound of falling dollars,” says Bill Hecht, I.G.T.’s top audio engineer, when describing one of the audio files he programs into a machine. “

New York Times story about car manufacturers using video games and other gimmicks to promote new models

DaimlerChrysler’s research found that one-third of all gamers are 35 to 49, with an average age of 28, up from just 18 a decade ago. Women also have increasingly picked up on gaming, particularly online, in which they play against other people around the world. “There’s a growing wave of women gaming,” Mr. Bell said. Even though many of the corporate-sponsored games mimic ones that do not carry a commercial message, they are primarily a sales tool – just like traditional television campaigns.
But unlike television, which is virtually impossible to track in terms of actual sales, Mr. Bell said he has been able to match people who download games with sales results. For example, of the first 1,000 people to buy the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon when it was introduced, he found that 500 of them had downloaded and played the computer game created for the new model.